Open Thread: November 30, 2021

The Open Thread/Daily Merengue is a place where you can discuss anything and everything related to football. Feel free to discuss the topics presented here, or start your very own discussions! The Open thread will be posted every day by one of the mods: Valyrian Steel, Felipejack, YoSnail, Ezek Ix or NeRObutBlanco.

Preparations underway for Bilbao.

The starters from the Sevilla match carried out recovery work. The rest of the group began with rondos and control and passing exercises before ending the session with small-sided games. Hazard was involved in part of the session with the group. Bale and Ceballos worked on their own out on the pitch.

Aznar fired as Las Blancas get a new coach.

As reported by Grant Little, Real Madrid Femenino have fired head coach David Aznar and appointed former Castilla player Alberto Toril as the new manager until June 30, 2023. Results this season have been poor as the team currently sit in 10th position. Here is the full press release.

Benzema ends up in fourth place in the Balon D’or rankings.

As expected Karim Benzema did not win the Balon D’or as Messi scooped his 7th trophy. Congratulations are in order for the Argentine phenom. The club also put out a congratulatory tweet for the striker who has been nothing but amazing since Cristiano left Real Madrid.

A look around Europe: Juventus could be relegated!!!

After losing 4-0 to Chelsea, Juventus’s week only went downhill. Tuesday’s Champions League drubbing was followed up by another loss at home to Atalanta on Saturday. In-between, the club’s offices were raided by police, who seized documents relating to player transfers and financial accounts.

The investigation from Italian authorities is related to a total of 42 transfers, including Cristiano Ronaldo, Joao Cancelo, Arthur Melo and Danilo, between 2019 and 2021.

It’s alleged Juve inflated their players’ values on their accounts and the likes of Andrea Agnelli, Pavel Nedved and Fabio Paratici, now at Spurs, are cooperating with the investigation. It’s a serious matter and CODACONS, the Italian association for consumer rights, reckon an automatic demotion to the Italian second tier could be on the cards should a guilty verdict arrive.

Juve also won Serie A in the 2019/20 season under Maurizio Sarri and would likely be stripped of the title.