Arjen Robben just might be the fastest player in football. He is used to never seeing defenders again once he gets a step ahead of them with the ball. So you can imagine his consternation when Lionel Messi suddenly catches up to him and takes the ball away.
After Ronaldinho received the Ballon d’Or in 2006 he famously said, “This award says I’m the best player in the world. I’m not even the best player at Barcelona.” He was talking about Lionel Messi.
Yaya Toure used to be good at defending. No really, he was. Back in his Barcelona days he was just about the most promising all-round midfielder in the world, meaning he could attack just as well as he could defend.
At Manchester City, that balance has apparently skewed towards the offensive side of things.
Germany beat Argentina in the 2014 World Cup Final, but watching this and knowing the current state of Mats Hummels and Lionel Messi, you wouldn’t know it.
Hummels’ ability as a defender is as debated as the attractiveness of Peggy Olson from Mad Men.
According to a study by former Barcelona Chief Marketing and Commercial Officer Esteve Cazada, Raheem Sterling is the most valuable young player in Europe.
The study, conducted by Cazada's company, Soccerex, valued Sterling at 35 million pounds. Liverpool rejected a bid at that number from Manchester City recently.
PSG defender Marquinhos was second on the list, followed by Memphis Depay of Manchester United, Domenico Berardi of Sassuolo and Jose Maria Jimenez of Atletico Madrid.
Ronaldinho picked his dream 5-on-5 team and, as one would expect, it's a doozy.
Ronaldinho revealed his squad in a Goal.com article. He picked Messi, Ronaldo (Nazario), Denilson and Neymar, who he described as "happy people with amazing dribbling skills."
The internet is flooded with highlight videos. A player simply has to be young, talented, and make a couple cool plays in a season for someone to string those plays together in iMovie, throw some banal techno music over it, and produce one of them. I say this like I hate them, and in many ways I do, but I also cannot deny that watching these videos can be about as addicting as it gets.
Jose Mourinho has made numerous statements during his second spell at the bridge about how quiet the stadium is during match day. Chelsea have become one of the most popular teams in Europe and the Premier League, and with only 45,000 seats, tickets are in high demand. Because of this, ticket prices go up and only spectators with deep pockets are able to get their hands on a ticket.
Liverpool squeaked by in sixth place at the end of the Premier League season, which secured them the last qualifying spot in the Europa League. Brendan Rodgers has walked a fine line with Liverpool’s Board of Directors of whether or not he will continue to lead the Red’s in the future. Fighting for his job is his number one priority, and with no more Luis Suarez and a limited Daniel Sturridge, Rodgers has a lot of goals to make up for.
After coming off of a very successful season in Italy and in Europe, despite falling to Barcelona in the Champions League final, Juventus have announced their newest kits for 2015.
Nothing too drastic has been changed from their classic white and black stripes, but their announcement video leaves you thinking of everything except “I want to buy that kit.”