After a week when another member of Donald Trump’s backroom staff was dismissed – it now looks like the only person he ever hired who was qualified to do their job was Stormy Daniels! – Real Mallorca kick off their record breaking fifth consecutive season in top flight Spanish football with a game against the mighty Barcelona. The match starts tomorrow (Saturday, August 16) at 7.30pm. In the corresponding fixture last season, we did well to get to half time at 1-1 before Barcelona let loose in the second half, winning 1-5. Mallorca have a really tough start to the season and have to face Barcelona, Real Madrid and At. Madrid in the first five games.
For tomorrow’s game our tough tackling Portuguese midfielder Samu Costa looks doubtful with a knee problem. It’s already clear (as it was last season) that beyond our normal starting XI our bench isn’t at the same level. There are three weeks to go in the Summer transfer window and it looks like, in common with most other sides in La Liga, business will be done just before the window closes on September 1. Players like Greif, Luna, Larin, Maffeo and Samu Costa are likely to be on their way out and already there’s mention of two more Barcelona youngsters coming in to our first team squad, full back Hector Fort and Swedish winger (Kuwaiti born) Rooney Bardghji.
Barcelona will be without their main striker Robert Lewandowski tomorrow and it will be down to the wire if new on-loan signing Marcus Rashford will be registered in time. So far in their pre-season Barcelona have scored 20 goals. Playing wise, they have no problem but off the pitch they are a “basket case.” Their financial situation is mind-blowing. The club’s economic woes now stand at 1.26 billion euros in debt and their stadium rebuild has yet to be added to that total. It was budgeted at 1.5 billion euros but has now ballooned to 2.8 billion. Their total debt is therefore north of four billion euros, 35 times the debt they carried before Covid. The club’s a ticking time bomb and is playing Russian roulette with La Liga’s strict financial fair play rules. Barcelona are a club teetering on the edge. Their president Joan Laporte has pulled more levers (financially) than a 1950s signalman at Clapham Junction!
Rule changes for the new season
As the new season starts there are some rule changes introduced. One of them is that referees will give time-wasting goalkeepers a countdown if they hold on to the ball for any longer than eight seconds or a corner kick will be given.
Disney+ to broadcast La Liga games
It was reported on Wednesday that Disney+ is set to show one Spanish top-flight fixture per week on Saturday evenings in the UK and Ireland. The first fixture broadcast will be on Sunday night, August 17, between Valencia and Real Sociedad at 9:30pm. Production and match commentary will be provided by Disney-owned ESPN which broadcasts La Liga in the USA. Former Liverpool and Real Madrid player Steve McManaman will lead the team of pundits.
Premier Sports stays as the main broadcaster of La Liga in the UK and Ireland and keeps hold of over 340 matches per season as the main broadcaster. The exact make-up of La Liga’s coverage on other platforms remains unclear.
Barcelona-based Mediapro lost the rights earlier in the year to produce live studio build-up, half time and post match summaries, plus interviews with players/coaches and magazine shows including Viva La Liga. Around 180 Mediapro staff including English-speaking presenters at La Liga TV, plus commentators, technicians and producers lost their jobs under the Spanish government’s ERTE (temporary employment regulation, similar to furlough during Covid) proceedings with an ongoing legal battle over compensation for the workers.
Things have never been certain for English-speaking Spanish football fans since Sky Sports pulled the plug after 20 years in 2018. Eleven Sports, Viaplay and now Premier Sports have all been involved and the idea now is that Disney+ will give La Liga more visibility than on Premier Sports in North America.
AND FINALLY, At one point during a school football match, the sports master called one of the 10-year-old players aside and asked “Do you understand what a team is?” The boy nodded. “Do you understand that what matters is not whether we win or lose, it’s all about how we play as a team?” The boy nodded again. “So,” the teacher continued, “I’m sure you know when a penalty is called, you shouldn’t argue, swear at and attack the referee, or call him rude names. Do you understand all that?” The boy nodded. “And when I call you off so that another boy gets a game, it’s not good sportsmanship to call your sports teacher a stupid di*k?” Again the boy nodded. “Good,” said the sports teacher, “now go over there and explain all that to your mother!”