Cristiano Ronaldo would, reluctantly, admit that most of the time he needs his teammates to score. The 699th career Cristiano Ronaldo goal, however, was all of his own making.
With Portugal struggling to break down UEFA minnow Luxembourg — Bernardo Silva’s 16th-minute strike was all that separated the two sides after an hour — the team captain showed the rarely seen defensive side of his game to give his side a little breathing room.
Wales recorded an important 1-1 draw with Slovakia in Trnava on Thursday to keep control of its Euro 2020 destiny. Ryan Giggs’ side had the better of the opening 45 minutes, and Kieffer Moore — making his competitive debut at the age of 27 — put Wales ahead before Slovakia equalized via a stonking volley from Juraj Kucka.
With Croatia looking uncatchable at the top of Group E, this meeting between second place Slovakia and fourth place Wales (only the top two advance to the finals) qualified as can’t-miss viewing during this particularly uninspiring international break.
Sunday marked the 21st time in Luis Suárez’s six-year Barcelona career that he’d hammered a ball flush in the air — be it a volley, scissor or overhead kick — and into the back of the net. Frankly, there’s no one better on the planet with this demanding technique. Here’s that strike against Sevilla.
When Germany and Italy lineup in international play, you stop what you’re doing and take notice — even if the players on show are in their 40s, 50s and 60s. On Monday, a team of Azzurri Legends — with a starting XI comprised entirely of ’82 and ’06 World Cup-winners — played against a team of Germany All-Stars in Fürth.
There’s no real marquee matches in European Championship qualifying over the course of the next week, but after the country’s disastrous attempt to qualify for the last World Cup, it’ll be worth keeping an eye on Italy versus Greece on Oct. 12.
They formed a four-man wall. They had a defender lie prone behind the wall to block a low shot. They dropped another defender to the goal-line to clear any effort at the near post. They had Czech international Tomáš Vaclík between the sticks.
It didn’t matter.
Lionel Messi’s first goal of the 2019-20 season flew in from 23 yards out, avoiding it all with astonishing ease.
This is, without a doubt, my favorite time of the year. On Sunday, the FC Bayern Munich squad made its annual trip Oktoberfest, which is perhaps the greatest tradition in all of sports. I would play for Bayern Munich just for this reason. I would also drink five steins of Hofbräu Dunkel Weizen, miss practice the next day, get sent to train with the reserves and be the subject of an article on The18 entitled “Whatever Happened To Connor Fleming? A Case Of Too Much Dunkel,” but that’s besides the point.
Barcelona moved into second in LaLiga — two points behind leaders Real Madrid — with an emphatic 4-0 victory over Sevilla at the Camp Nou on Sunday. Barça raced to a three-goal halftime lead thanks to a stunning overhead kick from Luis Suárez followed by further strikes from Arturo Vidal and Ousmane Dembélé. Lionel Messi finished the scoring with a sublime free kick in the 78th minute.
Seven matches into the new Bundesliga season and there’s a surprise leader at the top of the table: Borussia Mönchengladbach.
The club hasn’t won the title since 1977, but after Bayern Munich slipped to a 2-1 home defeat to Hoffenheim yesterday, Gladbach took full advantage with a 5-1 victory over Augsburg to open up a two-point lead over Bayern at the top of the table.
There was a time, not so long ago, when Pepe was one of the world’s fiercest defenders. He might not necessarily have been the best defender tactically and certainly wasn’t the cleanest of tacklers, but goddamnit he was not going to let you score without at least putting either a cleat or elbow into your cranium, usually both.