Game Recaps

Two stats stood out ahead of today’s Premier League match between Sheffield and Newcastle United at Bramall Lane: (1) Andy Carroll was handed his first Newcastle start in almost nine years and (2) Martin Dúbravka was busy making his 65th straight EPL appearance for the Toon, a run which began directly following his move from Sparta Prague back in January of 2018.

Both players played massive roles in Newcastle’s bizarre 2-0 victory. 

Sadio Mané, who leads Liverpool in scoring this season, was recently called out by a teammate for not passing enough. 

“Something that Sadio and Mo (Salah) have in common is that they don’t pass us the ball much,” Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain said, possibly joking but with a sting of truth. “They like shooting a lot!” 

Monterrey secured a 1-1 draw away to Santos Laguna in the second leg of their Liga MX quarterfinal to advance to the semis 6-3 on aggregate. Santos Laguna suffered the dreaded Curse of the 'Superlider' at the first hurdle after entering the Liguilla as the Apertura’s top team.

Monterrey, however, isn’t a very forgiving eight-seed, as demonstrated by their 5-2 first leg victory at Estadio BBVA Bancomer last Thursday.

Barcelona returned to the top of the LaLiga following a crucial 1-0 victory over Atlético Madrid at the Wanda Metropolitano on Sunday, and it was a sensational Lionel Messi effort in 86th minute that secured all three points for the visitors.

Tuesday’s Champions League Group A encounter between Real Madrid and PSG at the Santiago Bernabéu was pretty much meaningless. Both teams entered the match with Round of 16 qualification secured, and even a Real victory would do little to wrest top spot from PSG due to the Parisians’ perfect record thus far.

Oh, so that’s how you beat Newcastle United. Aston Villa nullified the attacking threat of Newcastle’s high-scoring defenders on Monday, instead forcing them to actually defend, and utilized a couple of bumbling fouls on the effervescent Jack Grealish to twice unleash dead-ball specialist Conor Hourihane in a 2-0 victory at Villa Park.

It was a fun opening weekend for the 2019-20 Major Arena Soccer League season. Out of all six matches, there was no real blowout — in each match, the eventual loser always stayed within touching distance. This made for nerve-racking matches for team-specific fans and incredibly entertaining soccer for those just tuning in.

Two-Game Series Matches

It was a surreal moment on Saturday when Gareth Bale entered Real Madrid’s 3-1 victory over Real Sociedad in the 67th minute to a torrent of boos and jeers from the Santiago Bernabéu. Los Blancos supporters are a notoriously demanding bunch — even Cristiano Ronaldo received his share of whistles inside the legendary stadium — but nothing comes close to the reception that Bale was given upon replacing 18-year-old Brazilian phenom Rodrygo.

Sheffield United and Manchester United played out a sensational 3-3 draw at Bramall Lane on Sunday evening with the Red Devils overturning a two-goal deficit and looking certain of three points themselves before Oli McBurnie’s late equalizer in the 90th minute.

Sheffield’s early period of dominance could’ve been more pronounced on the scoreboard but for the brilliance of David de Gea, who recorded five saves on the night, including this incredible double save to keep things at 0-0 in the 11th minute.

As the clock approached 90 minutes at the Estadio Monumental in Lima, Peru, it looked a certainty that Rafael Santos Borré’s 14th-minute strike had given River Plate a second successive Copa Libertadores title. 

GOAL FOR RIVER PLATE!

It's the Colombian forward Rafael Santos Borre that gives the defending champs the early lead here in Lima! #LIBERTADORES FINAL LIVE NOW