La Liga

Barcelona and Real Madrid will be bringing their rivalry to the United States this summer.

The two La Liga giants will play a preseason El Clásico at AT&T Stadium, home of the Dallas Cowboys, in Arlington, Texas, on July 29 as part of the Soccer Champions Tour.

Juventus, AC Milan, Arsenal and Manchester United are also taking part in the tour, which will feature games across the United States.

Barcelona will also play Juventus, Arsenal and AC Milan during the Soccer Champions Tour. Real Madrid will also face Manchester United, Juventus and AC Milan.

This will mark Barcelona and Real Madrid's third preseason meeting in the United States. They played in Miami in 2017 and in Las Vegas last summer. Barcelona won both matches.

Barcelona and Real Madrid boast some of the world's biggest soccer stars, including Robert Lewandowski, Pedri, Gavi, Ousmane Dembélé, Raphinha, Karim Benzema, Toni Kroos, Luka Modrić, Eduardo Camavinga and Vinicius Junior.

Pep Guardiola doesn't believe Lionel Messi has played his last game for Barcelona already with the star forward potentially leaving Paris Saint-Germain this summer.

The Manchester City manager told ESPN he believes Messi "will do the impossible" to secure a return to Camp Nou.

"I'm a Barcelona fan, I've got my tickets [at Camp Nou], and I just hope that one day we can say goodbye to him as he deserves," he said. "He's the greatest player of all time."

Guardiola added the seven-time Ballon d'Or winner "deserves to have a farewell for the important figure that he is."

At this point, it appears a foregone conclusion Messi will leave PSG as a free agent. While the club shortened his recent suspension, the saga laid bare the lingering issues between the two parties.

A reunion with Barcelona is theoretically possible for the 35-year-old, and vice president Rafa Yuste said in March the club had been in contact with his representatives.

As much as Barça has done to avert the financial crisis that necessitated Messi's departure in the first place, however, the situation hasn't dramatically improved.

La Liga president Javier Tebas said in March that Barcelona will need to generate €200 million—either through player sales or trimming its wage bill—in order to make new signings. This time around, it won't be as easy as pulling one of the economic "levers" and getting a short-term revenue injection.

Tebas affirmed the situation in April and made it clear La Liga wouldn't relax its rules in order to facilitate Messi's Catalan homecoming.

When the 2022 World Cup winner was on his way out of Barcelona, some wondered whether he could offer to play for free in order to stay. Barça was so deeply in the red even a sacrifice that large wouldn't have helped.

As much as Messi might wish to head back to Spain, his old club will need to first get its ducks in a row, and that's shaping up to be a tall order.

Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti was not pleased with the officiating in Tuesday's 1-1 Champions League semifinal draw against Manchester City

In particular, he was miffed with the ball appearing to go out of play before Kevin De Bruyne's second-half equalizer.

"The ball was off the pitch," he told reporters. "That's it. Technology said it. I don't understand why VAR didn't check it. The referee didn't pay attention to many things tonight."

The primary counterargument to Ancelotti is that the goal itself still ultimately came after a Real Madrid turnover, which arguably created a new sequence of play.

And from a more aesthetic standpoint, it would have been a borderline tragedy to disallow such a breathtaking goal on a technicality.

Either way, the goal stood, Ancelotti isn't happy about it and the two sides will battle for a place in the final in eight days.

La Liga won't move heaven and earth to facilitate Lionel Messi's possible reunion with Barcelona.

League president Javier Tebas said Wednesday he'd like to see Messi back in Spain but that he won't make any exceptions for Barça:

I hope they can make the necessary moves to make space for Messi to come in, but of course we are not going to change any rules for Messi to sign. Barca can make moves; they sell players.

That's what we hope happens because I am a fan of Messi and I would like Messi to play in our league. But we won't change any rules. It is complicated, but I think they have the capacity to do it.

Last summer, Barcelona not only averted a catastrophe but also used every means at its disposal to make some marquee transfers. Now, pulling all of the economic levers may not present a solution.

Tebas said in March that Barça "doesn't have any room in its budget to spend in the upcoming transfer window."

"In the case of Barcelona, they have to drop from spending on wages and transfers from €650 million to €450 million, so it's a budget of minus €200 million," he explained.

"They have to reduce their investment in players and we have encouraged them to sell players because, for every amount they raise in sales, they can spend 40 per cent of that."

