Moves

Here we have Club America No. 1 Agustin Marchesin facing an eerily similar situation to the one confronted by Liverpool’s Alisson against Leicester City back on Sept. 1. Alisson, of course, infamously gave the ball away while performing your grandmother’s wedding dance steps, allowing Rachid Ghezzal to pull one back. 

I’m not one of those people that’s instantly enamored with the mechanics of a flip throw-in. After you’ve seen it once, you’ve seen it a million times — like a fire-eating street performance. If I had to select my two favorite flip throw-ins of all-time, I’d go with this kid getting smashed in the face.

We’ll be honest, we’re not entirely sure how things are going for Xavi in Qatar with Al Sadd. What we do know is that the 38-year-old captured his first major piece of silverware with the club last season in the form of the Qatar Cup, and he registered a hugely respectable total of 10 goals in 26 league appearances (although his club finished runner-up to Al-Duhail).

What’d you think about that, eh? Absolutely unreal from Internacional’s Nico Lopez. The lad’s got some chutzpah, and it’s awesome to see the now 24-year-old doing his thing in Brazil’s Serie A. 

Lopez, nicknamed “El Diente” (“The Tooth”) because he’s got one helluva overbite, rose to international prominence after making his senior debut for Montevideo’s Nacional at the age of 17. Shortly after, he’d transfer to Italy and join Roma under the tutelage of “Soccer’s Jedi,” Zdenek Zeman.

Andres Iniesta was never going to have a Zlatan Ibrahimovic-esque debut in the J1 League. The 34-year-old schemer is a much more subtle player and has never been one to stuff the stat line. Last Sunday, he made his debut for Vissel Kobe and played the final 31 minutes of his side’s 3-0 defeat.

After his break following a World Cup with Spain, the former Barcelona midfielder looked a little rusty — every pass just seemed a fraction too far for his teammates, perhaps an indication of the new level of play that he’ll need to adjust to.

On July 24, 2018, Barcelona celebrated 10 years of Lionel Messi wearing the No. 10 Blaugrana shirt. Messi is now synonymous with the number, but he spent his first four senior seasons at the club without it — that’s because some man named Ronaldinho sported that jersey.