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Lionel Messi missed Barcelona’s 2-0 victory over Malaga at the weekend because of the birth of his third child, Ciro. Ciro joins Thiago, age 5, and Mateo, age 2, as nearly 30% of the Messi children needed to field an entire XI of Messi children. 

It’s been a great month for Borussia Dortmund attacker Marco Reus. After suffering an ACL tear in last season’s DFB-Pokal final, the 28-year-old made his long-awaited comeback on February 10 against Hamburger SV in the Bundesliga.

He’s since played in six more matches for BVB, scoring three goals (including the strike that’s since been voted the Bundesliga’s Goal of the Month for February). 

One year ago, Barcelona came into the second leg of the Champions League round of 16 down 4-0 on aggregate to PSG. They left with a 6-5 aggregate scoreline after one of the silliest soccer games this professional soccer writer has ever seen. Sergi Roberto's goal broke PSG hearts and shuffled Barca into the quarterfinals to be beaten by eventual runners-up Juventus.

The real heroes here, though, are the referees. I seriously forgot how terrible both penalties Barcelona "won" were. Neither of those are fouls in a just universe.

You are supposed to kick the ball out of bounds when an opponent gets legitimately hurt during a soccer match so the medical staff can tend to the injured person. You are not supposed to take the ball from the injured person and try to score a goal. That is considered bad sportsmanship.

And yet, that's what Arsenal Tula did in extra time against Terek Grozny in the Russian Premier League. The did not do good sportsmanship. They did bad sportsmanship. They also won the game, because there are no truly black and white decisions in this crazy mixed-up universe of ours.

LAFC made a stirring debut in Major League Soccer on Sunday, winning 1-0 at Seattle thanks to a beautiful goal from Diego Rossi set up by Carlos Vela. It was a superb piece of play from Bob Bradley’s two designated players and the perfect way to kick off the new franchise. But that win was nothing compared to the recent LA derby victory.

Much of the talk surrounding LAFC’s inaugural season centers on how the other club in L.A. will react. Based on a recent friendly between the two, LAFC is well on its way to being the best in Southern California.