Europe

Turkish football supporters are unwavering. They’re unwavering in their delight at waving “Welcome to Hell!” signs at opposition teams when arriving in Turkey, at lighting enough flares and creating enough noise to actually make their home stadia seem like hell and in their support of their beloved clubs. Istanbul’s Besiktas are 14-time champions of the Turkish top-flight, but they’ve never advanced from the group stage of the Champions League.

Benfica needed either a win against Napoli or a Besiktas loss to Dynamo Kiev Tuesday to advance to the Champions League knockout stage. They lost, 2-1, but Besiktas lost even worse (6-0).

The Portuguese side's lone goal was scored by Mexican international striker Raul Jimenez, who showcased just about the best-case scenario for the high press with his tackle and goal.

We’re one final match day away from wrapping up the Champions League group stage, but we can already draw a number of conclusions based on Tuesday’s play. For one, whoever draws group runners-up Bayern Munich in the round of 16 has every reason to feel extremely aggrieved.

By virtue of finishing behind Atletico, Bayern could conceivably be drawn against the likes of Barcelona, Arsenal, Juventus, Leicester City or Borussia Dortmund/Real Madrid (the battle between Dortmund and Madrid in Group F will be settled tomorrow).

It was only two weeks ago when we were treated to one of the most astounding open goal misses in the history of football over in Serbia. The gift of giving to helpless defenses seems to be in the air this holiday season as a Greek fourth division match has offered up its own tragic epic. 

Former FIFA President Sepp Blatter has lost the appeal against his six-year ban from soccer activity, and we would just like to say HA. WOOOOOO!!!!!

Blatter's ban is either for being very corrupt or very incompetent, depending on who you believe. It was originally for eight years but was reduced. Blatter's appeal was aimed at reducing it further.

It failed.

Given the way in which David Luiz was tackled by Sergio Aguero at the weekend and considering the short fuse on Luiz himself, many people were expecting an angry reaction from the Brazilian. As it turns out, that couldn't have been further from the truth.

The Derby della Capitale was drenched in narrative. In a sporting context, the word narrative might well be overused to the point of meaninglessness, but there’s not many other ways in which to focus on the 90-minute battle between Lazio and Roma that took place on Sunday.

In purely sporting terms, it was a fascinating game. Roma, second in the league and easily fulfilling their role as perpetual also-rans, came up against arch-rivals Lazio, who were themselves only a point behind. 

On May 23, 2015 Martin Ødegaard became the youngest player ever to play for Real Madrid. Just 5 months and six days after his 16th birthday, the young Norwegian talent came on for Madrid’s current superstar Cristiano Ronaldo in the 57th minute, and the hype surrounding him began to build to a fever pitch.

57' Last Substitution for Real. OUT @Cristiano In Odegaard. He makes his first appearance with the team

The rejuvenated heroics of Mario Balotelli saw the Italian striker score six goals in his first six Ligue 1 matches for Nice, propelling the club to the top of the table over the likes of Monaco and Paris Saint-Germain. 

Mario Balotelli's bad reputation reportedly netted him one of the sweeter contract bonuses we've heard of.

Reportedly, a series of documents released by Football Leaks shows Balotelli had a clause in his contract that entitled him to a ￡1 million bonus each season if he was not sent off three or more times.

Balotelli was not sent off during his first season at Liverpool and spent the second season on loan at AC Milan.