Tag: Atletico Madrid

Sun truther Marcos Llorente’s new coffee company has extremely bad logo

It’s probably bad when people think of Nazis when drinking your coffee

Atlético Madrid and Spain national team midfielder Marcos Llorente may not have intended to make his coffee brand the choice of Nazis worldwide, but one look at its logo shows that it’s probably earned that dubious distinction.

Llorente’s “Café Irreverentes” was launched last year, with former Athletic Club star Ibai Gómez also an owner.

The brand has just begun entering the market and this week announced a partnership with Madrid restaurant Rhudo.

Llorente reposted a video announcing that partnership on Instagram, which quickly led to a renewed focus on the company’s logo.

The issue is rather clear: Café Irreverentes essentially has the same logo as the Nazi party’s “SS” unit.

There is only a minor difference, with the coffee brand’s logo a backwards version of the insignia for the Schutzstaffel — a paramilitary unit responsible for some of the worst atrocities of World War Two.

Somewhat depressingly, this isn’t the first controversy involving soccer and the SS in recent months.

The Germany national team was forced to change the number four in its new kits due to an unfortunate resemblance to the very same logo that Llorente’s coffee brand looks like.

For Llorente, the outcry over his company’s logo isn’t the only time he’s been in the news for non-soccer reasons lately.

The 29-year-old also generated controversy with an Instagram post last month detailing his routine while on vacation in Hawaii, which included spending four hours in the sun without sunscreen or sunglasses.

When commenters pointed out that his sunbathing philosophy was ideal for someone trying to give themselves melanoma, Llorente replied to one user: “The problem is not the sun, it is us. Don’t blame the sun.”

To another user he was more blunt: “If you think skin cancer is caused by the sun, you’re the king of ignorants.”

Llorente was on vacation earlier than he’d hoped, as he was one of the final cuts for Spain’s Euro 2024 squad.

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Report: Barcelona and Atletico Madrid eyeing USMNT midfielder Cardoso

The 22-year-old only just arrived at Real Betis, but he could be quickly sold in the summer

Johnny Cardoso has only been at Real Betis for a few months, but his performances are already attracting interest from some of Europe’s biggest clubs.

According to a report from Diario de Sevilla, La Liga giants Barcelona and ​​Atlético Madrid have expressed their interest to the representatives of the U.S. men’s national team midfielder.

In addition to that pair, there is also interest from German powers Borussia Dortmund and RB Leipzig, as well as unnamed clubs from the Premier League and Serie A.

The 22-year-old only joined Betis from Brazilian side Internacional in December, moving to La Liga in a transfer worth a reported €6 million.

Cardoso has impressed since making his Betis debut against Barcelona in January, drawing rave reviews for his displays while starting almost all of the club’s league matches since then.

The holding midfielder has a release clause of €80m in his current contract, but the report from Diario de Sevilla states that Betis could be open to a sale for €30m.

That figure could rise if a bidding war emerges for Cardoso, who is understood to be happy with his new club. Betis, for its part, doesn’t want to lose Cardoso, but would also be willing to sell if it could make a huge profit on a player who only just joined the club.

Cardoso has earned 11 caps for the USMNT, and is expected to be a big part of Gregg Berhalter’s plans in the upcoming Copa América.

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Lazio goalkeeper Provedel scores stoppage-time equalizer in Champions League like seasoned striker

Provedel looks like the best goalscoring goalkeeper in the Champions League

Are we sure Ivan Provedel is a goalkeeper?

The Lazio man looked for all the world like a natural striker as he came up to score an amazing stoppage-time equalizer for the Roman side in a 1-1 Champions League draw with Atlético Madrid on Tuesday.

The stunning late show earned Lazio a potentially crucial point in Group E, while also denying group favorites Atléti the chance to start running away with things from matchday one.

It was also, you know, a goalkeeper goal, in stoppage time, in the Champions League, so it obviously got people talking. Provedel is the first goalkeeper to score in the Champions League since Vincent Enyeama in 2010, and only the second to score from something other than other than a penalty kick. He joins Sinan Bolat, who did it for Standard Liège in 2009.

Here are the best of the reactions.

Griezmann has been watching Messi, calls MLS move ‘my target’

Sounds like Griezmann has an Apple TV subscription

Lionel Messi is recruiting for MLS just by being in the league.

Take the example of Atlético Madrid star Antoine Griezmann, who has apparently been following Messi’s exploits with Inter Miami.

Per the France attacker, following his former Barcelona teammate is a “target.”

“Yes, I’m following [Messi],” said Griezmann in a press conference previewing the La Liga season with broadcast partner ESPN. “He’s incredible and I think it’s the best thing MLS have done to bring in Leo, in terms of marketing and in terms of football.

