Manchester United coach Jose Mourinho hasn’t always seen eye to eye with his most expensive player, Paul Pogba — of this, there is no secret.
Mourinho has benched the Frenchman in the past and transfer rumors swirled around the powerhouse midfielder before the close of the summer window.
Pogba is still arguably the best player Manchester United has, so Mourinho is a bit stuck with him for now. But that doesn’t mean he has to enjoy it.
In the end, Shakhtar Donetsk’s trusted strategy of supplementing its Ukrainian core of players with a bunch of Brazilians proved, once again, a masterstroke — this time in spoiling the appearance of the youngest manager the Champions League has ever seen, Hoffenheim’s 31-year-old whizkid Julian Nagelsmann.
The North Carolina Courage defeated the Chicago Red Stars 2-0 on Tuesday night in the semifinals of the NWSL playoffs to setup a repeat of the 2017 final between the Courage and Portland Thorns FC. That match will take place at Providence Park on Saturday, Sept. 22, at 4:30 p.m. ET, with coverage on Lifetime.
Tottenham is tired. How much of it is the World Cup? How much of it the complete lack of rejuvenation by way of transfers? How much of it is the media incessantly telling us that Tottenham’s tired (although Son Heung-min told us as much too)? How much of it is the dopey-looking faces of Harry Kane and Christian Eriksen? I just don’t know.
Hirving Lozano earned a lot of praise for his defensive efforts during the World Cup with Mexico. Much of it was deserved as his tracking back was nearly as important as his goal against Germany. But on this Ousmane Dembele goal vs PSV Eindhoven on Tuesday, Lozano was left grasping at air.
You could sense it was coming.
PSV Eindhoven had threatened Barcelona on the other end a couple times in the opening 30 minutes of the first Champions League match of the group stage, but when Lionel Messi lined up behind the ball after a hard foul on Ousmane Dembélé just outside the box, there was only ever going to be one outcome.
Lionel Messi scored the first goal of the Champions League group stage with a stunningly perfect free kick, curled into the top-right corner of the net to give Barça a lead in the 31st minute on Tuesday in Barcelona.
Southampton’s Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg did it. The Danish midfielder achieved the kind of hit that we all dream of — the one that’s smacked so clean that it doesn’t spin, it just arrows its way on a straight course into the corner. It’s the kind of pure strike that'll undoubtedly give way to someone commenting, “So what?! I do that every Sunday in my Men’s League!” and that’s because they have absolutely zero understanding of what’s just happened here.
31-year-old Frenchman Dimitri Payet scored the goal of the weekend during Marseille’s 4-0 beatdown of Guingamp in Ligue 1 action Sunday. The mercurial attacker has built a reputation for the spectacular over the last few years — including a sensational but ultimately ill-fated stint with West Ham — but his volley from nearly 25 yards out over the weekend was the sort of audacious finishing that the division hasn’t seen since Zlatan Ibrahimovic was representing PSG.
There is a lot of soccer played around the globe every week and every day. It’s hard to keep track of it all. But we here at The18 always have you covered for all the happenings around the world. With that in mind, we present to you the obscure goals of the week.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic has always had a flair for the dramatic. His ability to contort his 6-5 frame, even at 36 years of age, has allowed him to score some of the most mind-rending goals you’ll ever see. Zlatan's 500th goal was more of the same.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored his 500th goal for club and country with a wild karate kick thing on Saturday night, becoming the third active player after Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo to reach that milestone.