Juventus came up one win short of becoming just the second Italian club to ever win the treble last season, but Barcelona were just too much for them to handle in the Champions League final.
In case Juve and their fans somehow forgot this bitter end to an otherwise stellar campaign, fans of the only Italian club to ever win the treble, Inter, produced a large tifo display to remind them before Sunday’s 0-0 draw in the derby d’Italia. It also included a subtle nod to Juve’s time in Serie B as a result of their Calciopoli punishment.
Late in the first half of Portsmouth’s League Two match at Newport County, the referee got hurt and could not continue. So the fourth official had to replace him, but who would replace the fourth official? That proved to be a problem.
A call was put out over the public address system asking if there were any qualified officials in the house and 28-year-old Portsmouth season ticket holder and level seven referee Mike Hurdle answered the call, giving him the story of a lifetime.
Down a goal to visiting Ergotelis in their second half of their Greek second division match, all of AE Larissa began to get a little impatient. Even their stretcher bearers. So when Ergotelis’ Leonardo Koutris went down with an injury in the 66th minute, there were suspicions that he might be faking it to waste time.
The fans whistled and the stadium’s stretcher bearers tried to hurry him off the pitch as quickly as possible, so the match could continue. In doing so, they dumped Koutris onto the stretcher without warning and tried to carry him while running. This proved difficult, however, causing one of the stretcher bearers to fall and drop Koutris in the process. Then, while trying to pick the player back up, he fell again, causing him to drive his head into Koutris’ midsection.
Finally, they got him off to the side with everyone a little worse for wear. Though Koutris seemed more concerned with complaining to the ref and trying to be as much of a dead weight as possible as he was being unceremoniously hauled off, perhaps indicating that he wasn’t actually hurt, he was substituted after this, so who knows.
But the uncoordinated effort from the stretcher bearers did inspire AE Larissa, as they scored twice in the final minutes of the game to win 2-1.
Jurgen Klopp led Liverpool out for the first time in their 0-0 draw with Spurs on Saturday and the entire game is perfectly summed up in this six-second Vine. It was frustrating to watch, lacked a payoff, and entirely focused on Jurgen Klopp.
Overhead kicks can be dangerous. This was proven by Shanghai Shenhua’s Li Jianbin, who obliterated his teammate’s face with one during a 3-0 win against Changchun Yatai.
Commerce is the only religion that modern football has room for and Valencia defender Shkodran Mustafi found that out upon arriving for a press conference.
When Mustafi, who is muslim, saw that a bottle of beer had been set in front of where he would be sitting for product placement purposes, he moved it aside as a club employee adjusted the microphone. Mustafi told the man that he didn’t want the beer in front of him since his religion prohibits him from posing with alcoholic beverages. But instead of saying “Oh, ok, that’s totally understandable,” the guy picked up the beer and put it back in its original place.
Mustafi then expressed his disgust and shook his head.
And that’s what happens when a player asks their club to put him ahead of a sponsor.
For years now, the supposed rivalry between Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi has seemed like nothing more than media and fan speculation. A product of excessive scrutiny on the two best players in the world, who don’t have a particularly warm relationship and happen to play for rival clubs. But this year it became personal.
Nothing can stop Sebastian Giovinco’s reign of terror in MLS, not even the fact that he began his Wednesday in Rome and spent the afternoon on a flight to Toronto. He didn’t start Toronto FC’s match against the New York Red Bulls (because he played the last 30 minutes in Italy’s 2-1 win over Norway a day earlier), but he did come off the bench in the 71st minute and seven minutes later, he weaved through the visiting team like a grandmother teaching a basket making class on speed.
Giovinco’s goal sealed Toronto’s first ever MLS playoff berth and it made him the league leader in both goals (22) and assists (12). And now we know for sure that he is impervious to both jet lag and MLS defending.
Lionel Messi posted on Instagram to thank teammate Luis Suarez for sending him a gift, which apparently was a pair of pajamas that read “I hate mornings” and feature Grumpy from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. We can’t be sure why Suarez did this (even Messi himself writes that he doesn’t quite understand), other than the fact that it’s perfect and wonderful.
This almost makes the international break worthwhile. OK, no it doesn’t.
The Netherlands’ disastrous Euro qualifying campaign ended with a 3-2 loss to the Czech Republic, which included an own goal from Robin van Persie. But to illustrate that they truly couldn’t do anything right, Memphis Depay wasn’t even wearing the right shirt for the match.
His top was customized for the Netherlands’ loss to Iceland last month, featuring the date (September 3) and Iceland’s flag just below the crest.
When your kitman can’t even recognize a shirt with the wrong date and flag on it, you know things are going terribly wrong and major top to bottom changes are necessary.
