It’s happened again, although the result is less disastrous this time around. Last year, despite the brilliance of Zlatan Ibrahimović and his record of 22 goals in 27 games, the LA Galaxy missed out on the playoffs after a catastrophic choke-job against an already eliminated Houston Dynamo on Decision Day.
Barcelona moved into second in LaLiga — two points behind leaders Real Madrid — with an emphatic 4-0 victory over Sevilla at the Camp Nou on Sunday. Barça raced to a three-goal halftime lead thanks to a stunning overhead kick from Luis Suárez followed by further strikes from Arturo Vidal and Ousmane Dembélé. Lionel Messi finished the scoring with a sublime free kick in the 78th minute.
This man is simply unstoppable right now. Bayern Munich earned a 7-2 win thanks to a stunning Robert Lewandowski goal vs Spurs on Tuesday at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Son Hueng-min and Joshua Kimmich traded early goals in the massive Group B clash, but it was the Polish striker who provided the difference maker just before halftime.
Lewandowski started and finished a wild play in the 45th minute, eventually punishing Tottenham for failing to clear the ball with a smashing effort from the edge of the 18.
Today marks the 36th birthday of Trivela King Ricardo Quaresma. Am I using the date as an excuse to watch Quaresma highlights before subsequently sharing them with you? Absolutely.
I believe that no player represents the gulf between professional footballers and amateurs better than the Portuguese wizard.
Lionel Messi made his first start of the season against Villarreal on Tuesday and normalcy was restored to Barcelona for 15 minutes. Barça raced to a 2-0 lead over that period, but then Messi went down and the Camp Nou went quiet.
It certainly didn’t appear to be a recurrence of the calf injury that’s plagued him so far, and he carried on through the remainder of the first half — just long enough to see Villarreal pull one back through Santi Cazorla.
Maybe Jürgen Klopp saw something on film, but I doubt it. I think Liverpool simply exploited the almighty power of the backheel on a whimsy, as is befitting of the European champions. Klopp’s prematch team talk probably went something like this (sung to the tune of Men at Work):
We can backheel if we want to, we can leave England behind
Cause Man United don’t backheel and Chelsea don’t backheel
And they’re no friends of mine
Fresh off blowing a two-goal lead in a draw with Atlético Madrid in the Champions League at midweek, Juventus conceded an early penalty kick back at home to Hellas Verona in Serie A. What then transpired was a ridiculous Miguel Veloso goal vs Juventus, the exact same type of bullshit that makes you hate and love the FIFA video game series at the same time.
The Brazilian women’s national team, while still dominant in South America, has fallen from among the elite on the global stage, passed up by European and Asian challengers. The 2007 Women’s World Cup and 2004/2008 Olympics runner-up needs a new crop of players to replace the aging Marta, Formiga and Cristiane.
The Canarinhas may want to look at Corinthians Paulista for the next group of stars.
Javier Hernandez has opened his account with new club Sevilla. Back with a LaLiga club for the first time since his loan spell with Real Madrid, the first Chicharito Sevilla goal was stunning to all involved.
Last night in Porto Alegre, Athletico Paranaense captured the 2019 Copa do Brasil with a 3-1 aggregate victory over Paolo Guerrero’s Internacional. After winning the first leg 1-0 in Curitiba, Athletico-PR captured its first-ever Copa by seeing things through at Inter’s home stadium.