Europe

The “Old Firm” derby — Celtic and Rangers — divides the city of Glasgow, and much of Scotland, at least in footballing terms.

And, it has become known as one of football’s most notorious derbies--a rivalry played out before the backdrop of religion and politics. It is known worldwide.

Known maybe, but no longer watched.

With the rivalry’s four-year respite resulting from Rangers financial woes and subsequent relegation, it appears the fixture has lost some of its luster. 

Newly elected UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin outlined his vision for football's administrative body in Europe during an interview with The Associated Press on Thursday. Ceferin’s most newsworthy propositions are the repercussions from reviving UEFA’s open bidding process for the right to host the Champions League final.

Lionel Messi and his Barcelona teammates, including Gerard Pique and Ivan Rakitic, took a moment to read tweets about themselves in an ad campaign for the new 2017 Audi Q2. Fortunately for the Barca players, this was nothing like Jimmy Kimmel’s “Celebrities Read Mean Tweets” segment.

The players read tweets containing strange tags that ultimately praised them as footballers and individuals. The highlight of the two-minute video is watching Messi awkwardly praise himself.

Fenerbahce's Europa League trip to Manchester took an interesting turn when the team's plane hit a bird and had to land in Budapest, Hungary.

The team, which features former Premier-Leaguers Robin van Persie and Martin Skrtel, posted this on Twitter:

Kafilemizi Manchester'a götüren uçağın camına kuş çarpması nedeniyle, uçak Budapeşte'ye zorunlu iniş yaptı. Endişe verici bir durum yok. pic.twitter.com/tYhUWp2omJ

It's clear to anyone watching that while still very good, Cristiano Ronaldo is on the physical decline. Questions have arisen surrounding his ability to remain effective while not being the team’s centerpiece. He is still clearly very capable, but his ineffeciency is indicative of a man not quite ready to accept his new role. 

A matchday chef for Bristol Rovers vs. Gillingham this weekend learned the hard way that you should watch what you post on Facebook.

The chef, an admitted Bristol City fan, posted this gem (apparently deleted) on Facebook:

At work.. think am going to poison the whole lot of rovers fan today.. can’t be bothered to cook everything is going to be undercooked today.. how many people going to have the shits … Best news is am in the away end.. so no looking a inbreed (redacted) here the view I got for the next 7 hours…

Joshua Kimmich, like Jon Snow before him, knows nothing. Pep Guardiola’s beloved bastard son was allotted action in 23 Bundesliga matches last season, tallying zero goals. His adept displays in defensive roles for Bayern led Guardiola to claim that “he’s perhaps one of the best center backs in the world”.

Celtic central defender Kolo Toure, The18's 2015 Player of the Year, has boatloads of good experience in big matches. Unfortunately, that is not how it worked out against Borussia Monchengladbach.

Liverpool fans and Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers, who was at Anfield at the time, will remember when Toure had a similar howler against West Brom in February 2014, which snatched a 1-1 draw from the jaws of victory--and may have helped cost the Reds the EPL title that season.

Manchester City learned just how costly making mistakes against Barcelona can be. Especially early on, City's pressing looked like it was really bothering Barcelona's makeshift defense. Then Manchester City made one mistake, then another, then the game was basically over.

Messi opened the scoring when Fernandinho slipped and the rest of City's defense just kind of stood there and looked at each other.

Ludogorets Razgrad travelled to London to face Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium, and no one believed the side from Bulgaria would emerge with a result. Even English pubs forsook trying to entice patrons as there was simply nothing to see here.

@borussia_en ludogorets feel your pain pic.twitter.com/aDw7veNiDS