After denying itself the league title last week following a 2-2 draw with Strasbourg, PSG traveled to second place Lille today with another shot at securing the crown with a victory or draw. They would achieve neither result, ultimately playing for 49 minutes down a man following Juan Bernat’s red card and losing 5-1.
You might want to remember the name João Félix.
Who is João Félix, you ask? Let his three goals and an assist in Benfica’s 4-2 win over Eintracht Frankfurt in the Europa League on Thursday do the talking for the 19-year-old Portuguese forward.
Félix, who sports the No. 79 on his back, scored his first career Europa League goal on Thursday, then added a second before halftime. He completed his hat trick in the second half to help Benfica take a 4-2 advantage after the first leg of the quarterfinals.
Liverpool’s 2-0 victory over Porto at Anfield on Tuesday was a microcosm of the club’s current Premier League form: There were nervy moments, a couple lapses and some erratic finishing from Mohamed Salah, but victory was achieved and it could've been achieved much more emphatically.
20,941 at Banc of California Stadium in Los Angeles watched the USWNT put six past Belgium — five of them headers — on Sunday night in a celebratory World Cup warmup that included a tribute to the legendary ’99 squad.
It was the sort of match that Alexi Lalas will burn onto DVD, sharpie “Set Pieces” on and rewatch seven hundred times.
It all started in the 14th minute with Tierna Davidson lofting a direct ball into the box and there was Carli Lloyd, on her 271st appearance, to nod home.
Following Lille’s 1-1 draw with Reims on Sunday, PSG had a chance to clinch the Ligue 1 title with seven matches remaining by defeating eighth place Strasbourg at the Parc des Princes.
With the title just a matter of time, Thomas Tuchel elected to hand starts to the likes of Colin Dagba, Leandro Paredes, Layvin Kurzawa and a forward line spearheaded by Christopher Nkunku and Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting.
PSV Eindhoven stumbled to a 3-3 draw with Vitesse to allow Ajax to go top of the Dutch Eredivisie table on goal difference, but things could’ve been worse if not for the dynamic play of Hirving “Chucky” Lozano.
With PSV trailing 1-0 shortly before halftime, the El Tri star burst through the Vitesse defense, drove into the box and was taken out by the goalkeeper to earn his side a penalty. The 23-year-old then duly converted by sending an effort low and to the keeper’s right.
Remember the name: Matheus Cunha.
The 19-year-old Brazilian arrived at RB Leipzig from FC Sion last June for $17.1 million, but he’s been brought along slowly in the Bundesliga with 15 of his 21 appearances coming from off the bench.
However, on Saturday, Cunha scored his second league goal of the season, and my word. The Brazil U-20 forward pulled off a ridiculous Zidane turn to eliminate two Bayer Leverkusen defenders before seamlessly transitioning into a delicate chip over Lukáš Hrádecký.
Mentally, Diego Costa isn’t entirely there. Look at the 26 yellow cards he received over his three-year Premier League stay for ample evidence of the striker’s propensity to be a mad lad.
The Edinburgh Derby, the fierce rivalry between Hearts of Midlothian and Hibernian, saw its 645th edition played on Saturday at Tynecastle Stadium, home of Hearts.
The match didn’t quite have the fireworks of their meeting in November, which saw an assistant referee assaulted, a coach hit by a coin and a goalkeeper punched by a fan.
But there was a coconut.
The Champions League has taken place every year since 1956, when it was originally named the European Cup. While the end result is always the same — a winner crowned club champion of Europe — the Champions League format has evolved over the years.
Since 1956, 21 different clubs have lifted the big-eared trophy symbolizing the top of the club football game, but no two paths have been exactly the same.