During the first leg of PSG and Barcelona’s Champions League quarterfinal, Luis Suarez nutmegged David Luiz and went on to score twice in a span of 13 minutes. Twice he did this! Twice!
Though Barcelona went on to concede a late own goal in the 3-1 away win, Luiz’s greatest embarrassment since last summer’s World Cup, naturally was the focus of the night. After all, Suarez even appeared to literally spank his bottom at one point.
Two early goals from Ricardo Quaresma and a third from Jackson Martinez in the 65th minute gave Porto a shocking 3-1 home win against Bayern Munich in the first leg of their Champions League quarterfinal. On the surface, this is a dream start for Porto that gives them reason to believe that they can do something that few people thought they could: advance past Bayern to the semifinals. Instead, it’s probably just Bayern being incredibly mean.
The first leg of the Atletico Madrid-Real Madrid Champions League quarterfinal ended in a rather drab 0-0 draw, but this being a Madrid derby and a rematch of last season’s Champions League final, there was still blood. Mostly spurting from Mario Mandzukic’s face.
Always an instigator, Mandzukic was at the center of most of the night’s conflicts and ended up worse for wear after taking a Sergio Ramos elbow to the face.
When we last saw Steven Defour, he was the subject of a giant tifo made by Standard Liege fans featuring his decapitated head. He had done something unforgivable for a former Standard Liege captain by signing with Anderlecht and when he was sent off during their meeting in January, the decision was enthusiastically cheered.
Well, Defour and Anderlecht returned to the Maurice Dufrasne Stadium on Sunday and this time the midfielder was laughed at. With Standard up 3-1 late in the match, Defour tried a little too hard to make something happen for his new side and attempted a Zidane style roulette. But he ended up falling over and gifting the ball to Standard without even touching a defender.
This, my friends, is why you should think twice before committing a betrayal.
Dordrecht ’90 scored twice in a span of two minutes to negate NAC Breda’s lead in the second half of their Eredivisie match on Saturday, prompting NAC manager Robert Maaskant to put his fist through his team’s dugout in a fit of rage.
Maaskant has always been a hot head, but he’s got nothing on the Italian amateur who celebrated a goal by putting his head through the side of the dugout…
Though the Netherlands took some degree of revenge on Spain for the 2010 World Cup final by mercilessly beating them 5-1 in their first match of the 2014 World Cup, some members of the Dutch public still seem to be holding a grudge. So when Spain visited for Tuesday’s friendly, they targeted the man who scored the goal that denied them their first ever World Cup title five years ago, Andres Iniesa, with jeers when he came off the bench late in the match.
While most people would write this off as a natural part high level competition, Netherlands manager Guus Hiddink took offense. And after his side’s morale boosting 2-0 win, he decided to express his somewhat odd feelings on the matter. It didn’t seem to be an April Fool’s joke, either.
Seconds after the start of Montenegro’s Euro 2016 qualifier against Russia, goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev was hit in the back by a flare thrown from the stands. The Russian keeper was carted off and the match was suspended.
Moments of perfection can occur at many different levels of the game and Greek amateur club Thyamis Kastriou proved this in their recent 4-0 win over Asteras Parapotamou.
The volley into the top corner of the net is wonderful enough, but the fact that it’s set up by a perfectly weighted looping backheel makes it rather incredible.
Thanks to Tolis from thesprotiaball.gr for the tip!
Pep Guardiola has agreed to host a group of French coaches, including Real Madrid Castilla Zinedine Zidane, at Bayern Munich’s training complex this week. According to ESPN FC and AS, the French delegation (which also includes Claude Makelele and Willy Sagnol) are observing Guardoila’s training sessions this week in an effort to soak up the expert knowledge on offer as they work towards their UEFA Pro Level Three Licenses.
Given Guardiola’s lasting allegiance to Barcelona, it seems highly unlikely that he would actively try and help the man tipped to be Real Madrid’s next manager. So it stands to reason that this is all an elaborate ruse to feed Zidane (and fellow ex-Real Madrid player Makelele?) false information.
Some top tips that Guardiola is probably sharing with Zidane:
Gianni Infantino has stopped talking long enough to do the Champions League quarterfinal draw and I must say I am disappointed. First, because UEFA only reduced my ban for that stupid red card against Chelsea to one game instead of wiping it completely and begging for my forgiveness. Second, because they said that my idea to open the draw by using a French referee as a human Zlacrifice to acknowledge that PSG are too good for France was “inappropriate.” And third because I must wait even longer to get my revenge on Pep Guardiola, who gets super lucky again.
