Looks like @DunkinDonuts have deleted their tweet. pic.twitter.com/fRz5yPovCW
— Jim Boardman (@JimBoardman) February 25, 2015
In 1993, Liverpool added a pair of eternal flames to their crest as a tribute to the 96 people who died in the Hillsborough disaster. And in 2015, Dunkin’ Donuts, a corporate partner of the club, decided to replace those flames with pictures of iced coffee in a parody of the crest. This, needless to say, was not well received.
On Saturday, a Conference North match between Worcester City and Stockport County devolved into backyard wrestling when former Pakistan international Shabir Khan body slammed Charlie Russell in response to a reckless challenge. Khan was shown a red card for the slam and Russell was shown a yellow for the tackle. But this was only the beginning of the English football’s tribute weekend to the WWE, though.
Each of Mario Balotelli’s last two goals have been late winners for Liverpool and each have prompted someone who should know better to criticize him for somehow not doing it properly. At this point, it has become clear that no matter what Balotelli does, someone will find a way to scold him for it. So in the interest of streamlining this process, here are a list of positive things Mario Balotelli might do and ways to turn them into negatives…
For the second time this month, Mario Balotelli came off the bench to score a winner for Liverpool — this time in a Europa League match against Besiktas. And for the second time this month, Balotelli is getting criticized for how he did it.
Liverpool came from behind to beat Crystal Palace 2-1 to reach the FA Cup quarterfinals, with their first goal coming from Daniel Sturridge, who had teammate Alberto Moreno as a guest back-up dancer on his trademark celebration.
This wasn’t a spontaneous expression of tandem joy, though. Moreno had to audition for his part during Liverpool’s training session on Friday.
With Liverpool and Spurs even at 2-2, Mario Balotelli replaced Daniel Sturrridge in the 74th minute for the home side. To many observers, this seemed like a curious and futile decision, since Balotelli hadn’t scored in his previous 12 Premier League appearances for Liverpool even with a healthy number of quality chances afforded to him.
But in the 83rd minute, Balotelli ended his goalless streak by sweeping the ball into the net from close range. He then did his trademark non-celebration before getting mobbed by his teammates, and Liverpool went on to win 3-2.
Ahead of Liverpool’s visit to Goodison Park on Saturday, BBC North West Tonight reporter Stuart Flinders was talking to people in town about the derby. But when he asked one older gentleman about the 1967 edition that occurred in the fifth round of the FA Cup, the man’s eyes lit up.
Steven Gerrard, Adam Lallana, and Mamadou Sakho took part in a training session with Merseyside Blind FC as part of the club’s Seeing is Believing initiative and found out just how difficult blind football actually is.
Though each player struggled to keep the ball at their feet in the beginning, they seemed to get a better feel for it as the season went on. Gerrard’s dribble dance at the start of the video is delightful, though.
Chelsea striker Diego Costa has proven himself to be a master of infuriating his opponents and he does that with the frequent utilization of two key methods: scoring and stomping. Though he didn’t notch a goal in the second leg of Chelsea’s successful Capital One Cup semifinal against Liverpool, the Premier League’s top scorer was arguably the most impactful player on the pitch, infuriating the Liverpool players with his other tactic: the stomp.
He raised tensions early by retaliating against Emre Can for kicking the ball away from him with a stomp and then did the same later on when Martin Skrtel flailed his legs in the air to thwart a scoring chance.
Liverpool midfielder Jordan Henderson and Chelsea striker Diego Costa reportedly had to be separated in the tunnel following the first leg of their Capital One Cup semifinal at Anfield. Though confrontations with opponents are a near daily occurrence for Costa, this one was a bit different since it continued after the final whistle. The following is a transcript of what happened in that tunnel.