On the face of it, soccer and MMA have little in common. One relies on teamwork, creativity and knocking a ball around; the other relies on strength, power and endurance. But there are more soccer players who are UFC fans than you might think, despite their differences.
From Cristiano to Zlatan, footballers have been inspired by UFC fighters (and sometimes vice versa).
Wherever he goes, hardware follows. Now you can add scudetto to the list of Cristiano Ronaldo trophies.
A rampaging run from Ronaldo forced an own goal by Fiorentina’s Germán Pezzella to lift Juventus to a 2-1 victory at Allianz Stadium on Saturday. The three points put the Old Lady 20 points ahead of second-place Napoli. With five matches left (six for Napoli), Juventus cannot be caught and thus claimed its remarkable eighth straight Serie A title.
Whether you’re Team Messi or Team Ronaldo, there’s no denying the goal-scoring ability of the Portuguese star. While it’s easy to point to powerful headers, long-range missiles and plenty of penalty kicks as reasons why the Juventus striker scores so often, the Cristiano Ronaldo movement in and around the box is a major reason why he is so difficult to contain.
Ajax has advanced to the semifinals of the Champions League for the first time since 1997 after tearing Juventus apart with a glorious second-half display of footballing excellence that ultimately yielded the game-winning goal from captain Matthijs de Ligt in the 67th minute.
The Amsterdam-based club scored two at Juventus Stadium — which is an exceptionally rare feat for an away side — but it could’ve been four or five but for the goalkeeping of Wojciech Szczesny and an Ajax desire to combine on six backheels and three disguised reverse passes within the box before every shot.
This year has, by all respects, been a bit of an experiment for TNT and Turner Sports’ coverage of the Champions League. Having acquired the U.S. television rights to the world’s biggest club competition from FOX starting this season, the broadcaster has struggled to impress viewers from casuals to the most hardcore of fans.
Cristiano Ronaldo 4.0 is up and running at Juventus Stadium. His age is 34, which typically alludes to ever-present bodily soreness and general feelings of lethargy, but Ronaldo 4.0 includes updates on foxiness in the box, elastico nutmegs and improvements on crushing the dreams of everyone else in European competition.
Here’s "He That Is More Machine Than Man" coming alive during the Champions League anthem, as he’s done time after time en route to scoring 126 UCL goals, including 65 in the knockout stages.
Juventus had no excuse not to be prepared. After what Ajax did to Real Madrid (not to mention Bayern Munich in the group stage), the Bianconeri knew they were in for a fight against the Dutch side.
After one leg in the Champions League quarterfinals, it’s all even heading back to the Allianz Stadium in Turin.
Cristiano Ronaldo scored a brilliant diving header just before the halftime whistle only to have David Neres score moments into the second half in a 1-1 draw on Tuesday at the Amsterdam Arena.
Cristiano Ronaldo recently showed that he's not just a world-class footballer, but he also has a set of pipes. Well, kind of.
Riding around in his Rolls Royce, the King of Football, his girlfriend Georgina Rodriguez and son Cristiano Jr. did their own version of Carpool Karaoke.
Cantores pic.twitter.com/MuQHO71Rvz
— Cristiano Ronaldo (@Cristiano) April 7, 2019
With just over two weeks to go until Juventus travels to Amsterdam to play Ajax in the first leg of its Champions League quarterfinal matchup, Cristiano Ronaldo has been forced off injured with an apparent hamstring injury while on international duty.
In the 31st minute of today’s Euro 2020 qualifier between Portugal and Serbia at Estadio da Luz in Lisbon, Ronaldo went sprinting after a ball on the left wing before pulling up and immediately signaling for a substitution.
Cristiano Ronaldo won’t be coming back to the United States anytime soon. Amid a Las Vegas police investigation into allegations Ronaldo raped a woman in 2009, the Juventus Preseason Tour 2019 will not swing through the U.S., as it has in recent years, according to reports from the New York Times.