Lionel Messi passes penalty to Luis Suarez for audacious goal

At a certain point, anything can get a bit boring. When you’re Lionel Messi and you’re up 3-1 against Celta Vigo in the 80th minute, you’ve reached one of those times where taking a penalty as one normally does just feels a bit bland. So instead of shooting from the spot, you lay off a pass to Luis Suarez to confound the goalkeeper, blow the minds of everyone watching and get your teammate his hat trick. That, my friends, is the mark of genius.

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Vitesse had a couple on a romantic pitchside bed for Valentine’s Day

Taking your significant other to a football match for Valentine’s Day might not be the most romantic choice, but Vitesse tried to change that with a unique competition. A winning couple got to watch the club’s Eredivisie match against Heerenveen from a pitchside bed and spend the night in a local hotel that provided the unusual matchday accommodations.

The bed was sprinkled with rose petals and came with a bottle of wine to set the mood (that thousands of screaming football supporters certainly ruined…unless that’s your thing).

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Charlton use picture of Alan Campbell in tribute to late Graham Moore

(PA)
(PA)

Confusion and embarrassment have become commonplace for Charlton Athletic. They now sit bottom of the table in the Championship and oddly had their chief executive’s resignation posted on a government website even though she hasn’t resigned. But ahead of Saturday’s scoreless draw with Cardiff City, Charlton reached a new low when they used a picture of former midfielder Alan Campbell in a tribute to his old teammate, Graham Moore, who passed away on Tuesday.

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Stephan El Shaarawy gives his jacket to cold mascot

(AS Roma)
(AS Roma)

Prior to Roma’s match at Carpi on Friday, January loan signing Stephan El Shaarawy endeared himself to his new club by taking off his jacket and putting it on the chilly kid standing in front of him.

While looking at this picture, you can almost hear all of his teammates thinking “Damn it, do we all have to give the kids our jackets now?” The children, meanwhile, are thinking “Why couldn’t they give us clothing that actually fits?!?!”

Anyway, there’s a lot going on here.

Dog on the pitch prompts commentators to bark

A canine pitch invader interrupted a match between Union Santa Fe and Temperley in Argentina, delighting the television commentators so much that they began to bark like dogs.

The dog ran around a bit before one player subdued it with belly tickles and held it until an opponent awkwardly carried it off the pitch and handed it to an official.

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MLS All-Star opponent decided with bad acting

MLS announced that their All-Stars will face Arsenal this summer and to coincide with the news, the league put out a video showing how the fixture came together starring a collection of MLS and Arsenal players.

Highlights include:

-A dig at Spurs (who lost 2-1 to the All-Stars last summer)
-Kaka requesting that Mesut Özil be reminded that he owes him dinner
-Thierry Henry’s eyebrows
-Poor phone conversation synching
-Arsene Wenger’s climactic cameo

No one here is going to win an award for their acting ability (not even a fourth-place trophy), but that’s part of what makes it enjoyable. Good fun.

A look back at the masked tradition of “Zorro team” Chelsea

Chelsea manager Guus Hiddink announced in his Friday press conference that Diego Costa broke his nose on an academy player’s head (side note: that kid must have a metal Terminator head) during training. He then dubbed his side “a Zorro team” in reference to the fact that Costa will be their fourth player to wear a mask this season.

Chelsea have been at the forefront of masked footballing for a number of years now. Here’s a look back…

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