Europe

It’s shaping up to be one helluva second half to the Premier League season, and we have the month of December to thank for that. Chelsea strode to the top of the table, but Liverpool, Tottenham and Manchester City are all keeping the pressure on. Behind the top four, Arsenal and Manchester United are within touching distance.

At the bottom, Hull City, Swansea and Sunderland occupy the relegation spots, but Crystal Palace, Middlesbrough and even Leicester City will be sweating over their upcoming fixtures.

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.

Mike Dean’s track record is unreal. He pioneered the Dirty South sound of the 90s while working with the Geto Boys, Nate Dogg, Tech N9ne and UGK. In recent times, he’s worked with Kanye West on all of his albums, Jay-Z, Frank Ocean and Desiigner. He’s a living legend, but Mike Dean has received a ton of criticism lately after wrongly sending off Sofiane Feghouli in Monday’s match between Manchester United and West Ham.

Four Chelsea supporters, despite claiming they aren't racists, have been found to be racists by a court in France after throwing a black man out of a Paris metro car, according to the BBC.

The men who claimed they aren't racists could be heard yelling "we are racist, we are racist, and that's the way we like it" in a video taken of the scene.

All four men were given one-year suspended prison sentences and ordered to pay their victim 10,000 Euros.

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.

The NWSL could use a positive headline in the next few weeks. First, the NWSL lost its biggest star in Alex Morgan, who is moving to play at Lyon through the summer. Her parent club, the Orlando Pride, will open their brand new stadium without their biggest attraction. 

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. 

Replacing Zlatan Ibrahimovic and his 2015-16 tally of 44 goals for Paris St-Germain was always going to be impossible, but the club couldn’t have foreseen the transition being this painful. The numbers indicating the decline of PSG’s attack are staggering: last season, they scored 102 league goals. This year, they’re on pace for 76.

While the defense has already surrendered 15 goals at the halfway point of the season as compared to 19 throughout the entirety of 2015-16, it’s the lack of offensive firepower that is clearly troubling owners Qatar Sports Investments.

People in Germany are very mad about RB Leipzig because, to them, RB Leipzig are everything that is wrong with a soccer world that is growing increasingly corporate.

Basically, Red Bull bought a lower-division German club and put a bunch of money into it, turning it into a monster overnight. Oh, and they renamed it after their company. That club now sits second in the Bundesliga and gets called soulless by fans who form the T-Mobile logo in the stands during home games.

This is, without a doubt, the strangest sending off we’ve ever seen. FC Porto came up against Moreirense in a must-win match in the Portuguese Taca da Liga cup competition on Tuesday night. With Moreirense leading 1-0 in the 79th minute, the referee inexplicably ended any hope Porto had of advancing to the semifinals by giving Danilo Pereira his second yellow card of the match and sending him off. 

His offense? Being ran into by the referee. It’s a shockingly ridiculous decision that calls into question the integrity of everything. This guy is tripping off the power.