As Erling Haaland watched the fourth official slowly put up his board and tell the world the Nowegian’s day was done, Haaland left his short conversation with Kevin De Bruyne to make way for Julián Álvarez. It was a completely fair decision by Pep Guardiola. Álvarez is a fantastic striker, and a World Cup winner lest we forget, but his one crime is not being Erling Haaland.
As the weeks go on and the league table begins to take shape, favorites begin to emerge and we can start to see trends more clearly. MLS has belonged to Philadelphia and LAFC for the past year, but is that the case anymore? Sure, Denis Bouanga can’t stop scoring, but other teams are finally having their say. After MLS Matchweek 3, here are five things we learned.
Every day there's a goal that illuminates our lives. And on Sunday, that light came from Brazil thanks to Léo Reis, who got himself out of a tough spot by scoring a nasty, wonderful bicycle kick while lying on the ground.
1-0 down against Céara in the first leg of the Cearense Championship semifinals, Reis was trying to find an equalizer for his club Iguatu when reaching for an aerial cross, but he ended up on the grass with his back to goal.
There are all sorts of stats and accolades that illustrate how talented Gavi is — the Golden Boy award, Spain's youngest goalscorer, the youngest World Cup scorer since Pelé — but he's a phenomenon best experienced live.
The sky might be falling on Barcelona (littered with fake cash featuring the word "MAFIA"), but Gavi's willing to take on that duel. "Lost cause" is not in the 18-year-old's lexicon.
FC Volendam fue una visita insolente para el Feyenoord. Los Palingboeren silenciaron tempranamente el De Kuip y amenazaron seriamente con robarse los puntos en disputa. Sin embargo, el mexicano Santiago Giménez salió al rescate – otra vez – aportando una conquista y forzando un autogol en una remontada que le permite a su equipo mantener el liderato de la Eredivisie, a una semana de un trascendental clásico ante el Ajax.
For the third time in seven seasons, Minnesota United's home opener was played in snow. It wasn't nearly as cold as the infamous World Cup qualifier between the USMNT and Honduras at Allianz Field in February of last year, but Saturday's 30-degree weather and continuous flurries made for a sticky layer of snow outside of the well-maintained 18-yard boxes.
LONDON - Arsenal restored their five-point lead at the top of the Premier League with an emphatic 3-0 victory over Fulham on Sunday and carved out a small slice of top-flight history in the process.
Gabriel Magalhães, Gabriel Martinelli and captain Martin Ødegaard all scored in the first half as the Gunners became the first team to win five consecutive away London derbies without conceding a single goal.
No le fue bien a Diego Lainez en su primer partido enfrentando al América. Desde lo grupal, Las Águilas no se despeinaron mucho para conseguir una sólida victoria por 2-0 en su visita al Estadio Universitario, mientras que en lo individual, Factor acabó domado y en el bolsillo del uruguayo Jonathan Rodríguez.
La narrativa Lainez vs. América concentró el morbo del duelo en la previa. Y con razón.
LONDON - Sam Kerr's superb first-half goal gave Chelsea a 1-0 home win over Manchester United that saw them climb past the Red Devils to the top of the Women's Super League after a tight, tense encounter at Kingsmeadow on Sunday.
Chelsea are now in pole position in the standings on 37 points after 14 of the season's 22 league games, two points ahead of United and with a game in hand. Manchester City are third on 32 points.
After disappointingly crashing out of the UEFA Champions League earlier in the week, PSG bounced back to defeat a feisty Brest side 2-1 on Saturday.
PSG left it late as Lionel Messi found Kylian Mbappé with a perfect pass in the 90th minute to snatch the victory.
This was the 300th assist in Messi’s club career and boy was it a beauty.
¡MBAPPÉ SALVA AL PSG!
El capitán y máximo goleador en la historia del equipo le da el triunfo en el 90+2'