That obviously complicates a deal with Messi, even though he'll be available on a free transfer after the 2022-23 season ends.

A rising tide lifts all boats. Even into the twilight of his playing career, the 35-year-old remains one of the most famous athletes in the world. His return to Spain would boost the bottom line of Barcelona and La Liga as a whole.

MLS Commissioner Don Garber has hinted at how the league could relax its salary cap guidelines for a Messi deal specifically.

Unlike Garber, Tebas has drawn a clear line in the sand.

A cloud is already hanging over the Camp Nou amid the ongoing scrutiny of payments the club made to a company owned by a top official within the Spanish refereeing committee. La Liga would open itself up to significant criticism if it were to change its financial rules to Barcelona's benefit.

Take a bow, Thibaut Courtois.

The 30-year-old Real Madrid goalkeeper is a huge reason why Los Blancos are into the semifinal of the UEFA Champions League.

While Real Madrid defeated Chelsea 2-0 in the second leg of the Champions League quarterfinal on Tuesday thanks to two tallies from Rodrygo, it was Courtois who should be considered man of the match.

With the match tied 0-0 in first half stoppage time, Courtois stopped a prime scoring opportunity on a shot from Chelsea's Marc Cucerella. The goal would have given The Blues a 1-0 lead and would have cut Real Madrid's lead in the quarterfinal to 2-1 on aggregate.

Real Madrid came out of halftime in much better form, and Rodrygo went on to score the first goal of the match in the 58th minute before tallying his second in the 80th minute.

Courtois went on to stop all of Chelsea's six shots on target. The Blues had 19 totals shots.

After the match, Courtois was lauded by fans on Twitter as the best goalkeeper in the world:

Real Madrid will now move on to face either Manchester City or Bayern Munich in the semifinal. Man City currently leads 3-0 on aggregate entering the second leg of the quarterfinal.

Los Blancos are looking to win their second consecutive Champions League title and sixth since 2013-14. They defeated Liverpool 1-0 in last year's final to claim their first Champions League title since 2017-18.

With Courtois in net, it's very possible Real Madrid could be victorious on the biggest stage once again.

Real Madrid star Antonio Rüdiger was racially abused by fans following his club's 2-0 win over Cádiz on Saturday, according to the Associated Press.

Rüdiger walked toward the stands to give his shirt to a supporter when he was targeted by verbal abuse. Objects were thrown in his direction when he walked off the pitch at Nuevo Mirandilla as well.

Rüdiger's teammate, Vinícius Jr., has been racially abused on multiple occasions this season, including during Real Madrid's 2-1 loss to Barcelona on March 19.

In December, Vinícius called out La Liga on social media for what he believes is its failure to meaningfully address the problem.

"Racists continue to go to stadiums and watch the biggest club in the world up close and La Liga continues to do nothing..." he wrote (via The Athletic's Jacob Whitehead).

In response to the incident at Barcelona, La Liga said it reported the abuse to the Barcelona Court of Instruction. The league also said it created an online portal where supporters can report any instances of racist abuse they witness.

Thanks to the continued brilliance of star striker Karim Benzema, Real Madrid got off to a strong start to the UEFA Champions League quarterfinals with a 2-0 win over Chelsea in the first leg.

Benzema scored in the 21st minute off a rebound when Vinícius Júnior redirected a Dani Carvajal through ball, which was saved by Kepa Arrizabalaga. The captain and reigning UEFA Player of the Year was trailing the play and found himself in the right place at the right time to put Real Madrid ahead for good.

They kept the pressure on Chelsea throughout the contest by dominating the possession battle and firing 15 shots, 10 of which were on goal. In addition to his score, Benzema sent three more shots toward the net and also did his best to set up his teammates for potential assists. Arrizabalaga was frequently under duress and registered eight saves on the day. Marco Asensio added an insurance goal for Real Madrid in the 74th minute.

But it was Benzema who was the star of the show, and fans on Twitter showered him with well-deserved praise:

Real Madrid and Chelsea will face each other in the second leg of the UCL quarterfinals on Tuesday. Benzema will be primed and ready to keep his hot streak going as he looks to help lead Real Madrid to a second straight UCL title.

Barcelona vice president Rafa Yuste confirmed Friday that the club has been in contact with Lionel Messi about potentially bringing him back to Barça when his contract with Paris Saint-Germain expires in June.

