2014 was a tough year for Barcelona. They went trophyless, which is shocking by their standards and given the talent they have. They finished second behind Atletico Madrid in La Liga, got beaten by Los Colchoneros in the quarterfinals of Champions League and finished second to Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey.
It’s Christmas Eve, and by now each and every one of you will be knee-deep in the “festive period”: your credit cards will be maxed out, the onset of gout is just around the corner, and your liver is the complexion and consistency of a duck pate that’s been sat in the sun too long.
With the exception of the Barclays Premier League (which doubles down on the number of matches), the other elite European leagues have shut down for the Christmas window. During this period in which the clubs can rest, relax, evaluate, and prepare for the opening of the transfer window in January, we at The18 wanted to take stock of where things stand at the intermission:
Matches Resume January 3, 2015
Cristiano Ronaldo is from Madeira, a little island off of the coast of Portugal and it is not surprising that his persona is probably the biggest export to come from the petite island. The Real Madrid goal-scoring machine (who has 25 goals in 15 La Liga matches) has a museum dedicated to his likeness on the island, and this past weekend they added another memento to honor the Portuguese star: A statue.
Except there are two problems with this statue.
#1: It looks nothing like Cristiano Ronaldo:
2014 is drawing to a close, but the January transfer window is just starting to heat up. Here are our predictions for the star players most likely to be on the move in the new year.
As children growing up, who didn't think, “Do our parents deliberately try to embarrass us?” Or, perhaps infinitely more importantly, “Is there some sort of unspoken competition between the parents of the world to see who can embarrass their children the most thoroughly?”
Well, if that damnable league does exist, we would like to introduce you to its perennial champions: Mr. and Mrs. Sisto.
Thierry Henry retired yesterday, and we put together the top moments of his career.
Leo Messi is practically Superman when it comes to scoring goals. But we think we've discovered his Kryptonite - and it's the crossbar.
In sports, having a short memory is often seen as a desirable quality. Players are taught not to dwell on their past mistakes in order to stabilize their confidence and ability to perform.
So we were surprised to hear that Iker Casillas can remember “98%” of the games he participated in. That means he can remember who Real Madrid was playing, the date of the game, who scored, if he was scored on, and what he did wrong in those instances. He is able to recall all of these details as nonchalantly as he would a recall friend’s name.
It’s all in the genes. Neymar Jr took an Instagram video of his father, Neymar Sr, playing keepy up while he is sitting down.
For us not very talented soccer players, you know keeping a solid juggle going for a while is difficult. But have you tried it sitting down? Well, Neymar Sr has no problem at all managing that task. I guess we shouldn’t be too surprised. His son has scored 14 goals in 18 games this year for La Liga side Barcelona and scored 15 goals in 13 games for Brazil in 2014.