Free Kicks

Even by Lionel Messi’s ridiculous standards, the Barcelona captain’s 90 minutes against Valladolid at the Camp Nou on Tuesday constitute something outrageous. After the two clubs exchanged heavily deflected efforts in the opening 15 minutes, Messi sprang into action with a beautiful assist, stunning free kick (and two brutal nutmegs) to put Barcelona up 3-1 at halftime. In the second half, he scored another goal and added another assist to lift Barça to the top of the LaLiga table.

Prior to Cristiano Ronaldo joining Juventus in 2018, the Old Lady had some of the best free-kick takers in the world in Miralem Pjanic, Federico Bernardeschi and Paulo Dybala. But who is going to tell the biggest ego in the sport he can’t take a crack at goal from distance, especially when he’s shown he can, when he hits it right, strike a mean free kick?

Barcelona moved into second in LaLiga — two points behind leaders Real Madrid — with an emphatic 4-0 victory over Sevilla at the Camp Nou on Sunday. Barça raced to a three-goal halftime lead thanks to a stunning overhead kick from Luis Suárez followed by further strikes from Arturo Vidal and Ousmane Dembélé. Lionel Messi finished the scoring with a sublime free kick in the 78th minute.

Maybe Jürgen Klopp saw something on film, but I doubt it. I think Liverpool simply exploited the almighty power of the backheel on a whimsy, as is befitting of the European champions. Klopp’s prematch team talk probably went something like this (sung to the tune of Men at Work):   

We can backheel if we want to, we can leave England behind

Cause Man United don’t backheel and Chelsea don’t backheel

And they’re no friends of mine

Javier Hernandez has opened his account with new club Sevilla. Back with a LaLiga club for the first time since his loan spell with Real Madrid, the first Chicharito Sevilla goal was stunning to all involved.

The best Champions League goal of the 2018-19 season has been revealed, and there can be few complaints.

Lionel Messi’s otherworldly free kick against Liverpool in the Champions League semifinals was announced as the UCL Goal of the Season by UEFA on Friday. 

...and here it is