“My target is to end up [in MLS], with everything that I like about American sports,” added Griezmann “Playing in MLS and enjoying myself, being able to win things and be at my best level.”

That said, don’t expect the 32-year-old to make that move in the next couple of months. After an excellent 2022-23 with Atléti, Griezmann says his short-term plans are to pick up some hardware at his current club.

“First I want to make history here and win trophies at Atléti. After that we’ll see,” stated Griezmann. “I think the arrival of Leo [Messi], [Sergio Busquets] and Jordi [Alba] is good for the league. That and signing younger players, especially from South America, it’s the best thing the league can do.”

Griezmann parallels in MLS

While it wouldn’t quite be fair to expect Griezmann to walk into MLS and, for example, turn the league’s worst team into a potential trophy-winner immediately, there are parallels that can be drawn concerning a potential future move.

Thierry Henry, another France forward to play for Barcelona, joined the New York Red Bulls in 2010 aged 33. The Red Bulls had put together a strong season before Henry’s arrival, and actually saw its points-per-game pace drop slightly (from 1.73 to 1.67) with him in the fold.

That team would eventually crash out of the playoffs after being upset by the San Jose Earthquakes, but Henry’s arrival changed the club’s internal culture, culminating in a first-ever trophy (the 2013 Supporters’ Shield). Henry also produced, scoring 51 times and adding 42 assists in 122 appearances.

Wayne Rooney was another huge name to go to MLS at age 33, and he too had an experience that projects favorably for Griezmann. Rooney joined a D.C. United team coming off of a miserable 2017 just as the club opened Audi Field, and the combination of Rooney’s stellar play and a slate full of home games saw a transformation not too far removed from what Inter Miami has managed with Messi.

Again, the standards changed with Rooney, and in one-and-a-half seasons the former England international produced 23 goals and 15 assists. After returning to England to begin his coaching career, Rooney is back in MLS as a head coach.

Still, there are no guarantees. For one thing, other huge names have found the sledding a bit tougher. Zlatan Ibrahimovic was unstoppable as an individual, but the LA Galaxy infamously missed the playoffs in his first season in MLS, and have followed the star Swedish forward’s departure with a series of erratic seasons.

MLS clubs will also have to face a new reality: players of Griezmann’s profile, at least for the time being, have the option of gigantic paydays in Saudi Arabia.

Griezmann admitted that the kind of nine-figure deals some of his contemporaries (like France teammate Karim Benzema) have signed would require serious consideration, regardless of how much he’d like to play in MLS.

“If [a Saudi offer] happened to me, I’d have to talk about it with my family and my kids,” explained Griezmann. “They’re very high numbers, they can give you security.”

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Forbes ranks 20 most valuable soccer teams in the world

Valuations of the world’s biggest clubs are sky high

Who are the most valuable soccer teams in the world?

With success being more and more tied to an ability to spend, being a “big” club — at least in financial terms — is the clearest indicator of whether a given team is going to contend for trophies in the world’s top leagues.

That said, what defines value doesn’t necessarily require a team to be in the Premier League, La Liga, the Bundesliga, or Serie A. MLS has three teams in the top 20, including LAFC becoming the first club to break the $1 billion valuation barrier.

That said, Europe is still the home of the world’s biggest clubs, and its most valuable. In particular, eight of the top 20 hail from the Premier League, which will not be a particular surprise given the league’s global reach.

Here are Forbes’ 20 most valuable teams in global soccer.

La Liga USA-Mexico tour 2023: Schedule, tickets, stadiums and more

Atlético Madrid, Real Betis, Real Sociedad and Sevilla will each play two games in North America

Four of Spain’s biggest clubs will head to the USA and Mexico this summer for preseason friendlies.

However, the country’s two biggest clubs, Real Madrid and Barcelona, will not be taking part.

But there will still be plenty of star power on display as Atlético Madrid, Real Betis, Real Sociedad and Sevilla all head to North America ahead of the 2023-24 season.

A statement from La Liga said: “The summer tour is part of La Liga and its clubs’ strategy to grow the Spanish Professional League’s footprint in the United States and Mexico.

“The tour will make its first stop in 2023 in the United States and Mexico. It will continue the strategy to develop and grow the league, its clubs and competitions in North American markets.”

Each of the clubs will play two games, one in Mexico and one in the United States. The two games in the U.S. will be a doubleheader at Oracle Park in San Francisco.

Here are the fixtures for La Liga’s 2023 summer tour of the United States and Mexico, including how to purchase tickets.

La Liga USA-Mexico tour 2023

August 2: Atlético Madrid vs Real Sociedad — Estadio BBVA, Monterrey, Mexico. 7 p.m. local. TICKETS.

