Russia

Déjà vu approached the viewer of CSKA Moscow vs. Real Madrid on Tuesday and punched him or her in the teeth. Whether it was the sight of Russian internationals Igor Akinfeev and Mario Fernandes doing brave defending, Marco Asensio never making the right decision in the final third or Toni Kroos not enjoying himself on Russian soil, Tuesday showed that Julen Lopetegui could only run from the demons he’d managed to avoid by getting sacked before the World Cup for so long.

It's hard to imagine narrowing the shortlist from a field that also included the likes of Kylian Mbappé, Lionel Messi and Antoine Griezmann, but a jury comprised of coaches and journalists have spoken and named their top three: Today, UEFA announced that one of Luka Modrić, Cristiano Ronaldo or Mohamed Salah will be named the 2018 UEFA Player of the Year, an award given to the best footballer “irrespective of nationality, playing for a club within the territory of a UEFA member association during the past season” for their “performances in all competition — domestic, continental and interna

In what can only be described as absolutely nuts, Zenit Saint Petersburg defeated Belarusian side Dinamo Minsk 8-1 to win 8-5 on aggregate in its Europa League qualifying match, constituting the biggest Europa League comeback in 33 years. Dinamo Minsk had won the first leg 4-0 at its home ground, Traktor Stadium. 

Latest scores:

AS Trencin 4-0 Feyenoord

Dinamo Minsk 4-0 Zenit St Petersburg

We all love new technology and want to know when flying cars and robot servants will arrive like in the Jetsons. But it’s easy to overlook the incremental changes in technology happening right in front of us, right now. The recent Budweiser World Cup campaign gave soccer fans a glimpse into a future where the packaging of everyday objects — beer in this case — could revolutionize how we interact with brands, the world around us and each other.

It’s the type of headline that sounds as if it’s from 1950s, but alas, here we are in 2018 and we face the reality that incidents such as these do indeed still happen.

Moscow club Torpedo Moscow decided to cancel Erving Botaka-Yoboma’s contract after supporter groups expressed their discontent with the new player. On signing day, which should be a positive one for any professional and club, Torpedo Moscow organization higher ups and Botaka-Yoboma were met with these words:

Croatia President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic is now one of the most famous people on the planet because she likes football, hugging people and is able to gleefully stand under heavy rain. Naturally, Grabar-Kitarović is also a prominent and capable politician, but it was her warmth and personal charisma that made her an instant global celebrity at the 2018 World Cup Final.

Pussy Riot, the notorious Russian punk rock activist group, staged a show of defiance during the World Cup final between France and Croatia on Sunday. Four of the group’s members, one man and three women disguised in police uniform, ran onto the pitch during the 52nd minute of the second half before being chased and dragged out by security.  

Russia’s unlikely run is finally over. The worst team in the 2018 World Cup was finally eliminated with a shootout loss for Russia vs Croatia in the quarterfinals on Saturday. After a 2-2 draw, Croatia edged the host country 4-3 in a penalty kick shootout. 

Harry Kane better watch his back. After the Denis Cheryshev goal vs Croatia, Russia’s upstart winger is hot on the heels of England’s penalty kick master.

The final quarterfinal match of the 2018 World Cup saw Croatia take on the host nation in Sochi on Saturday. A fairly even opening half hour saw Croatia take most of the possession but Russia looked dangerous on the counter.