Category: Europe

Gareth Bale can forget about getting an invite to Cristiano Ronaldo’s house

Cristiano Ronaldo was less than pleased with the questions at his press conference on Tuesday ahead of Real Madrid’s Champions League match against Roma. First, he was asked if the loved-up relationship between Leo Messi, Neymar, and Luis Suarez is the reason they’ve combined for more goals than him, Gareth Bale, and Karim Benzema. This is just expert level trolling.

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Vitesse had a couple on a romantic pitchside bed for Valentine’s Day

Taking your significant other to a football match for Valentine’s Day might not be the most romantic choice, but Vitesse tried to change that with a unique competition. A winning couple got to watch the club’s Eredivisie match against Heerenveen from a pitchside bed and spend the night in a local hotel that provided the unusual matchday accommodations.

The bed was sprinkled with rose petals and came with a bottle of wine to set the mood (that thousands of screaming football supporters certainly ruined…unless that’s your thing).

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Cat stares down Fenerbahce’s bench

Having successfully proven their dominance over football in England, the world’s cats are now aiming to extend their influence to other countries.

A member of the Feline Football Rebellion (FFR) made an appearance during Fenerbahce’s match against Kayserispor on Saturday. It slowly walked in front of the Fener bench (the Fenerbenhce?), staring down the players, who were all smart enough to not make any sudden movements as it passed by.

Fenerbahce went on to win 1-0 in extra time thanks to a 113th minute goal from Diego, putting them in the quarterfinals of the Turkish Cup.

Greek match begins with sit-down protest over migrant deaths

Immediately after the opening kickoff in a match between Greek second-division sides AEL Larissa and Acharnaikos, all 22 players sat down on the pitch for an eerie two-minute protest.

From Reuters:

As the crowd waited for the match to start all 22 outfield players — as well as coaches, officials and substitutes — sat down for two minutes in respect of the hundreds of refugees who have died trying to escape conflict or persecution in countries like Syria and Iraq.

Twenty-four people attempting to cross to Europe from Turkey drowned when their boat sank off a Greek island on Thursday.

When the players rose back to their feet, their gesture was celebrated with respectful applause.

These types of protests always make for powerful images.

Teo Gutierrez celebrates goal by stealing referee’s vanishing spray

It was only a matter of time before a footballer decided that the vanishing spray was entirely too much fun to let referees keep to themselves and Sporting Lisbon’s Teo Gutierrez is that footballer. After completing his side’s comeback against Besiktas in the Europa League with their third goal in a span of 10 minutes, he swiped the referee’s bottle of vanishing spray and tried to write a message on the pitch.

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CSKA Sofia fans do timely Darth Vader/Storm Troopers “Ultra Wars” tifo display

With the release of the new Star Wars film days away, CSKA Sofia fans put together a topical tifo display for their Bulgarian Cup quarterfinal against Sozopol. But instead of depicting themselves as the good guys, they opted to pull out Storm Trooper masks and a giant Darth Vader banner. Read more