Europe

Domestic leagues are wrapping up their respective competitions at a frantic pace, clearing the way for the return of European football. It’s been many a moon since Marcos Llorente silenced Anfield, so before Champions League matches return, let’s do a quick recap and preview of things to come.     

Where were we?

MOSCOW — When 16-year-old goalkeeper Ivan Zaborovsky was rushed to hospital after being struck by lighting during a warmup, few thought he would survive.

Footage from the Moscow stadium where his youth team, FC Znamya Truda, were training on July 4 showed a lightning bolt ripping through a gloomy sky and landing directly on Zaborovsky, who crashed onto the ground unconscious.

Cristiano Ronaldo reached the landmark of 30 goals this Serie A season during Juventus’ 2-1 victory over Lazio on Monday. Only two players had ever reached the 30-goal milestone in Italy’s top division since 1960 — Luca Toni and Gonzalo Higuaín — but, remarkably, Monday’s match saw both Ronaldo and Lazio's Ciro Immobile hit that mark.

Ronaldo scored goal number 29 from the spot (his 12th successful penalty of the campaign) before adding number 30 after Paulo Dybala set him up for a tap-in. 

17-year-old English phenom Jude Bellingham has officially transferred from Birmingham City to Borussia Dortmund as of Monday.

The young midfielder has been making waves for himself in the Championship and proving to be a bundle of potential. His style of play is quick and creative, and Bellingham is known for his ability to get out of tight situations in a pinch and his ability to see the field. 

The Ballon d'Or will not be awarded this year for the first time in its 64-year history after the COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on the football calendar, organizers France Football magazine said on Monday.

The prestigious award, voted for by journalists, is an annual prize given to the best male footballer in the world since 1956. The women's Ballon d'Or was first awarded in 2018.

Napoli forward Matteo Politano scored deep into stoppage time to give them a 2-1 win at home to Udinese on Sunday, minutes after defender Kalidou Koulibaly had rescued the hosts with a dramatic goal-line clearance.

Udinese forward Rodrigo De Paul looked set to score in the 85th minute when the ball ran loose to him with only goalkeeper David Ospina to beat. He dinked it over the Colombian but Koulibaly managed to get his knee to it and deflect it onto the crossbar.

Instead, Politano curled in the winner for Napoli, his first goal for the club, in the 95th minute.

Former Manchester United goalkeeper Anders Lindegaard — who made 29 appearances for the club between 2011 and 2014 — is back on our radar after scoring the first goal of his career while playing for Sweden’s Helsingborg.

In a match between Allsvenskan strugglers, Helsingborg escaped with a draw against Falkenberg after Lindegaard came forward for a corner kick in the 90th minute and planted a towering header inside the far post.  

Barcelona’s LaLiga title defense came to a sputtering end last Thursday following a 2-1 loss to Osasuna, a defeat that Lionel Messi called a microcosm of Barça’s “erratic and weak” 2019-20 team. That inconsistency was again highlighted in Sunday’s final league match of the season as the Blaugrana raced to a 3-0 halftime lead against Alavés en route to a 5-0 win. 

With the team trying to stay sharp ahead of its rescheduled Champions League Round of 16 second leg against Napoli on Aug. 8, Ernesto Valverde named a strong starting XI against 15th-place Alavés.