Catalans honour terror attack victims in Betis win; Real Madrid beat Deportivo<\/p>\n
Barcelona,
\nBarcelona got their La Liga season off to a winning start, beating Real Betis 2-0 at a emotional Camp Nou following a pair of terrorist attacks in Catalonia. Twin vehicle attacks on Thursday killed 14 people and wounded around 120 in Barcelona\u2019s bustling Las Ramblas boulevard and the nearby seaside resort of Cambrils.<\/p>\n
A minute\u2019s silence was held before kick-off, whilst Barcelona players wore black armbands and shirts with \u2018Barcelona\u2019 replacing individual names on the back.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened was terrible, we hope this stops now because we are not afraid,\u201d Barca winger Gerard Deulofeu, who set up both goals, said. \u201cThis victory is for those affected.\u201d<\/p>\n
The decision for the match to go ahead with increased security measures put in place was part of a desire to \u201crecover normality\u201d in the words of Catalonia\u2019s president Carles Puigdemont.<\/p>\n
A defiant attitude was on show in the stands, although in common with many matches against weaker opposition, the 99,000 capacity Camp Nou was far from full. After the attack some fans, especially tourists, returned their tickets, the club said without giving figures. \u201cTheir money was refunded to everyone, the circumstances are special and understandable,\u201d a club spokesman said.<\/p>\n
\u2018Not afraid\u2019
\nFans in the Barca singing section borrowed a line from the club\u2019s anthem in a banner that read: \u201cNo one can ever break us,\u201d whilst chants of \u201cwe are not afraid\u201d rang out after the minute\u2019s silence.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought there would be like a collective hysteria but I see everything is normal,\u201d added Sandra Lorenzo, 41, as she sold drinks next to the stadium. \u201cI have worked here for 25 years at every match. They are not going to make me stay at home.\u201d<\/p>\n
Prior to the attacks, Barca had endured a difficult start to the season on the field as the Catalans were swept aside 5-1 on aggregate by Real Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup. Coach Ernesto Valverde admitted on Saturday events in the past few days had put the club\u2019s problems into perspective.<\/p>\n
However, despite also missing the injured Luis Suarez and Andres Iniesta, Barca rose to the challenge of raising the city\u2019s spirits with a dominant display.<\/p>\n
Captain Lionel Messi led by example with Deolofeu and Paco Alcacer struggling to fill Suarez and Neymar\u2019s shoes up front.<\/p>\n
Messi smashed an early freekick off the post and his presence was enough to pressure Alin Tosca to turn Deulofeu\u2019s low cross into his own net for the opener nine minutes before halftime.<\/p>\n
Deulofeu was the provider once more when Barca doubled their advantage three minutes later as Sergi Roberto slotted home from close range. Messi also posed the biggest threat of a low key second- half as he struck the woodwork twice more with rasping shots from outside the area.<\/p>\n
Real cruise to 3-0 win<\/p>\n
Madrid: Real Madrid\u2019s winning streak shows no signs of abating as the European champions began their defence of La Liga with a comfortable 3-0 win at Deportivo la Coruna.<\/p>\n
Gareth Bale, Casemiro and Toni Kroos were on target for the visitors, but Madrid\u2019s night at La Riazor ended on a sour note when captain Sergio Ramos was shown the 23rd red card of his Real career. Deportivo were left to rue to big chances missed in the first 10 minutes.<\/p>\n
Neymar slams Barca bosses
\nParis: Paris Saint-Germain\u2019s world record signing Neymar launched a scathing attack on his former club\u2019s directors. The people in charge at the Catalan giants \u201care not the people who should be there, for the direction of Barca,\u201d Neymar said after scoring twice on his home debut as PSG thumped Toulouse 6-2 in Ligue 1. \u201cI want to speak the truth, I\u2019m very sad with them,\u201d said the Brazilian star who cost the Paris club a world record ^222 million to prise from Barcelona.<\/p>\n
\u201cI spent four beautiful years there and I parted happy. But with them (the club\u2019s directors), no. For me, they are not the people who should be there, for the direction of Barca,\u201d said Neymar. \u201cBarca deserve much better and the whole world knows it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Catalans honour terror attack victims in Betis win; Real Madrid beat Deportivo Barcelona, Barcelona got their La Liga season off to a winning start, beating Real Betis 2-0 at a emotional Camp Nou following a pair of terrorist attacks in Catalonia. Twin vehicle attacks on Thursday killed 14 people and wounded around 120 in Barcelona\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2744,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[122],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2743","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2743","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2743"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2743\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2745,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2743\/revisions\/2745"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2744"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}