Moves

With Neymar out suspended, Kylian Mbappé had two goals and an assist in Paris Saint-Germain’s 4-0 thrashing of Dijon on Saturday. But it’ll be the back-to-back Mbappé nutmegs that torment the nightmares of Dijon defenders for years to come.

Neymar sat out the match after picking up two yellow cards in the Feb. 23 match with Girondins de Bourdeaux. Marco Verratti was also out suspended while Thiago Silva, Ander Herrera, Colin Dagba and Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting were all injured. 

Crystal Palace defeated West Ham 2-1 on Thursday thanks to an incredible solo effort from Jordan Ayew at the death. Ayew had provided the assist on Cheikhou Kouyaté’s equalizer for Palace in the 68th minute, but he saved his ultimate contribution for last.

Last season’s Champions League semifinals were a romantic’s dream. Such was the scale of the attacking ambitions of the last four clubs remaining that almost all of the tournament’s top providers were on display: With five assists each, Ajax’s Dušan Tadić and the Barcelona duo of Luis Suárez and Jordi Alba finished as joint-leaders (along with Manchester City’s Leroy Sané). Just behind them with four assists was Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold.

Injuries, a contentious World Cup and the personal admission of a desire to abandon the PSG project have all adversely affected Neymar over the past two years — so much so that he found himself omitted entirely from the 30-man list for the 2019 Ballon d’Or. 

The fifth goal of Son Heung-min’s 2019-20 Premier League season was perhaps the finest he’s ever scored for Tottenham. Beginning at the edge of his own area, the 27-year-old attacker took off at a brisk pace before roaring through the gears and leaving eight Burnley defenders in his torrential wake.

Last night in Porto Alegre, Athletico Paranaense captured the 2019 Copa do Brasil with a 3-1 aggregate victory over Paolo Guerrero’s Internacional. After winning the first leg 1-0 in Curitiba, Athletico-PR captured its first-ever Copa by seeing things through at Inter’s home stadium.

It’s been over four months since we first caught wind of the Diego Maradona documentary that debuted in select cinemas worldwide back in June. Unfortunately, since America can be quite trash in the ways of appreciating soccer, the film hasn't been available to watch stateside. That’s all going to change on October 1.

As an American, it’s only natural that you’ll go through life encountering people that aren’t soccer fans. I’ve found — time after time — that the greatest bridge over that divide is Zlatan Ibrahimović. Introducing the big Swede’s personality to the uninitiated turns ambivalence into interest, and showing the Galaxy striker’s most famous goals turns interest into “holy shit, that’s incredible!” 

LAFC moved one step closer to securing the top seed in the Western Conference — and the MLS Supporters’ Shield — following a 4-0 beatdown of rivals San Jose on Wednesday night at Banc of California Stadium in Los Angeles. Diego Rossi opened the scoring in the sixth minute, Carlos Vela registered a brace by the 41st and Joshua Pérez put the finishing touches on an emphatic victory.

Vela’s first arrived from the penalty spot in the 17th, but it’s his outrageous solo goal in the 41st-minute that could have a shout at the MLS Goal of the Year Award.