The 2018-19 UEFA Champions League technical report was released today, and it’s got 51 pages of highly entertaining and valuable information that analyzes specific tactical and technical trends at the very top of the world’s game. The comprehensive overview of last season’s competition includes some fascinating insights.
Who needs Lionel Messi when you’ve got Ansu Fati?
Well, Barcelona still needs Messi, but the Catalan club has something special in this 16-year-old forward.
With Messi out injured, Fati made his LaLiga debut last week as Antoine Griezmann stole the show.
Against Osasuna on Saturday, Fati was the star.
Is Messi injured still? That’s the question on every Barcelona fan’s mind as the Blaugrana prepare for their second LaLiga match of the 2019-20 campaign.
Sadly, it appears their talisman, Lionel Messi, is still out injured.
For the second straight week, Messi was not included in Ernesto Valverde’s LaLiga squad. In his place is 16-year-old phenom Ansu Fati.
After a year-and-a-half together at the Camp Nou, it’s likely that Ousmane Dembélé and Philippe Coutinho have ended their time together as teammates on the pitch.
It’s that time of year again: FIFA has announced the 10 finalists for the annual Puskás Award, the trophy given to the player, male or female, “judged to have scored the most aesthetically significant, or ‘most beautiful,’ goal of the calendar year.”
This most certainly wasn’t the case last year when Mohamed Salah scooped the award after Liverpool and Egypt supporters spammed the fan vote. The goal Salah scored against Everton back in December of 2018 hadn’t even won the Premier League’s Goal of the Month, so it was an awful joke to see it given the prestigious Puskás Award.
Lionel Messi has spent most of his preseason with Barcelona recovering from an injury suffered on his first day back in training. The Messi injury, a Grade 1 calf strain, could keep him out of the LaLiga opener on Friday against Athletic Bilbao.
But the Argentine is working hard to be fit for the match at the San Mamés.
What’s the difference between Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi? It’s the time-honored question that’ll be debated long after both you and I are altered into cosmic dust, although I’ve personally maintained that the difference between the two is the empanadas they’d serve at a social gathering.
The new LaLiga season begins on Friday with defending champion Barcelona heading north to play Athletic Bilbao at the San Mamés. Last year, Barça cantered to the title by an 11-point margin over second-place Atlético while Real Madrid finished 19 points back. However, the La Liga preview 2019/20 sees the challengers refreshed and reloaded with the likes of Eden Hazard and João Félix ready to come at the king.
The best Champions League goal of the 2018-19 season has been revealed, and there can be few complaints.
Lionel Messi’s otherworldly free kick against Liverpool in the Champions League semifinals was announced as the UCL Goal of the Season by UEFA on Friday.
...and here it is