The cliché suggests Cristiano Ronaldo is aging like a fine wine. But we might have to rethink that aphorism to say fine wines age like Cristiano Ronaldo. No matter how old he gets, he just seems to keep getting better. Before turning 30 he scored 0.64 goals per game; since turning 30 he’s scoring better than 0.92 goals per game.
AS Roma has today confirmed the return to the club of Italy international Stephan El Shaarawy.
El Shaarawy, who initially joined I Giallorossi on loan from AC Milan in January 2016, departed for China 18 months ago in a $17.6 million deal with Shanghai Shenhua. "Il faraone" enjoyed the most productive spell of his career in the capital, scoring 40 goals and assisting 26 in 139 appearances for Roma.
Roma’s 22-year-old center back Roger Ibañez is not a bad footballer — we don’t want to pile on too much here — but he had one of the worst performances of his career on Friday. Ibañez was directly responsible for Lazio’s first two goals en route to a 3-0 defeat in the Derby della Capitale.
Lazio, which came into the match in eighth place and eager for a victory to get back into the race for Champions League qualification, controlled the Roman rivalry from the outset. A couple of early mistakes from Ibañez put Le Aquile on the road to an easy win.
Gianluca Mancini's late goal earned AS Roma a 2-2 draw at home to Inter Milan on Sunday which left the visitors three points behind leaders AC Milan in the Serie A title race.
Lorenzo Pellegrini’s deflected shot put the hosts in front at halftime, but Inter mustered a spirited response and Milan Škriniar headed in a deserved equalizer after the break. Achraf Hakimi put Inter ahead by curling an outstanding shot in off the bar, but Mancini's glancing header leveled the scores with four minutes remaining to clinch a sixth consecutive league draw between the two teams.
The crazy pandemic times we live in now didn't seem to affect Europe's transfer market this summer, although it extended the window until Oct. 5. Teams spent more than $3 billion strengthening their squads for the 2020-21 season, while others didn't spend a dollar. But, as always, team directors, agents,and players enjoyed a game of chess.
Gareth Bale - Loan
Real Madrid to Tottenham
Manchester United have been handed a tough draw in the Europa League last 32 knockout stage where they will face current Spanish league leaders Real Sociedad.
Ole Gunnar Solskjær's side finished third in their Champions League group and dropped into the second tier competition after last week's defeat by RB Leipzig. The clash with Sociedad will see United come up against former Manchester City favorite David Silva, now back in his homeland where he has inspired Sociedad to their excellent start to the domestic season.
Torino's Andrea Belotti was allowed to run on to the back post by Sampdoria's defense in the first half of the matchup between the two sides on Monday and promptly made his opponent's pay.
Belotti tucked away his seventh league goal of the season after a lovely piece of skill by 19-year-old right back Wilfried Sango was followed by an inch-perfect cross to find the club captain in the six-yard box.
Born in 1991 in Frattamaggiore, Napoli captain Lorenzo Insigne is too young to have experienced the heyday of Diego Maradona in southwest Italy himself, but the Neapolitan bleeds the club’s colors — he's currently fifth all-time in appearances and ninth in goals — and has grown up immersed in the Argentine's legend.
Roma’s excellent start to the 2020-21 season continued on Sunday with a 3-0 win over Parma at the Olimpico. Since an opening day defeat to Hellas Verona, Roma has embarked on a 10-game unbeaten run across all competitions (seven wins and three draws) to move up to third in Serie A, as well as top of their Europa League group.
As the summer transfer market ended this past October, even amid a worldwide pandemic, still as always, teams spent gazillions. But this has always been the case; throughout the years, we have seen crazy high fees to sign a player. Here's the list of most expensive transfers.
We can tell you that 10 out of 20 went to Spain and that Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar made the list twice.
1. Neymar – 17/18 – PSG - $261.5 million
2. Phillip Coutinho – 17/18 – FC Barcelona - $170.8 m