Sports Burst - Will Solari Be Madrid's Main Man?
Real Madrid set to make big decision to stick or twist with Solari
Monday could see Real Madrid making managerial announcement
This is because of a technical contractual issue. Solari can only be the temporary coach for 15 days before a permanent arrangement has to be made. And that period runs out today. But even Solari himself admitted on Sunday that he had no idea of what role he would be returning to this week, which must make life tricky in relation to his office supplies.
The case for the former Real Madrid player becoming the permanent coach is that his team has won all four games he has lead, even with a number of injury issues. Nacho and Casemiro are now sidelined to make matters worse.
The players seem relatively content. But most importantly of all, no-one else with any kind of coaching gravitas appears to want the Madrid job at the moment.
This sees the probable announcement from Madrid on Monday that Florentino Perez will be hoping to repeat the success of the Zinedine Zidane experiment - promoting the number two, to number one and reaping the rewards. Or firing him at Christmas.
Get the latest news on what could be a busy day for Real Madrid on the XTRA at 7PM ET / 4PM PT.
Barca ponders philosophical future under Valverde
While Real Madrid is potentially in celebratory manager-appointing mode on Monday, Barcelona is slumped on the sofa in a gloomy post defeat Netflix-binge and trying to work out whether it is worth making it past episode two of the final season of House of Cards, or simply give up.
The home defeat by Betis - the first league loss in the Camp Nou for two years - sees some introspection on whether the two mangers were on the wrong bench for Sunday's game.
It was Quique Setien, the boss of Betis, who had been preaching before the match about football being played the right and wrong way - a very Barcelona concept - while Ernesto Valverde was all about getting the points.
That was apparently noted by Sergio Busquets who gave a Barca jersey to the Betis boss after the defeat for his team, praising his football philosophy.
Find out what the Locker Room crew made of Barcelona's stumble at 7:30PM ET / 4:30PM PT.
Big hitters power through in MLS playoffs
Time to take a wee step back in time and across the Atlantic to this side of The Pond and the three MLS playoff games which took place across Sunday.
The stage was the Conference semifinal second-legs and over in the west, the previously-played Portland Timbers were watching on to see who their rivals would be in the final. That turned out to be Sporting KC who comfortably defeated Real Salt Lake 5-3 on aggregate.
The Eastern Conference final will pit the division's two big-hitters against each other as Atlanta United and the NY Red Bulls won their ties against NYCFC and Columbus Crew respectively.
Should Sporting KC and the Red Bulls prevail in the two-legged affairs in a fortnight's time, then the two Conference winners will be facing off to avoid at least some of the Supporters Shield v MLS Cup winners bickering.
Higuain apologizes for San Siro Milan meltdown
Gonzalo Higuain is in reflective mood on Monday. The Milan striker has admitted through the medium of Instagram that he was wrong to lose his marbles at a referee on Sunday to receive a yellow card just seconds after receiving a first for a foul which, to be fair, the Argentinean didn't make. This all came after missing a penalty in the 2-0 home defeat to Juventus.
Elsewhere and we might find out if the story that Franck Ribery had a bit of an altercation with a journalist after Bayern Munich's defeat to Borussia Dortmund are true. By the sounds of it, they probably are.
We will also face together another fortnight free of club football but full of Nations League and international friendly fun.