Italy

England's Manchester United and Italy's Juventus, Cristiano Ronaldo's current and former teams, both suffered hefty financial losses for 2020-21 as the coronavirus crisis drained European soccer stadiums of fans.

While Executive Vice Chairman Ed Woodward expressed confidence in United's recovery as Old Trafford hosts capacity crowds for the first time in almost 18 months, Juventus said it would also end its 2021-22 financial year, which will still be heavily affected by the pandemic, with a "significant loss."

When people ask me why I love soccer, I usually talk about how no sport allows players the freedom of creativity like the beautiful game. Maestros can move the ball around the pitch the way an artist moves her paint brush. Registas can pull the strings the way a master violinist plays a solo. Finishers can bring a crowd to its feet faster than the Pope.

But also, I just love all the wacky shit that happens, like the bizarre own goal that proved to be the difference in Galatasaray’s 1-0 win over Lazio in the Europa League on Thursday.

Nothing ignites the kindling like Liverpool versus Milan — two clubs that’ve combined to appear in 20 Champions League finals and contested the greatest of them all — and Wednesday night’s group stage encounter at Anfield was a wildfire.    

The first half was a miniature reversal of the “Miracle of Istanbul.” Liverpool dominated the opening 40 minutes with wave after wave of pressure while Milan struggled to break through the press. The stat that best exemplified the one-way action was Liverpool earning 10 corners in the first half to Milan’s zero. 

MILAN, Italy - AC Milan's Zlatan Ibrahimović scored on his return from a four-month injury layoff as they comfortably defeated Lazio 2-0 at San Siro on Sunday to continue their perfect start to the Serie A season.

The 39-year-old Swede, who had not featured since sustaining a knee injury against Juventus in May, tapped in Milan’s second after 67 minutes, seven minutes after he came off the bench.

60': Subs on
67': Scores ⚽

José Mourinho is known for many things. Fielding teams which produce energetic, flowing, attacking displays is not one of them.

American players were moving across Europe this summer with more than 20 different transfers, loans and moves during the transfer window. This article will list them all. If you’re looking for USMNT transfers Summer 2021, then you’ve come to the right place.

The European summer transfer window closed on Monday, bringing an end to one of the most memorable windows in history. Lionel Messi going to PSG and Cristiano Ronaldo going back to Manchester United were the major headlines, but Americans also made some big moves.

Let’s look at all the various deals.

Ciro Immobile is on pace to statistically be one of Europe's best strikers for another season.

The 31-year-old helped Lazio breeze past Spezia in early-season Serie A action with a wonderful hat trick on Saturday. Having also scored in the curtain-raiser against Empoli, Immobile has four goals to his name thus far in 2021/22.

Cristiano Ronaldo completed a medical in Lisbon over the weekend ahead of his return to Manchester United and he has agreed personal terms on a two-year contract with the Premier League club, Sky Sports reported on Monday.

United said last week they had agreed a deal to re-sign Ronaldo from Juventus after he told the Serie A club he had no intention of staying, but the transfer was still subject to the agreement of personal terms and a medical.

The 2021 summer transfer window is going to go down as the craziest one yet. The transfer gods had one more trick up their sleeve, and it was in the form of a Cristiano Ronaldo transfer back to Manchester United. 

The transfer fee for the 36-year-old was $17.7 million with an additional $9.4 million in add-ons. Just a little bit less than his $128 million transfer from Real Madrid to Juventus in 2018.

Here was the reaction from Twitter to the news.

In terms of late-career Cristiano Ronaldo, you get the feeling that this is the exact script that the Portuguese legend would write if you handed him the pen. 

It’s the tale of an unsung legend, a man so repressed by the slings and arrows of detractors, naysayers and charlatans — however real or largely imagined — that he’s been humbly driven to a spot on the bench in the opening game of the season.