There is a lot of excitement in Spain as we are just a few hours away from the start of the matches in Week 4 of the Liga BBVA. As you might expect, football commands all the headlines in Spain. We take a quick look at the biggest stories of this week in Spanish football.
Iker Casillas says he has nothing bad to say about Real Madrid or Florentino Perez for selling him…
In an interview to Papel, Iker Casillas, the Real Madrid legend who was sold by his club earlier this year to the Portuguese club FC Porto said he bore no ill will against his old club, or against the President of Real Madrid, Florentino Perez.
Casillas said, “Too much stuff was said from the outside looking in. I preferred to keep quiet because I didn’t want to harm my club. Other people spoke about me, not for me. I don’t regret anything.”
He said there were no hard feelings about the end of his career at Real Madrid: “I don’t care. I’ll never say a bad word about Real Madrid or their president”.
Gareth Bale is out with a calf injury…
Real Madrid star Gareth Bale could miss 5 league games and be out till October 15th, because of a calf injury sustained earlier this week. This means that he will be unable to play for Wales as well, who need to get points from their clashes against Bosnia and Andorra to qualify for next summer’s European Championship – their first major competition in decades. Real Madrid captain Sergio Ramos is also likely to miss this weekend’s match against Granada because of an injury.
Roberto Carlos thinks Neymar is better than Messi and Ronaldo!
Roberto Carlos, the former Real Madrid and Brazil left-back, who was well known for his powerful free kicks, says Neymar is better than both Lionel Messi and Christiano Ronaldo and is in fact the best player in the world right now.
He said, “People always speak about the same two [Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo], but I think Neymar is the best. I think Neymar does much more here for Barcelona than he does for Brazil, because the team are already built. Brazil are building a team for the Copa América”.
Carlos is currently the manager of the Indian Super League side, Delhi Dynamos. He added that Neymar performs even better for Barça than he does for his country as “Neymar plays more like himself here at Barça because being the leader for Brazil is too much responsibility for him. He’s more comfortable with Messi and Suárez alongside him”.
Neymar’s father says that his son is staying at Barcelona!
Neymar’s father, Neymar Sr. confirmed that his son is staying at Barcelona and has many years ahead of him there. This comes after much speculation about Neymar’s future in the Catalan capital. His father said, “People can relax, Neymar is staying at Barça. We don’t need to reach an agreement with Barça because he has three more years on his contract”.
Neymar’s contract in Barcelona runs till 2018. His father says, “The club doesn’t need to sit down with Neymar about a contract renewal.”
