The management of Real Madrid has announced that they will be having an urgent board meeting to plan a response to the corruption charges against Barcelona. 
It was reported yesterday, March 10, that Spanish prosecutors have formerly slammed corruption charges against La Liga giant, Barcelona over alleged payments to a company that belonged to Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, a former Vice President of Spain’s referees’ committee, for several years. It was alleged that the club made payments amounting to nearly €7 million (£6.2m/$7.4m) from 2001-2018 to the former vice-president of the Technical Committee of Referees (CTA), Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira. Following the development, Real Madrid has convened an urgent meeting to discuss their next line of action. 
The club released a statement which read; “Given the seriousness of the accusations made by the Barcelona Prosecutor’s Office against FC Barcelona and two of its presidents for well-founded suspicions of corruption and their relations with whoever was the vice president of the Technical Committee of Referees, José María Enríquez Negreira, the president has convened urgently to the Board of Directors tomorrow, Sunday, March 12, 2023 at 12:00 p.m., in order to decide on the actions that Real Madrid deems appropriate in relation to this matter.”
While it looked all gloomy for Real Madrid after Darwin Nunez and Mohamed Salah gave the Reds an electric start with two quickfire goals, Vinicius Junior set in motion a dominant turnaround for Real Madrid which paid off. Following the win, Real Madrid became the first visiting club to put four goals past Liverpool at Anfield. It was also the second time in this campaign that the Reds conceded at least four times in the Champions League after doing so against Napoli on September 7. With his brace at Anfield on Tuesday night, Benzema has now scored more goals against Liverpool in European Cup and Champions League history than any other player (6). He entered play level with Didier Drogba for the record. Team-mate Vinicius Junior is now in second place in that category (5). 
22-year-old Vinicius has also become the youngest player since Johan Cruyff to score at least twice as a visitor in a European match at Anfield. Benzema has now scored in 18 consecutive Champions League campaigns, equalling Lionel Messi’s all-time record. Real Madrid is now the first team to win a Champions League match by three goals after trailing by at least two. The record applies to both home and away fixtures. Vinicius Junior has also become the second-youngest Madrid player to score in three straight UCL games. Raul was 22 years and 163 days old when he achieved the feat in 1999. 
Darwin Nunez’s outrageous flick and Thibaut Courtois’ howler, which allowed Salah to score a tap-in, gave Liverpool the lead during the match which ended 5-2 in favour of Real Madrid. Salah assisted Nunez’s goal to register his 13th assist for Liverpool in the Champions League, more than any other player in the club’s successful history. Furthermore, the Egyptian’s strike was his 42nd for Liverpool in the competition, breaking Steven Gerrard’s record. 
They were heard saying that the 22-year-old Brazilian striker is a monkey in a video published by the streaming company Dazn on social media. Vinicius was also subjected to 10 fouls during an ill-tempered contest in the Balearic Islands. He is also the most-fouled player in Europe’s top five leagues by a considerable margin this season. While Mallorca has decided not to deliver an official statement on the actions of certain sections of their support, the club’s coach Javier Aguirre who spoke during a radio interview, denied that his players had targeted Vinicius during the match. Vinicius has been subjected to racial abuse by fans on at least three occasions; at the Camp Nou against Barcelona in November 2021, at Atlético Madrid in September 2022, and at Valladolid in late December 2022. 
Spanish police are also investigating a possible hate crime against him after a mannequin wearing his No 20 shirt was hung from a bridge in front of the club’s training centre before the Madrid derby two weeks ago. Prosecutors in Madrid decided not to press charges over racist chanting aimed at Vinícius in September after finding it had “lasted a few seconds” and had not constituted a crime. In December Vinicius accused La Liga of continuing to do nothing about racist fans at matches, after videos on social media showed some shouting abuse and throwing objects at him the previous day at Valladolid. La Liga responded by issuing a statement condemning all forms of hate speech and saying it was following up on instances of racism at the match. Its president, Javier Tebas, said Vinicius’ accusations were “unfair and untrue”. 
Real Madrid midfielder Aurelien Tchouameni has issued a grovelling apology after missing Thursday’s Copa del Rey win over Villarreal to watch an NBA game in Paris. 
The French footballer sustained a calf injury during a La Liga encounter against the Yellow Submarine on January 7 and has remained out of action for some weeks. He missed both of Madrid’s Supercopa de Espana matches in Saudi Arabia last week. However, while his teammates fought so hard to get a 3-2 win over Villarreal in a round of 16 clash in the Copa del Rey, Tchouameni was caught enjoying an Eastern Conference NBA game between the Chicago Bulls and Detroit Pistons in Paris. Real Madrid had to come from two goals behind to book their place in the next round of the Cup. 
Netherlands striker Memphis Depay will join Atletico Madrid from Spanish league rival Barcelona after the Catalan club confirmed on Friday, January 20, that it has reached a deal to sell the player. 
Barcelona said Atletico had agreed to pay 3 million euros ($3.25 million) with a possible 1 million euros ($1.08 million) more in add-ons. Depay agreed to a contract that will keep him in the capital for the next two-and-a-half years, Atlético said. A statement shared on Barcelona’s website read; “FC Barcelona and Club Atlético de Madrid have reached an agreement for the transfer of the player Memphis Depay for the fee of 3 million euros plus one million in variables. 
“The agreement includes a preferential but not compulsory purchase option for the player Yannick Carrasco. FC Barcelona would like to publicly thank Memphis for his commitment and dedication and wishes him all the best for the future.” Far behind Spanish leader Barcelona, Atlético is fighting to secure a top-four finish and a resulting Champions League berth. 
Barcelona defeated Real Madrid 3-1 on Sunday, January 15, in Saudi Arabia to win the Spanish Super Cup. Barcelona was dominant in every aspect of the game and took advantage of three mistakes by Real Madrid to score. Goals from Gavi, Robert Lewandowski, and Pedri were enough to end the club’s trophy drought and also earned Xavi Hernandez his first trophy as a coach. The La Liga table toppers took the lead when 18-year-old Gavi fired in from Robert Lewandowski’s pass. Lewandowski struck just before halftime when he finished from Gavi’s pass. 
Since being defeated 3-1 by Real Madrid in October 2022, Barcelona has gone from strength to strength and have secured the number one spot on the La Liga table. This victory also extended their unbeaten run in all competitions to nine games. 
