If last week’s round of Serie A fixtures was dominated by tragedy, then this week’s matches were defined by flashes of beauty peering through the gloom. Across a number of games, there were flashes of brilliance which pierced through the fog for vastly different reasons. Even if, ultimately, the moments meant nothing, the surge of emotion and energy was undeniable.
Let’s begin with the most astounding of all.
Claudio Pizarro has been around a long time. When he scored his first Bundesliga goal, we mere mortals were worrying about Y2K, the legality of Napster and whether or not we fed our Tamagotchi. With his goal for Cologne against Stuttgart on Sunday, the Peruvian striker scored for the 20th consecutive calendar year in the Bundesliga.
It’s been a great month for Borussia Dortmund attacker Marco Reus. After suffering an ACL tear in last season’s DFB-Pokal final, the 28-year-old made his long-awaited comeback on February 10 against Hamburger SV in the Bundesliga.
He’s since played in six more matches for BVB, scoring three goals (including the strike that’s since been voted the Bundesliga’s Goal of the Month for February).
Cristiano Ronaldo Jr. is already looking like a better player than dear old dad. This impressive bicycle kick is proof.
Ronaldo’s son was messing around on the Bernabeu pitch with Marcelo’s son when Real Madrid midfielder Lucas Vazquez lobbed a ball into the box for the two boys. Ronaldo Jr. measured his leap and flung his boot around at the ball for a perfectly executed bicycle kick goal.
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France entered the SheBelieves Cup as the lowest-ranked team of the four involved, ranked sixth while the others were all in the top three. But thanks to a blistering goal from Amandine Henry for France vs. Germany, Les Bleues ensured they didn’t finish last in the tournament, beating Die Nationalelf 3-0.
Hey, this all turned out well for American soccer. Thanks to FC Dallas’ shitshow performance against Tauro FC, the MLS side got to avoid getting spanked by Club America in the CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinals, and look who’s now doing the spanking — it’s Angeleno Joe Corona!