After every season, UEFA gives out a litany of awards honoring the best performers. Honors like the goalkeeper of the season, forward of the season and coach of the season are handed out to the elite men’s and women’s players/coaches. The UEFA Men’s Player of the Year award turns the most heads as it is essentially a less glorified Ballon d’Or award.
Andrea Pirlo’s first match as Juventus manager included debuts for 22-year-old American Weston McKennie and 20-year-old Swede Dejan Kulusevski, and both young talents did their manager proud in a 3-0 victory over Sampdoria at Allianz Stadium.
It was Kulusevski, the Serie A Best Young Player award-winner last season while on loan at Parma, who opened the scoring in the 13th minute with a left-footed curler from the edge of the area.
What a beauty!
For about 10 years now, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have been, by far, the two best men’s footballers on the planet. I would argue they’re the two most talented players in the history of the game given how they’ve dominated in the world’s toughest leagues for such a prolonged period of time.
And yet, EA Sports’ FIFA ratings don’t reflect just how legendary these two players are. And we’re pretty sure we know why.
Despite Cristiano Ronaldo being a walking brand, Lionel Messi topped Forbes’ list for the highest paid soccer players in 2020. Christina Settimi of Forbes reported that the top ten wealthiest soccer players are anticipated to rake in a combined $570 million with Messi and Ronaldo receiving roughly 42 percent of the money.
After missing Portugal’s 4-1 victory over Croatia on Saturday due to a toe infection caused from a bee sting, Cristiano Ronaldo returned to the starting 11 on Tuesday against Sweden and showed off his newly acquired flying insect superpowers.
Sitting on 99 international goals, Ronaldo buzzed over a free kick in the 45th-minute before unleashing a venomous, right-footed stinger into the top corner.
The stage was set for Cristiano Ronaldo to become the second man to ever score 100 international goals this weekend. Instead, he watched his country take on Croatia from the stands, with a toe injury keeping him out of Portugal’s lineup.
Lionel Messi will leave Barcelona at some point, that is a fact. When he leaves is still up for debate. What won’t be much of a debate is that Barcelona’s attack will suffer tremendously from the Argentine’s departure.
It’s a no-brainer that a team won’t score as often after the best attacking player leaves. The real question is how bad will it get? Cristiano Ronaldo leaving Real Madrid gives a good idea of what could happen with Barcelona in terms of offense.
USMNT midfielder Weston McKennie can breathe a sigh of relief knowing he won’t have to help carry the burning carcass of Schalke for another Bundesliga season. The once-juggernaut German club could be fearing relegation next season. This is no worry to McKennie as news broke on Wednesday that he will reportedly be playing with Juventus.
How much of soccer is becoming — as the kids would say — an ‘aesthetic?’ And a privileged aesthetic at that.
Here in the U.S., soccer is becoming an elitist sport. We talk about how the newest and most expensive boots are the only way to be like Ronaldo or Messi. Hand me downs are a no-go. If you don’t have the best kits or play for the most expensive clubs then you don’t stand a chance.
Following Zinedine Zidane’s success at Real Madrid, the appointment of the legendary cerebral midfielder has become the status quo at Europe’s super clubs: Plucky underdogs Chelsea turned to Frank Lampard, Barcelona recently gave Xavi the eyes and Juventus — moments after dismissing manager’s manager Maurizio Sarri — turned to the enigmatic merlot that is Andrea Pirlo.