A trip to the Balaidos in Galicia is never tepid waters — Barcelona were made to weather their own storm in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula on Thursday in a frantic 1-1 Copa del Rey Round of 16 draw — and Celta Vigo again showcased their formidable home fortress in a 2-2 La Liga draw with Real Madrid on Sunday.
In the end, it’s all shock and horror for Arsene Wenger and Arsenal FC. Their 4-2 defeat to Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup on Sunday means it’s the first time since Wenger became Arsenal’s manager that they’ve failed to progress past the third round — a record of 21 straight seasons that’s now over. Forest are also the first team from a lower division to score four or more goals against Arsenal in the FA Cup since 1908.
Papu Gomez became a club legend at Atalanta B.C. last season after his goals fired the club to a fourth-place finish in Serie A (their highest-ever league finish) and qualification for the Europa League. Hopefully you’re familiar with the forward’s goalscoring celebration, a dance which was turned into a viral sensation.
Burnley’s sensational quest for European football continued apace Tuesday with an improbable 2-2 draw with Manchester United at Old Trafford. Ashley Barnes gave the visitors a 1-0 lead in the third minute after a free kick into the box was eventually scrambled home, then Steven Defour went direct with a sensational effort in the 36th minute, leaving David de Gea fanning the air.
It's a SportsCenter Top 10 certainty.
Bristol City will be taking its fantastic goal GIFs straight to the Carabao Cup semifinals, joining Premier League giants Manchester City, Chelsea and Arsenal after knocking off defending champion Manchester United on Wednesday.
A 2-1 victory in the Bristol City vs Man U quarterfinal spurred remarkable scenes at Ashton Gate, with local fans storming the field and one man even giving a kiss to match winner Korey Smith.
So far, Inter Milan has had an excellent season. A mere glance at the table going into this weekend would reveal as much, as they sat in first place, ahead of Juventus and Napoli. Going into the season, not many people expected too much from the Milanese club. A top-four finish seemed the best they could hope for.
Matchweek 16 of the English Premier League kicked off Saturday morning with relegation candidates West Ham shocking defending champions Chelsea 1-0 at the London Stadium. David Moyes’ first victory as Hammers boss was secured by Marko Arnautovic, the $27 million man who’d yet to score following his summer move from Stoke City.
But Moyes suddenly seems like the right man for the job with Arnautovic finding net and West Ham climbing to 18th in the table, with just their horrific goal difference of minus 18 keeping them from safety.
Goals change games. That’s pretty much football 101. That’s how the game works. But not every goal is created equal. This week in Serie A, the true value of a goal was shown to be different on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. So let’s take a look at the three goals that defined the weekend and why they differed so widely.
Benevento’s raucous point against AC Milan on Sunday, their first after 15 matches in Serie A, was as historic as it was surreal. It put an end to the worst losing start ever in Europe’s big five leagues, but it was also miraculously earned by goalkeeper Alberto Brignoli after the shot-stopper pushed forward on a 95th minute free kick.
Also, it was a glorious diving header to make life that much more hellish for the floundering seven-time European champions, Milan.
The 2017 NCAA Men’s College Cup field has been whittled to eight with many of the usual suspects advancing to the quarterfinals. The marquee matchup of the quarters will be a rematch of last year’s College Cup final — Wake Forest, the top-seed, will take on back-to-back national champion Stanford. Seeds 2 through 5 remain alive as well: Indiana, North Carolina, Louisville and Akron.