For folks fortunate enough to be able to take an extra day or two off around the Christmas holiday, Wednesday provided plenty of soccer for the American sports fan with $5 to spare for an ESPN+ subscription. With beIN Sports providing free Ligue 1 coverage and ESPN+ streaming the Carabao Cup, DFB Pokal and Serie A, it was difficult to figure out which matches to watch.
The past 24 hours have been somber and harrowing for Ligue 1 club FC Lorient after one of the team's groundskeepers was killed in a freak accident on Sunday night.
Following Lorient's 3-0 home defeat to Rennes at the Stade du Moustoir, the grounds crew came out to do their post-game duties. One of those jobs includes tending to the field with a grow light. The contraption emulates sunlight, warms the field and keeps the grass healthy.
In the 79th-minute of Sunday’s top-of-the-table clash between Lille and Paris Saint-Germain in Ligue 1, a PSG corner kick quickly transitioned into a Lille counterattack going the other way. Faced with a four-on-one, center back Presnel Kimpembe produced one of the most spectacular tackles you’ll ever see.
After drifting toward Timothy Weah on the ball, Kimpembe quickly reacted to his pass inside, read Burak Yılmaz’s intention and acrobatically put an end to his run on the stretch — Kimpembe obliterated him with the toes of his left foot.
No one can argue that 2020 has been an awful year that we all want to put behind us. But before we look ahead 2021, we have to take a minute to appreciate how sports have provided something resembling normality in recent months.
Considering the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have been incredibly lucky to have soccer leagues playing regularly since June.
Due to the scheduling havoc wreaked by COVID-19 and the resulting extension of the 2019-20 season, the summer transfer was extended until Oct. 5, but when does the January transfer window 2021 open? It’s been a wild ride, but some semblance of normality has returned to European football with the January transfer window set to open on Saturday, Jan. 2 and close on Monday, Feb. 1.
Has the January transfer window changed?
Lyon handed PSG a 1-0 loss at the Parc des Princes on Sunday to move into second place in Ligue 1 and send the home side down to third, but the result was much more devastating than that — Neymar was stretchered off in injury time after an awful tackle from Thiago Mendes that resulted in a straight red card.
Hatem Ben Arfa should be gone but not forgotten by now. More precisely, he should be remembered by old heads around the block under the guise of “the streets will never forget” accompanied by video highlights of the two seasons in which he was entirely unplayable: 2011-12 with Newcastle United and 2015-16 with Nice.
By the standards of most clubs, second place in the Champions League group and a slim lead in the domestic table heading into December would represent an unqualified success. Alas, Paris Saint-Germain is not most clubs.
Chelsea became the first team to officially book a ticket for the knockout stages of the UEFA Champions League after a dramatic 2-1 victory against Rennes.
After defeating Rennes handily 20 days ago, the Blues looked to pick up right where they left off against the French underdogs. Chelsea should have taken the lead in the opening five minutes after Timo Werner had a golden opportunity. Chelsea’s $60 million man instead decided to generously give the International Space Station a souvenir.