Real Madrid's 40 Games Undefeated streak, surceased by Sevilla

Real Madrid's 40 matches undefeated run is finally ended by Sevilla, Real Madrid broke the previous record of 39 unbeaten matches that was held by Barcelona in 2015/2016.

Madrid tasted defeat for the first time since the 2-0 loss to Wolfsburg on April 6.

Sampaoli's side was more motivated to win the tie when they met in the Round of 16 after coming from 3-0 deficit to 3-3 on the second leg.

The La Liga game was the third game in ten days between the two sides, the game saw Cristiano Ronaldo scoring the 67th-minute penalty goal for the visitors with which he tied a La Liga record for the most no. of penalties scored in the competition's history with 56 which was previously held by Hugo Sanchez.

An 85th-minute own goal from Sergio Ramos opened the scoring for Los Rojiblancos just to later see a long-range stunner from Stevan Jovetic completing the turnaround deep into injury time.

The latest signing Stevan Jovetic joined Sevilla from Inter on loan until the end of the season with an option to buy, he has been impressive in both the games he played against Madrid. After losing Gameiro to Athletico Madrid it seems finally they have found the perfect striker in Jovetic.


Real Madrid Manager Zinedine Zidane expressed his disappointment saying "The defeat is a bit harsh on us, but that's the way things go in football and we must continue to perform as we have been up until now. We knew that the run would have to come to an end at some point."

"We've now got to look forwards. We knew that the run would come to an end and all of the games from now on will be tough. It's a pity that we conceded two goals with just five minutes to go. We're hurt after the defeat, but we've got to now turn our attentions to Wednesday's game."

 “It’s very difficult now to lift the players after a defeat like that but it wasn’t due to lack of concentration. There are moments within the game and these things can happen over the 90 minutes. It’s what it is and we’ll look at the things we can improve on. I’m a bit disappointed with the two goals."

The run had Real Madrid defeating the likes of Manchester City, Atletico Madrid in the Champions League Semi final and Final respectively, and being undefeated against Borussia Dortmund, Barcelona and many others. The defeat led Los Blancos to a three points decrease in gap from five to two points clear of Barcelona with one game in hand.

Ivan Rakitic situation: Lost in the dreamland

FC Barcelona is one of the biggest club in the world and its every football player’s dream to play for the club with such a huge history, amazing style of play and football discipline. Ivan Rakitic is one of them, whose dream became a reality  after years of hard work and many excellent performances in his previous club sides.

Early days

He arrived at the Camp Nou  from Sevilla as new signing when Luis Enrique took over as manager, in the 2014/15 season. After adapting to the club in his first few months, he became a regular in the side along with Sergio Busquets and Andres Iniesta in the midfield. With the  addition of Rakitic, Luis Enrique added more direct and physical approach to the  conventional short passing mentality and achieved a great feat by winning the  Treble in his first season. Rakitic gave so many amazing performances during his first season, including his first UCL  in which he scored the opener, and continued in following season.
He was regular in team in 2015/16 also as he was a key player in winning the domestic double in his second season.

Season  2016/17
However, after a good start of 2016/17 campaign he couldn't play against Borussia Monchengladbach because of ban, but neither was he involved against Osasuna nor Espanyol , as he was left on the bench. It seems evident that his importance has depreciated in the side if we compare his participation in 2015/16 and 2016/17 till December.

He played 26 games starting 23 of them out of 29 games Barcelona played last season. While in the current campaign he's played 19 (starting 16) out of 25 games Barcelona played so far.


Competition for starting XI

There are two factors to consider while talking about his situation. First, players like Andres Gomes and Denis Suarez are direct competition for him as Iniesta and Busquets are the untouchables once they are fit. Another, his physical condition. He had an Achilles problem while playing against Celta de Vigo and was substituted. Then he didn't go for international break because of the injury. Then he played for an hour in El Clasico and replaced by Captain Iniesta who was just coming back from an injury. It is seen that return of captain has put break on Ivan's involvement since then.

