Barcelona moved into second in LaLiga — two points behind leaders Real Madrid — with an emphatic 4-0 victory over Sevilla at the Camp Nou on Sunday. Barça raced to a three-goal halftime lead thanks to a stunning overhead kick from Luis Suárez followed by further strikes from Arturo Vidal and Ousmane Dembélé. Lionel Messi finished the scoring with a sublime free kick in the 78th minute.
Maybe Jürgen Klopp saw something on film, but I doubt it. I think Liverpool simply exploited the almighty power of the backheel on a whimsy, as is befitting of the European champions. Klopp’s prematch team talk probably went something like this (sung to the tune of Men at Work):
We can backheel if we want to, we can leave England behind
Cause Man United don’t backheel and Chelsea don’t backheel
And they’re no friends of mine
Javier Hernandez has opened his account with new club Sevilla. Back with a LaLiga club for the first time since his loan spell with Real Madrid, the first Chicharito Sevilla goal was stunning to all involved.
Manchester City kept pace with Liverpool at the top of the Premier League table with a 3-1 victory over Bournemouth on Sunday morning, but the Citizens were made to work for all three points. Sergio Agüero and Raheem Sterling had given City a 2-0 lead by the 43rd minute, but just before the halftime whistle Harry Wilson struck this marvelous free kick to pull the Cherries back into the match.
The best Champions League goal of the 2018-19 season has been revealed, and there can be few complaints.
Lionel Messi’s otherworldly free kick against Liverpool in the Champions League semifinals was announced as the UCL Goal of the Season by UEFA on Friday.
...and here it is
There is, perhaps, no more iconic free kick than the one struck by Roberto Carlos against France at the 1997 Le Tournoi.
Taking aim 40 yards from goal, the Real Madrid icon ripped a shot that still today is hard to believe, curling the ball so far wide of the goal and back in that legendary French goalkeeper Fabien Barthez didn’t even attempt to make a save.
It was a day of high drama at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations. Semifinal action began with an extra time encounter between Senegal and Tunisia — decided by a calamitous own goal — and it continued through the evening with an Algeria-Nigeria clash that was settled at the final second of regular time.
The opening goal from today’s Women’s World Cup Round of 16 match between England and Cameroon was an epic tale involving back passes, indirect free kicks and saliva. Yeah, that kind of goal.
The story begins in the 12th minute, when Cameroon’s Augustine Ejangue cushioned a cross straight towards her own goalkeeper. Instead of clearing it, Annette Ngo Ndom picked it up, putting Cameroon in violation of the back-pass rule.