When the 2019 Copa América kicks off on June 14 with a match between Brazil and Bolivia at the Morumbi in São Paulo, all eyes will be on the hosts, led by captain Neymar, before attentions turn to Salvador the following day for a match between Colombia and Lionel Messi’s Argentina.
Mentally, Diego Costa isn’t entirely there. Look at the 26 yellow cards he received over his three-year Premier League stay for ample evidence of the striker’s propensity to be a mad lad.
The first Old Firm Derby of 2019 was fiery and passionate as ever. Rangers travelled to Celtic Park with hopes of catching up to its hated rivals in the SPL title race on Sunday. The match did not disappoint. A total of six cards came out of the ref’s pocket, two of them red.
This summer, the International Champions Cup returns for the seventh straight year as the globe’s premier preseason competition.
There are some things that are inexcusable on the pitch, like throwing a punch, spitting on an opponent or stomping on a player. Then there are those that are unimaginable, like what happened during the Amed SK vs Sakaryaspor match on Saturday.
Amed SK vs Sakaryaspor is one of the bigger rivalries in Turkey’s third division, but there’s no excuse for what it appears Mansur Calar did on Saturday before the two teams played to a 1-1 draw.
Merseyside rivals Everton dealt Liverpool’s Premier League title aspirations a heavy blow on Sunday by frustrating the Reds time after time during a 0-0 stalemate at Goodison Park.
There are still nine matches remaining in the season, but the draw has handed control back to Manchester City in the title race. The Citizens now have a one-point advantage and control their own destiny. They’ve also won five straight league games, certainly an ominous harbinger for a Liverpool side that’s won only two of its last six.
It’s easy to be critical of the Premier League thinking its referees are good enough to not need the help of video replay to get calls right. So we’ll do just that. The North London Derby highlights were marred by two penalty calls that VAR never would have allowed, resulting in a 1-1 draw between Tottenham and Arsenal on Saturday at Wembley Stadium.
The result meant the end to Spurs’ remarkable run of 35 Premier League matches without a draw, a Premier League record.
On Wednesday, FC Barcelona will host Real Madrid in a Copa del Rey semifinal first leg at the Camp Nou. This will be the 239th competitive meeting of the sides — and the 34th in the Copa — but it’s one that many feared Lionel Messi would miss. The Barça captain suffered a thigh injury during last weekend’s 2-2 draw with Valencia, and he only just returned to training today.
The debate as to which footballer, at the height of their powers, reigned supreme will rage until the end of time. Pelé as a teenager? Diego Maradona at 26? O Fenômeno at 21? Take your pick and you’ll find more than enough evidence to support your claim.
But there’s never been anything like the consistent dominance of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo into their 30s. Yesterday, Messi notched his 400th league goal for Barcelona, making him sole-member of the club for players that’ve reached that milestone for one club in Europe’s top five leagues.
How many goals has Messi scored? It’s hard to answer, because right this very instant, he dropped Jérôme Boateng and chipped Manuel Neuer. In the time it took you to read that sentence, he just scored a hat-trick against Levante. Lionel Messi has scored 664 goals in his career for club and country, so yes, I’m slightly exaggerating, but only slightly.