MADRID (AP) — Jon Rahm overcame early jitters from playing at home and shot a 7-under 64 in the opening round of the Spanish Open on Thursday to sit one stroke behind leaders Ashun Wu, Kiradech Aphibarnrat and Darius van Driel.
LEVERKUSEN, Germany (AP) — Xabi Alonso is finally ready for the limelight again.
After serving a three-year coaching apprenticeship with Real Sociedad’s reserve team, the 40-year-old former Liverpool, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich star was appointed Bayer Leverkusen coach this week.
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — At risk of yet another Champions League humiliation, Barcelona hosts Celta Vigo on Sunday needing to regain some winning momentum before critical matches against Inter Milan and Real Madrid over the coming week.
MADRID (AP) — The driver of a train that crashed in Spain in 2013, killing 80 passengers and injuring 145 others, told a court Thursday that he had braked but couldn´t avoid the accident. He said there had been no signals warning him to reduce speed before the curve where the crash occurred.
MADRID (AP) — It didn’t take long for Real Madrid to get back to winning games.
Three days after seeing its perfect start to the season end with a draw in the Spanish league, Madrid beat Shakhtar Donetsk 2-1 in the Champions League to take full control of Group F.
GENEVA (AP) — Manchester City and Real Madrid marched on with a third straight win in the Champions League on Wednesday, and former Madrid coach Julen Lopetegui was fired by struggling Sevilla minutes after a 4-1 loss at home to Borussia Dortmund.
MADRID (AP) — A trial opened Wednesday in Spain over a 2013 train derailment that killed 80 passengers and injured 145 others, amid tensions at the court entrance between victims and one of the defendants.
MADRID (AP) — Tommy Fleetwood is playing again after a long layoff, and he's preparing himself for the expected structural changes in the game brought about by the Saudi-funded LIV Golf tour.
Fleetwood will play for the first time at the Spanish Open this week, his third tournament following the death of his mother.
MADRID (AP) — Barcelona's high-powered attack faltered against Inter Milan and the Italian club gained an edge in the battle for second place in their Champions League group on Tuesday, while Bayern Munich and Napoli continued to impress and Club Brugge earned a surprising third straight victory.
PORTO, Portugal (AP) — Mehdi Taremi set up both goals to help Porto get its first Champions League win of the season with a 2-0 victory over Bayer Leverkusen on Tuesday.
The Iranian forward set up Zaidu to break the deadlock in the 69th minute and then Galeno — another substitute — to seal the result in the 87th.
A look at what’s happening in the Champions League on Wednesday:
GROUP E
Chelsea is one of the top teams in early trouble in the group stage heading into a double-header against AC Milan, with the first match taking place at Stamford Bridge.
MADRID (AP) — Jon Rahm’s 62 in the final round of the BMW PGA Championship last month wasn’t enough to win at Wentworth.
It did give him a much needed morale boost, though, ahead of this week's home Spanish Open and the final part of the European tour season.
NYON, Switzerland (AP) — The Women's Champions League groups that will mostly be played when men's top-tier club soccer in Europe is shut down for its World Cup were drawn Monday.
Women's soccer aims to build on the successful European Championship in July, and the elite club competition has been scheduled with the decisive final three group-stage rounds in December that avoid fixture clashes with knockout games in Qatar.
MADRID (AP) — It was not the return to action that Karim Benzema had hoped for.
Back in Real Madrid's squad after a long injury layoff, the France striker missed a second-half penalty kick that helped to end the team's perfect start to the season.
MADRID (AP) — A minute of silence was observed before soccer matches around the world on Sunday in honor of victims of the disaster at a stadium in Indonesia that claimed at least 125 lives, and top players, coaches and leagues sent condolences and messages of support.
A look at what’s happening in European soccer on Sunday:
ENGLAND
A month after its last game in the Premier League, Manchester United heads to city rival Manchester City on a four-match winning run and needing a plan to stop the irrepressible Erling Haaland.
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Robert Lewandowski scored again to lead Barcelona’s 1-0 win at Mallorca on Saturday as the Poland newcomer continues destroying defenses in the Spanish league.
Mallorca tried to keep Barcelona in check by packing a line of four midfielders in front of five defenders close to its area.
MADRID (AP) — Fifteen female soccer players are expected to quit Spain's national team after their demand for a coaching change was rejected by the Spanish federation on Thursday.
The federation said it received identical emails from the 15 players saying they would renounce their places on the team if coach Jorge Vilda wasn’t fired.
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Spain granted personhood status Wednesday to what environmentalists call Europe's largest salt-water lagoon, which has suffered massive die-offs of marine life as it degrades due to coastal development and local farming.
MADRID (AP) — Koke Resurrección and his Atlético Madrid teammates feel right at home in the Spain setup.
Koke, Marcos Llorente and Álvaro Morata are used to not thinking too far ahead, as Atlético coach Diego Simeone is an avid proponent of the match-by-match attitude.
MADRID (AP) — Atlético Madrid on Tuesday condemned the racist chants made by some of its fans against Real Madrid forward Vinícius Júnior and pledged to work with authorities to identify those responsible.
MADRID (AP) — With a goal and a dance, Real Madrid’s young Brazilian forwards made a statement against racism in soccer this weekend.
With their samba-like moves after a goal in the derby against Atlético Madrid on Sunday, Rodrygo and Vinícius Júnior made it clear they are not backing down from the racist language from their critics or by the racist chants from the opposing fans.
