As captains of their respective national teams, both Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo were given votes in deciding The Best FIFA Men’s Player 2018. It’s an award that the two have dominated — in it’s various guises — ever since Kaka was named FIFA World Player of the Year back in 2007 (Messi finished second and Ronaldo third that year).
Luka Modric has claimed The Best FIFA Men’s Player 2018 award ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo and Mohamed Salah (and dare I say it at risk of being murdered, Lionel Messi), but that contentious decision pales compared to everything else that unfolded at a star-studded gala (sans Messi and Ronaldo) in London on Monday evening.
Real Madrid beat Roma 3-0 at home on Wednesday and we are all talking about Modric’s assist to Bale, Isco’s brilliant free kick, Mariano’s delightful goal and the team’s changes in playing style now that CR7 left, but what we are not talking about, is that Sergio Ramos got a yellow card, giving him the most Champions League yellow cards in the history of the competition, now one past the 36 yellow cards Paul Scholes accumulated in his career with Manchester United.
Lionel Messi led the charge in Barcelona’s flying start the UEFA Champions League with a vintage display as Barça cruised to victory over Dutch champions PSV Eindhoven on Tuesday.
PSV became the 30th team to be pierced by Messi’s goal-scoring sword in Europe. He now has a record eight hat tricks in the UCL to his name, pulling him one ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo. Not only did the 31-year-old bag a few goals, but he was constantly working to find space, dictating the tempo and setting up his teammates.
It’s been a rough road for Bayern Munich midfielder Renato Sanches ever since his massive transfer from Benfica to Germany in May of 2016. After making the breakthrough at his boyhood club during the 2015-16 season and carrying that superlative form into Portugal’s historic Euro 2016 triumph, Sanches’ career abruptly hit the wall.
When the dust settled from Cristiano Ronaldo’s shocking red card on Wednesday, after Juventus secured the three points against Valencia with a 2-0 win, one question began to crop up in the minds of football fans around the globe: Will Ronaldo miss Man U games in the Champions League?