After two consecutive defeats turned the narrative surrounding PSG into the sort of existential crisis that could only be penned by compatriot Jean-Paul Sartre, Kylian Mbappé’s 55-minute hat trick — taking him to 30 goals on the year and just three behind Lionel Messi in the race for the European Golden Shoe — propelled the club to a sixth Ligue 1 title in seven seasons.
Whether you’re Team Messi or Team Ronaldo, there’s no denying the goal-scoring ability of the Portuguese star. While it’s easy to point to powerful headers, long-range missiles and plenty of penalty kicks as reasons why the Juventus striker scores so often, the Cristiano Ronaldo movement in and around the box is a major reason why he is so difficult to contain.
The first goal between Liverpool and Porto at Estádio do Dragão on Wednesday was vital. If Porto scored it, game on; if Liverpool scored it, game over. What’ll be so frustrating for the Portuguese club is that through the match’s opening 25 minutes, the home side had 13 attempts. Porto absolutely bossed Liverpool right up until Sadio Mané had the ball in the back of the net in the 26th minute with the Reds' first shot of the evening.
Ajax has advanced to the semifinals of the Champions League for the first time since 1997 after tearing Juventus apart with a glorious second-half display of footballing excellence that ultimately yielded the game-winning goal from captain Matthijs de Ligt in the 67th minute.
The Amsterdam-based club scored two at Juventus Stadium — which is an exceptionally rare feat for an away side — but it could’ve been four or five but for the goalkeeping of Wojciech Szczesny and an Ajax desire to combine on six backheels and three disguised reverse passes within the box before every shot.
Cristiano Ronaldo 4.0 is up and running at Juventus Stadium. His age is 34, which typically alludes to ever-present bodily soreness and general feelings of lethargy, but Ronaldo 4.0 includes updates on foxiness in the box, elastico nutmegs and improvements on crushing the dreams of everyone else in European competition.
Here’s "He That Is More Machine Than Man" coming alive during the Champions League anthem, as he’s done time after time en route to scoring 126 UCL goals, including 65 in the knockout stages.
Manchester United started brightly against Barcelona at the Camp Nou on Tuesday. Marcus Rashford was in on goal and nearly scored seconds into the match.
And the Red Devils had a bit of fortune when the VAR overturned a penalty decision to keep the scores level.
Then Lionel Messi broke loose with two goals in four minutes, quickly making up for a quiet first leg in Manchester (after being bloodied by Chris Smalling).
Sometimes a miss can be just as beautiful as a goal. I once compiled a list of my favorite almost goals (which you can find here), but a lot of them include the football cracking off the post in a totally satisfactory way (large ping included) or Zinedine Zidane “Zidane Turning” his way beyond defenders before languidly spooning a shot into the heavens.
The adventures of 19-year-old Benfica phenom João Félix continue. Days after becoming the youngest-ever scorer of a hat trick in the Europa League, Félix scored his 11th goal of the Primeira Liga season in Benfica’s 4-2 victory over Setúbal.
The kid’s been dubbed “the next Cristiano Ronaldo” because he comes from Portugal, does a lot of goals and that’s a really good moniker to drive clicks, but he really doesn’t play like Ronaldo. He’s probably more akin to “the next Kaká.”
Without having ever made the jump to MLS, 31-year-old Colombian striker José Angulo has been a constant source of goals in the USL Championship over the years, including a league MVP and Golden Boot-winning campaign back in 2013.
Angulo has bounced around the American lower divisions for 10 years now, but he’s currently on the books at Hartford Athletic, a club enjoyed its inaugural season in the USL.
Hartford has suffered six defeats in its first six matches, but Angulo registered his first goal for the club yesterday during a 3-1 loss to the Pittsburg Riverhounds.
After denying itself the league title last week following a 2-2 draw with Strasbourg, PSG traveled to second place Lille today with another shot at securing the crown with a victory or draw. They would achieve neither result, ultimately playing for 49 minutes down a man following Juan Bernat’s red card and losing 5-1.