Are you wondering who did what to who with what and when and where? You’ve come to the right place. The18’s decidedly polarizing staff is here to run the rule over the 2016-17 European season, and you won’t believe what Sam Klomhaus has to say. Sit back and enjoy our review of the most recent season yet.
The 2016-17 European club season brought many surprises. There were several teams that nobody expected much from, but they managed to prove us all wrong by either winning a title, qualifying for European competition or doing something notable in the Champions League. Let’s take a look at five clubs that provided a bit of magic this season.
This week, most people will be reading, talking and writing about Francesco Totti, who has now retired after playing his final game for Roma. But while everyone’s focused on Totti, let’s consider the rest of the season, indulging in one of the favorite pastimes of the calcio connoisseur: going over every detail of the previous 38 matches and putting people and teams in ranked lists.
There will be plenty of time to dissect Totti’s career in the future. Right now, we need to think about who has really impressed us this season and (more importantly) who has failed to impress.
There’s still another round of matches to play in Serie A. Sure, Juventus have won the title. Sure, they printed some pretty cringe-worthy ‘LE6END’ merchandise and plastered it everywhere. Sure, Napoli and Roma seem set in their Champions League spots. Sure, every position in the league is seemingly sorted, bar Crotone and Empoli bickering about who gets to be the third worst team. Sure, the league is pretty much done and dusted. But we still have one round of fixtures left.
Arsenal’s run of 19 straight Champions League appearances came to an end on a Premier League Super Sunday that was loaded with goals but very little drama. Early goals from both Manchester City and Arsenal put a little pressure on Liverpool, but Georginio Wijnaldum, Philippe Coutinho and Adam Lallana scored three goals in a ten-minute span bridging halftime to put the Reds into the 2017-18 Champions League playoff round at the expense of the Gunners.
The 2016-17 Champions League Group Stage has finished with all the usual contenders set to battle it out in the round of 16. Monday’s draw has handed us the following match ups:
It was surprising to see Zinedine Zidane given the manager’s position at Real Madrid after the sacking of Rafa Benitez. His only previous experience was in charge of the reserve side, Real Madrid Castilla, for 18 months, and his record didn’t speak well for himself.
“To play, all I need is audacity, happiness and to be with my friends, that’s all.” So croons Neymar on his debut single from the eagerly anticipated #Neymusico. Part soul bearing confession, part brooding acoustic melody, Neymar’s #Neymusico is the best thing I’ve heard since The Beatles released Abbey Road.
Portugal defeated Croatia 1-0 after 117 minutes of sleep-inducing tedium. To call it a tactical battle is to turn a blind eye towards both sides' lack of ambition and risk taking. A show that promised the likes of Luka Modric, Ivan Rakitic, Nani and Cristiano Ronaldo resulted in 116 minutes of football without a shot on target — Ricardo Quaresma sparing us from the second shootout of the opening day of knockout fixtures.
Leicester City’s improbable march towards a Premier League titled continued on Monday following a spirited 1-0 victory over relegation-threatened Newcastle United. Leicester managed only a single shot on target over the course of the match but the outcome of that shot was a goal fit to win any game. In what will perhaps go a long way towards securing a first-ever EPL title for the Foxes, Shinji Okazaki's overhead goal earned Leicester another three points.
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