Cristiano Ronaldo and speed have gone hand in hand for a long time. It has always been a massive part of his game. The step-overs have come and gone, the goal scoring has gotten immensely better, but throughout it all Ronaldo’s speed has been there.
Lionel Messi is one of the most soft-spoken players in the world. If he wasn’t constantly one of the two best — if instead he was a middling player taking the field for Stoke City every weekend, then there is every reason to believe that only hardcore fans would know who he is. It is incredibly ironic, then, that he has risen to fame at the dawn of the age of social media, at a time when everyone is making a name for themselves through their personalities. Likes and clicks matter more than news and facts, and Messi has risen above it all. The irony of Messi’s success is not lost on him.
An old soccer adage tells us that all goals count the same. A howitzer from 40-yards, a rabona from the corner or an own goal off the defender’s ass, each will be rewarded with a solitary point. Soccer doesn’t discriminate. Unless you’re on the training ground. In that case, training ground goals don’t really count for anything.
We missed this, man. We really did. And now he's back, scoring amazing goals that only Messi (and to an extent only Barcelona) can score.
Barcelona obliterated Roma 6-1 in his first start and second game back, and he tallied two goals and an assist. Luis Suarez also scored twice and Gerard Pique and Adriano also scored.
Messi's first goal since injuring his knee in September came after a build-up of 29 straight passes from Barca, a Champions League record.
It had to end sometime, and it ended on Tuesday. After scoring 10 goals in seven games, Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez's goal-scoring streak is over after he couldn't find the net in Bayer Leverkusen's 1-1 draw against BATE Borisov in the UEFA Champions League.
His goals came in three competitions: the Bundesliga, the DFB Pokal and the Champions League.
Hernandez has 12 goals in total this year so far for Leverkusen: six in the Bundesliga, two in the DFB Pokal and four in the Champions League. He is Leverkusen's leading scorer, five ahead of the next-highest scorer.
The eyes were on Lionel Messi ahead of Barcelona's Champions League match vs Roma. And of course, La Pulga delivered. Scoring the second of Barcelona's 3 first half goals with a classic chip over the goalkeeper. But the person who continued his perfect form? Lucho Suarez. The Uruguayan not only assisted Messi's goal, but he also gave fans a volley for the ages, when he wound up from just inside the box, and curled a left to right rip past the goalkeeper.
He's baaaaaaaack. In his first start since injurying his knee back on September 26th, Lionel Messi found the back of the net with a classic chip over the goalkeeper. The Messi goal vs Roma came after 29 straight touches from Barcelona, with the final 6 coming in no surprising fashion: Neymar-Messi-Neymar-Messi-Suarez-Messi-GOAL. Neymar and Suarez were already in perfect form while Messi was gone, combining for 21 goals and 10 assists.
It's obvious that Javier Hernandez has been in incredible form this year. But we didn't realize just how good Chicharito has been until we saw this list of records Hernandez has set so far this year with Bayer Leverkusen.
Chicharito's recent records. (Via @Bundesliga_EN) pic.twitter.com/jJhWSvnDhC
It's a question posed to any footballer who succeeds in the relative atmospheric comforts of Serie A, La Liga and Ligue 1: "but could he do it on a cold Wednesday night at Stoke?" The implication being that in the cold of England in winter, players from lesser footballing areas like the Mediterranean and South America would wilt like the dead flowers they are. It is a perfect example of (false) Premier League exceptionalism.
Sepp Blatter's take on his recent health scare:
"I was between the angels who were singing and the devil who was lighting the fire, but it was the angels who sang."
Perhaps he was just lighting a cigarette and happened to take a glance at a mirror, but all jokes aside the suspended FIFA president claims he was really close to the final whistle.