The Liga MX 2019 Clausura season kicked off Friday, 19 days after Club América claimed its historic 13th league title in the Apertura competition. The opening night of play featured Cruz Azul — the beaten Apertura finalists — settling for a draw against Puebla, but how about this strike from La Maquina talisman Elias Hernandez.
It’s hard to remember Lionel Messi sporting anything other than the famous No. 10 for Barcelona, but before he assumed the mark of the talisman, he made his debut in the No. 30 and then spent a few seasons sporting the No. 19.
It wasn’t until Ronaldinho left the club before the 2008-09 campaign — at which time Messi had already scored 42 goals for the senior side (including 31 in LaLiga and eight in the Champions League) — that Messi assumed his iconic number.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s message as interim manager of Manchester United has been simple: Enjoy yourself. It’s not an earth shattering ethos, except when diametrically opposed to Jose Mourinho’s philosophy of “respect my authority.”
A lot has been made of the fact that without Eden Hazard, Chelsea would resemble nothing more than a strange, amorphous tribute to Yokohama Tires out on the pitch. That criticism is mainly aimed at Alvaro Morata and Olivier Giroud leading the line, where the two have combined for only six Premier League goals.
It was a bit of a joke that Mo Salah’s chipped effort against Everton was awarded the Puskas for the best goal of the year, only winning because Liverpool supporters took over the fan voting. The Harry Kane goal vs Wolves on Saturday was superior in every way — but probably won’t win any awards for a multitude of reasons.
A Brazilian may age, but they never lose their touch.
Zico, one of the greatest footballers to ever play for the Seleção, played his last match as a professional 24 years ago. But at 65, he’s still got the velvety touch and incredible shot that helped him bag more than 500 goals for Flamengo and 48 more for Brazil.
You should, maybe, know who Nicolo Zaniolo is by now. At 19, the AS Roma midfielder isn’t quite the polished product like many attackers who scored in Serie A on Wednesday, but the teen is growing in stature by the week.
Serie A has long been defined by aging Italian footballers getting better with age, just like a fine box of Franzia. Recent examples include Francesco Totti scoring 15 at the age of 34, Filippo Inzaghi hitting 13 at the age of 35, Alessandro Del Piero notching 13 at 34, Luca Toni dropping 22 at 38 and Antonio Di Natale recording 14 at 37.
Manchester United’s first match since Jose Mourinho was fired went pretty well. Former super sub striker Ole Gunnar Solskjær came in as interim manager and the Red Devils played with verve and panache unseen in years, crushing Cardiff City.
When you break down soccer to its simplest form, it’s all about scoring goals. Score more than the other team and you win.
Not all goals are created equally. While it’s easy to pick out the strongest, toughest, most impactful goals from the biggest matches, we here at The18 have picked out our favorite goals of 2018 for you to enjoy.
Now, these aren’t all necessarily the best goals of the year (see: No. 17), just our favorites. Some were epic World Cup golazos. Some were literally from the training ground.