Arsenal advanced to the Carabao Cup final after defeating Chelsea 2-1 Wednesday at the Emirates Stadium. An opening 12 minutes of comedic defending from both sides led to goals from Eden Hazard and Antonio Rudiger — the defender scoring an unfortunate own goal to bring Arsenal level — but Granit Xhaka popped up to score the winner on the hour mark.
You can read about the Sevilla-Atletico Madrid Copa del Rey tie on just about any soccer website in existence, but it is only HERE AT THE18 that you can read a full breakdown on Sergio Escudero's first-minute volley goal vs. Antoine Griezmann's 13th-minute volley goal.
So.
Escudero:
The 2018 Copa Libertadores kicked off last night with the first legs of the first qualifying round. Over in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, Oriente Petrolero defeated Peru’s Universitario 2-0 with goals from Ronaldo Sanchez and Maximiliano Freitas.
Sanchez’s goal came in the 28th minute, and both teams were down to playing with 10 men by the 77th via red cards.
In the 79th minute, Freitas came on as a substitute. One minute later, he scored Oriente’s second. He was subsequently booked for excessive celebration and here’s why.
The post-Alexis Sanchez era at Arsenal is off to a tremendous start. The Gunners rained down 14 minutes of hellfire on Crystal Palace on Saturday with Nacho Monreal, Alex Iwobi, Laurent Koscielny and Alexandre Lacazette all scoring between the sixth and 22nd minutes.
Lacazette’s strike was his first in nine Premier League matches, but it was a superbly worked goal with Mesut Ozil providing his sixth assist of the campaign. The German maestro worked a series of one-twos outside the box before cleverly laying off for Lacazette to score.
On as a 64th minute substitute for West Ham in their Premier League match against Bournemouth on Saturday, Mexico international Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez scored the equalizer for the Hammers in a 1-1 draw at London Stadium.
Chelsea moved into a tie with second-place Manchester United on 50 points following the club’s 4-0 beatdown of Brighton on Saturday morning. The Blues were led by the phenomenal Eden Hazard, who scored a brace while also contributing one of the filthiest hockey assists you’ll ever see.
We’re exactly 31 days away from Barcelona’s visit to Stamford Bridge in the Champions League Round of 16, and the 27-year-old Belgian is obviously back to his best a month before that titanic encounter.
Hazard gave Chelsea the lead in the third minute with a rifled finish from 10 yards out.
For every athlete, there are times when you try something that just doesn’t come off, unless you’re Neymar playing against Dijon. But for those who aren’t Neymar, it’s important to keep trying new moves, at least if you’re on the offensive end. This Florian Thauvin goal vs Caen was wonderful proof of persistence paying off as the Marseille winger ensured a 2-0 victory for his side in Ligue 1 action Friday.