Europe

Leo Messi is practically Superman when it comes to scoring goals. But we think we've discovered his Kryptonite - and it's the crossbar.

In sports, having a short memory is often seen as a desirable quality. Players are taught not to dwell on their past mistakes in order to stabilize their confidence and ability to perform. 

So we were surprised to hear that Iker Casillas can remember “98%” of the games he participated in. That means he can remember who Real Madrid was playing, the date of the game, who scored, if he was scored on, and what he did wrong in those instances. He is able to recall all of these details as nonchalantly as he would a recall friend’s name. 

It’s all in the genes. Neymar Jr took an Instagram video of his father, Neymar Sr, playing keepy up while he is sitting down. 

For us not very talented soccer players, you know keeping a solid juggle going for a while is difficult. But have you tried it sitting down? Well, Neymar Sr has no problem at all managing that task. I guess we shouldn’t be too surprised. His son has scored 14 goals in 18 games this year for La Liga side Barcelona and scored 15 goals in 13 games for Brazil in 2014. 

Real Madrid and Portugal star Pepe has apparently found himself caught up in the holiday spirit as news of him buying a reported 9,000 kilos of food for 200 families surfaced last week. The food will go to families in the Las Rozas neighborhood of Madrid, and will go a long way in cheering up the holidays of a normally underprivileged area.

For those who don’t play soccer but have played FIFA, you know about all the little training exercises that clubs use to brush up on their skills. Well, Portuguese club Benfica have introduced a new state-of-the-art technological training room that blurs the lines between video games and reality. 

Carlos Vela just won La Liga’s Player of the Month Award for the month of November . Under normal circumstances, the award would be all well and good, and we would have no problem celebrating the night away with Vela and his legion of admirers. 

This is one of the more unfortunate things we have ever seen and, trust us, we have seen a lot. Of all the soft red cards we have seen, this might just take the cake. After being subbed on during a restart after a goal, the poor chap in blue picked the wrong player to swing his arms in the general vicinity of:

According to Forbes, Cristiano Ronaldo earned $80 million in 2014, and there is no reason to believe that Ronaldo’s earnings in 2015 should be any less. With a paycheck as big as that, you could probably have a lot of fun. So, that got us thinking, what could you afford if you earned $80 million a year?

It is well documented that the world's most popular soccer clubs compete for the next up-and-coming Messi or Ronaldo. See, for insance, this article about the 9-year-old AS Roma signed earlier this year. Youngsters who show promise and skill are top priorities for any club's youth system – and after you see some of the videos of these wonderkids play, you can understand why.