Undoubtedly, there’s a lot on a player’s mind heading into the day of a massive game.
Especially when that important fixture is a Champions League match. Especially when you are an 18-year-old star shouldering high expectations. Especially when you’re a member of the away club on a homecoming trip to the city you were born and raised in for the first time in your professional career.
Borussia Dortmund's DFB-Pokal run has come to an end after losing on penalties to a spirited Werder Bremen. After a tight opening 90 minutes, the match burst into life at the Signal Iduna Park, with four goals coming in extra time. Werder Bremen won 4-2 on penalty kicks after a 3-3 draw.
In the soccer world, one of the best sights for sore eyes is the return of the Champions League.
Sometimes, watching Champions League teams playing league cup matches against weak opposition can be really dull after a while. For example, Manchester City’s 9-0 drubbing of Burton Albion a few weeks ago. In a lot of ways, European soccer without Champions League becomes kind of monotonous. At some point between the last Champions League group stage match and the start of the Round of 16, soccer fans will be wondering when the tournament will start up again.
If you’ve paid attention to internet trends over the past few days or so, you will notice something known as the #10YearChallenge. The basic premise of it is that people post pictures of themselves from 2009 and another from 2019 to show the world how much they’ve changed — in appearance or otherwise.
Bayern Munich is by far the most successful club in Germany and one of the richest. Its power in the transfer market is hard to contend with, evidenced by its constant trophy haul every year.
Munich’s big club (sorry 1860 Munich fans) doesn’t seem to be letting up in its chase for trophies, although this season the club has struggled under new manager Niko Kovac.
Christian Pulisic had a difficult year. From missing out on the World Cup to dealing with injury to not being a consistent starter for Borussia Dortmund, you can’t blame the 20-year old for wanting a little change of scenery. Pulisic has been on the radar of big European clubs for quite some time now, and a summer move seems inevitable.
The winter-break period separating the first half and the second half of the season in Europe’s top five leagues is a great time for clubs to reflect on a club's season (although winter break doesn’t exist in England). Even before Christmas, but Europe’s top clubs are preparing for their second half of the season push. Here are some New Year's resolutions for Europe’s top clubs in the big five leagues.
The Champions League Round of 16 draw results are in, and although we have to wait until mid-February to get started, some things are too tasty to be left on the back-burner for that long. Here’s a look at all eight matchups, and an incredibly scientific ranking of which ties get us all hot and bothered.
Spectacular. The round of 16 draw
Borussia Dortmund maintained its nine-point advantage at the top of the Bundesliga following a 2-1 win over Werder Bremen on Saturday, and not even the 83rd minute introduction of Josh Sargent could disrupt BVB’s continued run of excellence.
That excellence has been highlighted by the play of Paco Alcacer, who scored Dortmund’s opener in the 19th minute after this extremely well-worked set piece (also, VAR is a great thing).
Raphael Guerreiro and Marco Reus stood over the ball, and Guerreiro ran over it once before sneakily returning and delivering with his left foot.
How can the U.S. ever expect to win a World Cup when its star player can’t even grasp Concacaf-rules football?
Christian Pulisic, the 20-year-old Borussia Dortmund who is already perhaps the USMNT’s best player, was a part of the FIFA 19 World Tour with a new video that dropped this week. Pulisic faced off against BVB teammate and FIFA 17 cover boy Marco Reus in a no-rules match of FIFA 19.
No rules means just what you’d think: no offside, no fouls, no bookings.