The massively experienced Bibiana Steinhaus, who will officiate this season’s UEFA Women’s Champions League final, has been promoted to refereeing the Bundesliga after six seasons in the second division. Steinhaus will become the first female referee in the history of the Bundesliga when she officiates a match next season.
It hasn’t exactly been rosy times for Valencia CF and their fans of late. Since qualifying for the Champions League in 2015, the club has completely gone downhill. In the last two seasons, they’ve finished mid-table in La Liga, flirted dangerously with relegation, sold their best players and have had a total of five managers: Nuno, Gary Neville, Pako Ayestaran, Cesare Prandelli and Voro. However, things may finally be changing at Valencia after three important announcements were recently made by the club.
Since the 2014 World Cup, Karim Benzema’s output for Real Madrid in La Liga and Champions League matches reads like this: 114 matches played, 64 goals scored, 23 goals assisted. With a record of over a goal per every two matches, the 29-year-old French forward is one of the most feared in Europe.
I thought this video was going to be terrible. Most of these club videos featuring two players playing a lighthearted game are unbearable — things feel forced, it looks like it’s the first time the players have ever talked to each other and they want to go home.
But Samuel Umtiti and Arda Turan are really good at assigning their teammates specific emojis. Maybe it’s because we use emojis way too much, maybe it’s because the nearly telepathic understanding Barcelona players seem to share lends itself to little activities like this, but Umtiti and Turan aren’t messing around.
Mathematically eliminated from a top-four finish in the Premier League, Manchester United now know that they need to win the Europa League in order to qualify for next year's Champions League.
Juventus got back to winning ways, cruising past Lazio to earn their third consecutive Coppa Italia. The Old Lady are now the only team in Italy to achieve this feat.
Dani Alves is in the midst of one of the best seasons in his career, and he opened the scoring in the 12th minute off a beautifully orchestrated goalzo. Alves has constantly displayed how versatile he is throughout the pitch, and he's now scoring goals as if he were playing a number 9 role.
This is what’s referred to, in the entertainment industry, as a slow burner. Kortrijk’s Elohim Rolland (in the Belgian First Division), is just shielding the ball from a defender near the midfield sideline. There’s clearly no danger here, and another defender jogs over to help end this nonsense.
Rolland is now casually shielding the ball from two defenders, and his teammates are probably getting a little pissed at how long he’s taking on the ball. But suddenly he springs into life!
Cristiano Ronaldo’s unbelievable form at the most pivotal point of the season continued today with this wonder strike against Celta Vigo. With Real Madrid needing to avoid defeat to give the league to Barcelona before Sunday’s final matches, Ronaldo eased any pressure on his side with this left-footed shot from 18 yards out.
GOOOAAAALLLLL!!!!
Ambidexterity: the quality or state of being ambidextrous.
With European league seasons winding down, summer transfer speculation has begun in earnest with what you'd expect:
You could say it’s been an abnormal season for Cristiano Ronaldo. We’ve all gotten used to the Portuguese star playing almost every single competitive match and reaching outrageous totals of 50 or 60 goals a campaign.
This season, however, Ronaldo has scored 37 goals across all competitions, and he’s appeared in 43 of Real Madrid’s 57 official games — a total of only 75%. This is a significant change from last season when he scored a total of 51 goals and played 48 of Real’s 52 matches — a total of 92%.