here ‘s a small crippled everyone can play, which is dry, truly, because it ‘s the games not everyone can play that brings it to mind. Of all the managers at Spain ‘s foremost division LaLiga clubs, who do you think is the best player ? If you stuck them in their team, how good would they be ? – ESPN+ viewers guide: LaLiga, Bundesliga, MLS, FA Cup, more A class ago, you would have probably said Zinedine Zidane when he was still at Real Madrid. Or possibly Atletico Madrid ‘s Diego Simeone. You would n’t fancy fighting him, for sure : He still looks pretty hard. These days, it ‘s probably Barcelona ‘s fresh emboss, Xavi Hernández : That brain has n’t slowed, and it was never very about the leg anyhow. But if you actually think about it, the achiever is probably Rayo Vallecano ‘s Andoni Iraola, who ‘s still not tied 40. not that it ‘s just about historic period. It ‘s dependable that Alessio Lisci is younger — only five months older than his own striker Roberto Soldado, in fact — but he was n’t an specially good football player in the beginning place. still, he looks like he could run about a act. OK, here ‘s another one : Of all the outfield players, who would be the best in goal ? And of all the goalkeepers, who would be the best on the pitch ?

The foremost of those might be a moment easier, although Ghana might not thank you for the admonisher. In Uruguay educate games, Luis Suarez is frequently the rush goalkeeper. In his family in Montevideo, there is a wooden trophy of a goalkeeper stretching for the ball, thanking him for making that save at the 2010 World Cup. There ‘s besides a exhausted photograph his mother had. In it, Suarez is 6, smiling alongside his Deportivo Artigas teammates. He ‘s the one wearing the goalkeeper gloves. There have been a few hints for the goalkeeper on the pitch motion, excessively. Everyone keeps going on about how effective Marc-Andre ter Stegen is with the ball at his feet, and he started there until about long time 10, when a bus reckoned he ran “ strange. ” then there ‘s Thibaut Courtois, going up for the corner that led to Real Madrid getting a former, recently finish at Valencia. “ well, ” he said subsequently, “ I ‘m 2 metres ( 6-foot-5 ) tall : That frightens people. ” And Sevilla have two goalkeepers who actually scored last season, for good ‘ sake. then, Bono or Marko Dimitrovic it is, then. You ‘d think so, anyhow. hera ‘s one more : Who ‘s the best player in Spain you ‘ve never heard of ? not however, anyhow. This weekend, you might actually find out. well, not the coach question, unfortunately — and not fair because Diego Simeone has tested positive for COVID-19 — but you truly could get the answer to the others. And you will decidedly hear a few names you knew nothing about earlier. Hopefully not for the last time — from crisis comes opportunity and all that — although, quite honestly, that ‘s a possibility excessively. Because this weekend looks set to be a little weird .Marc-Andre ter Stegen in midfield? Xavi hinted it might be necessary, given Barcelona’s rising COVID-19 cases within the first-team squad. David S. Bustamante/Soccrates/Getty Images Look, by the time you read this, things may have changed. They will have changed, in fact. Hopefully for the better, but there ‘s no undertake of that. Every moment it seems things move and newly names emerge. For immediately, though, here are the basics : At the time of write, more than 200 spanish football players across the first and second divisions have tested positive for COVID-19 and are unavailable for choice as football starts up again in Spain this weekend. – ESPN FC 100: Presenting 2021’s top male players and managers
– Stream ESPN FC Daily on ESPN+ (U.S. only)
– Don’t have ESPN? Get instant access now, football is not the most crucial thing, of course, but we ‘d be fooling ourselves if we thought it does n’t matter. It is, as they say, the most important of the insignificant things. And here ‘s the basic point here : football will be going ahead, about no count what. And the “ what ” is pretty big here. That ‘s despite the fact that, to give equitable one case, Barcelona travel to Mallorca on Sunday with only nine first-team players available. And two of those are goalkeepers. Oh, and one is the striker ( Luuk de Jong ) they hope to shift out of there. And if it can be by Sunday, then so much the better. It ‘s not all about COVID-19, mind you : Dani Alves has it, but he could n’t have played anyhow because he ‘s not registered yet. Nor is Ferran Torres. Sergi Roberto, Martin Braithwaite, Ansu Fati and Memphis Depay are injured, not ill, and Sergio Aguero has retired. But there are presently seven players who have tested positive and are unable to play . play 1:37

How Real Madrid can sign both Mbappe & Haaland

Gab Marcotti explains how veridical Madrid have the finances for two huge transfers in the summer. At Atletico Madrid, Antoine Griezmann, Koke, and Joao Felix all tested incontrovertible. At Madrid, seven players tested positive just before Christmas. Some are available again immediately. This week, Courtois, Vinicius Junior, Federico Valverde and Eduardo Camavinga did, besides, although Courtois has since tested negative again. Christmas has seen footballers — and not barely footballers — shuffle with families and friends, the guard duty drop, the figures go through the roof. Its impact is less than with non-athletes, at least immediately, but the long term is harder to know. In health terms at least ; in master terms, they, excessively, have to be off make, although Spain has good dropped isolation times from 10 days to seven, and that means matches. COVID-19 tears through them like it does everyone. Obligatory PCRs ( polymerase chain reaction tests ) before returning to work have revealed the cases, and there are lots of them .

