Perhaps beginning with AC Milan’s historic Centro Sportivo Milanello and continuing to this day in previously undreamt of places like Atlanta and Utah, training facilities for the world’s most prestigious clubs have grown in importance as the most ambitious of organizations attempt to align the best in first-team training, sports science and academy development with a physical representation of an overarching ideology.
Cristiano Ronaldo continued to make history earlier this week, being named Portuguese Player of the Year for the 10th time in his career.
Cristiano Ronaldo has won Portuguese Player Of The Year for a record 10th time! pic.twitter.com/dxldOfDDu0
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) September 3, 2019
It was almost a decade ago that David Silva was on the verge of making his way to Real Madrid from Valencia. Real president Florentino Perez went straight to the tunnel after a match between his side and Valencia, looking to speak with the player and likely drop a not-so-casual hint the Spanish playmaker should make the move to the capital in the upcoming window. In the end, he made the move to the blue side of Manchester, coached by Roberto Mancini, and boy did that turn out to be one heck of a move for City.
Manchester City kept pace with Liverpool at the top of the Premier League table with a 3-1 victory over Bournemouth on Sunday morning, but the Citizens were made to work for all three points. Sergio Agüero and Raheem Sterling had given City a 2-0 lead by the 43rd minute, but just before the halftime whistle Harry Wilson struck this marvelous free kick to pull the Cherries back into the match.
The privacy of some fans in England was at stake for fans in England this year in the Premier League. Manchester City was set to trial facial-recognition software in collaboration with Blink Identity, but the club said Tuesday it would not bring the technology to Etihad Stadium. Brondby had already introduced the technology and City was set to follow before a wave of backlash.
Bernardo Silva was called for a foul for the filthiest 15 seconds of Premier League foot skills we’ve seen since the last time we wrote about an insane piece of Bernardo Silva skill, which, as it turns out, is quite often.
The Women’s International Champions Cup kicks off Thursday — and it’s kind of a big deal.
While the men’s International Champions Cup is just a glorified list of preseason exhibitions, the women’s version actually means something. Aside from the UEFA Women’s Champions League, it’s rare for women’s clubs to face off against clubs from other countries, let alone continents. There is no Club World Cup for women, so the Women’s International Champions Cup fills the gaps left by FIFA’s lack of commitment to the women’s game.
We all know that Manchester City loves to spend big, and it has been under the watch of just about every governing body in football as of late. FIFA and UEFA are the big ones, and they have been after City for a while now after exorbitant amounts of spending and the suspicious transfers of youth players since Pep Guardiola arrived in 2016.
According to the Telegraph, Manchester City and England star Raheem Sterling has been offered a contract worth $120 million from Nike subsidiary Air Jordan to be face of the company’s upcoming soccer line.
The Premier League season is less than 24 hours old, but you can’t escape people complaining about the introduction of Video Assistant Referee. The Man City VAR decisions in particular rankled the British pundits who make a living on arguing about referee calls.
Personally, I’m already tired of people complaining about getting calls right.