Barcelona faced Real Valladolid on Monday – a competitive game for the Catalans as the race for the La Liga title gets tougher every day.
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The first half was particularly difficult for Barca as the team failed to beat a strong opponent. The score was 0-0 after 45 minutes and Lionel Messi had some inspiring words in the dressing room for his team-mates.
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He said (translated from Spanish, via Samuel Marsden): “We have to be faster, we have to play with more rhythm, we have to win this, no matter what it costs, if we don’t it will be more complicated”.
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“We have to shift up a gear, we have to play with more rhythm. We have to win this, no matter how!”
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Barca won the game in extra time when Ousmane Dembele scored the winning goal in the 91st minute. Although Messi was not involved in the creation of the goal, he was voted ‘Man of the Match’ as Barca moved closer to Atletico Madrid at the top of the table.
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Cadiz player defends himself: “Nobody deserves this public ‘lynching’. I don’t know if Diakhaby made it up”
“I don’t know what happened to the presumption of innocence,” said Cadiz player Juan Cala, who allegedly made racist remarks against Valencia’s Mouctar Diakhaby during the game between the two teams, at the press conference, quoted by Sportbible.
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“Nobody deserves this public lynching. Here is my phone number so that he can at least apologize to me.”
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“I don’t know if Diakhaby made it up, if he misinterpreted it? I don’t know”.
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“I’ve lived with Chinese and South Africans. I’ve been to Guinea. It’s unbelievable what’s happening here. I’m in a state of shock.”
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“We play football without fans. There are 20-25 cameras, microphones, players, referees … and nobody hears anything”.
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“Since Sunday my lawyer has been collecting the data in order to initiate legal action. But I have received messages from everywhere with a lot of support because I am currently the target of a lynching”.
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Valencia responded quickly to Cala’s claims, writing on their official Twitter account: “Official statement. Juan Cala, we don’t believe you”.
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Spanish football was rocked by a racism scandal that occurred last Sunday during the Valencia-Cadiz match.
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Valencia stopped playing and left the field after Diakhaby was allegedly insulted by Cala.
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Los Che returned to the field with the club claiming that he had been threatened with sanctions if he decided not to restart the game.
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Erling Haaland’s “miracle cousin”, who scored 64 goals in 37 games, is the name of his favorite club in Europe
Albert Braut Tjaaland is making a name for himself with the Norwegian club Mölde, just like his cousin Erling Haaland a few years ago.
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The 17-year-old, who has scored a total of 64 goals in 37 games for Mölde’s youth team, is a Liverpool fan.
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When asked if he would like to play in the Premier League, Albert replied: “Of course I want to play in the best league in the world, my favorite team is Liverpool”.
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Interestingly, both Haaland cousins appear to be following the same career path: they began their careers at Bryne before moving to Mölde.
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Erling then went to RB Salzburg before moving to Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund – something Albert should keep in mind.
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