Felipe Melo, who’s still going strong for Palmeiras at the age of 36, has revealed what it took to stop Lionel Messi back in his days of anchoring Brazil’s midfield.
Between 2009 and 2010 — when Melo was at the height of his power with Juventus — the hard-tackling “Pitbull” represented the Seleção 22 times and came up against Messi’s Argentina during 2010 World Cup qualifying.
The coronavirus pandemic has brought a halt to football around the globe, but it’s also deprived us of one of the most fascinating developments slated for March — Youssoufa Moukoko’s debut for Germany’s U-19 team and his transition into training with Borussia Dortmund’s senior side.
One year ago, Italian midfielder Gaetano Castrovilli was playing for Cremonese in Serie B with a transfer market value of just under $2 million. Fast forward to the present day and Inter is reportedly ready to offer Fiorentina $44 million for the 23-year-old.
With football matches cancelled across Europe to stop the spread of the coronavirus, LaLiga players Borja Iglesias and Sergio Reguilon found a novel way to attract 60,000 online fans - by battling out a thrilling Seville derby on the FIFA 20 video game.
If soccer never comes back, then at least we saw an enticing match south of the border at Estadio Azteca on Sunday night.
Major sports league across the world have suspended their seasons in wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. A few leagues held out longer than others, including Liga MX, the Brasileiro and Australian A-League, albeit without fans present in stadiums. By Sunday, however, both Mexico and Brazil announced they would suspend their national leagues.
Against all odds and wave after wave of pressure, Atlético has sent defending European champion Liverpool out of the Champions League, 4-2 on aggregate, but the Spanish side must largely thank Adrián for its magical night at Anfield.
The opening 90 minutes couldn’t have gone any better for Liverpool on Wednesday — apart from the lone Reds goal on the scoreboard. After promising to improve on zero shots on target back at the Wanda, Liverpool finished regular time with 28 attempts — nine on target — 71 percent possession and more than twice as many completed passes as Atlético.
The Zambia women’s national team has made history by qualifying for the 2020 Olympic Games after upsetting Cameroon in the final of the CAF Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament.
After defeating Botswana in the quarterfinals and Kenya in the semis, Zambia entered the final a full 57 spots below Cameroon in the FIFA world rankings. What’s more, Cameroon’s program had the experience of qualifying for London 2012 followed by back-to-back Round of 16 appearances at the 2015 and 2019 Women’s World Cups. Zambia, on the other hand, had never qualified for the Olympics or a World Cup.
Over the past six months, Atalanta fans have been living the American soccer dream. The Bergamo-based club, despite tracing its existence back 112 years, has experienced a litany of firsts, bounced around different grounds and put its supporters through a sustained period of isolated loneliness. In the United States, we call this the New York City FC experience.
A Hero I-League match in India finished with one of the best game-winning goals ever seen. TRAU’s center back, Deepak Devrani, performed an acrobatic goal that any striker in the world would be proud of. It's surely a candidate for the 2020 Puskás Award.
A goal worthy of winning any match!
Presenting Deepak 'acrobat' Devrani's stunning injury-time goal from yesterday's #HeroILeague action!
For Philadelphia Union fans hoping to catch their club’s second match of the season, they had to stay up until 11:00 p.m. ET on Sunday night just to make it to kick off on FS1. But as the date changed from Sunday evening to Monday morning on the East Coast, those brave Union supporters at least got to witness one of the most spectacular contests in MLS history.