At the tender age of 19, any sort of highlight involving Paris Saint-Germain and France forward Kylian Mbappe is technically still from his “youth.” This is especially true since he started playing for Monaco’s senior side at the age of 16 and dominated the 2016 UEFA European Under-19 Championship at the age of 17. Now he’s a World Cup winner at 19.
Beijing Guoan continues to set the pace in the Chinese Super League following Tuesday's 5-2 win over Dalian Yifang, and it’s pretty easy to understand why. The five-star performance was spearheaded by a brace from former Villarreal star Cedric Bakambu, a goal from Spanish international Jonathan Viera and another by the man capped 31 times by Brazil, Renato Augusto.
The 30-year-old Augusto — who scored Brazil’s lone goal in the 2-1 defeat to Belgium during the quarterfinals of this summer’s World Cup — is a class apart when it comes to midfielders in the CSL.
What’d you think about that, eh? Absolutely unreal from Internacional’s Nico Lopez. The lad’s got some chutzpah, and it’s awesome to see the now 24-year-old doing his thing in Brazil’s Serie A.
Lopez, nicknamed “El Diente” (“The Tooth”) because he’s got one helluva overbite, rose to international prominence after making his senior debut for Montevideo’s Nacional at the age of 17. Shortly after, he’d transfer to Italy and join Roma under the tutelage of “Soccer’s Jedi,” Zdenek Zeman.
For clarification, the Balotelli Challenge does not refer to a competition in which you try to piss your coaches and teammates off with questionable behavior on and off the pitch. Nor does it mean trying a fancy finish when you’re clear on goal or wielding goal celebrations that are nearly obnoxious enough to get you punched in the mouth. Ah, enough I suppose. Mario Balotelli has been through the ringer these past few years.
Turner Broadcasting announced the pricing options for its new streaming service, which will be the primary avenue to watch the Champions League in the U.S. Unfortunately, the Bleacher Report Live cost is not cheap.
Andres Iniesta was never going to have a Zlatan Ibrahimovic-esque debut in the J1 League. The 34-year-old schemer is a much more subtle player and has never been one to stuff the stat line. Last Sunday, he made his debut for Vissel Kobe and played the final 31 minutes of his side’s 3-0 defeat.
After his break following a World Cup with Spain, the former Barcelona midfielder looked a little rusty — every pass just seemed a fraction too far for his teammates, perhaps an indication of the new level of play that he’ll need to adjust to.
First things first, I’m not 100 percent certain we’ve agreed on a term for this particular skill. Is it a piece of back heel control? A rabona touch? An inverse rabona? A Nasty Neymar? From henceforth, it should be known as the Ballad of Ahmadzadeh Farshad.
Can a Cruz Azul Estadio Azteca homecoming end the infamous 22-year curse known as Maldición Celeste?
Cruz Azul is one of the most popular and most successful teams in Mexico.
Much of their greatness comes from the 1980s, when the team became an absolute winning machine in Mexican football.