STREAM ESPN FC DAILY ON ESPN+

Dan Thomas is joined by Craig Burley, Shaka Hislop and others to bring you the latest highlights and debate the biggest storylines. pour on ESPN+ ( U.S. merely ) .
There was a league table in one of the sports dailies on Thursday dawn. It was a COVID-19 league table : Rayo Vallecano are clear with 14 cases — that ‘s more first-team players infected than are available — with real Sociedad in second base ( 10 ), Celta Vigo third ( 9 ) and Elche fourth ( 8 ). Atletico were doing so well, on none until Thursday night. That left only Granada and Alaves on zero. By Thursday good afternoon, Granada had announced four — they did n’t say who — and Alaves had six, but none were players.

– Stream LIVE: Valencia vs. Espanyol, 12/31, 10:15 a.m. ET, E+ In the moment division, more than a fifth of footballers have tested positive. Over 200 players are across the divisions — for now, and that we know of. Getafe and Villarreal did not say whether they have players who are cocksure, but soon we will see because all of the teams will play this weekend. You may still worry about players, but do not worry about postponements. Unless something in truth dramatic happens, all of the games will go ahead. They will do so in stadiums with boil down capacity after the spanish government agreed to take the sum permitted to 75 % for January. only Valencia vs. Espanyol could be at 100 % ( although it wo n’t be ), because it is being played on Friday — i, still in December. These restrictions will besides apply to the Copa del Rey games that begin in January, which has an shock besides. To take one exemplar : Third-tier Alcoyano have already sold all their tickets to face Real Madrid. They are now contemplating adding auxiliary stands, which they would not fill nor have any intention of filling, to be able to allow those who have bought tickets to still get in. well, it ‘s a creative solution — another one — and all complete Spain, teams are going to have to come up with them, on the pitch in particular. not everyone is happy with the protocols — some teams want greater flexibility and understanding, some consider it an irresponsible manner to approach players ‘ health, more inactive are concerned with the rival — but it is what the club signed. And sol there will be some strange-looking sides this weekend, possibly some strange results excessively. here ‘s Barcelona ‘s available first-team players for Mallorca : immediately, it ‘s not quite that bad, of class, not least because Nico Gonzalez and Ferran Jutgla, who have already played for Barcelona, are available and not formally ( contractually, at least ) first-team players even. ( Nor are Abde Ezzalzouli, Alejandro Balde or Gavi, but all are positive for COVID-19 ). But it surely demands solutions. While the Premier League has cancelled games over the winter period, using a apparently square ( but, in fact, slenderly dim ) criteria based on examining requests for cancellations match by peer ( and some managers hush consider it insufficient ), LaLiga will not. The Premier League criteria talks about clubs being able to fill teams with “ appropriately experience Under-21 players, ” while LaLiga talks about clubs being able to fill teams with any player. Anyone they have. here, although every LaLiga clubhouse has the right to request a delay once earlier Matchday 30, they basically wo n’t be granted it because here the rules are far clearer and far bare :

  • Any club who can field 13 players in total, of which only five have to be first-team squad members, has to play. ( All five have to be on the deliver : Under non-COVID-19 conditions, that has to be seven. )

So solutions are sought. And no, they ca n’t sign up their own director — more ‘s the pity and, in fact, why not if he ‘s unregistered ? — and they should n’t need an outfield player in goal, given that at least one has to be a goalkeeper. But the theme of a goalkeeper on the cant, while a bit airheaded still, is n’t that punch-drunk. And would be a fortune of playfulness. ( Who would n’t want to see ter Stegen in midfield ? ) No, that might not be the best way of looking at it right now, and there is a more serious consider to be had, but it ‘s reasonably much the entirely room justly now. This is happening, like it or not .Rayo Vallecano lead LaLiga with 14 positive cases so far in their first-team squad, but the games will continue no matter what. Denis Doyle/Getty Images There is one good matter, though, a theoretical “ reward ” for those clubs that work good on development : What absolutely will happen, though, is that kids will get a find. so far this temper, 62 youth team players have made their debut in LaLiga. This weekend, that number will grow. Rayo, whose B team play five divisions below Primera, making the leap more daunt, have not given debuts to any yet. They will credibly have to this weekend. sometimes a crisis opens a door, if not always for very long. There is one precedent.

Hit by a COVID-19 outbreak last season, with 10 positives and everyone who had travelled to play in Europe in midweek isolated unless they had antibodies, Granada were forced to go and play Real Sociedad anyhow despite starting the game without the director, assistant director, physio, delegate, captain, vice-captain, goalkeeper, accompaniment goalkeeper, third-choice goalkeeper or fourth-choice goalkeeper. At the end of the bet on, in which Granada finally broke the rules, a deep substitution mean that they fielded an ineligible team because they had fewer than five first-teamers on the pitch, Real Sociedad director Imanol Alguacil warned that this position would “ come to us all. ” so far, it has n’t. For some, this weekend it will. not as extreme, possibly, but it will. And so fresh stories will be told. back then, Granada were in a position where they were forced to give eight players a debut. One of them, an 18-year-old goalkeeper appropriately named Angel, saved a penalty. It did n’t mean the start of a raw career, at least not so far — a year and a punishment save late, he ‘s not in the first-team police squad — and this weekend might not bring discovery either, but looking on the bright side, it will bring something new, something a little unlike. A quiz, at least, a moment to remember one day, another little game to play while the testify goes on .