Europe

There is one individual rivalry in soccer that has stuck out from the rest over the last few years: Jose Mourinho vs Pep Guardiola.

The managers met for the first time in September 2009 when Guardiola’s Barcelona team traveled to the San Siro to take on Mourinho’s Inter Milan side, ending in a 0-0 draw. They met four times during the 2009-2010 season, with Pep’s team winning twice, but it would be Mourinho getting the last laugh when Inter Milan eliminated Barcelona in the semifinals of the Champions League that season, leading to their first European title since 1955.

Andres Iniesta is a consummate players’ player — his injury was felt around the planet as the loss of the Barcelona star is a loss to football as a whole. The knock he took against Valencia could’ve been a lot worse, but Iniesta is still expected to miss six to eight weeks.

At 32, serious damage to his lateral collateral ligament would’ve been devastating, and his presence was sorely missed in Barcelona’s loss to Manchester City in the Champions League.

What’s your opinion on Bob Bradley? Was he hired at Swansea City only as a beneficiary of American ownership? Is he talented but doomed to oversee the relegation of a Premier League side that thinks continuously selling its top talent equals stability? 

Stop thinking. I’ll tell you what to think of him: he’s a genius. He’s a genius because Bradley, according to the BBC, is targeting 35-year-old existentialist Dimitar Berbatov.

It's a tired cliche, but the game isn't over until the referee blows the final whistle. An unbelievable, historic match at the 2003 FIFA U-17 World Championship proved as much.

As soccer fans, we typically hate to see a game end in a 0-0 tie. But, there is nothing more humiliating than watching one team lose to another by five or more goals. In soccer, it's very important for a team to score the first goal of the game. If that's the case, your team automatically sets the pace for the match, and it also shows your opponents that you are here to compete.

Surprise! He's alive. What a year it's been for Mathieu Valbuena. After battling injuries and scandals, he was left off the France squad due to injury, and, of course, fans theorized that he must be dead.

Almost immediately following his removal from the squad, images of a fake death certificate began circulating twitter, and fans began spreading the rumor that the French midfielder had passed away, forcing his club to address the rumor on Twitter:

The biggest news concerning Gareth Bale this week had been the monster contract extension he just signed with Real Madrid, earning him $428,347 per week until 2022. Following his wonder goal against Legia Warsaw in the Champions League, the talk is once again surrounding what he’s capable of on the pitch.

Two-time World Cup winner Daniel Passarella, a center back on Argentina’s triumphant 1978 and 1986 squads, recently called out Lionel Messi for what he perceives to be a weakness in the captain’s leadership qualities: “The leader of the group is something different to the way you play and the talent of each player. I admire Messi, but I think his personality, his way of being, is withdrawn and timid.”

Honestly, where do people get this s***.

Inter sacked Frank de Boer on Tuesday morning. He had been the manager for 85 days, right up until the moment a conference call confirmed that his services would no longer be required.

It is obvious to note that De Boer’s tenure was doomed from the start. Even putting aside the notion that Dutch coaches are somehow the ideological opposite to their Italian counterparts, the way he swept into the club so late in the transfer window was an early indication that everything was not quite right.

All referees get a lot of flack from fans, but one ref in England got so much flack he actually cancelled a match.

From The Guardian under the headline "Referee abandons game after 13 minutes in response to moaning fan" (phrasing):

Most of you out in soccer land, we are willing to bet, watched Manchester City vs. Barcelona this afternoon. We do not begrudge you one bit for that, as it was a fun game. However, if you did watch Manchester City vs. Barcelona, you missed out on this Thomas Meunier rocket volley winner for PSG, which we think is the goal of the Champions League so far.