Monaco's Kylian Mbappe is a very good soccer teen. The 18-year-old scored his 17th goal of the season to put Monaco up 1-0 against Manchester City, and within a goal of advancing to the Champions League quarterfinals.
Kylian Mbappé now has 11 goals in his last 11 games (all comps). Not bad for an 18-year-old... #UCL https://t.co/FkgHIcCsjh
Bayer Leverkusen's 17-year-old prodigy Kai Havertz has already appeared in the Champions League and appeared 13 times in the Bundesliga. He has the potential to be special.
But, as a 17-year-old, he still has to go to school, which is why he is missing the second leg of Leverkusen's round of 16 tie against Atletico Madrid.
Personnel situation:
Injured:
Toprak
Tah
Kießling
BenderYellow-card ban:
Henrichs
We should just post our recap from the first leg between Juventus and Porto, really, because they were basically the same game.
Both teams looked dangerous, with Juventus controlling a bit more of the possession, until Porto did something stupid, Juventus scored and that was that.
This time, it was a Maxi Pereira red card for blocking the ball with an outstretched arm after a shot from Gonzalo Higuain. Paulo Dybala converted the penalty and the tie was over, with Porto's poor finishing helping to put a lid on things.
Leicester City have defeated Sevilla 3-2 on aggregate (2-0 on the night) to advance to the Champions League quarterfinals behind goals from Wes Morgan and Marc Albrighton. Sevilla had Samir Nasri sent off in the 74th, a penalty saved by Kasper Schmeichel in the 80th and were ultimately left to rue their wastefulness in the first leg. This was Leicester's night.
Leicester City manager Craig Shakespeare sent out the same XI that had defeated Liverpool and Hull City in his first two games in charge, Shinji Okazaki being the main beneficiary of the managerial change.
Has the magic returned?! Leicester City have been flying since the sacking of Claudio Ranieri and the momentum has continued early into their 2nd leg affair vs Sevilla. Down 2-1 aggregate, the Foxes have a crucial away goal from the first leg and opened the scoring in the second leg.
Riyad Mahrez, who was non existent in the first leg, whipped in a beautiful free kick into the box that nearly missed everyone. Then a fighting Wes Morgan somehow got a thigh on the ball and the King Power erupted. Morgan also became the first Jamaican to score a goal in the Champions League.
We all spend hours debating and arguing why a particular handball was called or not, especially when it happens in the 18-yard box. Looking at FIFA’s Laws of the Game, the handball rule is written as followed:
FIFA Laws of the Game P. 82: Handling the ball
Handling the ball involves a deliberate act of a player making contact with the ball with the hand or arm.
Wednesday’s historic match between Barcelona and PSG has already entered footballing lore alongside Germany’s 7-1 destruction of Brazil and Portugal’s improbable victory over France. These are matches that, in today’s day and age, will always provide us with a good laugh and meme. PSG’s capitulation is now part of the comical DNA of the game.
Bayern Munich will be losing a legendary player in Xabi Alonso. The Spanish midfield general has announced his decision to retire at the end of the season.
Lived it. Loved it.
Farewell beautiful game. pic.twitter.com/1aSN7GGNzZ— Xabi Alonso (@XabiAlonso) March 9, 2017
Christian Pulisic is very good at soccer. Many of us have known this for quite some time, but the secret was really out when the 18-year-old exploded for a goal and two assists in Borussia Dortmund's 4-0 win against Benfica in the Champions League Wednesday.
There's no hiding Pulisic's talent any more, certainly not from this reporter who was in the press box at the game.