The fastest LaLiga debut goal for Real Madrid since Ronaldo (and a brilliant one at that). A hat-trick on his second Champions League appearance. That ridiculous outside-of-the-foot volley against Club Brugge.
Goal #100: An acrobatic side volley that’s made to look effortless. Goal #99: A velvety first touch loaded with purpose, a graceful cut beyond a defender and a curled finish inside the far post.
And now there are 98 superior goals?! As Ray Hudson once said, “The insane becomes the routine with this man.”
The Premier League has earned its place as the most-watched domestic competition on the planet with a package of blood and thunder. In cauldron-like atmospheres up and down the country, clubs compete at exemplifying heavy metal football while engaged in tit-for-tat thrill rides for 90 frantic minutes.
But what sets the Premier League apart is that it’s also home to some of the game’s most sublime artists. These are the players who remind us that while force allows you to exert some form of control over proceedings, dominance can really only be achieved through understanding.
With Neymar out suspended, Kylian Mbappé had two goals and an assist in Paris Saint-Germain’s 4-0 thrashing of Dijon on Saturday. But it’ll be the back-to-back Mbappé nutmegs that torment the nightmares of Dijon defenders for years to come.
Neymar sat out the match after picking up two yellow cards in the Feb. 23 match with Girondins de Bourdeaux. Marco Verratti was also out suspended while Thiago Silva, Ander Herrera, Colin Dagba and Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting were all injured.
Crystal Palace defeated West Ham 2-1 on Thursday thanks to an incredible solo effort from Jordan Ayew at the death. Ayew had provided the assist on Cheikhou Kouyaté’s equalizer for Palace in the 68th minute, but he saved his ultimate contribution for last.
Last season’s Champions League semifinals were a romantic’s dream. Such was the scale of the attacking ambitions of the last four clubs remaining that almost all of the tournament’s top providers were on display: With five assists each, Ajax’s Dušan Tadić and the Barcelona duo of Luis Suárez and Jordi Alba finished as joint-leaders (along with Manchester City’s Leroy Sané). Just behind them with four assists was Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold.
Injuries, a contentious World Cup and the personal admission of a desire to abandon the PSG project have all adversely affected Neymar over the past two years — so much so that he found himself omitted entirely from the 30-man list for the 2019 Ballon d’Or.
The fifth goal of Son Heung-min’s 2019-20 Premier League season was perhaps the finest he’s ever scored for Tottenham. Beginning at the edge of his own area, the 27-year-old attacker took off at a brisk pace before roaring through the gears and leaving eight Burnley defenders in his torrential wake.
Last night in Porto Alegre, Athletico Paranaense captured the 2019 Copa do Brasil with a 3-1 aggregate victory over Paolo Guerrero’s Internacional. After winning the first leg 1-0 in Curitiba, Athletico-PR captured its first-ever Copa by seeing things through at Inter’s home stadium.
It’s been over four months since we first caught wind of the Diego Maradona documentary that debuted in select cinemas worldwide back in June. Unfortunately, since America can be quite trash in the ways of appreciating soccer, the film hasn't been available to watch stateside. That’s all going to change on October 1.