Our headlines today include the latest ruling on the WPS 2012 season, Justin Bieber taking on Fernando Torres and Frank Lampard, and Darren Fletcher’s extended leave from football to deal with a chronic illness. Here’s today’s Daily Kick Around.

Women’s Professional Soccer

After a lot of talk and discussion that the league wouldn’t exist next season, WPS has received “conditional sanctioning to operate” for the 2012 season. Not sure what this means for the league? Our own Dana Wagner explains it all here.

La Liga

On Saturday, the whole world watched as Barcelona defeated Real Madrid in El Clasico. It was a fast-paced, back and forth match, but this cool video shows the key moments in slow motion. Bad ass is the best way to describe it.

Aside from the game itself, the focus was also on Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho, who just cannot figure out how to take down footy giants Barcelona, no matter what tactics he deploys or how good his team is. He disgraced himself with his actions in last year’s El Clasico, but things were different this time around. Graham Ruthven takes a look into the mind of the Special One, and how he’s improved his attitude since the two teams met just four months ago.

English Premier League

For Manchester United, the hits just keep coming. Midfielder Darren Fletcher announced today that he will be taking an extended break from soccer to deal with a chronic bowel disease that has been plaguing him for months. He has ulcerative colitis, a chronic condition for which there is no known cure. As a United fan, I hope Fletcher is back in action soon!

Since I’m not a teenage girl, I wouldn’t say I’m the biggest Justin Bieber fan. But when the teen sensation visited Chelsea FC to kick around with Frank Lampard and Fernando Torres, he gained a few points in my book for a jab he took at Torres. About 30 seconds into this video, Lampard says to Bieber, “You’re left-footed then, eh?” Bieber responds, “Yeah,” and Torres makes a comment, to which the Biebs replies, “You’re neither foot, right?” Well played, Justin.

Major League Soccer

Defending MLS Cup Champions LA Galaxy aren’t wasting any time this off-season in preparation for the 2012 season. In yesterday’s Re-Entry Draft, the Galaxy picked up four veteran players, along with pulling defenders Frankie Hedjuk and Dasan Robinson back in.

LA also officially announced the signing of Brazilian midfielder Marcelo Sarvas. It had been rumored that the Galaxy had signed the Alajuelense veteran for a couple of weeks, but the club made it official late yesterday. No rest for the Champions this off-season!