Fresh from his stint in the CSL with Hebei China Fortune, former Arsenal and Roma winger Gervinho appears to be loving life back in Italy with Serie A side Parma. After scoring against Juventus back on Sept. 1, the Ivory Coast flyer registered his second of the season Saturday in Parma’s 2-0 win over Cagliari.
Rennes played Jablonec on Thursday in the Europa League, beating them 2-1. And there were a few takeaways. One being the fact that Hatem Ben Arfa came on after practically two years of inactivity and scored the winner, another being that Theoson Siebatcheu is an American-born player and plays for Rennes, which is promising for the state of U.S. soccer and could be an exciting USMNT call up.
But most notably: Ismaïla Sarr scored a banger — a volley outside the box that arguably skyrocketed into the upper-right corner faster than an actual rocket.
Someone, somewhere must've officially declared this week "World Heart-Attack-Inducing Stoppage Time Goal Week." Matias Vecino’s 92nd strike to seal Inter's comeback victory over Tottenham; Roberto Firmino’s one-eyed 91st minute winner that crushed PSG hearts; Niko Vlašić’s 95th minute goal that salvaged CSKA Moscow a point in the Czech Republic against Viktoria Pl
Wednesday featured the first Champions League matches for both Cristiano Ronaldo and Real Madrid since the two parted ways over the summer. Ronaldo, now with Juventus, was sent off after 29 minutes. Real Madrid, with a Welsh winger leading the line, scored a 3-0 win thanks to a brilliant Gareth Bale goal vs Roma.
Manchester United coach Jose Mourinho hasn’t always seen eye to eye with his most expensive player, Paul Pogba — of this, there is no secret.
Mourinho has benched the Frenchman in the past and transfer rumors swirled around the powerhouse midfielder before the close of the summer window.
Pogba is still arguably the best player Manchester United has, so Mourinho is a bit stuck with him for now. But that doesn’t mean he has to enjoy it.
In the end, Shakhtar Donetsk’s trusted strategy of supplementing its Ukrainian core of players with a bunch of Brazilians proved, once again, a masterstroke — this time in spoiling the appearance of the youngest manager the Champions League has ever seen, Hoffenheim’s 31-year-old whizkid Julian Nagelsmann.
The North Carolina Courage defeated the Chicago Red Stars 2-0 on Tuesday night in the semifinals of the NWSL playoffs to setup a repeat of the 2017 final between the Courage and Portland Thorns FC. That match will take place at Providence Park on Saturday, Sept. 22, at 4:30 p.m. ET, with coverage on Lifetime.
Tottenham is tired. How much of it is the World Cup? How much of it the complete lack of rejuvenation by way of transfers? How much of it is the media incessantly telling us that Tottenham’s tired (although Son Heung-min told us as much too)? How much of it is the dopey-looking faces of Harry Kane and Christian Eriksen? I just don’t know.
Hirving Lozano earned a lot of praise for his defensive efforts during the World Cup with Mexico. Much of it was deserved as his tracking back was nearly as important as his goal against Germany. But on this Ousmane Dembele goal vs PSV Eindhoven on Tuesday, Lozano was left grasping at air.
You could sense it was coming.
PSV Eindhoven had threatened Barcelona on the other end a couple times in the opening 30 minutes of the first Champions League match of the group stage, but when Lionel Messi lined up behind the ball after a hard foul on Ousmane Dembélé just outside the box, there was only ever going to be one outcome.
Lionel Messi scored the first goal of the Champions League group stage with a stunningly perfect free kick, curled into the top-right corner of the net to give Barça a lead in the 31st minute on Tuesday in Barcelona.