According to ESPN's Sam Marsden and Moises Llorens, Yuste said the following about Messi at a news conference:

"I am still gutted he couldn't continue here. Of course I would like him to come back, because of what he represents on a sporting, social and economic level.

"We are in contact with [Messi's camp], yes. Beautiful stories should have happy endings, and there is a mutual love between the two parties."

Barcelona was unable to sign Messi to a new contract two years ago because of a lack of funds, and if the club wants to bring back their all-time greatest player, Marsden and Llorens noted that they must clear out more than €150 million either through transfers or cutting costs.

Yuste acknowledged the need to cut costs, noting that Barcelona has two months before it has to submit a "sustainability plan" to La Liga president Javier Tebas.

The 35-year-old Messi was a fixture at Camp Nou for 17 seasons, playing for Barcelona's senior side from 2004 to 2021. During that time, Messi scored a remarkable 672 goals in 778 appearances across all competitions for Barça.

Barcelona experienced unprecedented success as a team with Messi leading the way as well, winning 10 La Liga titles, seven Copa del Rey titles and four UEFA Champions League titles.

Messi also won the Ballon d'Or as the best male soccer player in the world seven times during his Barcelona tenure.

With Messi out of the picture, Real Madrid won the La Liga title last season, although Barça are back on the upswing this season, leading La Liga with 68 points, which is 12 more than second-place Real Madrid.

Meanwhile, Messi has continued to enjoy success since leaving Barcelona, leading PSG to a Ligue 1 title last season. They lead Marseille by seven points in the standings this season as well.

Perhaps most importantly, Messi accomplished the one major accolade missing from his resume since leaving Barcelona, that being winning the World Cup with Argentina.

In addition to leading Argentina to their first World Cup win since 1986, Messi won the Golden Ball as the MVP of the tournament.

Even this deep into his career, Messi remains a dominant force, so he would not only help Barcelona in terms of economics and increasing fan interest if he returns, but he would make them an even bigger threat on the pitch as well.

UEFA announced Thursday that it has launched an investigation into payments made by Barcelona to former vice president of the Spanish refereeing committee Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira.

According to ESPN's Sam Marsden and Moises Llorens, Spanish prosecutors allege that Barcelona paid Negreira over €7 million between 2001 and 2018 in an effort to gain preferential treatment from officials.

Barcelona have denied the allegations, stating that they never "bought referees or influence" and instead made the payments in exchange for Negreira providing "technical reports on refereeing."

While La Liga is unable to take any action against Barcelona due to the statute of limitations expiring, Barca could be punished by UEFA if any wrongdoing is found.

Charges against Barcelona were accepted in a Spanish court last week, but La Liga president Javier Tebas expressed his belief that the club did not violate any rules.

Barcelona have long been among the most successful clubs in the world, particularly during the 2001 to 2018 timeframe that they paid Negreira.

During that stretch, Barca won 10 LaLiga titles, seven Copa del Rey titles and four of their five UEFA Champions League titles.

Barcelona have not won the Spanish title since the 2018-19 season, as Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid have combined to win it over the past three years.

The Blaugrana are trending toward a return to prominence this season, however, as they lead LaLiga with 68 points in 26 matches, putting them 12 points ahead of second-place Real Madrid.

Real Madrid condemned the allegations against Barcelona tied to payments to a company owned by refereeing official José María Enríquez Negreira.

"Real Madrid wishes to express its utmost concern regarding the gravity of the facts and reiterates its confidence in the legal system," the club said Sunday. "The club has agreed that, in defence of its legitimate rights, it will appear at the trial when the judge opens it up to the affected parties."

Per the Guardian's Sid Lowe, Barcelona paid more than €7 million to Negreira over a period years that spanned multiple club presidents. The payments ceased in 2018.

At the time, Negreira was the vice-president of the Spanish federation's refereeing committee.

Barcelona denied any wrongdoing and said the payments to DASNIL 95 SL, the company co-owned by Negreira, were for the purpose of obtaining "technical reports related to professional refereeing." The Catalan giants described it as "a common practice among professional football clubs."

However, Spanish prosecutors on Friday formally accused Barcelona of corruption and alleged Negreira displayed favorable treatment toward Barça. The legal complaint specifically centers around €2.9 million paid to Negreira from 2014 to 2018.

Club president Joan Laporta called for supporters to remain "calm" Sunday:

Real Madrid president Florentino Perez said on Saturday the club's board of directors planned to meet to decide on how Madrid would respond to the situation.