The 2018 Liga MX Femenil Apertura Final commenced Tuesday with the first leg between Club América and Tigres at the Estadio Azteca. Given the poor state of the Azteca pitch and since the men’s Liga MX final pits América versus Cruz Azul (both tenants of the Azteca) on Dec. 13 and Dec. 16, the Femenil final was given the shaft — the game was played on a Tuesday with a 4 p.m. kickoff.
The J1 League came to a close on Nov. 30, and with it, Andres Iniesta’s first season with Vissel Kobe. Iniesta’s club finished 10th, but the 34-year-old was a huge success during his shortened, 14-game season — he scored three goals and added three assists, including this beautiful strike in Vissel Kobe’s final match.
In a case of voters once again getting it all wrong, Lionel Messi finished fifth in the Ballon d’Or voting earlier this week. But Messi won another award this week that might actually be more valuable than a record sixth trophy for being the world’s best player.
On Thursday, The YouTube Ad of the Year Awards (yeah, that’s a thing), honored Messi’s Gatorade commercial “Heart of a Lio” as the best ad of the year.
Hatem Ben Arfa — football’s notorious l’enfant terrible — is now 31. If you’re thinking “Hey, there’s a name I haven’t heard in a while,” it’s because he took an entire year off while collecting $12.3 million. Much like how he burned his bridges at Lyon, Marseille, Newcastle United and Hull City, he found himself ostracized during the final year of his contract at PSG.