Amazing Goals

The 2019 AFC Asian Cup kicked off on Saturday, and we’ve already seen some pretty remarkable things from the United Arab Emirates — India won its first match at the competition since 1964, Jordan shocked Australia and today featured three spectacular goals from the two matches.

We’ll start with two from Saudi Arabia’s 4-0 beatdown of North Korea (who played the entire second half down a man). The second goal of the match for the Green Falcons was scored by Al-Ahli defender Mohammed Al-Fatil, who applied an instinctive backheel to a free kick for the finish.  

Barcelona took full advantage of Atletico Madrid and Sevilla’s 1-1 draw earlier today (as well as Real Madrid’s shock defeat to Real Sociedad) to open up a five-point gap at the top of LaLiga. Goals from Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez inside the first half — although the lead was cut by Jaime Mata shortly before the interval — proved enough for the Blaugrana.

A 1-1 draw between Atletico Madrid (second in LaLiga) and Sevilla (third) saw Barcelona’s lead at the top of the table reduced to two points, but with the Blaugrana set to play Getafe later today, both contestants will rue the inability to take three points from the match.

The Liga MX 2019 Clausura season kicked off Friday, 19 days after Club América claimed its historic 13th league title in the Apertura competition. The opening night of play featured Cruz Azul — the beaten Apertura finalists — settling for a draw against Puebla, but how about this strike from La Maquina talisman Elias Hernandez. 

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s message as interim manager of Manchester United has been simple: Enjoy yourself. It’s not an earth shattering ethos, except when diametrically opposed to Jose Mourinho’s philosophy of “respect my authority.”

A lot has been made of the fact that without Eden Hazard, Chelsea would resemble nothing more than a strange, amorphous tribute to Yokohama Tires out on the pitch. That criticism is mainly aimed at Alvaro Morata and Olivier Giroud leading the line, where the two have combined for only six Premier League goals. 

It was a bit of a joke that Mo Salah’s chipped effort against Everton was awarded the Puskas for the best goal of the year, only winning because Liverpool supporters took over the fan voting. The Harry Kane goal vs Wolves on Saturday was superior in every way — but probably won’t win any awards for a multitude of reasons.