With Serie A coming to a close this past weekend, the name on everyone’s lips was that of Juventus legend Gianluigi Buffon. Buffon played his last match for Juve on Saturday and is set join a new club this offseason. The latest speculation has him linked with a switch to Paris Saint-Germain, although it was not too long ago that another Italian keeper named Gianluigi was being linked with a move to Paris.
Since its introduction in 1992 as a replacement for the European Cup, the UEFA Champions League has served as the world’s premier club tournament. The prestigious competition is where legends are born, and those legends don’t get any bigger than the players with the most career goals in Champions League history.
It doesn’t get any more iconic than the home shirts of both Real Madrid and Barcelona. As Los Blancos (The Whites), Real is synonymous with its all-white kit. For the Blaugrana (a Catalan reference to blue and garnet), it’s stripes of the aforementioned colors. But that hasn’t stopped both Adidas and Nike from trying to shake things up on an annual basis.
Spain manager Julen Lopetegui announced his 23-man squad for the World Cup in Russia on Monday, and the big news is that the Chelsea quartet of Alvaro Morata, Pedro, Cesc Fabregas and Marcos Alonso have all been omitted after a disappointing season in the Premier League.
Barcelona put the finishing touches on its 2017-18 La Liga title with a 1-0 victory over Real Sociedad on Sunday. Philippe Coutinho scored the lone goal with a wonder strike in the 57th minute. The match also brought Andres Iniesta’s Barca career to a close.
Fernando Torres has been enjoying one helluva send-off at Atletico Madrid. Last Wednesday, he appeared as a late substitute in Atletico’s 3-0 Europa League triumph over Marseille. Torres represented Atleti at the senior level for over 10 years, but it was the first trophy “El Niño” had lifted with his boyhood club since the Segunda Division title back in 2002.
For many of the players who tasted glory with Portugal at the 2016 European Championship in France, it’s not been a story of pushing onwards and upwards ever since.
Today, ESPN published a Lionel Messi story by Sam Borden that’s scheduled to appear in ESPN The Magazine’s June 8 World Fame issue. The long-form article mainly concerns Messi’s off-field demeanor — he’s quiet, reclusive and prefers to express himself on the pitch.
Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, Italian shot-stopper Gianluigi Buffon confirmed that Saturday’s match between Juventus and Hellas Verona will serve as his final appearance for the club.
As most everyone expected, Antoine Griezmann and his Atletico Madrid teammates to comfortably disposed of Marseille in the Europa League final in Lyon. After Marseille attacker Valere Germain scuffed an early chance from 10 yards out, the writing was on the wall.
That was Marseille's opportunity to make it interesting, as Atletico eased to a 3-0 win behind a Griezmann brace and its stingy defense.
In attendance was a pair of Atletico fans who had traveled to Lyon 32 years prior to see the 1986 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup Final between Dynamo Kyiv and Atletico.