Middle-east Arab News Opinion | Asharq Al-awsat

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Football Soccer – Real Madrid v FC Barcelona – Spanish Liga Santander – Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid, Spain – 23/4/17 Barcelona’s Lionel Messi celebrates scoring their third goal Reuters / Stringer Livepic

Lionel Messi ‘Slays Dragon’ With a Fitting Finale to Wild and Wonderful Clásico

by Sid Lowe | Apr 27, 2017 | Sports

Lionel Messi had a black eye, a bloody mouth and his Barcelona shirt in his hands. The board had gone up signaling two minutes left in the clásico: not enough for anyone – this was the game that should have gone on forever – but just enough for another twist, even...

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Cristiano Ronaldo has a message for the Bernabéu crowd during Real Madrid’s Champions League quarter-final win against Bayern Munich. Photograph: Shaun Botterill/Getty Images

Ronaldo has Done so Much for Real Madrid – So Why Do some Fans Whistle him?

by Sid Lowe | Apr 22, 2017 | Sports

Madrid – There are supposed to be about 1,300 words in this article. It is tempting to just spend 1,287 of them listing the things that Cristiano Ronaldo has done at Real Madrid – and there are more than enough of them to take up all that space, that is for...

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Neymar is presented as a Barcelona player in June 2013 – the legal fallout from the deal continues to this day. Photograph: David Ramos/Getty Images

Race for Neymar: the Inside Story of How Barcelona Sealed the Controversial Deal

by Alex Duff and Tariq Panja | Apr 10, 2017 | Sports

On a July evening in 2011 the football world’s focus was on the Vila Belmiro Stadium in Santos, which appears little changed from the days when a teenage Pelé lived in a dormitory under one of the stands. National-team coaches had arrived in Brazil before the World...

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‘It will be fascinating to see how this compelling little sprite of a footballer finds room to grow and assert his will, a mere superstar in the presence of greatness.’ Illustration: Nathan Daniels for the Guardian

Neymar Won’t leave Barcelona while He is Hovering Close to the Throne

by Barney Ronay | Apr 3, 2017 | Sports

Mourinho was surely right when he described the week’s most exciting transfer rumour, the notion Neymar might be lured to Manchester United, as “absurd”, “impossible” and “like trying to break into a safe”. Sadly for the Premier League, this must surely be the case....

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Azpilicueta celebrates with his teammates after defeating Manchester United in the Premier League in October 2016. (AFP)

César Azpilicueta: Barcelona Link is Flattering but I Feel Loved at Chelsea

by Sid Lowe | Apr 2, 2017 | Uncategorized

London – Everything changes but César Azpilicueta. Coaches, team-mates and competition: for the first time since he arrived in London the Champions League is just something he watches on. Results have changed, European absence compensated by domestic dominance....