It’s a goal every soccer player dreams of scoring. Ball comes in, chest it up into the air and bicycle kick it into the back of the net. But not even Branislav Ivanovic could believe it when he scored his incredible goal for Zenit St. Petersburg against Real Sociedad in the Europa League on Thursday.
What do you do in life? How do you make the most out of life? I don’t know. Maybe the best advice comes from golfer John Daly: grip it, rip it and sip it. Konyaspor’s Mehdi Bourabia knows what I’m talking about.
Everton travelled to Cyprus to play Apollon Limassol in the last match of the Europa League group stage Thursday. They did so without most of the first team and new manager Sam Allardyce. Neither team had any chance of advancing, so Everton used the opportunity to hand debuts to some academy kids and prepare the first team for Sunday's Merseyside Derby.
Unlike American football, kicking off is an advantage in soccer. At least, it’s supposed to be. You can pass to a teammate and start an attack or just lump the ball forward and run after it in the opponent’s end. Regardless, you shouldn’t give up the fastest goal ever scored when you kick off. But CS Sfaxien didn't get the memo.
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.