Playing time

But he played the last match of the year and scored from the spot on his return to starting XI. Then he was given chance in the first match of the new year, in first leg of Copa Del Rey match against Bilbao and saw lot of ball, even he contributed passes well and also tracked back well supporting defence. He was looking good and then subbed off for Andre Gomes after 70 minutes of play time in which barca lost to Bilbao(2-1). In La Liga, surprisingly he was not even included in the squad going to play Villarreal CF which eventually fuelled the rumors of Rakitic leaving the club for Manchester City this transfer window by English media which was later amided by Luis Enrique saying "Rakitic absence has no relation with that story" and laughed saying “Anyway, it doesn't matter if the media is English or Croatian. You cant trust the media”. It was later said that it was all part of rotation of squad for to find perfect midfield options for upcoming important fixtures. And rakitic was in squad for second leg match against Athletic Bilbao but was not in starting XI which included 7 La Masia players. He was on bench for 80 mins and subbed in for Rafinha to provide fresh legs and much needed support to defence to defend lead for last 10 minutes, in which he succeeded and played small but important part in the match.


Transfer Rumours and Speculations

With transfer window now open, there many rumors surrounding Rakitic about his departure from the club. Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea and Juventus are the clubs keeping an eye on the Croatian international and it might just happen sooner or later(Summer) as he hasn't been involved quite as often as expected. But it is highly unlikely to happen, as club President, Josep Bartomeu, recently said that ’ FC Barcelona will try to open renewal talks with player which ends in June 2019 once Messi signs new contract'.  Also according to Mundo deportivo, the player has instructed his agent to reject all offers from other clubs. So it is unlikely that he will leave club soon, but a tempting offer could lure him out of his dream club. Barcelona has started to look out for a long time replacement and has contacted the Brazilian and Liverpool sensation Coutinho.

Thus, player is unlikely to leave his dream club soon  also wants to compete with his colleagues to win back his spot and  help the club to win as many trophies as possible and possibly another treble. Let's see what this new year has brought to players, club and fans.

Copa Del Rey Match Preview: Barcelona vs Athletic Bilbao

The two strong La Liga teams FC Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao face once again for the second leg of Copa Del Rey game on Wednesday.

Barcelona trail 2-1 from the first leg at San Memes and Luis Enrique believes that meeting at Camp Nou will be more entertaining and a lot more different as he calls fans to back the team on the match day.


This is the real test for Luis Enrique's side to make a greater comeback after the loss in the first leg, the Barcelona team look more motivated and it seems they will come up with some bigger plan to qualify for the next round.

FIFA's 'The Best' awards event on Monday was snubbed by the Barcelona side in order to train for this game, for the absence the Barcelona captain sent a video message to FIFA apologizing for the same.
"We want to show our gratitude at having been chosen and apologize for not coming to the gala, We have a hugely important game against Athletic and so we couldn't be there"


The Barcelona boss Luis Enrique said that the decision not to attend the gala was taken by the players.

He also said "It's a different incentive to what we have in La Liga. We're coming off two negative results and we want to change. They were unfair results in those two games."

"We know we normally play with a lot of space in behind us in defense and that we shouldn't commit mistakes. These are risks that we know of."

"We need to go out and score a goal and move ahead of them on aggregate. This will make them take more risks. It makes return legs interesting"

"What we need is a victory, especially when we've played as we have in the last couple of games, where we feel like we deserved more."

Having scored a goal away from home gives much-needed motivation to the Barcelona side to turn the results in their favor.

Ernesto Valverde will be without his two important players on the second leg in Raul Garcia & Iturraspe as they were shown the second yellows for fouls on Neymar in a short span of five minutes from 75 to 80th minute.

It's a do or die situation for both the teams as this game is the only chance for qualifying to the Quarter Finals, Athletic will be looking to take chances on the counter attacks and Barcelona's victory will depend on finishing the chances they get and making things difficult for Bilbao.


Predicted Lineups:

Barcelona:  Ter Stegen; Roberto, Pique, Umtiti, Alba; Denis, Busquets, Iniesta; Messi, Suárez, Neymar.

Athletic Bilbao: Moreno; Etxieta, Elustondo, Laporte, Balenzia; Mikel Rico, Etxebarria; Susaeta, Muniain; I.Williams, Aduriz