Nicolò Barella lost the plot in Inter Milan’s 2-0 defeat to Real Madrid. The battle for the top spot in Group D was decided by a smashing Toni Kroos hit in the first half, but it was ended by the Barella red card vs Real Madrid. Los Blancos closed out the win after a lovely late strike from Marco Asensio on Tuesday at the Bernabeu.
There was nothing on the line for PSG during Tuesday's Champions League group stage finale against Club Brugge with Manchester City already clinching top spot and the Parisian side locked in second, although the Belgian's harbored faint hopes of achieving a result at the Parc des Princes to qualify for the Europa League above RB Leipzig — that dream was dead inside seven minutes.
Only two minutes in, Kylian Mbappé punished Simon Mignolet for struggling with an effort at his near post, although the 22-year-old Frenchman's finish was ice cold.
STATS! They can be used in all manner of ways. In the right hands, they can provide you with some excellent insight into the best women's goalkeepers in the world right now. In the wrong hands, you end up with some diabolical shitposting that's effectively ESPN FC's Twitter account.
Rumors of a UEFA Super League have become increasingly prevalent in recent times as larger clubs look for ways to earn a buck any way they can. An official announcement of a Super League even came earlier this year before being trounced by fans across the continent.
Big clubs loathe the current Champions League format because it limits matchups against other big clubs and forces them to share the prize money, while smaller clubs believe the format is slanted against them.
As a semi-active goalkeeper and current goalkeeper coach, I pride myself on being knowledgeable about all things goalkeeping. But early on into this project, I realized I was in over my head. My goalkeeper expertise was far outweighed by my previous lack of knowledge on women's soccer.
I couldn't rank the top ten women's goalkeepers because I couldn't even name ten of them. I was humbled and also disappointed in myself, but I set out to rectify the situation by producing the best damn rankings of women's goalkeepers I possibly could.
Another week of Manchester United football, another week U.S. networks decide the world’s most popular player on the world’s most popular team isn’t worth putting on TV. Anyone trying to find Manchester United on TV over the last month has been sorely disappointed.
Lionel Messi won his record-extending seventh men’s Ballon d’Or on Monday. Anyone who watched him carry both Argentina and Barcelona over the last year knows he absolutely deserved it. But even Messi admitted on Monday that Robert Lewandowski deserves the 2020 Ballon d’Or.
Lionel Messi edged Robert Lewandowski for the men’s 2021 Ballon d’Or, the Argentine’s record-extending seventh trophy as the best men’s player in the world. But Cristiano Ronaldo, who didn’t even attend the award show in Paris, still managed to make it all about him.
Messi, who this year helped Argentina win the 2021 Copa América and Barcelona win the Copa del Rey (lol), was also named the world’s best men’s player in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015 and 2019.
HERE IS THE WINNER!
I’ll admit, I love a good team goal. But there’s just something about a sweetly struck volley that cannot be beat. I mean, just look at this Thiago goal vs Porto on Wednesday.
When these teams met in Paris a couple of months ago, Manchester City bossed the game but PSG still won by two. In Manchester, the Citizens didn’t quite dominate as much, but they came away with what matters most: more goals.