On Tuesday night, Liverpool saw off Benfica 2-0 in the first leg of their Champions League quarterfinal. It was fairly routine for the Reds, who could have scored more but also could’ve conceded a couple. Regardless of the final result, Liverpool was a bit lucky the Mo Salah tackle on Danilo Pereira did not draw severe punishment.
Remember the name: Matheus Cunha.
The 19-year-old Brazilian arrived at RB Leipzig from FC Sion last June for $17.1 million, but he’s been brought along slowly in the Bundesliga with 15 of his 21 appearances coming from off the bench.
However, on Saturday, Cunha scored his second league goal of the season, and my word. The Brazil U-20 forward pulled off a ridiculous Zidane turn to eliminate two Bayer Leverkusen defenders before seamlessly transitioning into a delicate chip over Lukáš Hrádecký.
Who doesn’t love a good Hulk smash?
No, not the radioactive green behemoth from the comic books, good old Givanildo Vieira de Sousa, better known as Hulk, the Brazilian beefcake renowned for his muscular appearance and ridiculously strong left peg.
Hulk, formerly of Porto and Zenit St. Petersburg, is in his fourth season in China with Shanghai SIPG in the Chinese Super League. He scored his first goal of the new campaign on Friday and it was classic Hulk.
When does a celebration get out of hand, forcing the referee to whistle for a restart and allowing the team that just conceded to race down the field and score a goal of its own? It’s an unwritten rule that the euphoria which greets a goal should be given ample time to manifest itself, but who’s to say when enough’s enough?
How do you feel about a short corner? If you’re a Barcelona supporter, you probably adore it; if you support Burnley, you probably think it should be outlawed. But regardless of whether you think it’s more important to keep possession or to simply get it into the damn mixer, we can all agree that this is one of the worst short corners ever.
During a match between the Juventus U-19s and their Sassuolo peers, a Juve youngster played a short corner out for a Sassuolo throw-in. Truly remarkable stuff.
What is the softest material in the universe? Is it a baby’s pure skin? The fur of your best dog/cat friend? A kiss from your mother? Your “My Pillow” that is more expensive than a pillow has any right to be? Or is it this Lionel Messi free kick vs Espanyol?
I’d argue it’s the latter.
Barcelona defeated Espanyol 2-0 on Saturday at the Camp Nou, moving at least temporarily 13 points clear of second-place Atletico Madrid in the LaLiga standings. Lionel Messi scored both goals, hitting at least 40 for a remarkable 10th straight season.
Heading into the season, there were legitimate questions over how Toronto FC would rectify its disaster of a 2018 MLS season. Sebastian Giovinco was shipped off to Saudi Arabia and Gregory van der Wiel was let go after a year by “mutual consent” from both parties, which is rarely a sign of good things behind the scenes.