If Real Madrid wins a third straight Champions League title on May 26 in Kiev, Cristiano Ronaldo and company will have earned every bit of it. Karim Benzema scored two goals for Real Madrid vs Bayern Munich on Tuesday at the Bernabeu as the Merengues advanced to the Champions League final for the third straight year with a 2-2 draw and 4-3 aggregate victory.
How quickly can a man go from hero to villain?
For Kalidou Koulibaly, it was less than ten minutes of actual game time. After scoring the winning goal against Juventus in the dying minutes, reviving Napoli’s floundering title challenge, he was sent off in the first five minutes of the next game away to Fiorentina, squandering any resurgent hopes by setting the scene for a 3-0 thrashing by the home side.
Arsene Wenger is on his way out at Arsenal and it seems the Gunners don’t want to quite give up some of the old Wenger ways. Slapstick defending that harkened back to Arsenal’s worst years under Wenger cost Arsenal vs Atletico Madrid in the semifinal first leg in the Europa League on Thursday at Emirates Stadium in London.
Toronto FC just finished the best Concacaf Champions League run in MLS history. They didn't win, but they came as close to winning the thing as possible. A lot of blame will fall at the feet of Michael Bradley, both because his miss was so bad aesthetically and because of the USMNT's recent failings.
In one of the ultimate glamor ties of European club football, it was Real Madrid left back Marcelo who emerged as Wednesday’s Man of the Match in his side’s 2-1 away leg victory over Bayern Munich.
The 29-year-old Brazilian’s day got off to a flyer when opposition winger Arjen Robben was forced off with an injury as early as the 8th minute. The introduction of Thiago Alcantara as his replacement immediately shifted Bayern’s focus to the middle of the park and allowed Marcelo more freedom to get forward on the wing.
Last week, we asked whether Serie A has a Juventus problem. With the title race seemingly done and dusted, a seventh scudetto securely in the bag, the question was whether this record-breaking period of success was in danger of undermining the Italian game.
That did not go as planned for Toronto FC. Having just knocked mighty Club America out of the Concacaf Champions League, the reigning MLS champions surely figured to have an easier time of it against Chivas Guadalajara in the final. Chivas are having a terrible season domestically, but for some reason have been kryptonite for MLS clubs in the CCL.
They were again, handing Sebastian Giovinco and friends a 2-1 defeat in Toronto and taking a solid lead back to Mexico for the second leg.
Rodolfo Pizarro opened the scoring just a few minutes in the game.
West Ham have really struggled this Premier League season. Back in the summer, it seemed as though the Hammers were getting serious with the signings of Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez and Marko Arnautovic.
However, things have not been as smooth as they expected at London Stadium.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic did it again. In his first MLS start, the big Swede scored the only goal in a 1-0 victory for the LA Galaxy over Bastian Schweinsteiger and the Chicago Fire on Saturday in the Windy City.
Zlatan scored in first-half stoppage time, using his head again to nod home a cross from Ashley Cole for the game’s only goal.
Cole Zlatan #CHIvLA
Manchester City’s season took a blow with defeat to Liverpool in the Champions League on Tuesday. Combined with the second-half collapse to rival Manchester United last weekend, things were about as dismal as they could be for a team with a 13-point lead in the Premier League. But a 3-1 win for Manchester City vs Tottenham on Saturday at Wembley Stadium showed Pep Guardiola’s side is still the best in England.