Champions League

It isn't surprising that Neymar took this free kick because it's about the same angle that he scored from in the Olympic gold medal match against Germany.

He's also one of the best players in the world. It is surprising that Neymar took this free kick because Lionel Messi was standing over it as well, and he's the best player in the world and was also on a hat trick.

Neymar recreated his Olympic goal against Celtic, and, for the record, Messi did eventually get his hat trick.

Atletico Madrid beat PSV 1-0 in their Champions League group stage opener, but PSV had a chance to draw level in stoppage time of the first half when Luciano Narsingh drew a penalty. Andres Guardado stepped up to take it for PSV.

And he had it saved.

Andre's Guardado usually scores his penalties. Not today

https://t.co/OJNV5IpIMS

Having warded off interest from Barcelona and Sevilla to sign a rejuvenated Hatem Ben Arfa, Paris Saint-Germain appeared to be the perfect destination for the mercurial 29-year-old playmaker. Ben Arfa signed for PSG as a free agent after experiencing a renaissance last year with Nice, tallying 17 goals and six assists in Ligue 1.

This all, of course, followed a tumultuous four years in England where he was part footballing genius, part disinterested delinquent.

Yaya Toure reportedly told Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola back in May that he was determined to fight for his future at the club and see out the remaining year of his contract.

The pot just got bigger for clubs in the UEFA Champions League — a lot bigger.

The Champions League groups were drawn in Mónaco on Thursday but the big news was the unveiling of the official match ball for the competition. The ball keeps the traditional star figures, this time in green, but it’s the writing in the stars that’s sure to capture the attention.

The stars have characterized the official Champions League ball in recent years, of course, accompanied by the logo of this UEFA tournament.

UEFA have tweaked the Champions League rules to benefit the big clubs and the big leagues. This comes as a surprise to approximately nobody.

Per ESPNFC:

Cristiano Ronaldo has been named the UEFA Player of the Season, much to the chagrin of one Antoine Griezmann, who thought he merited the win.

Here's what Griezmann told World Soccer earlier this week:

"Without being big-headed, I think I deserve it because I had a great season with my club and with the national team. Maybe I deserve to win the award.

Pep Guardiola doesn't coach Barcelona anymore (he'll stop by the Camp Nou for a visit with Manchester City in the UCL group stage), but the Blaugrana can still tiki-taka teams to death.

During last season's UCL group stage, they did their whole "death by 1,000 paper cuts" routine on Roma and it won UEFA's Goal of the Season award. Messi, the finisher, is technically the recipient, but we think the whole damn team should get a trophy for that move.

A quick word about the actual Champions League draw: it's a big dumb ceremony that needs some fixing, but will never be fixed because UEFA will never, ever admit that something is bad enough to need fixing. Anyway, the groups have been announced, and there's some fun stuff in here.

Group A: PSG, Arsenal, Basel, Ludogorets Razgrad

— The18 (@the18soccer) August 25, 2016