Amazing Goals

While we should probably wait to see what Cristiano Ronaldo offers after he gets his first for Juventus, this early September strike from Sampdoria’s Fabio Quagliarella could easily fit the bill for the 2018-19 Serie A Goal of the Season. 

The 35-year-old is in the midst of a career renaissance after scoring a personal-best total of 19 goals in 35 matches last year, and he’s now off the mark this season with one of the best goals of his legendary career. 

This world-class bit of instinctive finishing put the final touches on Sampdoria’s 3-0 win over Napoli today.

Barcelona moved to the top of the LaLiga table on goal difference Sunday after hammering newly promoted Huesca 8-2 at the Camp Nou. Lionel Messi registered two goals and two assists, Luis Suarez added a brace and an assist, Jordi Alba had a goal and an assist and Ivan Rakitic did the same to power the Blaugrana to the top of the table. An Ousmane Dembele strike and a Jorge Pulido own goal rounded off the eight Barcelona tallies. 

18-year-old Brazilian wunderkind Vinícius Júnior appeared in his second match for Real Madrid Castilla (Real’s reserve team) against Atletico Madrid B today. The Madrid Derby in Segunda División B (Spain’s third division) ended in a 2-2 draw with Vinícius Jr at the center of everything for Real, scoring a brace while also getting his head munched on by Atletico captain Alberto Rodriguez.

Admittedly, we’re getting tired of all these Kylian Mbappé goals. But this Mbappe goal vs Nimes was something special.

After scoring three goals in his first two appearances with Paris Saint-Germain this season, it wasn’t really a surprise to see the 19-year-old Frenchman score again on Saturday. What was surprising was the immense quality with which the goal was taken. 

And his red card soon after.

Not since Clint Dempsey and Brian McBride were in the Premier League have American forwards been playing — and scoring — at the top levels of Europe at a rate they are now. 

Christian Pulisic at Borussia Dortmund and Timothy Weah at PSG are two of the more prominent examples, but Josh Sargent is off to a strong start with Werder Bremen 2 and a pair of USMNT defenders scored in the Bundesliga over the weekend. 

In some respects, it was the goal that sparked Cristiano Ronaldo’s move to Juventus. Now it’s been named the UEFA Goal of the Season 2017-18, and there was never really any doubt.

For all the goals scored by the likes of Liverpool, Barcelona and Manchester City in the Champions League, no goal quite compared to the Cristiano Ronaldo bicycle kick against Juventus.