Marius Sumudica is a Romanian football manager, currently with Turkish club Kayserispor. Recently, he tried to lean against a fence. It did not go well, but then it went REALLY well, because Marius Sumudica is a master of improv the likes of which hasn't been seen since the first version of Whose Line Is It Anyway? went off the air.
American-born defender Eric Lichaj had a deal with his wife: Score a hat trick and she will finally let him get a dog. The Nottingham Forest defender came oh so close to scoring a hat trick against Arsenal during the FA Cup on Sunday. After Lichaj asked Twitter to bombard his wife with dog memes, she caved. Eric Lichaj finally has a dog.
Bayer Leverkusen manager Heiko Herrlich has been hit with a fine approaching $14,500 after taking a comedy tumble during his side’s DFB-Pokal match against Borussia Monchengladbach on December 20. Bayer would win the game 1-0, but Herrlich apologized after the match for his hysterics following Denis Zakaria’s near-impingement on his personal space.
“That was stupid,” said Herrlich. “I’d like to apologize.”
Everyone knows there is only one way to accurately predict where a footballer will transfer during the silly season: Instagram. Specifically, footballers will give their intentions away via likes and follows.
Let's look at an example. Soon-to-be out-of-contract Schalke midfielder Leon Goretzka is a hot commodity right now, with the likes of Bayern Munich, Liverpool and Arsenal competing for his signature. Earlier this month, it was reported that he would sign for Bayern Munich. However, Instagram tells a different story.
Arsene Wenger was probably going to be fired after failing to qualify for the Champions League with Arsenal last season. However, Arsenal won the FA Cup, and Wenger held on to his job.
He is still holding on to it, but his position has become a little more precarious after Arsenal was bounced, 4-2, from Wenger's favorite competition (he has won seven times with Arsenal) by Nottingham Forest and in particular American defender Eric Lichaj.
Everyone plays football for different reasons. For some it’s the love of the game, others for money or fame and still more do it to impress the opposite sex. But winning free pizza for playing football is a prize everyone can appreciate. That’s exactly what goalkeeper Chris Neal won by helping Fleetwood Town shut out Leciester City in the third round of the FA Cup on Saturday at Highbury Stadium.
The institution that is Arsene Wenger was handed a three-match touchline ban and a $54,250 fine for a confrontation with referee Mike Dean after Arsenal’s 1-1 draw with West Brom on Sunday. The Wenger ban is nothing new for the Frenchman, who served a four-match touchline ban for a similar behavior last year. And Wenger didn’t even deny these accusations, fully admitting to what he said and standing by his criticism.
Today we discovered a startling revelation from talented young Liverpool right back Trent Alexander-Arnold: he has one of those "friendship recipe" wall hangings in his kitchen. This is definitely the biggest story of the day involving Liverpool, nothing else going on there really, mostly a relaxing stress-free Thursday for Liverpool fans. Yep.
Mario Balotelli is either the greatest brother or the worst brother of all time. The Nice striker claims he defeated his brother, Enock Barwuah, a forward for Ciliverghe Mazzano in Italy, in FIFA and Enock will not admit his defeat. So Mario being Mario called in a few friends to make his point.
Neymar, Falcao, Kevin-Prince Boateng and even AC Milan CEO Adriano Galliani, among others, joined in with Mario Balotelli trolling to call Enock a liar and a sore loser.
The 230th edition of the Merseyside derby takes place this afternoon at Anfield in the 2017-18 FA Cup Third Round — the 24th time the rivals have met in the world’s oldest football competition and the first since Liverpool’s epic 2-1 victory over Everton in the semifinals of 2012.