Barcelona crushes Real Madrid 7-0 in the Spanish Women's League and Irish-Israeli solidarity in the Nations League

Barcelona achieved a sweeping victory over its rival Real Madrid 7-0 on Sunday in the Spanish Women's Football League, including a quadruple by Claudia Pena, which allowed it to expand the lead at the top to 5 points.

At the Camp Nou stadium, in front of more than 40,000 spectators, Barcelona maintained its ideal start to the season with a sixth successive victory, achieved after a match whose start was postponed for two hours due to the heavy rain that fell on the Catalonia region over the weekend.

Pena gave Barcelona, ​​who won the league title in the last seven seasons, an early advantage after just four minutes with a perfect shot after penetrating the area.

The Catalan team imposed its control, while Real struggled to obtain the ball, but the capital club succeeded in holding out until the 28th minute when Pena scored her second goal, before completing her hat-trick a few minutes later with a powerful shot that landed in the top corner.

Immediately afterwards, Norwegian Graham Hansen added the fourth goal for Barcelona after she got rid of a defender before shooting into the goal.

Pena returned to score her fourth personal goal with a powerful shot at the near post before the end of the first half.

The sixth goal came early in the second half for the Perry Romeu team, through Polish striker Eva Bajor.

Three-time Ballon d'Or winner Aitana Bonmatti participated in the last 30 minutes, as she continued to regain her full fitness after suffering a broken leg.

Swiss midfielder Sydney Schertenlieb added the seventh goal with a wonderful shot from a distance late in the match, concluding the goal festival.

Real Madrid succeeded in defeating Barcelona only once during 25 confrontations between the two teams in various competitions, noting that the women’s team was founded in 2020 after acquiring the Tacon club.

The Irish national football team again wore black armbands and bowed their heads during the playing of the Israeli national anthem before the two teams' second match in the European Nations League, on Sunday.

Israeli players also wore black armbands in memory of those killed in the Hamas-led attacks against Israel on October 7, 2023.

Ireland goalkeeper Caomin Kelleher wore the captain's armband in place of Dara O'Shea, who was allowed to be absent to be by his wife's side during the birth of their child.

Kelleher deliberately did not shake hands with Dor Peretz, the captain of the Israeli national team, despite completing the usual pre-match ceremony with the referee and one of his assistants.

Kelleher thus repeated O'Shea's behavior before the first match in Debrecen, Hungary, last week, when he refused to shake hands with the captain of the Israeli national team, Manor Solomon.

Ireland won that match 3-0, and the goals were scored in the first half.

Solomon sat on the bench in Sunday's match in the Serbian city of Baka Topola, while Israeli striker Sayed Abu Farhi returned to the squad after the end of his suspension, after he was expelled because of the way he celebrated a goal he scored during Israel's 3-1 loss to Austria on September 25 in the same tournament.

Finn Azaz, whose mother is of Israeli descent, was also on the Irish national team's substitute list, after he started the match against Austria last Thursday.

That match was initially scheduled to be held in Dublin, but the Irish Football Association moved the match to a neutral stadium for “operational” reasons last June, following widespread calls for a boycott in protest against Israel’s practices in Gaza, while the Irish Football Association announced that the match would be held without an audience in attendance.

This came in the wake of a proposal submitted by the Irish Federation last November, in which the European Football Association (UEFA) called for a ban on Israel’s participation in continental club and national team competitions.

Roberto Mancini, the coach of the Italian national team, said that there is great concern before facing Türkiye, on Monday, in the European Nations League competitions.

The British News Agency reported that Mancini, who took over from Gennaro Gattuso after the Italian team failed to reach the World Cup finals for the third time in a row, lost the first match in his second term as coach of the team to Belgium 0-2 in Rome less than a week ago.

The team was subjected to boos from its fans between halftime of the Belgium match and after the final whistle, but it came back to achieve a major victory over Turkey 4-1 in the second match, then tied with France 1-1 in Paris on Friday.

Mancini said in a press conference: “There is a lot of anxiety at the moment, but we have to be calm.”

He added: “We simply need time to work and develop, and if we can perform well and win, things will change.”

Mancini continued: “We should not be overly enthusiastic when we win, nor drown in frustration when we lose. The important thing is that we played good football in our match against Turkey.”