We thought this year might be different. How wrong we were. We thought this might be the year that Arsenal finally catch a break in the Champions League round of 16 and push through to the quarterfinals, ending a six-year round of 16 losing streak. We thought "surely they won't draw Bayern Munich again, that would be too cruel even for the soccer gods".
Arsenal drew Bayern Munich again.
Yeo Moriba, the mother of Paul, Florentin and Mathias Pogba, is one of our favorites over at The18. From her spot in the the Adidas “Football Needs Creators” ad (“He’s always been very creative, doing everything his own way”) to raising three sons by herself on a housing estate outside of Paris, Yeo Moriba is the matriarch for us.
Cristiano Ronaldo has collected his fourth Ballon d’Or as the top player on the planet, according to France Football magazine, for 2016. Having led Real Madrid and Portugal to victory in the Champions League and at Euro 2016 respectively, Ronaldo now trails Lionel Messi, who has five in his collection, by only a single award.
Loris Karius, who last season was voted the second-best goalkeeper in the Bundesliga, is in a war of words with Gary Neville, who has never been a goalkeeper but is paid to pretend he knows things about goalkeeping on TV.
The 2016-17 Champions League Group Stage has finished with all the usual contenders set to battle it out in the round of 16. Monday’s draw has handed us the following match ups:
Two bomb explosions near Vodafone Arena, home of professional club Besiktas, have killed 13 people and injured many others according to initial reports out of Istanbul, Turkey.
The explosions happened about two hours after fans left the stadium following today's match between top Turkish clubs Besiktas and Bursaspor. Transport Minister Ahmet Arslan wrote on Twitter that it was a terror attack.
Cristiano Ronaldo has just revealed his 2015 earnings in response to tax-fraud allegations. And, while we knew his net worth made him the richest footballer in the world, we didn't know just how much money Ronaldo makes. It's shocking, to say the least.
In 2015, Cristiano’s earnings (after tax) made him the highest paid athlete in the world. So, exactly how much did Cristiano Ronaldo earn in 2015?
Oriol Riera, in all good sense, has had a very good professional career. He’s achieved success in the lower divisions of Spain with clubs like Cultural Leonesa and Alcorcon, and he’s secured his role as a grafting, workmanlike forward in La Liga with stints at Osasuna, his current club, and Deportivo La Coruna.
However, history will always remember Riera best as the answer to an obscure piece of pub trivia, for Riera made his senior Barca debut alongside a 16-year-old who was making his own premiere, one Lionel Messi.
No goalkeeper is immune to the vast amount of criticism that will inevitably come their way. Whether being rounded on for a costly howler, unavoidable inexperience or just a perceived general lack of command, a keeper's life is an incessant trial by fire.
A 20-year-old David de Gea making consistent Premier League appearances for Manchester United during his first season in England was a “dodgy keeper” that needed “to grow into his kit”.
Oh no.
Heidenheim goalkeeper Kevin Muller has been roasted, burned to a crisp by a young mascot. Before Heidenheim played Hannover in the German 2. Bundesliga last Friday, Muller was dabbed on.
Muller just wanted a handshake. Instead he got the dab. This is what you get for trying to be polite. Kids these days. No respect.
To add injury to insult, Muller ended up leaving the game with a cut on his neck. It wasn't as bad as it looked, but Muller ended up with 13 stitches and some very wounded pride.