Barcelona player wins La Liga Player of the Week for the first time ever

Neymar is La Liga’s Player of the Month. This is, somehow, big news.

It may shock you to learn that a Barcelona player had never won the La Liga Player of the Month award until now. It usually goes to under-recognized players on under-recognized teams, which is great, but it’s not exclusively that. Cristiano Ronaldo has won it twice, as have two Atlético Madrid players.

But now we’ve ended anti-Barca bias, and everything is fair and reasonable in La Liga.

One we missed from the weekend: Yassine Benzia’s wicked volley. (r/soccer)

Good news for Manchester United: they won’t have to face Luiz Gustavo on Tuesday. (ESPN FC)

Real Madrid are resting their stars on Tuesday, but not Cristiano Ronaldo. (AS)

MLS is getting their offseason underway fast. Here’s the first-ever MLS free agent class.

And here’s the full list of re-entry draft eligible players. (MLS)

West Ham’s Manuel Lanzini will miss six weeks. (Guardian)

Carlo Ancelotti isn’t interested in the Italy job because he wants a job in England. (Football Italia)

David Hirshey on Leicester deserving to be taken seriously. (ESPN FC)

Kieron O’Connor on Brighton’s finances. (Swiss Ramble)

Karen Rafayelyan on the ongoing crises of Armenian soccer. (Futbolgrad)

Everton and Palace played to a very entertaining draw. (Royal Blue Mersey)

Champions League: 8 games (2:45 p.m.) -- Man United vs. Wolfsburg is the big one.