Barcelona

Late work in the visual arts, like those of Rembrandt, can often showcase an artist at their most profound. What’s revealed is the certainty of a master — the piece stands apart from the contemporary and proclaims its own thingness. With that being said, have a look at what Xavi’s aging right foot is up to.

It painted a stunning work in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, on Tuesday during Al Sadd’s Asian Champions League group stage match against Pakhtakor. 

In the sixth minute of the match, here’s the 39-year-old going top bins after ambling his way to the top of the box. 

Mentally, Diego Costa isn’t entirely there. Look at the 26 yellow cards he received over his three-year Premier League stay for ample evidence of the striker’s propensity to be a mad lad. 

Jan Oblak is the best goalkeeper in the world right now. Period. End of discussion.

Oblak, the 26-year-old Slovenian and Atlético Madrid No. 1, put on a masterful display against Barcelona on Saturday at the Camp Nou. 

But it was in vain.

Luis Suarez hit a perfect strike to break the deadlock and Lionel Messi took advantage of a dazed defense moments later as Barcelona scored twice late to beat 10-man Atlético Madrid in a massive LaLiga match, a potential title-decider. 

Hop into The18 time machine and travel back to Jan. 23, 2017, to see “Borussia Dortmund Beat Real Madrid To The Signing Of 17-Year-Old Swedish Phenom” Alexander Isak. After breaking through with AIK and scoring 10 goals during his debut Allsvenskan season, “the next Zlatan Ibrahimovic” made further waves by becoming Sweden’s youngest-ever international goalscorer. 

Relegation-threatened Villarreal almost recorded a stunning victory over LaLiga leader Barcelona at El Madrigal, and the result would’ve certainly meant more to the Yellow Submarine’s survival than to the Blaugrana’s title charge, but Lionel Messi was inserted with 30 minutes remaining and you know what happened after that.

With 11 goals and four assists in his last eight appearances for Barcelona, including hat tricks against Sevilla and Real Betis, it’s become increasingly difficult to separate Lionel Messi’s image from that of the divine.