The magic was never going to last in Rome. Despite securing top three finishes in Serie A in each of the last five seasons and reaching the dizzying heights of last year’s Champions League semifinals, this is still a selling club, as evidenced by the big-money departures of Miralem Pjanić, Mohamed Salah, Antonio Rüdiger, Alisson, Kevin Strootman and Radja Nainggolan over the last three summers.
After a slow start, Cristiano Ronaldo can’t stop scoring. The latest, a Ronaldo goal vs SPAL, gave the Portuguese star his first three-match scoring streak with Juventus. And it was more proof that Ronaldo just wants to score more than anyone else.
At the age of 37, Zlatan Ibrahimović's days as a professional footballer are numbered. But after scoring 22 goals in his first 27 appearances in Major League Soccer, the big Swede has reminded the world — and most importantly, himself — of his devastating return to power following his serious knee injury in April of 2017.
When Juventus paid Napoli over $100 million for Gonzalo Higuain in 2016, the belief was that the Argentine’s goals would fire the club to a continental title. However, after two seasons in the Champions League with a return of five goals in each campaign, Higuain was offloaded to AC Milan for about half the price this past summer.
Juve then turned to five-time winner Cristiano Ronaldo for the goods. Ronaldo, of course, hasn’t hit less than 10 goals in a single UCL campaign since the 2010-11 season. You can tell what Juventus is trying to achieve with the 33-year-old.
Even before fifth-place AC Milan and first-place Juventus kicked off at the San Siro on Sunday night, we were treated to an already excellent weekend in Serie A action.
On Saturday, Napoli kept the pressure on Juve after defeating Genoa 2-1 at the Marassi. The match was pretty much played underwater, giving extra significance to the three points for the Neapolitan side. Here’s a little sampling of the play out there:
In early 2018 ESPN announced its new streaming service, ESPN+, which would supplement ESPN networks and begin taking over much of the ESPN3 content. Many people dismissed the idea of buying access to content not deemed worthy of the main cable channels. However, from day one, ESPN+ seemed like a great option for U.S. soccer fans. Since then, it's only increased its value.
It would be a stretch to say that Inter Milan’s match against Lazio was a nail-biter of any kind as the Nerazzurri cruised to an impressive 3-0 win against the home side in Rome on Monday night. Don’t tell that to the wife and agent of Inter’s star forward Mauro Icardi, though. For Wanda Nara, the game was anything but comfortable.
There are few players who can strike a ball like Cristiano Ronaldo.
The Juventus forward is capable of scoring every type of goal, from headers and tap-ins to bicycle kicks and free kicks.
A meeting between Inter Milan and Barcelona at the Camp Nou will always conjure images of Jose Mourinho celebrating his tactical masterclass by storming the pitch at the final whistle, but for one Inter player, Wednesday’s tilt will serve as an unlikely reminder of things past — it's Mauro Icardi’s “homecoming.”
Cristiano Ronaldo’s slow scoring start to the season was well documented. It took 322 minutes before the prolific striker finally found the back of the net.
Now he can’t stop scoring.
Ronaldo notched in his fifth goal of the Serie A campaign in the 18th minute against Genoa on Saturday to continue a superlative run of scoring — or basically what we’ve come to expect from the Portuguese winger.