Despite all the milestones Asier Illarramendi has reached, the next five days might be the most important of his career. The Basque defensive midfielder has fallen so far out of favour at the Bernabeu that it seems impossible he will be able to turn his Real Madrid career around; at least while Carlo Ancelotti is in charge, and all signs point to the Italian staying at the club for quite some time.

The only sign Illarramendi should be taking note of at this stage of the season is the one pointing...

First came his howl of rage at Gareth Bale when an assist wasn't served up. Then came that pretty cringe-worthy howl at the moon when he was awarded the Ballon d'Or in Zurich. No goals in the World Club Championship, defeat at Valencia, elimination from the Copa del Rey which, thanks to a red card and then an injury, he's not won since 2011. A relationship break-up.

In retrospect, I think we should probably have intuited that Cristiano Ronaldo might be storing up some bile and frustration.

Just...

Barcelona take a 1-0 win to Atletico Madrid in the second leg of their Spanish Cup quarterfinal this week and if Luis Enrique can plot a way past La Liga's champions, talk of a crisis at the Camp Nou may finally cease.

The Barcelona coach has won six in a row following the shock 1-0 defeat to David Moyes' Real Sociedad -- a match where he started Lionel Messi and Neymar on the bench -- and a place in the semifinals of the Spanish Cup will rubber-stamp Barca's revival.

With just one defeat in 18 matches,...