Paulo Dybala

Paulo Dybala did not start Tuesday’s match well. His first touch was a mess early on, he failed to provide much to the attack as Juventus went behind in the first half and many were surprised he wasn’t pulled when Gonzalo Higuain was brought on in the second half.

But by the time he was subbed out in the 81st minute, Dybala was the star — the match winner having scored twice, including an epic golazo to spark the Old Lady to a 2-1 victory over Lokomotiv Moscow. 

With Cristiano Ronaldo joining the side, Paulo Dybala’s goal scoring has dried up a bit in Serie A. The Argentine scored 22 goals in 33 league appearances in 2017-18, but had just two in 20 heading into the weekend. We got a not-so-subtle reminder of what the 25-year-old can do when he looks for goal with this incredible Dybala goal vs Frosinone on Friday. 

Juventus was never likely to struggle playing at home against Frosinone, 47 points back of Juve in 19th place, even with a Champions League match with Atlético Madrid to look forward to on Wednesday. 

Since 2013, the CIES Football Observatory has annually been releasing a list of the top 100 valued footballers from Europe’s “Big-5” leagues. It’s a fascinating concept because rather than just saying “Messi is the best, he’s No. 1. Ronaldo is second-best, he’s No.

Tuesday night’s friendly match between Argentina and Mexico was a fittingly strange closing to a strange year for both nations: Mauro Icardi scored his first international goal at the eighth time of asking, and Paulo Dybala also opened his account in his 18th appearance.