FC Barcelona have claimed their 28th LALIGA EA SPORTS title in club history. The Blaugrana secured the trophy in brilliant fashion in a season that was decided by the smallest of margins. In fact, the final gap between the top two teams was just four points—the narrowest title race in the last five seasons, since Atlético de Madrid won the league in 2020/2021. Looking back over the last ten years, it ranks as the fourth LALIGA season with the smallest points difference between the top two.

FC Barcelona and Real Madrid battled neck and neck until the end

Barça and Real Madrid remained locked in a tight title race until the closing matchdays. Atlético de Madrid were also in contention and even crowned winter champions, but they couldn’t maintain the same pace in the second half of the season. In contrast, Barça and Madrid pushed each other to the wire, with the Catalans finally securing the title only in the third-to-last matchday.

A decisive factor was the head-to-head encounters between the two giants—Barcelona won both fixtures, collecting six out of six points, a blow from which Madrid couldn’t recover. It was a thrilling duel of equals, ultimately decided by Barça’s greater determination, despite a resilient and relentless Real Madrid.

Champions League spots undecided until the final two matchdays

Spain typically sends four teams to the UEFA Champions League, but this season five will compete in Europe’s top club competition. Still, the fight for those spots was fierce. The fourth- and fifth-placed teams finished level on points after 38 matchdays, with Real Betis narrowly missing out despite being in contention until the penultimate round. In the end, FC Barcelona, Real Madrid, Atlético de Madrid, Athletic Club, and Villarreal CF qualified for the next edition of the UEFA Champions League.

The battle for UEFA Europa League and Conference League places was equally intense, with teams as low as 14th still in the race until the final three matchdays. Only on the final day were the remaining European spots decided, delivering tremendous excitement. Ultimately, RC Celta and Rayo Vallecano earned places in the Europa League and Conference League, respectively. CA Osasuna and RCD Mallorca came close but were edged out by the teams from Vigo and Vallecas.

Thrilling relegation battle until the very end

The relegation fight saw numerous twists and turns throughout the season. Several teams were involved in the survival battle deep into the campaign. In the end, CD Leganés, UD Las Palmas, and Real Valladolid were the unfortunate sides to lose their LALIGA EA SPORTS status. The parity was remarkable, with just six points separating 11th and 18th place, highlighting how tightly packed the lower half of the table was in this dramatic fight to avoid relegation to LALIGA HYPERMOTION.

The winner will be announced in Paris on Monday, October 28 – so which of the game’s biggest stars are true contenders, and who are merely pretenders?

After a season headlined by him finally getting his hands on the World Cup, Lionel Messi took home his eighth Ballon d’Or after picking up the 2023 prize in Paris back in October. The footballing world has long since moved on, though, and debate has raged over the identity of the 2024 winner ever since the spring.

It was an intense race. Along with the usual domestic ups and downs, 2023-24 was a campaign that saw the majority of the globe’s best players taking part in international tournaments, including the European Championship and Copa America.

So after a year that was defined by the battle between Messi’s tournament success for Argentina and Erling Haaland’s season-long superiority at Manchester City, how much of a bearing on the 2024 Ballon d’Or race will those international competitions have?

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GOAL has been here every step of the way to track the contenders for the biggest individual prize the game has to offer. So who do we think will come out on top? With the nominees all confirmed, here’s how we see things playing out at the ceremony in Paris on Monday, October 28…

When Real Madrid and Barcelona face each other, the world comes to a standstill. And this Saturday, history is being written again as the final of the Copa del Rey is contested on neutral ground, at La Cartuja Stadium in Seville. The stadium, with a capacity of around 70,000 fans, will witness one of the world’s most thrilling derbies, this time with a trophy, and glory, on the line.

Barcelona steps into the final looking to further its dominance of the tournament. The Catalan club already boasts 31 Copa del Rey titles in its trophy cabinet, and an eventual 32nd would just make it the most successful club in the tournament. Real Madrid, on its part, considers the confrontation to be a golden opportunity: the chance to secure its 21st title and close in on the second-biggest winner, Athletic Bilbao, with 24 titles.

