The Spanish FA has confirmed its proposal on how to award European places in case the current La Liga season cannot be finished.
There are growing fears that the 2019/20 campaign will not be completed due to the indefinite suspension of football in Spain caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
As outlined by Marca and Cadena Cope, the Spanish FA say that the four Champions League places would go to the current top four in La Liga – Barcelona, Real Madrid, Sevilla and Real Sociedad.
The research group CIES Football Observatory have just released its most valuable squads in the transfer market from Europe’s top-five leagues, and it is the current European and World Champions who now sit top the pile.
The Liverpool squad is now worth a whopping €1.4 billion (£1.27 billion), which puts them ahead of every other club on the continent. Second is Premier League rival Manchester City at €1.36b.
Spanish giants Barcelona (€1.17b) and Real Madrid (€1.1b) are third and fourth respectively, with Chelsea shockingly in fifth place (€1.08b) despite having been banned from signing players in last summer’s transfer window.
Diego Simeone compared Jan Oblak to Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi after the goalkeeper’s exploits helped Atletico Madrid eliminate Champions League holders Liverpool.
Oblak produced a man-of-the-match display with a number of important saves in Atletico’s stunning 3-2 extra-time victory over Liverpool at Anfield on Wednesday.
Liverpool were on top for much of the last-16 second leg – having 34 shots on goal – but they could not move clear of Atletico or get the better of Oblak as the visitors secured a 4-2 aggregate triumph thanks to Marcos Llorente’s brace and Alvaro Morata’s late strike.
Jurgen Klopp believes Atletico Madrid should play “proper football” instead of relying on counterattacks after they eliminated his Liverpool team from the Champions League on Wednesday.
Diego Simeone’s team beat the Reds 3-2 after extra time in the second leg of their last-16 tie at Anfield, sending the defending European champions crashing out of the competition.
Georginio Wijnaldum’s first half strike took the game into extra time and Roberto Firmino put the European champions in the driving seat just four minutes in.
But Atletico recovered thanks to a Marcos Llorente double and a late goal from Alvaro Morata to make it 4-2 on aggregate.
Atletico Madrid begins its 2019-20 La Liga campaign with a home match against Getafe and conclude the season by hosting Real Sociedad.
Atletico Madrid will have an early showdown with Real Madrid as it takes on its rival in the second month of the 2019-20 La Liga campaign.
Diego Simeone’s side has finished behind Barcelona in successive seasons in Spain but will be aiming to go one better this time around.
And Los Rojiblancos have the opportunity to get some points on the board early doors as only one of their opening six opponents – including promoted Mallorca – finished in the top nine of the division last season.
Jurgen Klopp has warned Atletico Madrid that Anfield will be as intimidating as the Wanda Metropolitano when Liverpool look to overturn a 1-0 loss from the Champions League last-16 first leg.
Saul Niguez’s fourth-minute strike was enough to give the Spanish side the advantage over the defending champions.
Madrid’s stadium was raucous on Tuesday with fans orchestrated by energetic Atletico manager Diego Simeone.
“Atletico fans who can a get ticket… ‘welcome to Anfield’,” said Klopp.
PSG striker Edinson Cavani will reportedly leave the club next summer, with Atletico Madrid and Inter Miami interested in signing the Uruguayan on a free transfer.
The La Liga club has identified Cavani as a potential transfer target in January following their struggles in front of goal under Diego Simeone this term.
With Alvaro Morata the club’s only fit striker, Atletico are sixth in La Liga and have scored just 16 goals from 16 games.
Atletico would be keen to push through a deal in January, but would struggle to cater for Cavani’s wage demands given his current salary worth over €18m in Paris.
Joao Felix has won the Golden Boy award for 2019, beating England’s Jadon Sancho and Bayer Leverkusen’s Kai Havertz to top spot.
The 20-year-old announced himself on the world’s stage with Benfica last season that saw him score 18 goals with the Portuguese giants.
His performances earned him a £113million move to earlier this summer.
Felix said: ‘Thanks to Tuttosport for the Golden Boy Award 2019, I am very proud.
‘It is the second time that a player from Atletico Madrid has won this award and I am happy.
La Liga has made a lot of headlines this summer, and many for the wrong reason. The main talking points have been Atletico Madrid and Barcelona’s legal dispute over Antoine Griezmann’s transfer, Eden Hazard’s eventual move to Real Madrid, Nabil Fekir’s shock decision to join Real Betis and Valencia managing to keep hold of their boss Marcelino Garcia Toral after a turbulent summer.
Despite the transfer window remaining open, the focus now switches back to the football and it promises to be one of the most intriguing seasons in recent years.
Just when you thought the drama over Antoine Griezmann’s transfer to Barcelona, La Liga president Javier Tebas says that Atletico Madrid have asked The Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) to block the striker’s registration at Barcelona.
Barcelona completed the signing of the French forward when they triggered his €120m release clause earlier this month, but Atletico feel they are entitled to €200m, which was Gr iezmann’s release clause when he agreed to move to Catalonia
A statement from Atleti earlier this month alleged that they would take the Catalan giants to court over the deal, which they believe they can prove was agreed before the clause dropped.