Last week, there was a horrific moment in the Champions League when Real Madrid left back Marcelo shattered his arm while unleashing a blood-curdling scream that was captured by live television cameras. Millions of viewers at home thought they were going to be sick.
Chelsea had two players shown second yellow cards after being adjudged to have been guilty of simulation during their FA Cup replay against Championship side Norwich on Wednesday. Nonetheless, Antonio Conte’s side survived a 94th-minute equalizer and managed to advance 5-3 in a shootout after a 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge.
The absurdity of the Chelsea vs. Norwich City replay was not about the beauty of the FA Cup, but instead the beauty of a referee who didn’t take shit from anyone, even with VAR ready to back him up.
Bayer Leverkusen manager Heiko Herrlich has been hit with a fine approaching $14,500 after taking a comedy tumble during his side’s DFB-Pokal match against Borussia Monchengladbach on December 20. Bayer would win the game 1-0, but Herrlich apologized after the match for his hysterics following Denis Zakaria’s near-impingement on his personal space.
“That was stupid,” said Herrlich. “I’d like to apologize.”
On the pitch, Luis Suarez is insane. It’s part and parcel of his playing style. He doesn’t offer the aesthetic subtleties of his Barcelona teammates, but instead harnesses the inner energies of a footballing Babadook to terrorize defenses with whatever means are at his disposal.
During Saturday’s El Clasico, there was a two-minute spell — between the match’s 54th and 56th minutes — that brilliantly encapsulated the art of Suarez.
So maybe VAR doesn’t get every single little call right. Nor does it turn referees into infallible robots. But we think every soccer fan can get on board with the VAR decision during the Roma-Genoa match on Sunday. The VAR spotted this pathetic Daniele De Rossi slap on Gianluca Lapadula, which resulted in both players rolling around on the ground like they had just been shot.
After a review, the referee brandished red for De Rossi. Lapadula miraculously recovered from his injuries and scored the ensuing penalty to equalize and the match ended in a 1-1 draw.
A friendly between 2018 World Cup participants South Korea and Colombia in Suwon reached utterly deplorable levels in the 62nd minute with the Koreans leading 2-0 following a brace from Tottenham forward Son Heung-Min.
It hasn’t even been a month since the USMNT failed to qualify for the World Cup and U.S. forward Jozy Altidore apparently already felt compelled to pay homage the miserable 2-1 loss to Trinidad and Tobago in October. During Toronto FC’s Eastern Conference semifinal second leg, Altidore made a spot-on reenactment of the Americans’ performance against the Soca Warriors.
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The back-to-back European champions were humbled 3-1 by Tottenham at Wembley in Champions League group play on Wednesday, and Dele Alli’s performance will be fondly remembered in London. But it’s Casemiro’s strange form of embellishment when touched by Harry Winks that’s got the whole world talking.
The touch caused Casemiro to lose his balance for an instant, but then the Brazilian continued to forcibly lose his own balance for what seemed like an eternity.