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Goalkeepers make mistakes. It’s going to happen from time to time — more often if you’re a Kepa, less often if you’re an Oblak — and it’s going to be costly. 

For David Raya, a Spanish keeper playing for EFL Championship side Brentford, his time came in the first half of a match against Hull City at the KCOM Stadium on Saturday. In a match Brentford was dominating, Raya inexplicably allowed a long ball send forward by Hull defender Ryan Tafazolli to skip under his feet and into the back of the net.

Wayne Rooney has found his shooting boots less than a month into his stint as Derby County player-coach.

Rooney left D.C. United for the EFL Championship (England’s second division) after the 2019 MLS season, though he couldn’t play for his new club until the opening of the January transfer window.

There’s been a lot of talk recently about how Jurgen Klopp and the Liverpool first team aren’t even going to bother showing up for the FA Cup replay against Shrewsbury Town, instead sending its U-23 squad and coach. After all, when the Reds made a similar (albeit more necessary) move in the Carabao Cup, they were smashed 5-0 by Aston Villa.

We don’t know who this goalie is, but we want him on our team. We here at The18 are all for these types of goalkeeper mind games.

This keeper takes shithousery to a new level. He doesn’t give a fuck about decorum. He just wants to get in your head.

And it worked.

Facing a penalty kick, this keeper just hoofs the ball away before the opponent can take his kick.

Sure, he got a yellow card for his efforts — a slice of cheese per the Aussie lingo. But when the Mix Diskerud-wannabe finally took his spot kick, it was a tame attempt, easily saved by the keeper.

There’s a phrase for basketball players with prodigious 3-point shooting ability that says they’re within range as soon as they enter the arena. We may need to coopt that expression for soccer after this insane Florian Neuhaus goal vs Mainz on Saturday.

Borussia Monchengladbach maintained its spot in the top three of the Bundesliga with a 3-1 win over Mainz. Alassane Pléa scored two goals after Robin Quaison opened the scoring for the visitors, but we only care about the Neuhaus goal scored in the 88th minute.

Casemiro isn’t exactly known for his goal-scoring prowess. Before Saturday, the Brazilian defensive midfielder had scored 18 goals in 218 appearances for Los Blancos — about one goal every 12 matches. 

Luka Jovic, meanwhile, has struggled since joining Real Madrid from Eintracht Frankfurt for $68.4 million over the summer. He came into the weekend with one goal and no assists in 13 LaLiga appearances. 

And yet Jovic supplied what might be Real Madrid’s best assist of the season to set up Casemiro’s first of two goals in a 2-1 win over Sevilla on Saturday. 

Will all due respect to Christian Pulisic and Diego Lainez, it’s a Canadian who is the best young North American playing in Europe right now. There can be no debate after this Alphonso Davies goal vs Nurnberg on Saturday.

Well, that didn’t take long. In his first start since returning to AC Milan, Zlatan Ibrahimovic netted a well-taken goal to help his side beat Cagliari 2-0 on Saturday.

Ibrahimovic scored 56 goals in 85 appearances for the Rossoneri from 2010-12. Back with the club, following stops at PSG, Manchester United and the LA Galaxy, Ibrahimovic has already changed the way the team plays. 

It’s really quite dumb that the Spanish LFP decided to hold the Supercopa de España in Saudi Arabia. Almost as dumb as Valencia keeper Jaume Doménech after a clever Toni Kroos olimpico as Real Madrid won 3-1 on Wednesday.

Though they’re third and fifth in the Premier League, the gulf between Manchester City and Manchester United is vast. City is 15 points ahead of its rival in the league and now two goals ahead after a 3-1 victory over United in the first leg of the Carabao Cup semifinals on Tuesday at Old Trafford.