Opinion

Real Madrid’s 3-0 victory over Real Sociedad has silenced many critics, especially after both Sevilla and Barcelona dropped points. Real now have a four-point lead with a game in hand at the top of La Liga. But such is the nature of the beast at the Santiago Bernabeu that Zinedine Zidane is still facing questions over a poor January that included a stretch of one win in five matches and elimination from the Copa del Rey. 

Pep Guardiola’s first season in England is not going to the way he planned. His Manchester City side are currently out of the top four, endangering their chances of qualifying for the Champions League — let alone winning the title. 

They also have the most losses out of all teams in the top six with five defeats, and conceded the most goals with 28. The team has many problems on the pitch, and converting their chances inside the final third seems to be the biggest one.

Oguchi Onyewu signed for the Philadelphia Union on Monday, bringing back a smorgasbord of painful nostalgia. I loved Onyewu, he proudly flew the flag for American soccer players abroad for a number of years, but he was also at the center of a couple unpleasant memories during a very formative time in my life. 

Let’s be honest with each other, the FA Cup has become an irrelevance. Once the pinnacle of domestic football, the world’s oldest cup competition is now about as popular as a presidential executive order, with only slightly more charm.

Following a blatant attack of racial abuse on Mario Balotelli during Nice’s match against Bastia last Friday, the Italian striker took to Instagram and said, “Is it normal that Bastia supporters make monkey noise [and] ‘uh uh’ for the whole game…?” Balotelli then criticized the French League’s disciplinary committee for failing to address the situation, summarizing the entire incident as “a real shame.”

2017 has just begun, and it’s already been extremely unkind to both Real Madrid and 2016 Ballon d’Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo.

The current club world champions had their historic unbeaten streak snapped by Sevilla in La Liga, cutting into their lead at the top of the table.

In the opening episode of the newest, most extravagant HBO television series, The Young Pope, the decidedly Neapolitan Cardinal Angelo Voiello, anticipating his upcoming meeting with the Holy See, lays out on a desk his three smartphones. Each is emblazoned with a slightly different cover. The Naples Trinity, Voiello calls them: the attacking trident which set Serie A on fire. Marek Hamsik, Lorenzo Insigne and Gonzalo Higuain. 

Criminally underrated throughout his career, due in large part to having to play behind two of the greatest ever in Xavi and Andres Iniesta for Spain, Santi Cazorla's recognition has only grown in the last two seasons, primarily because of his devastating absence. While many fans were not aware of him when he moved to Arsenal from Malaga in 2012, he has always been a favorite among players and coaches in his native country.

The MLS SuperDraft, which began last Friday and was completed on Tuesday (it didn't continue through the weekend, although at times it felt like it was going to), contains two elements that are completely wrongheaded.