Villarreal

Despite the match being cancelled, Spanish football expert Guillem Balague does not think this is the end of the story.

He told BBC Radio 5 Live: “Whilst Javier Tebas is the head of La Liga, he will try to get one game away.

“He thinks that it’s a project, as the statement says, aimed at enhancing the visibility of Spanish football.

“It complied fully with federation regulations. The position on the project was just for reasons unrelated to regulatory or sporting integrity.”

Balague believes finances were the main reason behind the cancellation of the match.

“Perhaps there wasn’t enough money, perhaps the money wasn’t clear where it was going, but certainly it’s been a lot of confusion,” he added.

“Villarreal were saying, ‘We’re not getting any money for it’, but Barcelona were saying, ‘As soon as we get into the plane, we will get money’.

“It wasn’t clear how Villarreal had promised about 5,000 of their fans would go to Miami, or how that was going to happen.”

A Vinicius Jr brace helped Madrid reclaim top spot in La Liga after Kylian Mbappe limped off with an ankle sprain.

Vinicius Jr scored twice as Real Madrid wrapped up a 3-1 home victory over 10-man Villarreal on Saturday, but lost Kylian Mbappe to injury after the star forward limped off minutes before full-time.

Real now sit atop the La Liga standings on 21 points, two clear of Barcelona, who visit Sevilla on Sunday. Villarreal are third on 16 points.

The game was deadlocked in the early stages, but Real began to pile on the pressure as the clock ticked past 20 minutes.

Aurelien Tchouameni rose to meet a cross, but his header drifted just wide of the post.

Moments later, Mbappe pounced on a loose pass as the visitors tried to play out from the back. The Frenchman squared the ball to Franco Mastantuono, whose shot from point-blank range was deflected over the bar by defender Renato Veiga.

Villarreal also had chances in the first half as Tani Oluwaseyi broke into the box and found himself one-on-one with goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, who produced a sprawling save.

Xabi Alonso’s Real side eventually broke the deadlock just after the break when Vinicius picked up the ball near the left byline, drove into the box and squeezed a shot in from a tight angle that deflected off Villarreal midfielder Santi Comesana.

The Brazilian forward doubled his tally from the penalty spot in the 69th minute, having been brought down by Rafa Marin, with his effort just squeezing under goalkeeper Arnau Tenas.

However, four minutes later, Villarreal proved they had come to the Santiago Bernabeu to fight as Georges Mikautadze pulled one back with a low strike from the edge of the box.

The drama continued in the 77th minute, when Villarreal defender Santiago Mourino was sent off after a second booking for a foul on Vinicius, leaving the visitors on the back foot.

The impact was immediate as Mbappe scored Real’s third in the 80th minute after Brahim Diaz broke through and laid the ball back for the striker to complete the victory. A short time later, Mbappe went down with an ankle injury and was replaced by Rodrygo as Madrid saw the game out.

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Spain’s football federation has approved a request for Villarreal’s home La Liga game with Barcelona to move to Miami.

The Spanish league is closer to playing a regular-season game in the United States.

The Spanish football federation on Monday approved a request for the match between Villarreal and Barcelona to be played in Miami, Florida on December 20.

The federation will now seek approval from football’s governing bodies UEFA and FIFA.

The 17th-round match in La Liga would be played at the Hard Rock Stadium, the home stadium of former Barcelona star Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami.

The league first tried to stage a match in the US in 2018, but the idea was dismissed after criticism from some players, fans and clubs. Its subsequent attempts to play there also failed.

Staging a match abroad has been part of the league’s goal of promoting football and its brand in other countries. The league is in a long-term partnership with sports and entertainment group Relevent Sports, which is part of Stephen Ross’s portfolio of companies including the Hard Rock Stadium, the Miami Dolphins, Formula One’s Miami Grand Prix, and the Miami Open tennis tournament.

FIFA moved last year towards ending decades of football tradition by ordering a review of its policy that blocks domestic league games being played in other countries.

Fans are likely to object to their teams’ home matches potentially being moved thousands of miles (and kilometres) away, though it has become routine for US pro sports leagues to stage games in Europe, Asia and South America that help build their brands and fan bases.

The 2026 FIFA World Cup will be staged across the US, Canada and Mexico next year, while FIFA’s expanded Club World Cup has just been hosted in the US.

VIKTOR GYOKERES is wearing the No14 shirt made famous by Thierry Henry and the Swede is also looking to become an Arsenal legend.

Unfortunately for the club’s big summer signing, he had just 14 touches on his Emirates debut before being replaced in the 62nd minute, so this will not be a night he looks back with fondness.

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Not that it really matters, obviously.

If Viktor Gyokeres fires the goals to end Arsenal’s role as permanent Premier League bridesmaids to clinch the title, and there is no reason why he cannot, the Swede will be forgiven if he takes time to adjust in north London.

On the night all eyes were on the new arrival from Sporting Lisbon, absolutely no-one had taken any notice of Villarreal’s Nicolas Pepe.

So while we all expected an expensive signing by Arsenal to score, you would not have had any money on it being £72m Arsenal flop Pepe.

Villarreal’s Ivory Coast international scored the first goal and Karl Etta Eyong made it 2-0 before new arrival Christian Norgaard scored with a header.

Yet while we have spent the last few weeks talking about the need of a top striker, Mikel Arteta’s team will have to defend better than this, and sub Arnaut Danjuma made it 3-1 before Martin Odegaard pulled one back from the penalty spot.

Villarreal then won a penalty shoot-out 4-3 with another new arrival, Noni Madueke, missing the decisive spot-kick.

Gyokeres, who cost £8.5million less than Pepe, made his club debut as a 77th minute substitute against Spurs in Hong Kong but was given a heroes’ welcome at a packed Emirates.

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If Arsenal are to get the best out of their new all-singing, all-dancing goal machine, they will have to give him more ammunition.

Equally, Gyokeres did not have a proper pre-season as he barely trained in Lisbon.

He will soon be in better shape and has another run-out on Saturday against Athletic Bilbao.

Gyokeres tried to score his first goal in spectacular style but failed to connect with an attempted bicycle kick from Bukayo Saka’s cross and he had few other chances.

In terms of the way he moves and the fact has blonde hair, it was a bit like having Nicklas Bendtner back at the Emirates although it is safe to say Gyokeres will do a bit better than the cocky Dane.

Arteta also gave second half Emirates debuts to Christhian Mosquera, Martin Zubimendi, keeper Kepa Arrizabalaga and Madueke. 

Yet the comedy moment of the night was Pepe opening the scoring from close range and then refusing to celebrate.

Pepe arrived from Lille for that massive amount in 2019 and scored just 27 goals in 112 appearances before joining Trabzonspor on a free transfer in 2023.

Many Arsenal fans probably did not realise that Pepe was even playing in this fixture although there was a mixture of jeers and applause when his name was read out after scoring.

Etta Eyong scored at the far post for 2-0 before former Brentford captain Norgaard pulled one back with a far post header before the break.

The biggest roar of the night came just after the hour when 15-year-old Max Dowman was unleashed.

Villarreal caught Arsenal on the break with former Bournemouth forward Danjuma making it 3-1 before Dowman won a penalty and Odegaard, who replaced Gyokeres, got Arsenal’s second.

There was still a shoot-out although Madueke saw his shot saved with one fan shouting: “send him back to Chelsea.”

Meanwhile, Arsenal – yet again – have fitness concerns.

Both defender Riccardo Calafiori, who suffered an injury on the tour, along with Kai Havertz, were missing from the squad.