August 2: Sevilla vs Real Betis — Estadio Akron, Guadalajara, Mexico. 9 p.m. local. TICKETS.

August 5: Atlético Madrid vs Sevilla — Oracle Park, San Francisco, CA. 4 p.m. local. TICKETS.

August 5: Real Sociedad vs Real Betis — Oracle Park, San Francisco, CA. 7 p.m. local. TICKETS.

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Atletico Madrid pioneers new ways to not score against Leverkusen, ending Champions League hopes

How much can happen in four seconds?

Where do you even begin with a play like the one that came at the end of Atlético Madrid’s 2-2 Champions League draw with Bayer Leverkusen?

The simple version is that Atléti, thanks to Porto’s 4-0 rout of Club Brugge earlier in the day, needed to win to have any chance of advancing out of Group B. With the score tied in stoppage time, they were awarded a penalty kick via VAR, only for Yannick Carrasco to see his shot saved by Lukáš Hrádecký. The match finished level, and now the La Liga club is out of the Champions League, and could even end up out of Europe entirely if results go the wrong way on matchday six.

The long version is truly a journey.

First, the situation: it’s 2-2 in the sixth minute of five given minutes of stoppage time. Atlético had sent Jan Oblak up for a corner, and nearly everyone at the Estadio Metropolitano was dying to see a goal for the home side. Carrasco drove the ball in, but Leverkusen won the race to the ball, and in fact Oblak’s wild falling kick attempt was the closest anyone in red and white came to the ball. Leverkusen got it clear, and referee Clément Turpin almost immediately blew for full time.

Atlético players made some half-hearted appeals for handball, but most followed Diego Simeone’s example and began trudging off to the locker rooms. Before Simeone could even get to Xabi Alonso for a handshake, though, Turpin gave the global signal for “hey, VAR is trying to talk to me.”

Rodrigo De Paul and Mitchel Bakker arrived to lobby Turpin, before quickly beginning to try to shove one another aside to better argue their case. Within seconds, 15 of the 22 players on the field were within arm’s reach of Turpin, while Simeone was hopping up and down and tapping his own arm.

De Paul and Nadiem Amiri nearly started to scuffle, and much to the chagrin of every Leverkusen player and fan, Turpin finally got confirmation that he should go check the monitor, and made his way through a wall of Leverkusen staffers, officials, and unused substitutes to take a look.

What was there to check, though? A very close look at the replay showed that Axel Witsel’s glancing flick-on attempt grazed the hand of Leverkusen’s Piero Hincapié, which then redirected the ball into Odilon Kossounou’s upper arm.

Handball? Turpin said yes after barely five seconds of replays, and calmly pointed to the spot. Hrádecký, who had taken his gloves off thinking the game was over, had to put them back on to face Carrasco.

As the ninth minute of stoppage time — again, we started with five — was nearly over, Carrasco went with power, and then all of the following things happened in a four-second span:

  • Hrádecký dove left and slapped the shot away with both hands
  • Hrádecký’s save sent the ball right back at the crowd of sprinting players. Saúl Ñíguez was perfectly placed and didn’t even have to break stride to go up and nod the ball into the now-unguarded net. Hrádecký was in the process of getting back up as he watched that attempt sail over him and…hit the bar
  • Atlético’s Reinildo Mandava had arrived behind the pack, and the rebound fell right to him. Mandava fired what looked sure to be the game-winner, keeping it low, only for the ball to hit the unwitting Carrasco in the heel and go over and out of play
  • Bakker did what can only be called a scream-grind against Carrasco, nearly entirely circling him while celebrating the miss

Four seconds!

However, just as everyone tried to regain their sanity, Turpin indicated that he was listening to VAR again, as the penalty was being checked for encroachment. Replays showed Hrádecký maintaining perfect form, just barely keeping one toe on the line…but also possible encroachment from Bakker, whose entire body was inside the 18-yard box save for his feet.

A few tense seconds — except for Turpin, who seemed quite relaxed through all of this — passed, before the game was officially ended with no re-take.

Atlético must now equal or better Leverkusen’s result on the final day to even claim a trip to the Europa League, which will be difficult given that they’re at Porto while the Germans host Club Brugge.

Watch the madness at the end of Atlético vs. Leverkusen

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Real Madrid had a cathartic response to all the racists

Vinícius Jr. is still dancing

It was easier than usual to root for Real Madrid on Sunday.

The team’s star winger Vinícius Jr. had been at the center of a firestorm, which was set off by Atlético Madrid midfielder Koke warning the Brazilian not to perform his trademark dance if he scored in the Madrid derby.

“There would be trouble, for sure, [that is] to be expected,” Koke said ahead of Sunday’s match at Atlético’s home Metropolitano Stadium.

