The 23-year-old striker was playing in the fourth tier in December but has inspired Sevilla and now is the team’s ‘soul’ December 2023, the day before a game, and the manager of a team in Spain’s fourth tier gathers his squad. He reminds them of the plan – the bus will leave at 6am for an 11.30am kick-off 230km away, stopping to pick up players en route – and puts on a video. It includes every goal the opposition’s striker has scored: there are 11 from 13 games and, the centre-back watching soon realises, not one is a tap-in. Instead, Isaac Romero, the Sevilla B forward up there on the screen ..read more

Croatia midfielder scores in 81st minute for La Liga leaders Lautaro Martínez hits double as Inter win 4-0 Luka Modric scored the only goal of the game as Real Madrid beat Sevilla 1-0 in La Liga. The Croatia international fired home from the edge of the penalty area in the 81st minute to maintain Real’s five-point lead over Barcelona at the summit. Sixth-placed Real Betis are now seven points behind fifth-placed Athletic Bilbao in the table after beating the 10-man Lions 3-1. Ezequiel Avila’s strike and Yuri Berchiche’s own goal sent Betis ahead before Nico Williams was sent off in the 40th ..read more

16-year-old scores twice against struggling visitors Granada Atlético’s Álvaro Morata leaves pitch in tears with knee injury A double from Lamine Yamal salvaged a 3-3 draw for Barcelona at home to relegation-threatened Granada on Sunday in a rollercoaster La Liga match. Yamal, who does not turn 17 until July, put the hosts ahead after 14 minutes with a tap-in after João Cancelo’s cross found him at the far post. Granada equalised two minutes before half-time thanks to Ricard Sánchez’s powerful volley into the top corner and the visitors grabbed the lead in the 60th minute with an easy finish ..read more

Winger calls for action over incident during Sevilla’s 2-1 win Ocampos: ‘I hope La Liga takes it as seriously as racism’ The Sevilla winger Lucas Ocampos called for La Liga to take action after a Rayo Vallecano fan appeared to poke his backside as he prepared to take a throw-in. The incident occurred after 33 minutes of the La Liga match on Monday evening and footage quickly went viral on social media. Ocampos turned to remonstrate with the young fan, and then called the referee over. The game was halted briefly, with some home fans laughing as Rayo players appealed to the crowd for calm ..read more

Midfielder has struggled for first-team minutes at Old Trafford United close to agreement with Dortmund over Sancho loan The Manchester United midfielder Hannibal Mejbri is expected to join either Sevilla or Everton on loan this month. The Tunisian has been a regular in match-day squads this season but has struggled for minutes on the pitch and is eager to get further experience of first-team football ..read more

Barça battle back in feisty win at Las Palmas Athletic Bilbao beat Sevilla 2-0 to go fourth Ilkay Gündogan’s stoppage-time penalty earned Barcelona a 2-1 comeback win at Las Palmas in an ill-tempered La Liga match on Thursday. Las Palmas opened the scoring in the 12th minute when the former Barcelona midfielder Sandro Ramírez set up the former Barça forward Munir El Haddadi to fire home from close range and the hosts dominated the first half ..read more

Danes draw 0-0 in Munich; PSV beat Sevilla to reach last 16 Sánchez completes Inter’s three-goal comeback at Benfica Copenhagen ground out a 0-0 draw at Bayern Munich in Champions League Group A to end their opponents’ 17-game winning run in group-stage matches and give themselves a great chance of reaching the last 16. Copenhagen had an early chance when Roony Bardghji’s 27th-minute shot sailed narrowly wide and Thomas Müller’s close-range header for Bayern was saved by Kamil Grabara. The visitors, whose solid backline has been key to their success this season, defended well and came close ..read more

Back with his boyhood club, the defender has finally seen red for Sevilla nearly 20 years after his debut Sergio Ramos may have won the Champions League four times, five La Liga titles, the World Cup and two European Championships but once again the defender is in the headlines for the wrong reasons. On Sunday night, the 37-year-old Sevilla defender was sent off against Real Sociedad – the 29th time in his career that he has seen red. Delve into Ramos’s back catalogue here ..read more

Rodrygo scores twice for Real in 3-0 win Inter stay top of Serie A after draw with Juventus Real Madrid’s Rodrygo struck twice and Jude Bellingham was also on target as the visitors enjoyed a 3-0 win at Cádiz in La Liga on Sunday to move to the top of the standings. Real went ahead after 14 minutes when Rodrygo cut into the area and fired a superb shot into the top-right corner. The Brazilian got his second in the 64th with another fine shot after finding space in the box before Bellingham sealed the win 10 minutes later with his 11th league goal this season ..read more

Leandro Trossard and Bukayo Saka scored the vital goals to put Arsenal one step closer to the knockout stages Mikel Arteta speaks: “I like to control games in the last 20 metres. It is the most difficult thing in football when teams are really low against us. This season we have been struggling to unlock teams early, unlike last season.” Bit more VAR chat: “It is my duty and who I am. I will defend this club and these players. In the dressing room, I demand the best and I am the same out here ..read more