Thursdays are the quirkiest of footballing days. With the Europa League in action, there’s simultaneously too much for any one person to follow and yet not enough to keep anyone but the most devoted of fans interested. It’s a perfect day for r/Soccer to ensure you’re up to date on all things football, and this Thursday was a doozy. It was a day made for r/Soccer.
Let’s start, as with all things r/Soccer, with something that overpromotes an American, and as usual, that American is Christian Pulisic.
One of the top stories of the day was a quote from Manchester City fullback/occasional attacking midfielder João Cancelo. The Portuguese defender said Pulisic is one of the toughest wingers to face, so of course the post received a billion medals.
One of the most-talked-about r/Soccer posts at The18 on Thursday was a video celebrating 50 seconds of some of the worst soccer you will ever see.
From the game that brought you Daryl Dike doing mean things to the back of the net, Birmingham vs. Barnsley also included this brilliant display of, I think headdis? Mind the audio.
Now it’s high time we get to the moment of the day. I’m talking, of course, about Harry Maguire’s miss against AC Milan in the Europa League.
This is the exact type of highlight the Europa League is made for: United players doing dumb things.
Just give that post all the medals because no one loves to watch Manchester United and Harry Maguire fail like r/Soccer. Forget 18-year-old Amad Diallo scoring a nice goal, we know real fans want to focus on the schadenfreude of the Red Devils’ captain failing spectacularly.
But no Europa League day is complete without Arsenal, the competition’s perennial tease.
The day started with The18’s prodigal son and r/Soccer legend Martin Ødegaard doing his best Lionel Messi impression and ripping the arms off Olympiacos keeper José Sá.
This being Arsenal, it wasn’t long before a team-wide brain fart gifted Olympiacos an equalizer. What made this such a stand-out r/Soccer post was the fact the video went all the way back to the throw-in deep in Olympiacos territory to show just how shit Arsenal was to give up this goal.
Finally, let’s finish with the Champions League.
But wait, you may ask, wasn’t the Champions League on Tuesday and Wednesday? Well, yes, sure, if you’re a sexist pig who ignores women. I’m certain you’re not a misogynistic asshole and are well aware of the fact Sam Mewis and Rose Lavelle starred as Manchester City crushed Fiorentina 5-0 to advance to the quarterfinals 8-0 on aggregate.
Dangling pic.twitter.com/WrOWs5r6Tf
— The18 (@the18com) March 11, 2021
Well, I guess r/Soccer is indeed apathetic about women’s football and didn’t actually post about the game, so we dug up the highlights for you from Fiorentina’s YouTube page. Enjoy.