Sitting fourth in La Liga and bounced in the Copa del Rey quarterfinals, Real Madrid heads into Wednesday’s Champions League Round of 16 first leg tie against Paris Saint-Germain a wounded animal.
Many people do not care for Paris Saint-Germain. Yes, Neymar, Edinson Cavani and Kylian Mbappe are three of the most enjoyable footballers to watch on the planet, but together, the whole sum of PSG can aggravate with how much it insists upon itself.
On Saturday, match week 17 in La Liga will boil down to one match and one match only: the El Clasico between Real Madrid and Barcelona at the Santiago Bernabeu. Though Barcelona dares not think about losing the world’s greatest rivalry game, manager Ernesto Valverde is obviously correct in saying, “I don’t think a Clasico victory will give us the title.”
Real Madrid welcomes Barcelona to the Santiago Bernabeu on Saturday, December 23, for the 175th league edition of El Clasico. The stakes couldn’t be higher with Real desperate to make up ground in La Liga, while a victory for Barcelona at the home of its greatest rival would effectively doom Zinedine Zidane’s men in their quest to defend the title.
Last week, Serie A news revolved around goals. Goals change games was the mantra. After Juventus beat Napoli, it seemed like it was all change at the top of the table.
Instead, many of this week’s most important matches were goalless. Not bad, as such, but not quite the high scoring affairs we’d hoped for.
The Seattle Sounders and Toronto FC will contest MLS Cup 2017 on Saturday, December 9, at BMO Field in a rematch of last season’s final. In 2016 the Sounders won on penalties despite not registering a shot on target after 120 minutes of scoreless action. Goalkeeper Stefan Frei provided the highlights, but many left feeling like a goal or just a couple more shots would’ve done the showpiece event a world of good.
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.
Welcome to the second tier, Borussia Dortmund and Atletico Madrid. Sure you’ve been a part of three of the last five Champions League finals, but sweet Thursday night road trips are in your future after finishing third in your respective UCL groups to earn the Europa League parachute.
Atletico played in the Champions League final in 2014 and 2016, losing to crosstown rival Real Madrid both times. Los Colchoneros are ranked No. 2 in UEFA’s club coefficients, a rating score based on the previous five seasons of European play.
Liga MX has this charming habit of not telling folks what time their Liguilla matches are going to take place until just a few days beforehand. One of the things we like most about Liga MX is reveling in its chaos, so we can't complain too much. Good news: the 2017 Liga MX Apertura finals schedule has been finalized and updated.
The World Cup draw was completed this morning at the State Kremlin Palace in Moscow with the 32 finalist nations placed into eight groups of four. The 2018 FIFA World Cup will kick off on June 14 at Luzhniki Stadium with a match featuring hosts Russia and Saudi Arabia. Here are five can't-miss matches from the 2018 FIFA World Cup group stage.