La Liga

BARCELONA star Sergio Busquets suffered an embarrassing wardrobe malfunction during a tussle with Atletico Madrid’s Thomas Lemar.The Catalan giants won the match 1-0 to maintain their ten-point lead at the top of LaLiga.

Sergio Busquets and Thomas Lemar grabbed each other’s kitsCredit: Twitter
Lemar managed to rip Busquets’ shortsCredit: twitter
A huge hold was left in his shortsCredit: AP
During the game, Busquets battled in midfield with Lemar with the Barcelona man yanking at his rival’s shirt.
The Atleti star reacted furiously, grabbing the shorts of his opponent in retaliation.
Lemar had such a hold of his kit that he ripped a massive hole in Busquets’ shorts.
The Barcelona captain looked down stunned and had to go over to the kitman to get a new pair after complaining to the referee.
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Fans found it hilarious as one laughed: “Almost left him naked.”
Another joked that Barca’s strip is made out of cheap material as the club can’t afford better due to their ongoing financial struggles.
Busquets is hoping to clinch his ninth league title with the club in what is possibly his last season before he departs.
The 34-year-old’s contract expires at the end of this season, yet there have been recent reports suggesting that he could accept a one-year extension.
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Busquets remains an important part of the Barca team, featuring 37 times in all competitions with Xavi’s men conceding just nine league goals this season.
Meanwhile, Lemar has had a more challenging year with Atleti, scoring just one goal in 27 games for the club.
Diego Simeone’s side sit third in the table after they crashed out of the Champions League in the group stages. More

BARCELONA have called up 15-year-old wonderkid Lamine Yamal for their clash with Atletico Madrid this afternoon.Yamal, aged 15 years and 285 days old, would become Barca’s youngest ever player should he get on.
Lamine Yamal, left, could be in line to become Barcelona’s youngest ever playerCredit: EPA
He is already the youngest starlet to ever be named in a matchday squad for the Catalan giants.
Yamal has been dubbed a “mini Messi” by Spanish paper Marca, and with good reason.
The youngster has been training with Barcelona’s first team since late last year.
Boss Xavi has been impressed by his skills, and has backed him to leave a huge impression.
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He said: “Trust me, Lamine Yamal has really tremendous skills. He can mark an era at this club.
“We are not afraid to call him, as Lamine can help us despite being 15 years old. He has a lot of personality and talent.
“He’s an innate talent, the new generations, the difference with my era is that they have no fear.
“Lamine is different… he has attributes from various players, I don’t see a direct comparison (with other players).”
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Xavi gushed over Yamal’s qualitiesCredit: EPA
Should he play, Yamal would beat Armand Martinez Sagi’s record set in 1922, when he played aged 15 years, 11 months and five days.
Despite his tender years, right winger Yamal has already played for Spain Under-19s.
He also played in six Uefa Youth League clashes this term.
Barca are currently eight points clear of Real Madrid at the top of LaLiga, also possessing a game in hand.
They will be hoping to get back to winning ways this afternoon, however, having drawn 0-0 in consecutive games with Girona and Getafe, after losing 4-0 at home to Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey.
Yamal, left, has trained with Barca stars including Robert LewandowskiCredit: EPA More

LIONEL MESSI flew in to Barcelona on Saturday alongside his family, reports claim.The 35-year-old and his entourage are said to have arrived in Spain with 14 suitcases of luggage.
Lionel Messi reportedly jetted to Barcelona on SaturdayCredit: AFP
Paris Saint-Germain won 2-1 at Angers on Friday in Ligue 1.
Messi is then claimed to have taken a private flight to Barcelona on Saturday, landing at around midday, according to Jijantes via Sport.
PSG aren’t in action again until April 30.
It comes amid reports that Barcelona are eyeing a sensational swoop to re-sign Messi in the summer, two years after he left the Nou Camp.
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Messi is expected to leave PSG at the end of the campaign, according to the Mirror.
The Argentina star is out of contract in Paris at the end of the current campaign.
And the Mirror claim PSG are in no rush to renew his terms.
Instead, club president Nasser Al-Khelaifi is said to be eager to promote more young French talent.
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Barcelona are reported to have made contact with Messi’s representatives regarding a stunning return to the club.
However, the La Liga giants must negotiate their perilous financial position in order to get a deal done.
Messi has scored 20 goals and provided 19 assists in 36 games for PSG this season.
The club are currently nine points clear at the top of Ligue 1 – but that that did not stop some fans from sensationally booing Messi at the start of the month. More

