Game Recaps

Even by Lionel Messi’s ridiculous standards, the Barcelona captain’s 90 minutes against Valladolid at the Camp Nou on Tuesday constitute something outrageous. After the two clubs exchanged heavily deflected efforts in the opening 15 minutes, Messi sprang into action with a beautiful assist, stunning free kick (and two brutal nutmegs) to put Barcelona up 3-1 at halftime. In the second half, he scored another goal and added another assist to lift Barça to the top of the LaLiga table.

Former Atlético Madrid youth/Arsenal flop Lucas Pérez scored the greatest goal of his career (although he did hit a nice bicycle kick earlier this season), earning Alavés a 1-1 draw with Atlético in Basque Country on Tuesday.

The NWSL’s best team confirmed that, yes, they're by far and away the NWSL’s best team on Sunday. The North Carolina Courage captured their second-straight title after thumping the Chicago Red Stars 4-0 in front of a sell-out crowd of 10,227 at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, North Carolina.

The partisan crowd roared its side to a 3-0 lead by halftime with goals coming from Debinha, Jessica McDonald and Crystal Dunn. Any chance of a miracle comeback from Chicago was put to rest following Sam Mewis’ header in the 61st minute.

Another start, another full 90, another match without a significant contribution from Newcastle United’s Miguel Almirón. After arriving from Atlanta United for a club-record fee of $27 million last January, it’s now 20 Premier League appearances for the 25-year-old Paraguayan without a single goal or assist.

If it’s a Benjamin Pavard goal, you know it’s going to be a brilliant volley. The two are becoming synonymous.

The French defender who scored the best goal of the 2018 World Cup was back at it on Saturday, making perfect contact with a half-volley to fire Bayern Munich in front on the way to a 2-1 win over Union Berlin.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic has been coy over his future in Major League Soccer. This much we know: He’s done for the season after failing to lead the LA Galaxy past LAFC on Thursday night. 

Carlos Vela had two goals and an assist as LAFC beat the Galaxy for the first time ever, 5-3 in the MLS Western Conference semifinals at Banc of California Stadium.

Ibrahimovic had a goal and an assist in what could be his final match in MLS, but said afterword it’s “too early to speak” about his future.

Some big news coming out of UEFA Youth League Group F on Wednesday — perhaps the biggest UEFA Youth League Group F news we’ve ever presented on the hallowed pages of The18: In the group’s early match, 18-year-old American winger Konrad de la Fuente scored two great goals as Barcelona thumped Slavia Prague 4-0. Later in the day, Inter Milan responded to Borussia Dortmund’s early goal with four unanswered, but that Dortmund opener was scored by Youssoufa Moukoko.

Inter Milan revived its hope of advancing to the Champions League Round of 16 with a much-needed 2-0 victory over Borussia Dortmund at the San Siro on Wednesday. Goals from the red-hot Lautaro Martínez and Antonio Candreva catapulted Inter up to second in Group F — three points behind leaders Barcelona — while Dortmund dropped to third.

Match Day 8 in Serie A confirmed the early trends we’ve seen in Italy: It’s going to be an incredible title race between Juventus and Inter, while it’s going to be another season in hell for AC Milan. However, while those two plot points will dominate the headlines for months to come, a lot of the talk over the next few days will concern the wonder strike that Cagliari’s Radja Nainggolan hit against SPAL on Sunday.

The LA Galaxy triggered a first-ever playoff El Tráfico by defeating Minnesota United 2-1 at Allianz Field in Saint Paul on Sunday, registering the only upset of the first round of 2019 MLS Cup Playoffs. Zlatan Ibrahimović was oddly ineffective and wasteful for the Galaxy, but Sebastian Lletget and Jonathan dos Santos struck in quick succession in the second half to sink the Loons in their maiden playoff voyage.