It’s been an extremely mixed season in the Premier League for Leicester City, but the magic of their 2015-16 campaign has clearly followed them abroad. With a 2-1 victory over Club Brugge on Tuesday, Leicester City clinched the top spot in Group G, ahead of two-time Champions League winners FC Porto.
BREAKING: Leicester City qualify for the @ChampionsLeague last 16. pic.twitter.com/gBUdPH9TSt
For all of Tottenham’s sustained excellence throughout the 2015-16 Premier League season, they’ve now got absolutely nothing to show for it. Arsenal infamously pipped Spurs to the runner-up position on the final day of the season, launching an improbable St. Totteringham’s Day, and they’ve now thrown away their reward for finishing third by being eliminated in the Champions League group stage.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic frequently plays at being a conquerer, emperor and god while discussing his career. He’s discussed how his favorite movie is Gladiator, because he feels that, like Maximus Decimus Meridius, he will have his vengeance, in this life or the next.
“That’s how I felt, or wanted to feel,” said Ibrahimovic in his book, I Am Zlatan. “I wanted to stand up to the whole world and show everybody who’d doubted me who I really was, and I couldn’t imagine anyone who’d be able to stop me.”
At the risk of showing too much disrespect to Leicester City, they were awarded a thoroughly easy Champions League group this season. Although they have done brilliantly in terms of their results, it is no secret that Porto, Club Brugge and Copenhagen have not provided the sternest of tests.
That will likely all change for them in the knockout stages, but as a fun exercise we've decided to look into the only five things in football easier than the Foxes' UCL opponents thus far.
Losing To Manchester City
We’ve seen players miss open goals before. Hell, even some of the finest strikers on the planet manage to put shots wide with the goal at their mercy. But this miss in a Serbian lower league match has no equal.
OK, so the image above doesn't actually have Henrik Larsson in it, or savage dogs, which might make this all seem a bit misleading, but it's not. I promise. You see, that picture is actually of Henrik Larsson's son, Jordan Larsson. The elder Larsson is manager of Helsingborg, and the younger Larsson is a player.
Helsingborg just got relegated from the Swedish first division. The above picture is of Helsingborg ultras running on the field and trying to rip Jordan Larsson's jersey off.
There have been a litany of awesome players in the UEFA Champions League down the years, so much so that creating an Ultimate XI is a task that could, in theory, drive one to madness.
Radamel Falcao used to be the most feared striker in the world. That's not an exaggeration. At the height of his powers, he was feared more than Suarez, more than Lewandowski and more than Benzema.
In his last season at Atletico Madrid, the Colombian scored 28 goals in 34 appearances. In fact, he ranked right behind Messi and Ronaldo as one of the best players on the planet.
Just check out Falcao's stats below.
Radamel Falcao's stats:
Steven Gerrard, 36, made it clear at the beginning of 2016 that it would likely be his last year as a player. That statement is now on the verge of coming true.
His contract with the Galaxy is up, and he’s announced that his MLS career is over. Gerrard, the former captain of Liverpool, has always been a larger than life figure. He could always be counted on to deliver at clutch moments, but he’s also been hindered by a sporting egotism that often left supporters feeling let down.
OK, so here's what happened: Wayne Rooney got a night off from England duty after the Three Lions beat Scotland, and he ended up at a wedding reception where he was photographed looking like a very drunk person and also he reportedly played the piano nonsensically.
He is sorry.
Wayne Rooney gatecrashes a wedding in severe drunk condition.. Guests SHOCKED!
https://t.co/CAgBJttpzN pic.twitter.com/6Ad9XsaH8C