Amazing

Remember when Alexandre Pato was the shit in FIFA? A stunning Alexandre Pato free kick against Shanghai SIPG reminded us just how good he used to be.

Back at the turn of the decade, AC Milan was a powerhouse in FIFA. Alessandro Nesta and Thiago Silva at center back, the speedy Ignazio Abate at right back, a midfield of Andrea Pirlo, Clarence Seedorf, Gennaro Gattuso and Kevin-Prince Boateng and a forward line of Zlatan Ibrahimović and Alexandre Pato. It was nuts.

Andres Iniesta was never going to have a Zlatan Ibrahimovic-esque debut in the J1 League. The 34-year-old schemer is a much more subtle player and has never been one to stuff the stat line. Last Sunday, he made his debut for Vissel Kobe and played the final 31 minutes of his side’s 3-0 defeat.

After his break following a World Cup with Spain, the former Barcelona midfielder looked a little rusty — every pass just seemed a fraction too far for his teammates, perhaps an indication of the new level of play that he’ll need to adjust to.

On July 24, 2018, Barcelona celebrated 10 years of Lionel Messi wearing the No. 10 Blaugrana shirt. Messi is now synonymous with the number, but he spent his first four senior seasons at the club without it — that’s because some man named Ronaldinho sported that jersey. 

Every professional footballer on the planet wants to train under Pep Guardiola (apart from Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Yaya Toure). His approach to playing the game has revolutionized football and brought unmitigated success to Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Manchester City. Now, thanks to Amazon Prime Original docuseries “All or Nothing: Manchester City”, we get a behind-the-scenes look at Guardiola and total access to City’s stable of world-class footballers.

The 2018-19 Liga MX season began yesterday with Apertura action taking place across Mexico. The biggest winners on the day were Cruz Azul, who defeated Puebla 3-0 at the Estadio Azteca. Goals from Andres Renteria, Milton Caraglio and Elias Hernandez sent Cruz Azul to the top of the table, but it was the strike from Hernandez that garnered global praise. 

Trevor Noah is African; he is also a soccer fan. On an episode of The Daily Show With Trevor Noah this week, the comedian celebrated a World Cup victory for Africa, because many of France’s players are of African descent. But the Trevor Noah France comments did not go over too well with everyone, including French ambassador to the U.S. Gérard Araud. 

“I said Africa won the World Cup,” Noah said. “I was shocked at how angry a lot of French people got.”

After playing 56 games last season, Liverpool FC basically said to hell with it and just kept playing. The Reds began their 2018-19 fixture list back on July 7 as part of a nine-game preseason tour that includes a trip to Ireland and the United States. This is how Jurgen Klopp ensures that the gegenpressing is still pressing come the 90th minute of matches in May.