Arsenal is not having a good start to the month of December. As if the men’s team hasn’t provided enough gut-punches to fans this season, the month began with back-to-back, one-goal losses to Manchester United and Everton. But the Arsenal women have managed to disappoint even more, capped by another comprehensive defeat to Barcelona.
MADRID - Atlético Madrid will be desperate to beat runaway leaders Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabéu on Sunday to revive their bid for a second consecutive Spanish league title.
Real are currently cruising in top spot, eight points ahead of second-placed Sevilla and 10 above Atlético in fourth, albeit having played a game more than those two rivals.
After a decade-plus of domination by Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, fans expected Ballon d'Or voting to bring some different results in 2021.
The obvious choice was Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski, who was coming off a record-breaking 41-goal campaign in the Bundesliga.
Instead it was Messi — seemingly entering the twilight of his career — who won the award for the seventh time. "Surely something must be done," the people exclaimed at this perceived injustice. "He still can't be the best player in the world."
The dust has settled on Champions League Group B, where we started the day with Liverpool guaranteed top, Atlético at the bottom, Porto advancing as runner-up, switched to Milan in second after Zlatan's side took an early lead on Liverpool, went back to Porto in second after Mohamed Salah equalized and finally finished with Atlético advancing to the Round of 16 after Diego Simeone's men beat Porto 3-1 in a match that featured three red cards, three yellows and two bench-clearing brawls between minutes 67 and 75.
Nicolò Barella lost the plot in Inter Milan’s 2-0 defeat to Real Madrid. The battle for the top spot in Group D was decided by a smashing Toni Kroos hit in the first half, but it was ended by the Barella red card vs Real Madrid. Los Blancos closed out the win after a lovely late strike from Marco Asensio on Tuesday at the Bernabeu.
I’ll make this a brief as possible, but the author of this story is in the foulest of moods. His favorite Premier League side lost in wild fashion, his college football team missed out on the playoffs by two inches and on top of that he has a hamstring that doesn’t work after an incident during a video.
BARCELONA — Barcelona were stunned by Juanmi's late goal for Real Betis that secured a 1-0 win in LaLiga on Saturday and ended home coach Xavi Hernandez's honeymoon at the club as he suffered his first defeat since coming back to the Camp Nou three weeks ago.
Juanmi gives Real Betis a 1-0 lead over Barcelona! pic.twitter.com/NeSyDS53ch
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) December 4, 2021
After his legendary career, Brazilian striker Ronaldo wanted to buy a soccer team. The two-time World Cup winner eventually settled on LaLiga, where he spent six total seasons. Turns out, O Fenômeno initially wanted to buy an MLS club but decided it wasn’t worth it.
It wasn’t a convincing win but Real Madrid defeated Athletic Club 1-0 on Wednesday night at the Santiago Bernabéu to open a seven-point lead over Atlético at the top of LaLiga (although los Colchoneros maintain a game in hand).
Athletic doesn’t make it easy for anyone — the Basque side entered this match with the division’s best defensive record after conceding 10 goals through 14 matches — but they came up against two of the planet’s most in-form players in Karim Benzema and Vinícius Júnior, and it was ultimately that duo that made the difference.
HONG KONG - Beijing Guoan posted a farewell message to Cédric Bakambu on their social media account on Tuesday, with the Congolese striker becoming the latest high-profile foreign player to leave the Chinese Super League.
Bakambu, who has been linked with a January move to Barcelona, has been with the club since signing from Villarreal before the start of the 2018 CSL campaign.
The 30-year-old France-born forward's contract is due to expire at the end of the year.