MADRID (AP) — Rodrygo and Vinícius Júnior didn’t hesitate after Real Madrid opened the scoring at the Metropolitano stadium.
The Brazilian duo went toward one of the corner flags and began doing their samba-like dance moves near the Atlético Madrid fans.
A look at what’s happening in European soccer on Sunday:
ENGLAND
Arsenal can reclaim first place in the Premier League from Manchester City by beating London rival Brentford. Arsenal won its first five games before losing at Manchester United two weeks ago in its last match.
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Robert Lewandowski shook off his disappointing return to Bayern Munich by scoring twice to lead Barcelona to a 3-0 victory at home over 10-man Elche in the Spanish league on Saturday.
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Real Madrid forward Vinícius Júnior called out the haters of his goal celebrations as racist and insisted he will keep on dancing.
Spanish sports talk shows have been discussing the appropriateness of his celebrations, and a commentator on television said he should stop “doing the monkey.”
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Spain coach Luis Enrique delivered more than one surprise when he announced his second-to-last squad before the World Cup while pedaling back-country roads around the hills of Madrid on Friday.
MADRID (AP) — Spain’s Queen Letizia turned 50 on Thursday.
It’s only a birthday but Spain is taking the opportunity to assess its scarred monarchy and ponder how the arrival of a middle-class commoner may help shake up one of Europe’s most storied royal dynasties into a modern and more palatable institution.
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Barring a quick recovery for Real Madrid forward Karim Benzema or a change of strategy by Atlético Madrid, Sunday’s Spanish capital derby will be played mostly without the rivals' leading stars.
GENEVA (AP) — It was the Erling Haaland show in the Champions League even on a night when Paris Saint-Germain superstars Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappé and Neymar all scored in a comeback win.
Manchester City also trailed, deep into the game, at home Wednesday against Haaland’s former club Borussia Dortmund in a fascinating quick reunion for the prolific Norway prodigy.
MADRID (AP) — As Leipzig wasted chance after chance, Real Madrid stayed calm.
It was just a matter of time before the defending European champions punished Leipzig.
Madrid fended off Leipzig's good start and scored late goals with Federico Valverde and Marco Asensio to extend its perfect start to the season with a hard-fought 2-0 win in the group stage of the Champions League on Wednesday.
MADRID (AP) — The Ymer brothers keep coming through for Sweden in the Davis Cup Finals.
A year after leading the Swedes to a surprising run to the quarterfinals, Elias Ymer and Mikael Ymer got off to a good start and led their nation to victory over Argentina in the opening of the group-stage matches on Tuesday.
MADRID (AP) — Real Madrid closed the 2021-22 season with a profit of 13 million euros ($13.2 million) and a cash balance of 425 million euros ($430.3 million).
The club said on Monday the loss of income because of the coronavirus pandemic since March 2020 reached nearly 400 million euros ($405 million) compared to the pre-pandemic situation, in addition to the loss of new revenue that could have been generated without the pandemic.
MADRID (AP) — Real Sociedad striker Sadiq Umar is expected to miss the rest of the season because of a serious knee injury sustained in his third match with the Spanish club.
Sociedad said Monday that Sadiq has a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee and will need surgery.
MADRID (AP) — Real Sociedad striker Sadiq Umar is expected to miss the rest of the season because of a serious knee injury sustained in his third match with the Spanish club.
Sociedad said Monday that Sadiq has a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee and will need surgery.
MADRID (AP) — Against the backdrop of Picasso´s iconic anti-war painting, “Guernica,” the culture ministers of France and Spain gathered Monday in Madrid’s Reina Sofía Museum to kick off a year of commemorative acts to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the death of the Spanish artist who revolutionized the world of art.
MADRID (AP) — Vinícius Júnior and Rodrygo came through in the absence of Karim Benzema to keep Real Madrid perfect this season.
Vinícius and Rodrygo scored second-half goals as Madrid came from behind to defeat Mallorca 4-1 for its fifth straight win in the Spanish league on Sunday.
MADRID (AP) — Remco Evenepoel put some tough times behind him with the biggest win of his career on Sunday.
Two years ago, he was flying off a bridge in a horrific crash that left him hospitalized for several days.
A look at what’s happening in European soccer on Sunday:
SPAIN
Real Madrid is without Karim Benzema when it hosts Mallorca in the Spanish league. Benzema injured a tendon and a muscle in his right leg in Madrid's 3-0 win at Celtic in the Champions League.
PUERTO DE NAVACERRADA, Spain (AP) — Remco Evenepoel all but clinched his first Grand Tour title on Saturday after the 22-year-old Belgian protected his lead in the Spanish Vuelta on the three-week race’s final competitive stage.
TALAVERA DE LA REINA, Spain (AP) — Remco Evenepoel had no trouble protecting his lead of the Spanish Vuelta on the 19th stage on Friday with only one day of competitive racing left.
Evenepoel of Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl maintained his two-minute lead over Enric Mas over the course of the short and hilly ride that finished in a long, flat arrival to the finish line.
MADRID (AP) — The Spanish league has significantly raised Barcelona’s spending limit for this season, but only after the Catalan club sold off part of its television rights for the next quarter century and other assets to balance its finances this summer.
MADRID (AP) — It took a wild finish and a goal by Antoine Griezmann 11 minutes into stoppage time to end Atlético Madrid's home struggles in the Champions League.
Griezmann found the net with a header off a corner kick in the last play of the match to give Atlético a 2-1 win over Porto at the Metropolitano stadium on Wednesday, with all three goals of the Group B game scored after 90 minutes.