Real Madrid captain Sergio Ramos intentionally picked up a yellow card late in the first leg against Ajax to earn himself a suspension for the return leg so he’d be ready to go in the quarterfinals. Real Madrid won’t make it to the quarterfinals.
And this might be the end of the Real Madrid dynasty as we know it.
MLS returned for its 24th season this past weekend bringing new faces, a 24th club and lots of drama. The introduction of FC Cincinnati gives the league a more balanced schedule and gets rid of a team having to sit out bye weeks. MLS continued its fine form of entertaining and attacking soccer from 2018, averaging 3.4 goals per match. Yes, it's early, but there are still some key takeaways from MLS Week 1.
Merseyside rivals Everton dealt Liverpool’s Premier League title aspirations a heavy blow on Sunday by frustrating the Reds time after time during a 0-0 stalemate at Goodison Park.
There are still nine matches remaining in the season, but the draw has handed control back to Manchester City in the title race. The Citizens now have a one-point advantage and control their own destiny. They’ve also won five straight league games, certainly an ominous harbinger for a Liverpool side that’s won only two of its last six.
Monterrey kept pace with Tigres at the top of the Liga MX Clausura table with a 2-0 victory over Guadalajara at Akron Stadium on Saturday, and both Rayados goals were of the highest order.
Also, they were both scored by Colombian attacker Dorlan Pabón, who ripped a long-range golazo in the second minute and then did it again in the 89th.
Here’s the first.
Here’s the second. Déjà vu.
The USWNT wants to peak this summer at the 2019 Women’s World Cup. The three-time Women’s World Cup champions certainly aren’t peaking right now.
The U.S. opened the SheBelieves Cup with a 2-2 draw with Japan, twice squandering leads and showing an inability to close out a tight match on Wednesday in Philadelphia.
Megan Rapinoe and Alex Morgan both found the back of the net, but their goals were countered by a pair from Emi Nakajima and Yuka Momiki, the latter of which came in the 91st minute.
Barcelona’s quest for a fifth straight Copa del Rey title will be decided on May 25 at the Estadio Benito Villamarín after Wednesday’s 3-0 semifinal second leg victory over Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabéu. The aggregate score remained 1-1 going into the second half, but a Luis Suarez brace and Raphael Varane own goal in the space of 23 minutes granted Barcelona passage to the final at the expense of its El Clásico rival.
Sometimes you have to wonder about the hype surrounding the English Premier League. You’re supposed to treat Manchester United-Liverpool like a druid at the summer solstice, but it turns out to be 90 minutes of apocalyptic despair.
You then put on Newcastle United-Burnley and see Atlanta United’s Miguel Almiron bossing things, $66 million Liverpool target James Tarkowski sky a sitter from yards out and commentators treat the introduction of a 38-year-old Peter Crouch like the second coming of Marco van Basten.
Tyler Adams has started four matches for RB Leipzig following his January move, and the Bundesliga side has won all four of those games. However, even though he registered his first assist in Leipzig’s victory over Stuttgart last time out, the 20-year-old American was forced to take a spot on the bench for today’s game against Hoffenheim.
In prospect, it was a great plan: Get up early, start with Manchester United versus Liverpool in a momentous, top four Premier League clash, and then seamlessly move on to the League Cup final between defending champions Manchester City and crisis-hit Chelsea.
There goes five hours of our day, and we didn’t get a goal to show for it.
Manchester United and Liverpool played to a 0-0 draw at Old Trafford on Sunday with the main talking point being the four first half injury substitutions (three for United, one for Liverpool) that drastically altered the shape of the game.
In the grand scheme of things, the draw sees Liverpool return to the top of the Premier League table with a one-point lead over Manchester City. After Arsenal’s victory over Southampton, the Gunners have overtaken the Red Devils in fourth by a single point.