Champions League

Heading into Wednesday’s Champions League Round of 16 first leg between Real Madrid and Manchester City, the narrative centered around the contrasting styles of managers Zinedine Zidane and Pep Guardiola. In essence, how would the laissez-faire approach of Zidane, which yielded back-to-back-to-back titles in this competition between 2016 and 2018, fare against the meticulous neuroticism of Guardiola, which hasn’t earned the Spaniard Old Big Ears since 2011. 

Cristiano Ronaldo and Juventus traveled to the hallowed grounds of the Parc Olympique Lyonnais, home of the best women’s club team in Europe and the location of the USWNT’s 2019 Women’s World Cup triumph. 

The Italian Old Lady couldn’t live up to the ladies who have made the French stadium one of the Mecca’s of women’s football.

But Ronaldo made a funny face.

Well, I’ll be damned. Napoli didn’t lose and it’s all because of these fans, baby:

There’s a graphic doing the rounds that shows the 10 players with the most combined goals and assists in Europe’s top five leagues since August 2017. Lionel Messi is obviously miles ahead in the top spot, Luis Suárez is sixth and Neymar — despite only appearing in 52 games over that period — comes in 10th. 

It was only three seasons ago, but MSN seems a lifetime away. With a collection of arguably the world’s best No. 9, No. 10 and winger, there were endless variants to the ways in which Barcelona could go about killing you. 

Bayern Munich left back Alphonso Davies had himself a little battle with his opposite No. 19, Chelsea’s Mason Mount, on Tuesday. Well, he had a battle in the same way a child with a magnifying glass has a battle with ants on a sidewalk.

Davies toyed with the young Blues midfielder throughout the match, using his immense pace to recover on a couple occasions when it appeared Mount was in on goal. Then the Canadian teenager blistered past Mount and the entire Chelsea defense for the back-breaking goal in a 3-0 win in the Champions League Round of 16 at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday. 

In a game that could prove crucial in the fight for European qualification, Real Sociedad plays host to Valencia on Saturday. The Basque side currently sits in eighth place, just one point behind Valencia in seventh. If other results go favorably, a win could see either team break into the top four. Valencia is only behind rival Villareal on goal difference while Atletico Madrid and Sevilla, fourth and fifth in the table, respectively, are level on 40 points, two points ahead. 

In terms of a 1-0 scoreline, there’s no greater beatdown than the one RB Leipzig just administered to Tottenham in London on Wednesday. The difference on the scoreboard was Timo Werner’s 58th-minute penalty, but the difference on the pitch was an incredible gulf in tempo, build-up play and variation in attack.

Soccer is a sport often defined by tradition. A player’s jersey number is often indicative of his or her position on the pitch, a practice dating back more than a century. 

But Atalanta players don’t give a fuck about jersey number conventions, and they’re on the verge of taking their No. 88s and No. 95s and No. 72s right to the Champions League quarterfinals.

Atalanta smashed Valencia 4-1 in the first leg of their UCL Round of 16 match on Wednesday at the San Siro. The second leg in is March 10 at the Mestalla.

In what will prove a controversial move, Barcelona looks likely to sign Leganes forward Martin Braithwaite. After season-ending injuries to both Ousmane Dembélé and Luis Suarez, the Catalan side finds itself sorely lacking in forward depth. 

Diego Simeone once summed up his coaching philosophy in one brief sentence: “Effort is non-negotiable.” 

On Tuesday, the Atlético team on the pitch at the Wanda Metropolitano fully embodied its manager in a heroic 1-0 Champions League Round of 16 first-leg victory over defending champion Liverpool.