Traveling sketchbook beautifully depicts some of Cristiano Ronaldo’s greatest moments

By now you must be familiar with the brilliant and unique work of Richard Swarbrick (see his 2014 World Cup highlights here). This latest video, however, adds another dimension to his beautifully minimalistic animations — the real world.

Recapping some of Cristiano Ronaldo’s career highlights on a sketchbook moving through the streets of Manchester and Madrid — the cities where he has played the majority of his career — the video serves as a reminder of why he’s already won two Ballon d’Or awards and might be on the verge of his third.

Enjoy.

Heerenveen abandon friendly after comically dubious series of penalties

Standard Liege and Heerenveen played a friendly in Spain on Friday that came to an abrupt and premature conclusion when the Dutch side walked off after one too many curious decisions from the referee.

Frustrations came to a boil as the ref awarded three penalties (two to Standard Liege and one to Heerenveen, which was saved), but it was the fourth for a phantom offense that pushed Heerenveen to the brink. But when the penalty was saved and the ref called for it to be retaken, they decided they had had enough and walked off the pitch, shaking hand with the Standard Liege players as they went.

Again, this was only a friendly, but it was also the most egregious example of match fixing in recent memory or maybe a Spanish official’s desperate attempt to impress his family in the stands. Either way, there are plenty of better things to do in Spain to wrap up the winter break than whatever this was.

DT Exclusive: Frank Lampard’s signed agreement to join NYCFC

(NYCFC)
(NYCFC)

It has been revealed that Frank Lampard never actually signed a contract with New York City FC last summer, has been playing with Man City not as part of a short-term loan, but just a regular contract, and that everyone is a liar. But now the former Chelsea midfielder has reportedly signed “a deal” to finally join NYCFC on July 1. DT has exclusively obtained a copy of that deal and we share it with you here…

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A guide to living and working in LA for Steven Gerrard

Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard has officially signed with the LA Galaxy and will join his new MLS club in July. Though Gerrard is far from the first aging superstar to join the league, what does make his situation more unique is the fact that he’s played his entire career so far for his hometown club. Going from Liverpool to Los Angeles will be a colossal change for the 34-year-old both personally and professionally. So to help him out, we’ve put together a guide to aid in his transition.

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In defense of selfie sticks: football’s latest enemy

There is a new outrage in football and clubs are quickly starting to take action in order to stop it before it completely ruins the game forever. No, it’s not something actually important like racism, sexism, homophobia, or xenophobia — it’s something worse than all of those things combined, wrapped in a suit and named Sepp Blatter. It’s called a “selfie stick” and it is somehow a thing that people care about.

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Ball boy celebrates Atletico goal in Madrid derby by jumping into Diego Simeone’s arms

Atletico Madrid broke the scoreless deadlock from the penalty spot in 58th minute of the first leg of their Copa del Rey tie against Real Madrid (thanks to the blatant foul stylings of Sergio Ramos). One ball boy at the Vicente Calderon celebrated the goal by jumping into the arms of Atletico manager Diego Simeone. Because when you get Fernando Torres back and take a lead against Real Madrid in the same week, hugs are going to happen.

The ball boy wasn’t just some random kid, though. It was Giuliano Simeone — Diego’s son. They did the same celebration last week against Levante and again when Atletico scored a second goal against Real in the 76th minute.

Anyway, this also proves that Jose Mourinho’s theory about the ball boys being against Chelsea is true. Somehow.