Europe

We get it, we really do. You get drunk, you start to air some grievances at your employer and your colleagues, it happens. We don’t do that at The18 per se, because we love each other and you shouldn’t do that, but we totally get it when you’re a Sunderland employee. 

Can you imagine how stressful working for Sunderland must be? Every year, your company is sometimes weeks, sometimes days from going under. There’s no stability, and you’re micromanaged by David Moyes. You have to watch the company visionaries do things like spend $13 million on Jozy Altidore.  

Fiorentina is having a terrible summer. While many of Italy’s top teams have reinforced considerably, the Florentines have managed to decimate their own squad and infuriate their supporters in equal measure. To look at the summer as a whole, it’s awful. Dreadful. Rotten. But when you closely examine each wretched piece of business individually, things look even worse. So, let’s do exactly that.

Manchester United players Phil Jones and Daly Blind are in trouble with UEFA's anti-doping arm, but not for having actually doped. Before the Europa League final in May, Jones reportedly insulted a doping control officer and Blind reportedly wasn't following the controllers' directions.

Phil Jones charged with insulting & directing abusive language towards doping control officer, given two-match European ban + €5,000 fine

Last season, I felt really bad for Paul Pogba. Manchester United's record signing had to play in central midfield partnered with Marouane Fellaini. Pogba never had time or space to do cool Pogba stuff because he was busy putting out fires Fellaini had started.

This season, it looks like Pogba will be free, as Manchester United have brought in Serbian defensive midfielder Nemanja Matic, formerly of Chelsea, who complements Pogba's playing style way better than Fellaini did.

Saturday’s El Clasico at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami gave over 66,000 spectators the opportunity to watch the likes of Lionel Messi, Neymar and Gareth Bale, but the lasting legacy of this match will probably be the confrontation between Barcelona midfielder Ivan Rakitic and American referee Jair Marrufo.

Rakitic’s goal in the 7th minute gave Barca an early 2-0 lead, but his 73 minutes on the pitch weren’t entirely enjoyable.

The city that gave the world pilsner beer is giving us one more wonderful treat. This week Viktoria Plzen unveiled its new players’ bench shaped like a can of pilsner. 

Plzeňská Viktoria představuje unikátní střídačky ve tvaru plechovky Gambrinus!

INFO  https://t.co/hSErEG7b23#fcvp pic.twitter.com/3L3qpSedvm

Patrik Eler channeled Thor in his team’s Ligue 2 opener on Friday, striking an incredible goal from nearly 40 yards out. The ferocity and speed with which the ball was struck gave the goalkeeper little chance to save the shot, even from such a long distance.

Alexis Sanchez has a cold. He is currently not training with Arsenal because of said cold. He posted on Instagram about his cold and also one of his dogs was involved because duh.

While Neymar hasn’t entirely exited Barcelona, he has shown himself the door at Thursday’s training session in Miami. With Barca slated to play Real Madrid Saturday in a friendly, Neymar’s bust-up with new signing Nelson Semedo is exactly what the tabloids craved.