VALENCIA were supposed to move into their 80,000-seater Nou Mestalla stadium ahead of the 2009-10 season.But fourteen years on, fans are still waiting.
Nou Mestalla was supposed to be completed by the 2009-10 seasonCredit: Getty
Valencia’s proposed 80,000-seater stadium was meant to look like thisCredit: YouTube
With work having halted in February 2009, Nou Mestalla is now in a state of decayCredit: Getty
In 2007, boasting a squad featuring the likes of David Villa, Pablo Aimar, David Silva and Juan Mata, Valencia were well established as Spain’s third-biggest club.
Supporters dreamed of further challenging the established elite over at Barcelona and Real Madrid, and it was determined that a new stadium was required to take them to the next level.
Work began on the grandiose plan, which would have been dubbed the “world’s greatest football stadium”.
But after Valencia were hit by the global financial crisis, it remains a decaying shell of dreams long forgotten, as the once-proud club sit on the verge of relegation.
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By the end of 2008, Valencia were claimed to have hit debts of £350million.
Their funding of Nou Mestalla was dependent on selling their old ground, but with the property market in chaos, FourFourTwo claim that Valencia couldn’t find a buyer.
Having been denied a £90m loan by the bank, the debt-stricken club were forced to halt proceedings in February 2009.
While everyone at the club was disappointed by the outcome, it paled into insignificance compared to the tragedy that had happened during construction work the previous year.
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Nou Mestalla was supposed to take Valencia to the next levelCredit: YouTube
The empty shell has now become a relic of systemic failureCredit: Getty
As builders worked on the ground in May 2008 a scaffolding collapsed, falling 25 feet and instantly killing two workers.
A further two men weren’t immediately killed but died of their injuries in the coming days.
The entire region held a five-minute silence to pay their respects.
No wrongdoing on the part of the club, construction firm or workers themselves was identified by a subsequent investigation.
WHAT’S HAPPENED SINCE?
In the 14 years since work on the stadium was halted, Valencia have continued to play at their 49,430-seater Mestalla home.
A resurrection of the Nou Mestalla project has been touted on a number of occasions, but has not yet come to fruition.
Valencia were claimed to have agreed a deal with Bankia, a Spanish financial institution, to complete the ground in December 2011.
The agreement would have seen Nou Mestalla’s completion financed – in exchange for Valencia’s current ground.
Shortly after the agreement, however, the deal fell through.
Two years later Valencia worked with architecture company Fenwick Iribarren in a bid to get their new ground done.
Fenwick Iribarren presented a modified, less ambitious project, which would have seen the capacity reduced to 61,000.
Once again, however, a resumption on work failed to come to fruition.
Fans were teased by the prospect of their club working with the council to complete the job in 2017, but once again it was non-starter.
In June last year a farcical new plan was raised, which would see work resume in October ahead of a completion by next season… with a SMALLER capacity than their current home.
October came and went, and to the present day, work has still not resumed.
On the pitch, the once proud club have been reduced to relegation fodder by owner Peter Lim, who acquired them in 2014.
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With nine games remaining Voro’s side sit 19th in LaLiga – three points off safety.
Valencia have not been in Europe since the 2019-20 season, and like their stadium project, appear to have descended into a sad state of flux.
There are serious doubts over whether work will ever resume on Nou MestallaCredit: Getty Images – Getty More