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Jubilant Madrid Visit Granada as Liga Relegation Battle Nears End

Cadiz lost against Real Madrid last weekend and are battling for survival in La Liga. OSCAR DEL POZO / AFP
Cadiz lost against Real Madrid last weekend and are battling for survival in La Liga. OSCAR DEL POZO / AFP
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Jubilant Madrid Visit Granada as Liga Relegation Battle Nears End

Cadiz lost against Real Madrid last weekend and are battling for survival in La Liga. OSCAR DEL POZO / AFP
Cadiz lost against Real Madrid last weekend and are battling for survival in La Liga. OSCAR DEL POZO / AFP

New Spanish champions Real Madrid visit suffering Granada on Saturday with La Liga's key affairs on the verge of being settled, despite four rounds of fixtures remaining.
After Los Blancos wrapped up the title last weekend and Girona secured Champions League qualification, attention turns to the other end of the table.
Granada could already be down before kick-off at their Nuevo Los Carmenes stadium if Real Mallorca, 17th, defeat Las Palmas earlier on.
The Andalucians are above only relegated Almeria and languish 11 points from safety with just 12 to play for. They were promoted last season but are poised to return swiftly to Spain's second tier.
Real Madrid defeated Bayern Munich on Wednesday to reach the Champions League final and after putting off their title celebrations last week to focus on that game, will be in party mode.
At least Granada's supporters will be spared the anguish of watching Madrid's trophy presentation potentially on the day they are relegated.
Although the Spanish football federation initially planned to give Los Blancos the league trophy on Saturday, they changed their plans and will instead hand it to Madrid on Sunday morning.
"We will play against Real Madrid to dedicate a victory to our fans, which is what they deserve," said Granada coach Jose Ramon Sandoval, acknowledging an honorable exit is the most Granada can hope for now.
Cadiz, 18th, trail Mallorca by six points and have a slightly greater chance of survival, although the odds are against them.
They host Getafe on Sunday and a victory would help them at least take their survival battle to the wire.
"It's difficult to do calculations -- we need to always focus on the next match," said coach Mauricio Pellegrino.
"Our chances will increase if we win the next one.
"We need to improve, rise back up, and compete in front of our fans."
Higher up the table there are a few minor threads still to fully unravel.
Atletico Madrid are firm favorites to hold on to fourth position to reach next season's Champions League, sitting six points clear of Athletic Bilbao in fifth.
Diego Simeone's side welcome lowly Celta Vigo on Sunday after Athletic host out-of-form Osasuna on Saturday.
Real Betis are trying to fend off eighth-place Valencia to finish in the top seven to secure European football next season and have a five-point advantage.
Second-place Girona would dearly love to finish above illustrious but hurting neighbors Barcelona, third, who host a Real Sociedad team still looking to seal a Europa League place on Monday.
Michel Sanchez's entertaining Girona side visit Alaves with striker Artem Dovbyk aiming to add to his league-leading goal tally of 20.

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‘They Killed Her Dream’: Israel Strike Leaves Lebanese Woman Footballer in Coma

An undated handout photo obtained from the Lebanese Football Association (LFA) on November 19, 2024, shows Lebanese footballer Celine Haidar celebrating with a tournament cup after a football match in Jordan. (Lebanese Football Association / AFP)
An undated handout photo obtained from the Lebanese Football Association (LFA) on November 19, 2024, shows Lebanese footballer Celine Haidar celebrating with a tournament cup after a football match in Jordan. (Lebanese Football Association / AFP)
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‘They Killed Her Dream’: Israel Strike Leaves Lebanese Woman Footballer in Coma

An undated handout photo obtained from the Lebanese Football Association (LFA) on November 19, 2024, shows Lebanese footballer Celine Haidar celebrating with a tournament cup after a football match in Jordan. (Lebanese Football Association / AFP)
An undated handout photo obtained from the Lebanese Football Association (LFA) on November 19, 2024, shows Lebanese footballer Celine Haidar celebrating with a tournament cup after a football match in Jordan. (Lebanese Football Association / AFP)

Lebanese footballer Celine Haidar was about to make her dream of playing for the national women's team come true, but debris from an Israeli strike left the 19-year-old in a medically induced coma.

After full-blown war erupted in September, Haidar's family were among more than a million people who fled south Beirut and other Hezbollah strongholds, as Israeli bombs rained down.

"But Celine had to come back to (south) Beirut for her studies and training," her father Abbas Haidar told AFP.

"She would leave the house after evacuation calls were issued or bombing intensified, then she'd come back home at night to sleep," he said.

Now, she is the latest athlete to become a casualty of Israeli strikes, which already forced the Lebanese Football Association to postpone all domestic football competitions indefinitely.

On Saturday, her father called her to warn of new evacuation orders published by the Israeli military online and she left the house.

But soon after, "my wife called to tell me Celine was in the hospital," he said.

She had been seriously wounded in an Israeli strike on her home neighborhood of Chiyah, as the air force pummeled Beirut's southern suburbs.

- Cracked skull -

Footage of Haidar lying unconscious on the ground, her face covered in blood, while a young man beside her cried in pain took Lebanese social media by storm.

"The strike was close and she was hit in the head," her mother Sanaa Shahrour told AFP. "My daughter has a brain hemorrhage, her skull is cracked."

She said her daughter had sent her a message asking her to prepare her favorite dish, but "an hour later her friend called to say she had been wounded".

"My daughter is a heroine," she said, her eyes red with tears.

"She's strong. She will get back up and play again," she said.

"She dreamt of competing abroad. She said she wanted to be like (Cristiano) Ronaldo and (Lionel) Messi... She wanted to be a star and for everyone to talk about her.

"Now everyone is talking about her because she was wounded in a war that she has nothing to do with," she said.

"She has beautiful dreams," she said, but "they killed her dream."

- 'A fighter' on the pitch -

Haidar was a pillar of her club, Beirut Football Academy (BFA), which won the Lebanese Women's Football League last season without dropping a single point, and was due to don the captain's armband this season.

The midfielder was also part of the national women's Under-18 team that won the 2022 West Asian Football Federation championship.

Now she is in a medically induced coma, team manager Ziad Saade said.

"The doctors are following her very closely," her father told AFP from the Saint George Hospital in Beirut where his daughter is being treated.

"But her injuries are serious, we hope she will gradually heal," he said with tears in his eyes.

"We're paying the price for something that's not our fault."

Lebanese authorities say more than 3,544 people have been killed since Hezbollah began trading fire with Israel in October last year, with most deaths recorded since Israel stepped up its campaign in September.

"On the pitch, she's a fighter, she was the link between defense and attack," coach Samer Barbary said, as he and teammates visited her at the hospital.

"She is an exceptional girl and an excellent player."