Accusations of Cristiano Ronaldo failing to pay $16.5 million in taxes have reportedly led to the Portuguese star telling Real Madrid club president Florentino Perez that he is prepared to leave the club.
With the 2016-17 season at an end, we look back on five clubs that were expected to do so much but ended up underachieving. To be clear, this list doesn’t just include sides that were expected to win trophies, it also includes clubs that many thought would at least make a title challenge, qualify for European competition or do something notable in the Champions League. We’ll start at the bottom and work our way to the top.
During the NBA playoffs, we've been asking ourselves which soccer players would come together to form the best starting five. It seems soccer players love shooting around, with a few possessing a little more talent on the court than you might expect. Here's our starting five:
C - Zlatan Ibrahimović
Ronaldinho could’ve been sent off hundreds of times in his career for unsporting behavior. Blessed with otherworldly control and technique, the Brazilian would frequently contort the rules of the game for his own benefit. It wasn’t fair, nobody else could or can do it now, but he got away with it because he was a god. As we all know, life has two great questions: 1.) Is there a heaven? 2.) How did Ronaldinho get this good?
When you limit your playing career to Manchester United, Real Madrid, LA Galaxy, Milan and Paris Saint-Germain (and represent the English national team for 14 years), you're inevitably going to play alongside some of the world's best players. What's more, if you're a really great passer of the ball, which David Beckham was, you're going to provide a few classy assists for that talent.
There’s still another round of matches to play in Serie A. Sure, Juventus have won the title. Sure, they printed some pretty cringe-worthy ‘LE6END’ merchandise and plastered it everywhere. Sure, Napoli and Roma seem set in their Champions League spots. Sure, every position in the league is seemingly sorted, bar Crotone and Empoli bickering about who gets to be the third worst team. Sure, the league is pretty much done and dusted. But we still have one round of fixtures left.
Mario Balotelli hasn’t appeared as often as he would’ve liked for Nice this season due to three red cards and a smattering of various injuries, but when he has played he’s been unplayable.
Super Mario made it 14 goals in only 18 Ligue 1 starts as Nice stomped Paris Saint-Germain on Sunday, effectively handing the league title to Monaco.
After a sensational season with Nice last season, Hatem Ben Arfa earned his dream move to Paris Saint-Germain. That dream has since turned into a nightmare for the French dribbling wizard. His many brief cameos as a substitute in league play this season have resulted in none of the magic that typified his year with Nice.