Recent memories lean in favor of Barcelona

If history is any guide in recent times, Barça supporters have every right to hope big. Barcelona won the two most recent El Clásico matches of the season. They dominated their respective opponents in the opening match of La Liga and the Spanish Super Cup final. Not just winning but dominating the proceedings, calling the shots, raising the tempo, and not leaving anybody doubting who was in charge of the field, Barcelona swept victory under the carpet.

But a Clásico’s a Clásico. Whatever lesson this enmity tries to teach, it’s this: favoritism lasts as long as the first whistle. Recall 2014, the last time the two met in a Copa del Rey final, when Real Madrid snatched away a 2-1 win that still causes pain to Barcelona’s faithful even today. No one ever stepped onto the ground with ease whenever these two giants clashed.

A new stage for a century-old rivalry

Choosing La Cartuja as the venue to host the final brings a level of added piquancy. It will be the first Clásico ever played in Seville. More still, La Cartuja is currently the 17th different ground to host a competitive Barcelona v Real Madrid match, and the 25th overall including friendlies and other tournaments.

The history between these two giants has always been one of clashing on different grounds. Since 1902, starting at Madrid’s Hippodrome, then Mestalla, Romareda, Vicente Calderón, and even other venues like Alfredo Di Stéfano Stadium during the pandemic, the Clásico has traveled far and wide. Seville’s turn now to witness the entire fury of this classic meeting at close range.

Commonwealth Games medallist and Olympian Jaismine Lamboria continued dominance in the ring with a second knockout win in as many days to storm into the quarterfinals of the 8th Elite Women’s National Boxing Championship at the Shaheed Vijay Singh Pathik Sports Complex, Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh on Sunday.

Jaismine, one of only two Services boxers in the competition, beat Chandigarh’s Ruchika with a referee-stops-contest victory in the second round of the 57kg category. The other, Sakshi is already into the last eight in the 54kg. Also advancing was Railways’ promising youngster Sanamacha Chanu with a unanimous 5-0 win against Manipur’s Bindiya Devi Maorem. The quarterfinals will be held over the next two days with the final scheduled for March 27.

Joining Jasmine in the winner’s circle was Sanamacha Chanu of Railways Sports Promotion Board, a Youth World and National Champion, who displayed complete control in her unanimous decision victory over Manipur’s Bindiya Devi Maorem. Chanu’s calculated aggression and sharp technique kept her opponent on the back foot, reinforcing her title credentials early on in the competition.

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Last year’s silver medallist Sonia of Uttar Pradesh made a strong statement in the bantamweight category, overpowering Delhi’s Vanshika to advance.

In the minimumweight division, Sikkim’s Yasika Rai displayed sharp footwork and clean counterpunching to secure a unanimous decision win over Maharashtra’s Janhvi Churi. Meanwhile, Haryana’s Tannu edged past Manipur’s Sovi Jajo in a closely contested lightweight bout, winning by split decision (4:1).

The preliminaries also saw a string of dominant stoppage wins, with Vanshika Singh of Rajasthan storming past Kerala’s Dhanya PR with a first-round RSC in Minimumweight. All India Police’s Imroz Khan delivered an equally commanding performance, sealing a round-one stoppage victory against Andhra Pradesh’s Swapna Jampana, rounding off another thrilling day of high-intensity boxing.

Sports Mole previews Wednesday’s Champions League clash between Benfica and Barcelona, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.

With a lot to live up to following a nine-goal extravaganza in the league phase, Benfica and Barcelona cross paths once again on Wednesday night in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 battle at the Estadio da Luz.

The Portuguese giants eked out a 4-3 aggregate success over Monaco in the playoffs to earn another date with the Blaugrana, who were only out-performed by Liverpool in the first stage.

Match preview

© Imago

Long overdue another slice of European stardom 10 years after their most recent run to Champions League glory, Barcelona fans could be forgiven for already having the Munich final in their sights, having been placed on the opposite side of the draw to all of Liverpool, Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain.

Hansi Flick’s men may still have to battle past one of Bayern Munich or Inter Milan to earn a date with destiny, but they made several statements of intent during the league phase, recovering from an opening loss to Monaco to take 19 points from the next 21 on offer.

Trumping every other team in an attacking sense, La Blaugrana notched an unparalleled 28 goals in their eight league phase games – Borussia Dortmund were a far second with 22 – as the La Liga title challengers scored at least twice in each of their final seven league phase battles.

