Ajax keeps defying expectations in the Champions League this season. First, the Dutch side knocked out defending champion Real Madrid in the Round of 16. Perhaps more remarkably, Ajax followed that up by taking down Cristiano Ronaldo’s Juventus in the quarterfinals.
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 Ajax love-in shows no sign of abating following Tuesday’s incredible 2-1 victory over Juventus in Turin. The party in Amsterdam raged through the night, while over in Italy Juventus business shares plummeted as much as a quarter in value.
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.
Juventus had no excuse not to be prepared. After what Ajax did to Real Madrid (not to mention Bayern Munich in the group stage), the Bianconeri knew they were in for a fight against the Dutch side.
After one leg in the Champions League quarterfinals, it’s all even heading back to the Allianz Stadium in Turin.
Cristiano Ronaldo scored a brilliant diving header just before the halftime whistle only to have David Neres score moments into the second half in a 1-1 draw on Tuesday at the Amsterdam Arena.
Juventus overcame an early goal from Krysztof Piatek to beat AC Milan 2-1 on Saturday, another victory on the easy road to yet another Scudetto. But the match could have ended poorly for both sides were it not for some heroics from Bianconeri keeper Wojciech Szczesny.
Szczesny, the former Arsenal goalie, let his national allegiances guide his heart during an incident between Juve teammate Mario Mandzukic and Poland teammate Piatek. Mandzukic had murder in his eyes when Szczesny stepped in to prevent the Piatek family line from being discontinued.
How do you feel about a short corner? If you’re a Barcelona supporter, you probably adore it; if you support Burnley, you probably think it should be outlawed. But regardless of whether you think it’s more important to keep possession or to simply get it into the damn mixer, we can all agree that this is one of the worst short corners ever.
During a match between the Juventus U-19s and their Sassuolo peers, a Juve youngster played a short corner out for a Sassuolo throw-in. Truly remarkable stuff.
The arrival of Cristiano Ronaldo at Juventus has somewhat upset free kick duties. Before the Portuguese legend came, it was Paulo Dybala, Miralem Pjanic and Federico Bernardeschi who did the honors, and they did them well.
This season, Pjanic and friends have taken a back seat to Ronaldo. In fact, the only set piece Pjanic has converted this season was against Napoli back on Mar. 3 with Ronaldo hovering over the dead ball. Still, it’s a nice setup for what I’m about to show you.
It's not everyday that you see a women’s professional team pack a stadium, especially women’s soccer. However, the reigning Serie A Women champion packed the house this past Sunday during its match against Fiorentina, reaching an Italian record of 39,027 fans in attendance.