Real Madrid came into their match against Real Betis Wednesday four points behind Barcelona in La Liga, needing a win.
Fortunately, they got Cristiano Ronaldo back from suspension, and he showed during the Champions League last week that he hadn't accumulated any rust during his break.
In many ways, Julian Draxler is the forgotten man at Paris Saint-Germain. With Neymar’s massive transfer fee, Kylian Mbappe’s incredible potential and Edinson Cavani’s missed penalty kicks, the German playmaker has started just two of six matches this season. Fortunately, someone remembered Draxler’s birthday.
The National Football League returns to England on Sunday as the Baltimore Ravens face the Jacksonville Jaguars at Wembley Stadium, a now biannual feature as the league is desperate to gain British NFL fans. Meanwhile, soccer leagues across Europe are considering bringing regular-season games to the U.S.
First things first: clickbait! But not really. In soccer, had Cristiano Ronaldo converted, this wouldn’t have been an assist for Isco. But if we’re talking hockey, yes. The confines of a rink are intensely intimate, so the preceding pass is usually as important as the ultimate one. In soccer, we know that’s less frequently the case.
The Bundesliga may be lagging far behind the English Premier League in terms of popularity in the United States, but the German league is far ahead in signing American players. Josh Sargent is the latest as the 17-year-old agreed on Wednesday to join Werder Bremen in February.
Atletico Madrid defeated Athletic Bilbao 2-1 at the San Mames on Tuesday to continue their unbeaten start to league play after five matches. But anemic draws against Girona and Valencia find them trailing Barcelona by four points, and you can’t fight the feeling that despite the continued excellence of players like Koke and Antoine Griezmann, there’s a Diego Costa-sized hole in this Atleti side.
For better or worse, FIFA does not stipulate an exact size for a soccer pitch. There is, in fact, a massive range of acceptable soccer pitch dimensions, from 5,000 square yards (4,050 square meters) all the way up to 13,000 square yards (10,800 square meters). While the range is smaller for professional clubs, there is still a variance that can create quite a home-field advantage.
Real Madrid and Karim Benzema have agreed to terms on a two-year contract extension with the striker now set to stay until 2021, past the Frenchman’s 33rd birthday.
Marking Lionel Messi is like marking the smoke monster in Lost, even on a good day. When La Pulga is feeling particularly motivated, as he has been so far this season, it's like if the smoke monster could also teleport and shoot lasers.
Eibar found that out the hard way, finding themselves on the wrong side of a 6-1 demolition by Barcelona, four of which came from Messi.
Bayern Munich defeated Schalke 3-0 on Tuesday with James Rodriguez factoring heavily in his first Bundesliga start for the Bavarians. Robert Lewandowski opened the scoring from the spot, and James put Bayern up 2-0 before halftime with his first goal for the club. James then put the finishing touches on the victory with a fantastic feed for Arturo Vidal in the 75th minute.