Atlético Madrid’s chief executive appeared to slam the door on Barcelona’s pursuit of Júlian Alvarez on Thursday. Miguel Ángel Gil Marín accused the Catalan club of dishonesty and insisted the Argentina forward would “never, ever” be sold to them. Speaking to Spanish broadcaster Movistar Plus, Gil Marín delivered a blistering response to Barcelona’s president, Joan Laporta, who had said on Wednesday that his club remained “very interested” in signing Alvarez.
Gil Marín said Atlético were united from top to bottom in refusing to negotiate with Barcelona over a deal for a player they insists is not for sale to their La Liga rivals. Gil Marín said the situation had affected Alvarez. Alvarez was booed by Atleti fans during their 2-2 home draw with Villarreal on Sunday, having stated his desire to leave.
While on World Cup duty with Argentina this summer, the 26-year-old revealed he wanted to “fulfil my dream” by departing the club. If he believes that staying at Atlético is no longer feasible, we will look for an alternative, but it will never, ever be Barcelona.” Raphinha and Fermin López scored in either half and Rodri made his debut off the bench as Barcelona beat Athletic Club 2-0 at Camp Nou in their first home match of the new La Liga season. Barça opened the scoring in the 37th minute, Raphinga rounding goalkeeper Unai Simón after Pedri’s through ball split the Athletic defence. Fermin sealed the win in the 82nd when he pounced on Aymeric Laporte’s defensive error from Karim Adeyemi’s low cross and finished from inside the penalty box.
Hansi Flick’s side controlled most of the game and created the better chances, although Simon kept the visitors in contention with several important saves. Flick also handed winger Anthony Gordon his full debut, with Rodri coming on for Raphinha to make his first appearance for Barça. Flick made three changes from the team that began the campaign with a 5-0 win at Elche, handing Anthony Gordon his full debut and bringing in Pau Cubarsi and Pedri.
New signing Rodri started on the bench. It has been a long summer … I’m very happy, I am where I wanted to be.
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