Champions League

Real Madrid beat Roma 3-0 at home on Wednesday and we are all talking about Modric’s assist to Bale, Isco’s brilliant free kick, Mariano’s delightful goal and the team’s changes in playing style now that CR7 left, but what we are not talking about, is that Sergio Ramos got a yellow card, giving him the most Champions League yellow cards in the history of the competition, now one past the 36 yellow cards Paul Scholes accumulated in his career with Manchester United.

Lionel Messi led the charge in Barcelona’s flying start the UEFA Champions League with a vintage display as Barça cruised to victory over Dutch champions PSV Eindhoven on Tuesday.

PSV became the 30th team to be pierced by Messi’s goal-scoring sword in Europe. He now has a record eight hat tricks in the UCL to his name, pulling him one ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo. Not only did the 31-year-old bag a few goals, but he was constantly working to find space, dictating the tempo and setting up his teammates.

It’s been a rough road for Bayern Munich midfielder Renato Sanches ever since his massive transfer from Benfica to Germany in May of 2016. After making the breakthrough at his boyhood club during the 2015-16 season and carrying that superlative form into Portugal’s historic Euro 2016 triumph, Sanches’ career abruptly hit the wall.

When the dust settled from Cristiano Ronaldo’s shocking red card on Wednesday, after Juventus secured the three points against Valencia with a 2-0 win, one question began to crop up in the minds of football fans around the globe: Will Ronaldo miss Man U games in the Champions League?

A blockbuster Champions League encounter between Italian champions Juventus and Valencia — fourth place finishers in LaLiga — descended into farce when Cristiano Ronaldo was sent off 29 minutes into his UCL debut with the Old Lady. 

Ronaldo had been active and involved throughout the early proceedings, and Juventus really should’ve taken the lead through either Mario Mandzukic or Sami Khedira, but both put close range shots over the bar in the game’s opening period.

Wednesday featured the first Champions League matches for both Cristiano Ronaldo and Real Madrid since the two parted ways over the summer. Ronaldo, now with Juventus, was sent off after 29 minutes. Real Madrid, with a Welsh winger leading the line, scored a 3-0 win thanks to a brilliant Gareth Bale goal vs Roma. 

Manchester United coach Jose Mourinho hasn’t always seen eye to eye with his most expensive player, Paul Pogba — of this, there is no secret.

Mourinho has benched the Frenchman in the past and transfer rumors swirled around the powerhouse midfielder before the close of the summer window. 

Pogba is still arguably the best player Manchester United has, so Mourinho is a bit stuck with him for now. But that doesn’t mean he has to enjoy it.

Cristiano Ronaldo’s Champions League debut with Juventus lasted all of 29 minutes at Valencia’s Mestalla stadium. With Juventus in possession of the ball out wide in Valencia’s third, Ronaldo made a run into the box before play was stopped with both Valencia and Juventus players remonstrating and gesticulating wildly. 

After a short break, German referee Felix Brych consulted the official behind the goal, and he looked adamant that Ronaldo deserved to be sent off for his actions. Brych duly obliged while Ronaldo went hysterical.