Highlights

The 2019 AFC Asian Cup kicked off on Saturday, and we’ve already seen some pretty remarkable things from the United Arab Emirates — India won its first match at the competition since 1964, Jordan shocked Australia and today featured three spectacular goals from the two matches.

We’ll start with two from Saudi Arabia’s 4-0 beatdown of North Korea (who played the entire second half down a man). The second goal of the match for the Green Falcons was scored by Al-Ahli defender Mohammed Al-Fatil, who applied an instinctive backheel to a free kick for the finish.  

The FA Cup is always full of surprises. Liverpool visited Wolves for a Third Round clash tonight, and we saw more of the same. Coming off a loss to Manchester City, Liverpool looked to bounce back and continue its hunt for trophies. Wolves needed a big result to get through to the next round. For Liverpool, it was an evening to forget. For Wolves, it was an evening to celebrate.

It’s no revelation that it’s become increasingly difficult for youth players to make the grade at clubs of a certain stature. From Barcelona’s La Masia to Bayern’s Junior Team, potential first team prospects struggle to make the breakthrough while the world’s richest clubs continue to look outward rather than promote from within. 

Barcelona took full advantage of Atletico Madrid and Sevilla’s 1-1 draw earlier today (as well as Real Madrid’s shock defeat to Real Sociedad) to open up a five-point gap at the top of LaLiga. Goals from Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez inside the first half — although the lead was cut by Jaime Mata shortly before the interval — proved enough for the Blaugrana.

A 1-1 draw between Atletico Madrid (second in LaLiga) and Sevilla (third) saw Barcelona’s lead at the top of the table reduced to two points, but with the Blaugrana set to play Getafe later today, both contestants will rue the inability to take three points from the match.

The Liga MX 2019 Clausura season kicked off Friday, 19 days after Club América claimed its historic 13th league title in the Apertura competition. The opening night of play featured Cruz Azul — the beaten Apertura finalists — settling for a draw against Puebla, but how about this strike from La Maquina talisman Elias Hernandez. 

Before today’s Premier League showdown between leaders Liverpool and defending champions Manchester City, a tweet from The Guardian’s German football correspondent Raphael Honigstein was shown a lot of love, and, in hindsight, for incredible reason.  

Manchester United defeated Newcastle United 2-0 at St James’ Park on Wednesday evening, and that’s all anyone will remember on the night. But the ramifications of victory are again rosy for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer — the win moves them within three points of Arsenal in fifth; Romelu Lukaku scored for the second-straight game; the maligned Alexis Sanchez came off the bench and got an assist on Marcus Rashford’s strike (the Englishman’s third in four games).