A little over a year ago, Renato Sanches was one of the hottest young commodities in European football. In 2016 he won the Portuguese Primeira Liga with Benfica and helped Portugal win the European Championship. On Wednesday, a Renato Sanches pass was so bad it nearly brought his coach to tears.
While the rest of the world watched the playoff between Denmark and Ireland, the tail end of qualifying in Africa or one of Saturday’s more glamorous friendlies, Macedonia (the world’s 85th ranked side) defeated Norway (58) 2-0 in a friendly with goals coming from Goran Pandev and Kire Markoski.
The first, finished by Genoa forward Pandev, was made possible following a wonderful assist from Ezgjan Alioski, a 25-year-old winger who plays for Leeds United.
Cristiano Ronaldo's assist to Isco during Sunday's 3-0 win against Las Palmas was the product of a brilliant, surging run down the right wing.
¡GOOOOOL! @Cristiano hace de asistente, @isco_alarcon anota y el @realmadrid ya gana 3-0 pic.twitter.com/pktn7hg9pd
The reigning Eredivisie champions, Feyenoord, are having a tough time defending their title because people are doing things like this to them. Feyenoord could only manage an away draw against ADO Den Haag yesterday with the club from The Hague scoring this ridiculous goal right before halftime.
Michelin, a club in Belgium’s First Division, secured a point on Saturday after scoring in the 92nd minute to salvage a 2-2 draw with Royal Excel Mouscron. The goal was scored by defender Elias Cobbaut, but it was all down to the extended work of goalkeeper Colin Coosemans.
The 25-year-old shot-stopper came up on a Michelin corner as his side went in search of an equalizer and found himself on the ball near the edge of the box. A clever step-over and turn almost skinned a defender alive, but Coosemans was unable to use his pace to get around his marker.
Goalkeeper assists are an extremely rare commodity. In fact, in the history of the Premier League, goalkeepers have registered less than 60 assists in total. While keepers can play wonderful roles in the buildup to goals (see Barcelona’s Marc-Andre ter Stegen), it’s uncommon to see a goal scored directly after the goalie relinquishes possession.