Christian Pulisic had a difficult year. From missing out on the World Cup to dealing with injury to not being a consistent starter for Borussia Dortmund, you can’t blame the 20-year old for wanting a little change of scenery. Pulisic has been on the radar of big European clubs for quite some time now, and a summer move seems inevitable.
Arsenal shook off a shaky opening minute to take a surprise lead against Liverpool on Saturday at Anfield. Then one moment of madness — and a Bobby Firmino no-look goal — opened the floodgates for Liverpool’s 5-1 victory over Arsenal.
Mohamed Salah, Liverpool’s Egyptian King: incredible pace, dribbling ability and an eye for goal. Something he shouldn’t add to his box of tricks, however, is diving.
Salah has been wrapped up in a few diving cases in his Premier League career, most recently in yesterday’s match against Newcastle. Liverpool hosted Newcastle on Boxing Day, drubbing the Geordies 4-0. It was a routine win for Liverpool, but an important talking point of the match surrounded Liverpool’s second goal.
The holiday period is a crazy time for the Premier League. Many of Europe’s top leagues take a break until the new year, but England continues its fixture list with a plethora of matches. The Christmas period is considered one of the toughest periods of the season, as the calendar for England’s top clubs is packed to the brim.
The winter-break period separating the first half and the second half of the season in Europe’s top five leagues is a great time for clubs to reflect on a club's season (although winter break doesn’t exist in England). Even before Christmas, but Europe’s top clubs are preparing for their second half of the season push. Here are some New Year's resolutions for Europe’s top clubs in the big five leagues.
The Champions League Round of 16 draw results are in, and although we have to wait until mid-February to get started, some things are too tasty to be left on the back-burner for that long. Here’s a look at all eight matchups, and an incredibly scientific ranking of which ties get us all hot and bothered.
Spectacular. The round of 16 draw
Liverpool’s ceaseless hammering of Manchester United finally yielded a breakthrough during a seven-minute second half spell that saw Xherdan Shaqiri score a brace of heavily deflected goals, a just reward for outshooting their opponent 36-6 on the way to a 3-1 win.
In the end, it was a humiliating footballing lesson for Jose Mourinho’s side, and the only moment of respite for United was a terrible blunder from Alisson that allowed the Red Devils to stay level at 1-1 for 40 totally undeserved minutes.
Liverpool advanced to the Champions League Round of 16 in the most fraught style imaginable, relying on Mohamed Salah’s brilliant solo goal to triumph 1-0 over a Napoli side that spent the majority of the match mirroring the laissez-faire demeanor of manager Carlo Ancelotti.
I imagine that Ancelotti and Napoli spent all manner of time preparing for the threat of Liverpool and Salah, but it really doesn’t matter when you point the Egyptian on a straight path toward your goal.
A closely contested Merseyside Derby was decided in the 96th minute after Divock Origi was on hand to head home the strangest of match-winners at Anfield. With Manchester City continuing to eviscerate the opposition, Origi’s dramatic miracle kept Liverpool within two points of the leaders, but what a truly miserable way to lose a match for Everton and goalkeeper Jordan Pickford.