Kylian Mbappé and Neymar put on a master-class in producing the unexpected on Wednesday, earning PSG three vital away goals at the Allianz Arena in a 3-2 win over world champion Bayern Munich in their Champions League quarterfinal first leg. With those two at their best and Robert Lewandowski out injured, PSG takes Bayern’s crown as the most decisive team on the planet in the final third.
The offside trap is a rarity in professional soccer these days. While youth soccer in the U.S. employs this strategy all the time, it’s rarely seen at the highest level.
The last time an offside trap was used on a big stage and worked correctly was when Japan caught nearly all of Senegal’s team napping in the 2018 World Cup.
When attempting to explain what made Ronaldo “O Fenômeno” ("The Phenomenon”), we usually like to focus on the frightening mixture of pace, technique and composure that added up to 15 World Cup goals and a career total of 309, of which 11% were scored after rounding the keeper.
Chelsea advanced to the semifinals of the FA Cup with a narrow 2-0 win over Sheffield United at Stamford Bridge on Sunday. An Oliver Norwood own goal opened the scoring for the Blues, but the Blades came close to equalizing on a number of occasions before Hakim Ziyech’s insurance strike in second half stoppage time put Thomas Tuchel’s side through.
Following a corner kick, it was Ben Chilwell’s hopeful hit back into the area that forced Norwood to turn it beyond Aaron Ramsdale.
For those who have watched the Oscar-winning Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, you know there are alternate dimensions out there with different Spider-Heroes. Until Sunday, the Spider-Man of our dimension had yet to reveal themself.
We now know there is a Spider-Man in this dimension and he plays in the Polish Ekstraklasa. Frantisek Plach is a 29-year-old Slovakian goalkeeper who plays for Piast Gliwice in Poland’s top league.
Tottenham produced very little in the opening half of Sunday’s North London derby against Arsenal. The Gunners moved with more fluidity, occupied the more dangerous areas and limited a Spurs side starting with Harry Kane, Son Heung-min, Gareth Bale and Lucas Moura to just one shot.
But holy Ødegaard, you’ve never seen a shot quite like this one.
For the second time in two days, I find myself writing about man’s struggle against nothingness. Today, however, you’ll be glad to know that Dorking Wanderers’ Jake Gallagher destroyed the concept of nonexistence in a manner not seen since Albert Einstein called the distinction between past, present and future nothing more than “a stubbornly persistent illusion.”
MANCHESTER, England - A training exercise from the golden era of Hungarian football is enjoying a remarkable revival in popularity with Europe's top clubs and has even become a fast-growing sport in it own right.
When Ferenc Puskás and Hungary's 'Golden Team' warmed up for games, such as their 7-1 hammering of England in 1954, they played 'Foot-tennis' — with pairs of players either side of a net, serving and volleying but with a leather football and their feet.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang gets the headlines after netting his first Premier League hat-trick in Arsenal’s 4-2 win over Leeds United at the Emirates on Sunday, but the goal that best highlighted the Gunners’ superiority was scored by Héctor Bellerín with must-see contributions from Bukayo Saka and Dani Ceballos.