Sir Alex Ferguson has revealed that David De Gea was not his first choice keeper after the retirement of Edwin Van Der Sar. Instead, it was World Cup champion and Bayern Munich stalwart Manuel Neuer who caught the eye of the legendary manager.
Ryan Shawcross is a rough-and-tumble defender. He's part of that exclusive club of old-school, fearless defenders who never shy away from a challenge and throw around their hefty frames like a sack of flour into opposing players. It's a trait that Arsenal fans still loath him for after he broke Aaron Ramsey's leg with a late tackle, an injury that kept him out of action for almost a year (Editor's note: As an Arsenal fan, Ryan Shawcross' England career can go die in a hole).
Gigi Buffon has broken the record for consecutive minutes without conceding a goal in Serie A.
ALL-TIME RECORD! @gianluigibuffon has now gone the longest without conceding in Serie A. #NumeroUno #Legendhttps://t.co/iONLdmrVkj
Manchester United legend-turned-pundit Rio Ferdinand has said that the Premier League doesn't have any of the best players in the world anymore and English teams in the Champions League suffer because of it. Ferdinand appeared in three Champions League finals, winning it once in 2008 and the veteran defender thinks that the league had more stars back when he won the trophy.
We previously wrote that Real Madrid fans are the worst fans in the world after they jeered Cristiano Ronaldo before their game against Celta Vigo. Ronaldo went on to score four goals in a 7-1 demolition, but that didn't seem to matter.
Lionel Messi, Steph Curry and Tom Brady were the main catalysts behind their teams' respective 2015 triumphs. Messi led Barcelona to a historic treble, Curry helped Golden State capture the NBA championship and Brady quarterbacked the New England Patriots to victory in Super Bowl XLIX.
Abby Wambach is the all-time leading scorer in international soccer. She has a stunning 184 goals; 23 more than her nearest female competitor, Christine Sinclair, and 75 more than her nearest male competitor, Ali Daei. No man alive today has a legitimate chance at breaking Wambach’s record. She originally claimed the record during a friendly against South Korea on June 20th, 2013. She scored four times as she did so. A feat that will remind some of Lionel Messi, who has a habit of scoring a hat trick when he breaks a record, and perhaps does so fittingly.
Cristiano Ronaldo is pretty good at soccer. Let's not forget that. That being said, Cristiano Ronaldo's form this season has led people to whisper about a "decline" at Real Madrid, which we think is pretty ridiculous. So, we decided to take a closer look.
The No. 9 in soccer, traditionally the number reserved for the team's starting striker, has been the subject of various discussion points over the last few years. From arguments revolving around the importance of the position in modern tactics to the belief that the No. 9 is being phased out of the game, doubts have been cast upon the future of the role.
Barcelona fan site Grup14 uploaded three very interesting infographics depicting the managerial statistics of Barcelona’s three “most successful coaches” through their first 100 games. While you won’t get any argument here about whether or not Luis Enrique, Pep Guardiola, and Johan Cruyff are the best managers in Barca’s history, we’re going to ignore the “top 3” debate for now and focus on the top two: Enrique vs Guardiola.