It was one of those matches where you wondered if the manager would get away with resting some of his big stars on the bench. It was one of those matches where you always felt the team in the lead would regret not adding a second or third. It was one of those matches where you weren’t shocked at all to see the road underdog score an equalizer to steal a point.
A meeting between third and fifth in La Liga turned into a rout inside the first half with Real Madrid racing to a 5-0 lead on Sevilla inside the match’s opening 42 minutes. Nacho got the first, Cristiano Ronaldo added a brace on the day his fifth Ballon d’Or trophy was presented to the Bernabeu crowd, Toni Kroos struck the fourth and 19-year-old Achraf Hakimi scored his first La Liga goal for the club.
Toronto FC avenged their 2016 final defeat to Seattle by defeating the Sounders in a rematch at MLS Cup 2017, 2-0. Jozy Altidore scored the game-winning goal in the 67th minute off a Sebastian Giovinco through ball, and Toronto’s historic Supporters’ Shield season was given the famous ending it deserved.
In the fourth-minute of second half stoppage time, Victor Vazquez added Toronto’s second, capping a sensational first season for the Spaniard in MLS.
With Manuel Neuer still recovering from a metatarsal fracture, Christian Fruchtl out with an ankle injury and Sven Ulreich injured in the warm-up ahead of today’s match against Eintracht Frankfurt, Bayern Munich were forced to turn to 36-year-old Tom Starke in goal today.
Starke had previously announced his retirement from professional football back in May before going behind the scenes at Bayern as the club’s academy goalkeeper coordinator.
For the neutral, there’s no better scoreline in football than 3-2. Goals, end-to-end action and drama are all promised in such an outcome, and Leicester City’s thrilling 3-2 victory over Newcastle United delivered Saturday.
On the 125th anniversary of Newcastle’s founding, Joselu brought the 52,000-strong audience to its feet by opening the scoring following some great work by Dwight Gayle.
Let’s get straight to it. You’ve seen a goal like this before; it’s definitely Marco van Basten-esque. Seasoned Bournemouth striker Jermain Defoe utilized nearly 20 years of professional experience to produce the work of a master goalscorer on Saturday, hitting this instinctive but technically perfect half-volley against Crystal Palace in Premier League play.
Tigres and Monterrey are in the Liga MX final. The first leg took place last night in Monterrey (Tigres were home, both teams are based in Monterrey), and, as expected, it was extremely fun.
To recap: A silly goal from a corner kick, a panenka penalty, a second-yellow sending off and then ANOTHER second-yellow sending off.
Everton travelled to Cyprus to play Apollon Limassol in the last match of the Europa League group stage Thursday. They did so without most of the first team and new manager Sam Allardyce. Neither team had any chance of advancing, so Everton used the opportunity to hand debuts to some academy kids and prepare the first team for Sunday's Merseyside Derby.
If there's one stat that sums up Liverpool's 2017-2018 season so far, it's this: Liverpool have more 7-0 wins than 1-0 wins.
One of those happened Wednesday at Anfield against Spartak Moscow in the Champions League to secure victory in Group E. Watch the highlights, and meet me after the jump, where I will have some nuanced analysis on how exactly Liverpool are able to carve teams up like this.
AS Roma’s 1-0 victory over Qarabag in Champions League group play put the finishing touches on a remarkable progression for the Eternal City club. Coupled with Chelsea’s 1-1 draw with Atletico Madrid in Tuesday’s other Group C match, Roma now finish atop the group and will face a runners-up opponent in the Round of 16.