We interrupt this year’s Champions League to inform you that this year’s competition has been canceled. In lieu of a tournament to determine the best team in Europe, UEFA has installed a series of challenges to show how amazing Cristiano Ronaldo is. Forget Real Madrid vs Juventus, Roma vs. Barcelona or Liverpool vs. Manchester City, all we really need is CR7.
Ronaldo haters, turn away now.
Juventus arrived at the Santiago Bernabeu needing a miracle to overturn a three-goal deficit on the road at Real Madrid. By halftime on Wednesday, the Bianconeri were well on their way to a second straight Italian miracle thanks to two Mario Mandzukic goals against Real Madrid.
On Tuesday, it was AS Roma rallying from three goals down to stun Barcelona. After losing 3-0 in Turin, Juventus was up against it against the two-time reigning champions.
In a certain light, Shaq Moore could be looked upon as a blueprint for young Americans looking to develop careers in professional soccer. The 21-year-old fullback spent time in the IMG Academy and the FC Dallas Academy before moving to Spain, where he rose through the reserve divisions and currently plays for Levante in the Primera Division. He has even appeared against Barcelona.
However, to hear him tell it, there is no blueprint.
According to a recent article from Henry Winter in The Times, Manchester United’s academy dressing room proudly displays an image of Lionel Messi cleaning his own boots following a 2016 friendly between Argentina and Croatia at the old Boleyn Ground in London.
Here's the aformentioned image.
You have to feel a little bad for Leganes. No one was going to stop Lionel Messi on Saturday. You also have to feel bad for anyone who doesn’t like Ray Hudson, because he was in full form as well. Barcelona inched closer to the LaLiga title with a 3-1 win over Leganes at the Camp Nou thanks to a Lionel Messi hat trick.
The Blaugrana moved 12 points above Atletico Madrid, which plays rival Real Madrid on Sunday.
Poor Leganes tried everything to slow Messi down, but, as is often the case, it was just Messi’s day.
Lost in all the hullabaloo surrounding Cristiano Ronaldo’s iconic bicycle kick against Juventus yesterday was a flawless 75-minute performance from Real Madrid attacking midfielder Isco.
With Bayern Munich attacker James Rodriguez returning to Spain to play Sevilla in the Champions League this week, the Spanish media turned its attention to the Real Madrid loanee with a staple of the country’s football coverage: unsubstantiated transfer rumors.
The rumor wasn’t all that juicy, just that Bayern will certainly move to make his loan permanent this summer by activating a clause that was included in the initial two-year loan contract signed last July.
A few weeks ago, Lionel Messi reached the landmark of 100 goals in the UEFA Champions League, joining Cristiano Ronaldo as the only footballer to achieve the feat. The following comparisons between the two were inevitable, because for the last 10 years, it’s just been Ronaldo and Messi at the top of the world’s premier club competition.
In fact, you’d have to go back to the 2006-07 season and AC Milan’s Kaká to find the last Champions League top scorer by season not named Ronaldo or Messi.
At around the same time that Zlatan Ibrahimovic made his MLS debut for the LA Galaxy on Saturday, scoring a late equalizer and then game-winner in dramatic fashion, another football icon made a late entrance and saved the day. In this case, the player was Lionel Messi and the circumstance was a two-goal deficit against Sevilla, an unbeaten season on the line.
Lionel Messi, the five-time Ballon d'Or winner and odds-on best player of all time, used to have a bad habit of throwing up in the middle of matches.