What a fantastic weekend of soccer. So many brilliant goals, so many talking points. We compiled a list of ten of the best moments from the weekend, in no particular order.
10. Dutch club walks out with lingerie models instead of kids.
Valentine's day: the romance of a relationship somehow expressed over the course of one single day, or a 24-hour solo binge-fest on Haagen-Dazs’ latest fudge-brownie. Either way, it’s sure to be one of the better days of the year.
(If your date isn’t of the ice cream variety, you have some decisions to make. What do you do? Where do you eat? Do you go all out on that chocolate moat you read about in Cosmopolitan?)
It was an ordinary Saturday in the Bundesliga, until Borussia Dortmund striker Pierre Aubameyang showed up dressed like this:
Photo: @Squawka | Twitter
You thought Petr Cech's double save at the weekend against Bournemouth was good? Well, we may have found one that's even better. Say hello to Kaiserslautern keeper Marius Muller. In a game against FC Paderborn, Muller was called upon to make a double save. The first one was decent, pretty standard save really. But the second one...
Oh, to be German. The land of a healthy economy, delicious beer, and, of course, the World Cup Champions. It’s good to be in German soccer right now. If you are a young German, fans of top flight clubs across Europe melt at the prospect of having you on their team. If you are a veteran, people call you things like Fußballgott (which literaly means Football God). If you are a coach, you are highly respected, and more than likely highly paid.
Who knew such controversy could come from a UEFA Youth League Match? So, here's what happened. On Wednesday, several media outlets (including us) published footage of David Ruiz Pascual with what looked like one of the dives of the century in a game between Celtic and Valencia. It turns out that the young lad injured his cruciate ligament while running for the ball, and that's why he fell over so dramatically. Take a look at it here:
Henrik Larsson’s diving header against Bulgaria was voted the Euro 2004 goal of the tournament. Robin van Persie’s similar golazo finished second at the 2014 FIFA World Cup, losing out to eventual Puskas Award winner James Rodriguez’s ridiculous volley against Uruguay.
The Eiffel Tower. The Arc de Triomphe. The Louvre. Notre Dame.
And soccer hooligans?
Paris is known for many things, but most visitors to the “City of Light” don’t know the local Ligue 1 soccer club — Paris-Saint Germain (PSG) — was once plagued by the same problem more often associated with teams in places like London, Glasgow, Amsterdam and Buenos Aires: hooliganism.
The admiration and mutual respect that Philippe Coutinho and Neymar have for each other’s game is no secret. They’ve been close friends for almost 10 years now, their friendship dating all the way back to the time of embarrassing bathroom selfies, a formative point for anyone in their awkward teenage years.
Alejandro Bedoya deserves a call up for the USMNT when they take on Guatemala in World Cup Qualifying. Bedoya has become something of a hero of late for French Ligue 1 side Nantes. After not scoring for Nantes for nine months, the United States international has now scored four in six games. Some of those goals have been extremely important.