A friendly between Galatasaray and Udinese in Austria was abandoned because of crowd trouble. This amazing for two reasons:
1) It was a friendly AND it was held in neutral territory.
2) There were only, like, 20 people in attendance.
Category: Europe
Jogi Löw filed his nails while Germany beat Gibraltar 7-0
Germany lost to the USA in a friendly earlier this week, but the world champions were able to regain their likely shattered confidence with a 7-0 win against Gibraltar in Euro 2016 qualifying. In fact, Jogi Löw was so comfortable that he filed his nails during the match.
There was a swastika etched into the pitch for the Croatia-Italy Euro 2016 qualifier
Croatia hosted Italy in a Euro 2016 qualifier without fans in Zagreb’s Stadion Maksimir as punishment for racist behavior during a qualifier against Norway (Norway?) earlier this year. This should have meant that there was no chance of further incidents, but where there’s a repugnant will, there’s a way.
All the reasons why Barcelona won the 2015 Champions League final
Barcelona completed a perfect end to the season by beating Juventus 3-1 in the Champions League final to win their second treble in six years and fourth European Cup in 10 years. For a club that has supposedly been in crisis every other week for the last three years, that’s quite impressive. But for a club with three of the best players in the world scoring goals by the bushel for them, it also makes complete sense.
Though that last fact might seem like enough to put Barca past Juve, there was actually much more to it. These are all the reasons why Barcelona won…
Thomas Vermaelen gets a Champions League winner’s medal for playing one La Liga match this season
When we last left injury plagued defender Thomas Vermaelen, he was celebrating Barcelona’s La Liga title even though he hadn’t played a single minute for the club to that point. In the three weeks since then, a lot has happened though. He played 63 minutes in Barca’s meaningless final La Liga match of the season and for his considerable trouble, he got to celebrate their Copa Del Rey title and he collected a Champions League winner’s medal after watching his teammates beat Juventus 3-1.
Luis Suarez scores Champions League winner, Andrea Pirlo cries
Because this is real life, the winning goal of the 2015 Champions League final was scored by a serial biter coming off a four month ban from all footballing activities for a team with a long impending transfer ban, leading a universally beloved figure to cry in front of the whole world. In other words, Luis Suarez scored the decisive goal in Barcelona’s 3-1 win against Juventus.
Champions League final superlatives: the individual standouts you need to know (and some you don’t)
The Champions League final is upon us once again, pitting two of Europe’s legendary clubs — Juventus and Barcelona — against each other in Berlin. Both clubs have already won domestic cup and league titles this season, so this match will decide who will win a historic treble. But the most important honors are being decided here right now by me.
These are the 2015 Champions League final superlatives…
A Juventus fan is walking 683 miles for a Champions League final ticket
Before beating Real Madrid in the Champions League semifinals, Juventus asked fans on Twitter what they would do if the club reached the final for the first time since 2003. One man said he would walk from Turin to Berlin, the site of the final, and the club decided to take him up on it.
Carlos Bacca goes from bus driver’s assistant at 20 to Europa League final hero at 28
Colombian striker Carlos Bacca was in tears on the bench when the final whistle sounded on Sevilla’s 3-2 win against Ukrainian underdogs Dnipro in the Europa League final. His two goals proved decisive in delivering the Spanish club’s second consecutive Europa League title and fourth in the last 10 years, giving them more Europa League/UEFA Cup titles than any other club in the tournament’s history (Juves, Inter, and Liverpool all have three each).
Randers FC fan casually scores impressive halftime shot to win 100,000 kroner
Randers FC fan Michael Hansen was tasked with kicking the ball through a small hole in the top corner of the net from the penalty spot at halftime of a match against Habro. The prize was 100,000 kroner (about $15,000).
So, wearing jeans and a baseball cap, he put the ball down and lined up his shot, then he walked up to the ball and chipped into through the hole like it was the easiest thing in the world.
The remnants of the crowd went wild, the money was his, and that’s how you make some quick cash at a football match.