Chelsea’s defenders couldn’t agree on how to contain Liverpool’s Raheem Sterling in the firs leg of their Capital One Cup semifinal, so they decided to try out a few different things. For example, John Terry went with a fun new game called “surprise wrestling” in which he and Sterling formed some kind of malformed human centipede.
Gervinho throws a tantrum after getting sent off for slapping a dude in the head
Gervinho had a complete and total meltdown during Ivory Coast’s African Cup of Nations match against Guinea. It began with him slapping Naby Keita in the head for supposedly stepping on his foot and when the referee showed the Roma striker a red card for his ill-advised retaliation, he completely lost his mind and threw a tantrum worthy of a two-year-old.
This all played out in the 58th minute with the Ivory Coast down 1-0, but being reduced to 10 men didn’t stop them from scoring an equalizer in the 72nd minute. Not sure if that will make Gervinho feel better or worse, though.
DTotD: Trinidad & Tobago player elbows opponent in face twice, fakes own injury
If there’s one thing German manager Norbert Meier taught us, it’s that a very unsportsmanlike act of violence should be complemented by a hilariously bad attempt at getting your victim in trouble.
In the 70th minute of Panama’s 1-0 win over Trinidad and Tobago in the CONCACAF U-20 Championship on Sunday evening, T&T’s Akeem Humphrey managed the rare feat of elbowing an opponent twice during the same move—one with each elbow.
Humphrey topped this impressive arcade game-style combo by falling to the floor clutching his own face in pretend agony, in a vain attempt to deflect attention from his own shocking antics.
Thankfully, the referee didn’t buy what Humphrey was selling and gave him a straight red card, leaving the twin island nation with nine men on the field due to an earlier red card.
[H/T: Row Zed]
This has been the Dirty Tackle of the Day: a chronicling of unfortunate events.
Sylvester Stallone uses halftime at Everton-West Brom to film new Rocky flick
Prior to West Brom visit to Goodison Park, Everton asked fans attending the match to stay in their seats at halftime so the could serve as extras in a scene for the upcoming Rocky film entitled “Creed.”
Sergio Ramos cements his long-standing love of Michael Jackson with an arm tattoo
Real Madrid defender Sergio Ramos already has a tattoo of the World Cup trophy on one leg and the Champions League trophy on the other, so the next logical step was, of course, to get a Michael Jackson tattoo on his arm. And so he has now done just that. Read more
New Adidas ad lists reasons Luis Suarez is hated, conveniently leaves out biting and racism
Adidas has launched a new campaign entitled “There Will Be Haters” starring Gareth Bale, James Rodriguez, Karim Benzema and Luis Suarez to promote their new collection of boots. Suarez’s inclusion is notable since he is the only non-Real Madrid player of the bunch and the company pulled ads featuring him after he bit Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini during last summer’s World Cup.
If it continued… (Man City v Arsenal)
Arsenal finally decided to adapt to their opponent instead of the people in their dressing room mirror and ended up beating Man City 2-0 at the Etihad. It marked the first time since 2010 that they have won at City (when the score was 3-0, with goals from Samir Nasri, Alex Song and…Nicklas Bendtner). Defensive midfielder Francis Coquelin stepped into the starting XI and though Arsenal uncharacteristically allowed City to have 65% of possession, goals from Santi Cazorla and Olivier Giroud made the difference. Given the rarity of this event, we really must ask “What if it continued?”
Paul Pogba thinks he’s worth €0, interested clubs will surely accept his valuation
Not only is 21-year-old Juventus midfielder Paul Pogba incredibly talented, but it turns out he is also humble to the point where his agent is probably crying tears of unimaginable sadness right now. After opening the scoring in Juventus’ 4-0 win against Hellas Verona in just the third minute, Pogba spoke to Sky Italia and contradicted his agent’s assertion that the Frenchman is worth about €100 million.
DTotD: Boca Juniors’ Leandro Marin tackles opponent’s calf muscle
Racing Club beat Boca Juniors 4-1 in the preseason Torneo de Verano, but Boca showed they are in midseason form with their horrific challenges with two players shown red cards in the first half. One of those Reckless Rickies was defender Leandro Marin, who slide into the back of Ricardo Centurion and planted his studs into the Racing midfielder’s calf.
As bad as it looks from the angle above, it manages to look even worse from the angle below…
Louis van Gaal calls QPR “Queens Park Raisins,” meets his younger self
Manchester United beat QPR 2-0 on Saturday and to add insult to defeat, Louis van Gaal called their hosts “Queens Park Raisins” on television. Neither of these events were Van Gaal’s most remarkable of the day, though. No, that honor goes to his photo op with Little Louis van Gaal…