Ray Hudson wasn't on this game for BeIN Sports, but he should have been, because WOW.
Sadly, this game probably won't count for anything because the second leg is at the Camp Nou and Barcelona are Barcelona. But it was fun, so it should be appreciated.
Athletic Bilbao opened the scoring, to the surprise of everyone.
When you’re undefeated in 38 consecutive matches, the adage “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” rings particularly true. Unfortunately for James Rodriguez, he’s not a beneficiary of Real Madrid's continuity. The Colombian captain has been limited to four La Liga starts this season, and his minutes across all competitions amount to not even eight full matches.
Just when you thought Valencia’s situation couldn’t get any worse, another manager leaves the club. Last Thursday, Cesare Prandelli surprised the Valencia board and fan base by resigning just three months after taking over the team.
“It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor.” —Probably the young boy in this video.
Sandwiched between one-half of the usual defensive line of the FIFA FIFPro World XI, this burgeoning young stoic simply does not give a rat’s a**. With a supreme display of tranquility and passive tolerance, we’ve been given video evidence of nirvana.
Either this boy has achieved a perfect state of quietude, or, at heart, he’s such a Barcelona fan that he finds this whole charade sickening.
First grade is a time of personal discovery. At six years of age, it's a time when children learn simple things like raising their hands, not interrupting the speaker and respecting the feelings of others. It’s a time of collaboration, sharing and complex learning in different subject areas.
Unless your Cristiano Ronaldo Jr, whose elementary experience is, according to his father, like braving the comment section of any soccer website — the one place where you'll never find co-operation, manners and mutual respect.
The Barcelona and Real Madrid attacking trios of MSN and BBC took to Instagram to show us how they celebrated the New Year. From all of us at The18, we wish you nothing but the best for 2017!
Lionel Messi
For many, 2016 will be remembered as a year of loss. For all the remarkable gains, achievements and creations that sprung from 2016, it’s often the hurt derived from defeats and casualties that reverberates most poignantly. Here are 10 things we’ve lost in football over the course of 2016.
FIFA is supposed to take the reality of football, turn it up 10 notches and make it accessible for all. So, while you’re executing Roberto Carlos-esque free kicks with regularity, you know that, yes, the professionals might be able to pull this off, but not three times a match.
The FIFA Free Kick Skill Game requires you to expertly curl the ball around a wall of training dummies and into one of the four corners of the net. Again, it’s a skill that professional can pull off, but it’s not something you’d put money on them doing nine times out of ten.
The exorbitant fees that the Chinese Super League has been willing to pay to land the world’s best look like peanuts compared to what one unnamed CSL club was willing to pay Real Madrid and Cristiano Ronaldo to bring the Ballon d’Or winner to East Asia.
Catalonia, the autonomous community located in the eastern extremity of Spain with Barcelona serving as the capital and largest city, has advocated for its independence since the Spanish Civil War. With some political and cultural autonomy, as well as prevalent use of the Catalan language, it's followed suite that the region has its own national football team.
However, Catalonia is not affiliated with either FIFA or UEFA, disqualifying them from participating in the World Cup or European Championship.