Since the 2014 World Cup, Karim Benzema’s output for Real Madrid in La Liga and Champions League matches reads like this: 114 matches played, 64 goals scored, 23 goals assisted. With a record of over a goal per every two matches, the 29-year-old French forward is one of the most feared in Europe.
A team that has netted 104 goals in a single league season - with a game still left to play - deserves to be champions. With the help of a young, fearless attack paired with a seasoned goalscorer, AS Monaco ended Paris Saint-Germain's Ligue 1 trophy winning streak at four.
Mario Balotelli hasn’t appeared as often as he would’ve liked for Nice this season due to three red cards and a smattering of various injuries, but when he has played he’s been unplayable.
Super Mario made it 14 goals in only 18 Ligue 1 starts as Nice stomped Paris Saint-Germain on Sunday, effectively handing the league title to Monaco.
Newcastle United's policy of purchasing young French players and selling them for a massive profit came to end following last year’s relegation. That embarrassing demise, Newcastle’s second relegation in only eight years, proved that the club’s model of operating was disastrously shortsighted.
For every revelation that chief scout Graham Carr discovered on the cheap in Ligue 1 (Hatem Ben Arfa, Yohan Cabaye, Moussa Sissoko and Mathieu Debuchy), there were the counterpoints of Sylvain Marveaux, Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa, Emmanuel Riviera and Remy Cabella.
The Europa League quarterfinal between Lyon and Besiktas was delayed for 45 minutes when supporters were forced to invade the pitch after projectiles and firecrackers were thrown from the upper deck and into the stand below.
After a sensational season with Nice last season, Hatem Ben Arfa earned his dream move to Paris Saint-Germain. That dream has since turned into a nightmare for the French dribbling wizard. His many brief cameos as a substitute in league play this season have resulted in none of the magic that typified his year with Nice.
Fresh off of eliminating Manchester City in the Champions League round of 16, AS Monaco travelled to Caen for a Ligue 1 match on Sunday. The people of Caen began the match by applauding their achievement, and they ended it by giving 18-year-old striker Kylian Mbappe a resounding standing ovation.
As cliche as the label of “the next Thierry Henry” is, Mbappe appears to be just that. After breaking Henry’s records for the youngest-ever senior debutant and youngest goalscorer in Monaco’s history last season, he’s quickly become one of the most feared strikers in the world.
After a disappointing SheBelieves Cup that saw Alex Morgan fail to score while totaling just over 90 minutes across three matches, the USWNT striker returned to Lyon, where she is on loan from Orlando Pride until the conclusion of the European season, and completed her first 90-minute match in six months and scored a hat trick.
Lyon were playing Rodez in the quarterfinals of the French Cup, and Morgan contributed three goals in their 6-0 victory. The second goal is definitely the pick of the bunch, a phenomenal finish from the international legend.
It began with an attempt at Zidane-esque control and ended with a display of marksmanship that sends an entire section of the crowd surging towards the pitch. As much as we love to dissect football, to break the pitch into a systematic property where order reigns, it’s a beautiful sport because it forever remains incalculable.
In direct defiance of former Manchester United hard man Roy Keane, Paul and Florentin Pogba again displayed feelings of brotherly love on the soccer pitch Wednesday: giving dap, exchanging jerseys, strolling around the pitch postgame, applauding everyone and refraining from threatening to murder each other and calling each other