In an appearance on Spanish TV later on Friday, leading agent Pedro Bravo backed Koke’s comments but added his own unique (read: racist) spin on things.

“When you score against a rival, if you want to dance samba, you go to the sambadrome in Brazil, here what you have to do is to respect your colleagues and stop playing the monkey,” Bravo said.

Amid that backdrop, some Atlético fans made things even uglier by calling Vinícius a monkey in pre-game chants outside the stadium. Unfortunately, as the linked video shows, it wasn’t just a few fans either.

Vinícius responds

After he posted a response on social media leading up to the game, Vinícius and his Madrid teammates had the perfect on-field response in Sunday’s derby.

After Rodrygo opened the scoring, he and his Brazilian teammates went to the corner flag and defiantly danced in front of the Metropolitano crowd.

Vinícius was heavily involved on Madrid’s second goal, as his shot hit the post and was put home by Federico Valverde.

Real Madrid would go on to win 2-1 in a game where Los Blancos had a lot more neutral fans than they are likely to ever have.

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Simeone basically admits Atlético benching Griezmann to avoid activating €40m purchase fee

Things are going to get real awkward unless there’s a solution soon

Antoine Griezmann is in an unenviable situation at Atlético Madrid.

Griezmann is back with Atlético in the second season of a two-year loan from Barcelona, but that loan contains a clause that is making life extremely awkward for him and his manager Diego Simeone right now.

Should Griezmann play more than 45 minutes in more than half of Atlético’s games over the two-season loan, then the club would be obliged to purchase him from Barca for €40 million.

And it’s pretty clear that Atlético would rather not pay that fee.

Griezmann has been used off the bench in all three of his appearances this season, during which he’s scored two goals. That comes after he started 21 of his 26 league games for Atlético last season.

As speculation over the club intentionally benching him grows, Simeone essentially confirmed that was the case in a press conference on Friday.

When asked if he was being told by Atlético higher-ups to limit the Frenchman’s minutes, Simeone said: “They have known me for 10 years. I am a club man and always will be.”

This situation, unsurprisingly, isn’t going down well with Griezmann. According to L’Equipe, the 31-year-old has asked Atlético to negotiate a lower fee with Barcelona and activate the purchase clause as soon as possible.

Here’s hoping that some kind of an agreement can be reached, because this is only going to get more awkward as the season goes on.

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Atletico Madrid brushes off Manchester United’s €130m Joao Felix offer

Atléti said no, and it’s easy to see why

Manchester United would love to bolster their struggling squad with João Félix, but Atlético Madrid is not interested in selling.

A report from Goal says that Man Utd made a whopping €130 million offer for the 22-year-old Portugal attacker, and that Atlético has rejected the bid.

Félix joined Atlético in 2019 for €126 milion, signing a seven-year contract in what remains the fourth-largest transfer fee ever paid for one player. It’s not hard to see why the Red Devils would be interested: signing a player of Félix’s profile and potential, at the expense that it would require, would signal to fans that their abject current state is only temporary.

Man Utd has reacted to a hugely disappointing start to the season by trying to buy their way out of trouble. This Félix bid is one of many, with Christian Pulisic also drawing interest from the fading giants. They also may lose Cristiano Ronaldo, whose stay-or-go saga appears to be leaning back towards a departure if he can find a club that he thinks is suitably big enough, and that still wants to take him on.

There’s just two problems with this particular move: Félix’s contract still has four years on it, and Atlético can do some basic math. Félix remains one of the most extravagantly talented players in world soccer. He hasn’t been a flop in Spain, meaning that the idea that his value has only barely increased is completely dubious.

In other words, for Atlético to accept Man Utd’s offer, they’d have to assume that Félix, playing at a bigger club in a bigger league, with four years left on his contract, has somehow only increased in value by €4 million since his move from Benfica.

It’s safe to say Atléti doesn’t feel that way, as they called Félix “priceless” on their official Twitter account.

On top of that, Atlético’s season has already begun, and the summer transfer window closes in just two weeks. Even if Atlético were to accept that their most valuable player hasn’t really increased in value in three full seasons, how would they manage to line up a suitable replacement? How would they explain the move to fans, who hope to challenge city rivals Real Madrid? Or to their other star players, who have ambitions to win trophies at the club?

There were times in the past where this wouldn’t necessarily matter. In years past, when Manchester United came calling, there’s a tremendous cache that can make a player who was not looking to move, suddenly want to move. A club with the global profile of Man Utd, like maybe ten or so clubs on the planet, could make the big transfer they wanted happen by simply catching the right player’s eye.

Those days appear to be gone, and Atlético may not have to worry about Félix being caught up in the idea of Manchester United, thanks to the reality being so clear.

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