Wednesday 11/8

☀️🌇👋 Good morning SSB crew. The Jersey swap. Typically an action done at the end of the game as a sign of respect between two players on opposing teams. But if you’re losing 2-0 at halftime, it’s probably not the best look to ask for a jersey swap as you head back into the lockers 😅. But I guess if that player you’re wanting to swap jersey’s with is Erling Haaland, we’ll give it a pass.

Giveaway: We like to reward our supporters, and for our latest giveaway, we’re raffling off a $30 gift card to Miami based soccer jersey store: Golaco Kits. Every time you refer a new reader, you get an entry to the raffle, share us on your Instagram stories for some extra credit too 😉😉

La Liga

There’s A New Sheriff in town: Girona

Alex Caparros/Getty Images

🪄🎦 There’s a new show in the Catalonia region. The current Spanish La Liga leaders are Catalans and are partially owned by a Guardiola. Spoiler alert: it’s not FC Barcelona or their neighbors Espanyol. The league leaders are about an hour ride north of Barcelona in Girona and they have a stadium with a capacity of 14,000 fans. The club was only recently promoted to the first division back in 2017 and are now currently living the dream sitting in first place 12 games into the season.

💵🛤️ Follow the money. The FBI does this to catch bad guys and fraud, Stateside Banter does it as part of our investigative journalism process- anything for our readers. After securing a promotion to the first division, Girona was bought by a well known investor - City Football Club. The holding company has an ownership stake in 12 different soccer clubs around the world, and Girona are their big investment in the Spanish division. The strong academy record of Girona was a big reason for the interest from the City group, with hopes of developing talent through their extensive network.

😎👦 The other Guardiola. Once an agent representing Luis Suarez and Andres Iniesta, Pep Guardiola’s brother, Pere Guardiola, is a part owner of Girona FC and the Chairman of the team as well as of 2020. Pere has brought a lot of pride to the small city of Girona with the playing style of the club. An attacking team that isn’t afraid to take chances, also leading the league in goals, edging out both Real Madrid and FC Barcelona.

UEFA

Tuesday Champions’ League Recap

⏭️ ⛵️🌊 City sets sails to the knockout stages. Pep and Co scored 12 goals in their first 5 group stage matches, and Mr. Haaland bagged a ¼ of those goals. Pep has managed to lead City into every knockout stage since manning the helm in 2016, because who can forget the round of 16 when Manchester City crashed out to a Monaco’s Kylian Mbappe and Radamel Falcao. It wasn’t until 8 years later Pep and Mr. Haaland delivered the much awaited Champions League in 2022/23, but will they run it back this year?

💵 💶 💸 Supporters made it rain. We should advise, the money was not real. Nonetheless, that did not stop supporters using it to express their fury. Just ask Gianluigi Donnarumma, the ex-Milan keeper, who returned to AC Milan with his new team PSG. AC Milan fans threw fake money onto the field towards Donnarumma. The fake mint had Donnarumma’s face and “Dollarumma” printed on them. Rumor has it Tonali collected all the money to bet on this week’s matches.

💲 🪙 💷 Raining cats, dogs, and bars of gold in Signal Iduna Park as Borussia Dortmund hosted Newcastle United. Der BVB fans staged a second half protest in which they threw fake bars of gold tennis balls onto the pitch in the early second half following FIFA’s decisions to award Saudi Arabia the 2034 World Cup. They also held a banner which read: “You don’t care about the sport all you care about is the money” which also featured an image that mocked FIFA president, Gianni Infantino.

🤏🫠🙃1 W or 1 D is all Barcelona needed to secure their first knockout round appearance since 2020. However, FIFA gods had different plans in mind and Barcelona miss their chance to secure Champions League knockout-stage qualification with two games to spare after falling to a 1-0 defeat against an impressive Shakhtar. The Blaugrana were well off the pace in the first half as the hosts knocked the ball around with confidence, growing as the opening 45 minutes wore on. A reward eventually came after 40 minutes as Sikan expertly headed home from Gocholeishvili’s inviting right-wing centre.

Xavi’s side were expected to come chasing in the second half, introducing Joao Felix, Pedri and Yamal, but an opening never showed against their resolute opponents. Such was the away side’s struggles, Lewandowski had fewer touches than goalkeeper Ter Stegen as Barca only managed one shot on target. Xavi’s side remain top of Group H on nine points. Shakhtar host Antwerp on November 28, when Barcelona will look to secure qualification at home to Porto.