BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — La Liga will hold a minute of silence before this weekend’s matches in memory of the victims of the two deadly train accidents in the country in the past week.
At least 43 people were killed in southern Spain last Sunday when a high-speed train jumped the track and caused a second train passing the other way to derail. That was followed by another crash on Tuesday when a commuter train outside Barcelona hit a retaining wall that collapsed, killing one person.
The father of Getafe player David Cordón was among the victims of the first incident, the Madrid-based club said. Getafe plays at Girona on Monday. Cordón is unavailable due to injury.
The incidents have stunned the nation that leads Europe in high-speed rail travel and has millions of workers who rely on commuter service every day.
Despite its recent turmoil and coaching change, Real Madrid visits Villarreal in an important game on Saturday with the chance to retake the lead.
A win by second-placed Madrid over third-placed Villarreal would let it leapfrog Barcelona and recover the lead before its top rival plays Real Oviedo on Sunday.
Villarreal, which has played one less game, trails Madrid by seven points. So the match at home is an opportunity — perhaps its last — to keep alive its outside bid at a run for the title.
Against lowly Oviedo, Barcelona will try to shake off last weekend’s loss at Real Sociedad, which ended an 11-game winning run for Hansi Flick’s side.
Sociedad, for its part, is at home against Celta Vigo on Sunday. It remains undefeated in four games across La Liga and the Copa del Rey under new American coach Pellegrino Matarazzo, who has taken it into ninth place.
Vinícius Júnior helped to placate Madrid’s angry fans by scoring one goal and assisting on three others in a 6-1 rout of Monaco in the Champions League on Tuesday.
He has been targeted for jeers by Madrid’s fans for the team’s poor play and for him reportedly not supporting now ex-coach Xabi Alonso, who was fired last week and replaced by Álvaro Arbeloa.
Brahim Díaz is expected to return to Madrid practice on Thursday after he helped Morocco reach the final of the Africa Cup of Nations where it lost to Senegal 1-0. Díaz flubbed a chance to potentially win it when he chipped a penalty in stoppage time right into the arms of the goalkeeper before Senegal's goal.
Barcelona midfielder Fermín López, who was close to a move to Chelsea in the summer, is on a tear. He has 10 goals across all competitions, including two in a 4-2 win at Slavia Prague.
Pedri, the motor who makes Barcelona’s passing game go, hurt his right hamstring in Prague and was substituted early in the second half. The club says he will be out for a month.
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View of the site of a train collision in Adamuz, southern Spain, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappe celebrates with Vinicius Junior his side's second goal during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Real Madrid and Monaco in Madrid on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Jose Breton)
Real Madrid players observe a minute's silence for the victims of the train collision in Adamuz, ahead of during a Spanish the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Real Madrid and Monaco in Madrid on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Jose Breton)
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung agreed Friday to work together to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz and ease global economic uncertainties caused by the war in the Middle East.
Their summit in Seoul came as U.S. President Donald Trump slammed allies for not supporting the U.S. and Israeli war against Iran. Macron was making his first visit to South Korea since taking office in 2017, as part of an Asian tour that already has taken him to Japan.
Macron told Lee at the start of the meeting that the two countries can play a role in helping to stabilize the situation in the Middle East, including Iran’s chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, which has unleashed shock on global energy markets.
At a joint televised briefing afterward, Macron underscored the need for France and South Korea to cooperate to help reopen the strait and deescalate Middle East animosities, while Lee said the two affirmed “their resolves to cooperate to secure the safe shipping route in the Strait of Hormuz.”
The two leaders did not take questions and did not elaborate on how they would help reopen the strait — the narrow waterway between Iran and Oman through which about one-fifth of the world’s oil usually passes.
“We need to clearly define, at the international level, the conditions for a process to ease the crisis and conflict in the Middle East,” Macron said. “We need to ensure that the Strait of Hormuz is reopened.”
Lee said he and Macron agreed to expand cooperation in technology, energy and other areas. South Korean and French officials also signed agreements to cooperate on nuclear fuel supply chains, jointly invest in an offshore wind project in southern South Korea and to collaborate on critical minerals. South Korea has moved to increase output at its nuclear reactors to mitigate the energy crunch and Lee has also called for a faster transition to renewable energy, saying the war has exposed the country’s heavy reliance on fossil fuel imports.
Macron’s Asia trip comes as Trump has ramped up his frustration with allies. In a speech Wednesday, Trump said Americans “don’t need” the strait but the countries who do “must grab it and cherish it.”
In an earlier Easter event at the White House, Trump called for his allies in Asia and China to get involved in reopening the waterway.
“Let South Korea, you know, we only have 45,000 soldiers in harm’s way over there, right next to a nuclear force — let South Korea do it,” Trump said. “Let Japan do it. They get 90% of their oil from the strait. Let China do it.”
The United States stations about 28,000 troops in South Korea, not the 45,000 stated by Trump. The U.S. troops’ deployment in South Korea is meant to deter potential aggressions from North Korea.
Macron has said reopening the Strait of Hormuz through a military operation is unrealistic.
South Korean officials have said they are in contact with Washington on the issue and that Seoul isn’t considering paying Iran transit fees to secure fuel shipments through the strait.
French President Emmanuel Macron, front left, his wife Brigitte Macron, back center, and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, front right, and his wife Kim Hea Kyung, right, attend the welcome ceremony at the presidential Blue House in Seoul Friday, April 3, 2026. (Jung Yeon-je /Pool Photo via AP)
French President Emmanuel Macron, center, his wife Brigitte Macron, left, and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, right, and his wife Kim Hea Kyung, second left, attend the welcome ceremony at the presidential Blue House in Seoul Friday, April 3, 2026. (Jung Yeon-je /Pool Photo via AP)
French President Emmanuel Macron, second left, talks with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, second right, during their meeting at the Blue House in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, April 3, 2026. (Jung Yeon-je/Pool Photo via AP)
French President Emmanuel Macron shakes hands with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung during their meeting at the Blue House in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, April 3, 2026. (Jung Yeon-je/Pool Photo via AP)
