Europe

Marco Verratti is a rebel. He is set in his ways and completely conscious of his defiance toward the mainstream.

Verratti is currently the midfield lynchpin for one of Europe’s two most prominent oil-rich clubs — clubs known for annual collections of world class talent. His side, Paris Saint Germain, is the archetype of the modern European giant: a base of nationals mixed with a diverse group of foreign superstars. Verratti, an Italian, represents the foreign contingent at PSG. 

The UEFA Champions League is supposed to be the best club competition in the world, and an elusive competition where the best of the best would compete. However, that hasn’t been the case for a while now. At least not in the group stage. 

We’ve seen too many one-sided results lately, such as Barcelona putting seven past Celtic, Borussia Dortmund dominating Legia Warsaw by six, and Bayern Munich hammering FC Rostov by five. The competition was losing its appeal and UEFA had to do something about it. 

Serbian striker Uros Durdevic is one of the world’s best young strikers. Unfortunately, his season in Serie A with Palermo last year was devastated by a fractured ankle. He struggled to regain form and fitness and returned to Serbia to sign for Partizan Belgrade.

Based off of this goal, it looks as though things are starting to fall into place for the 22-year-old, who led Serbia to the gold medal at the 2012 UEFA U-19 Championship.

Valencia sacked their manager, Pako Ayestaran, on Tuesday after only four La Liga matches. Los Che currently sit at the bottom of the table after losing all four of those matches. 

Let me explain what I mean by "Sergio Ramos Hat Trick" before you guys get mad at me online. A Sergio Ramos hat trick does not occur when Sergio Ramos scores three goals. A Sergio Ramos Hat Trick occurs when Sergio Ramos concedes a penalty, gets a yellow card and scored from a set piece, creating the ultimate Sergio Ramos performance.

That's what happened against Villarreal Wednesday.

One of the most fun things about the EFL Cup is when big clubs get upended by Championship and lower-level clubs, like Everton going down to Norwich City earlier today. Watching giants get humbled by minnows is a delight to everyone not a fan of that particular giant, and it's of particular amusement to fans of giants that made it through to the next round.

We'll say this about Joey Barton: he's excellent at book promotion.

When Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers signed Scott Sinclair from Aston Villa during the summer transfer window, the winger was a known quantity to the bench boss. . .but few others.

Apparently, after twelve seasons with the Red Devils, the bell has finally rung for Wayne Rooney.

Every once in a while, we can still catch glimpses of the old Rooney, making a difference in critical moments of a close game for United. And yet, despite those few moments of genius, Rooney is plain and simply playing badly. 

His start of the Premier League season was a flash of hope for United supporters as he scored in the opening game against Bournemouth and dished assists on the two subsequent outings. 

Another match, another flag controversy for the UEFA Champions League — and this time Celtic supporters were innocent bystanders.