Also finding the back of the net for fun domestically, Barcelona followed up an enthralling 4-4 Copa del Rey semi-final first-leg draw with Atletico Madrid with a 4-0 demolition of Real Sociedad on Sunday, rising back to the top of the La Liga standings in the process.

Still unbeaten in 2025, the four-goal thrashing of Real Sociedad marked La Blaugrana’s 15th consecutive game without defeat across all competitions, and they have bagged multiple goals in 11 of their last 12 matches away from their temporary Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys home.

© Imago

As Barcelona rode off into the top-eight sunset, Iberian foes Benfica sneaked into the seeded playoff places with a 16th-placed league phase finish, thus earning a playoff date with a Monaco side who wound up just one spot worse off on the same number of points.

The clashes were about as closely-contested as the league phase rankings would suggest, but after coming up trumps 1-0 away from home thanks to a Vangelis Pavlidis effort, the Eagles fought back from 2-1 and 3-2 down in the second leg to just about advance following a six-goal stalemate.

That engrossing 3-3 draw with Monaco marked the first of five straight home matches for Bruno Lage’s side, who are now level on points with Sporting Lisbon at the top of the Primeira Liga table and are into the semi-finals of the Taca de Portugal thanks to a 1-0 win over Braga on February 26.

Hitting a rich vein of form at the perfect time, the two-time European Cup winners have seven wins and a draw on their record from their last eight matches across all competitions and are almost always good entertainment value in the Champions League, as their 10 games in this season’s competition have seen a whopping 35 goals.

Nine of those strikes came in an absorbing league phase showdown with Barcelona on January 21, where the Blaugrana edged a frenetic battle 5-4, the only time in 40 games that Benfica had failed to win a European home match in which they scored at least four goals.

Benfica Champions League form:

Benfica form (all competitions):

Barcelona Champions League form:

Barcelona form (all competitions):

Team News

© Imago

Barcelona boss Flick revealed that former Golden Boy Gavi would have started against Real Sociedad had he not been struck down by an illness, but the Spain international should be given the green light to return on Wednesday, having travelled with the team.

However, the luckless Andreas Christensen has suffered a new calf injury and is expected to be sidelined for around four weeks, while Marc Bernal and Marc-Andre ter Stegen are both on the way back from serious knee injuries.

Linking arms with Robert Lewandowski and Lamine Yamal in a fearsome front three, Raphinha is chasing down a national record; his 12 direct goal involvements in the 2024-25 Champions League is the third-most for a Brazilian player in a single edition of the tournament after Roberto Firmino (17 in 2017-18) and Kaka (13 in 2006-07).

As far as Benfica are concerned, Lage would have midfield fulcrum Florentino back from a Champions League ban for the first leg, but the 25-year-old suffered a thigh injury in the middle of February and is set to sit out the visit of Barca.

Florentino is joined in the treatment room by ACL victims Alexander Bah and Manu Silva, Tiago Gouveia (knee) and former Real Madrid winger Angel Di Maria (muscle), but Bruma is back from a three-game ban carried over from the Europa League, when he was sent off for Braga against Union Saint-Gilloise.

With Di Maria absent, the attacking responsibility falls onto the shoulders of the prolific Pavlidis, who scored a hat-trick in Benfica’s 5-4 loss to Barcelona in the league phase and is already on nine goal involvements for the 2024-25 tournament, seven of his own and two assists.

Benfica possible starting lineup:

Trubin; Araujo, Otamendi, Silva, Carreras; Kokcu, Barreiro, Aursnes; Akturkoglu, Pavlidis, Bruma

Barcelona possible starting lineup:

Szczesny; Kounde, Araujo, Cubarsi, Balde; Pedri, De Jong; Yamal, Gavi, Raphinha; Lewandowski

© PA Photos

We say: Benfica 1-3 Barcelona

Another nine-goal classic is surely off the cards, but do not expect a lack of goalmouth action between a ruthless Barcelona side and a Benfica crop boasting one of the tournament’s most lethal attackers in Pavlidis.

What should be an entertaining watch for the neutrals should be an even better watch for fans of Barcelona, as Flick’s fearsome attackers have our vote to overwhelm their Portuguese hosts and earn a healthy first-leg lead.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

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