Italy's Serie A soccer league has confirmed that five matches will be played behind closed doors at the weekend because of the coronavirus outbreak in the country, including the clash between leaders Juventus and third-placed Inter Milan on Sunday.
Juventus coach Maurizio Sarri is struggling to impose his style of play on the Turin side and his frustration came out into the open again after a poor performance in their Champions League defeat to Olympique Lyonnais on Wednesday.
In comments that could be viewed as refreshingly honest or a risky public criticism of his players, the chain-smoking 61-year-old said that his team were struggling to grasp the concept of passing the ball around quickly — a style dubbed "Sarri-ball" by his admirers.
Cristiano Ronaldo and Juventus traveled to the hallowed grounds of the Parc Olympique Lyonnais, home of the best women’s club team in Europe and the location of the USWNT’s 2019 Women’s World Cup triumph.
The Italian Old Lady couldn’t live up to the ladies who have made the French stadium one of the Mecca’s of women’s football.
But Ronaldo made a funny face.
South Korea’s K League was scheduled to begin play this weekend, but the growing coronavirus outbreak in the country has led to the temporary postponement of the competition. Outside of China, South Korea has been hit hardest by the virus with 833 reported cases and seven deaths. The epicenter of the outbreak in South Korea is the southeastern city of Daegu.
Soccer is a sport often defined by tradition. A player’s jersey number is often indicative of his or her position on the pitch, a practice dating back more than a century.
But Atalanta players don’t give a fuck about jersey number conventions, and they’re on the verge of taking their No. 88s and No. 95s and No. 72s right to the Champions League quarterfinals.
Atalanta smashed Valencia 4-1 in the first leg of their UCL Round of 16 match on Wednesday at the San Siro. The second leg in is March 10 at the Mestalla.
After Juventus’ shock 2-1 defeat to Verona on Saturday, Inter had the glorious chance of returning to the top of the Serie A table with a win on Sunday. But standing in the Nerazzurri’s way was rival AC Milan in the Derby della Madonnina.
Although Milan entered the match in 11th place, the club had been rejuvenated by the January arrival of Zlatan Ibrahimović. With Ibrahimović, Milan had gone undefeated in league play (three wins, two draws) and advanced to the semifinals of the Coppa Italia.
Cristiano Ronaldo finalized his transfer from Real Madrid to Juventus back in the summer of 2018, bringing an end to his nine-year spell at the Bernabeu. Juve paid Real $117.25 million for the 34-year-old’s services, and Ronaldo signed a four-year deal worth around $35 million annually.
The sporting world lost one of its most important figures on Sunday as Kobe Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and seven others passed after a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California.
The tragedy is one where almost everyone will remember exactly where they were and what they were doing when they received the text, saw the tweet or read the news.
Maybe this is the answer for Argentina up top? Absolutely not, but still, Juventus’ Argentinean duo of Gonzalo Higuaín and Paulo Dybala combined (3x) for a mesmerizing goal on Wednesday to help the Old Lady stroll into the Coppa Italia quarterfinals after hammering Udinese 4-0.
With Cristiano Ronaldo missing out entirely due to illness, it was up to the front three of Higuaín, Dybala and Douglas Costa to produce the goods, and they all got on the scoresheet for Juve.
Cristiano Ronaldo is arguable the biggest and most well-known athlete on the planet. He dominates on the field, in business and on social media. On Instagram alone, if Ronaldo’s followers were a country it would be the eighth most-populated country. With such fame comes questions. Here are the most-asked Cristiano Ronaldo questions and some of the answers.