James Rodriguez used to be the guy that everyone couldn’t help but like. He was the breakout star of the 2014 World Cup. His goal against Uruguay, and subsequent celebration, showed he was a young man at once completely comfortable with his newfound stardom, and perfectly overwhelmed by it.

“He’s a star alright!” Jon Champion screamed that day, and there was no one in the world that would have dared argue with him. In Rodriguez, everyone saw the star they dreamed they could be.

Sometimes we forget how truly global soccer's reach is, how extremely footballing superstars have burrowed into the global consciousness. Then we see a picture of a toddler (here we are just guessing) Messi fan wearing a plastic bag painted to look like a Lionel Messi Argentina jersey. 

A kid in Iraq .. pic.twitter.com/ZfOEpUCNvw

— Leo Messi (@messi10stats) January 16, 2016

Gerard Pique is from Barcelona, so he knows full well the political and social divides that define the rivalry between the city’s two local clubs: FC Barcelona and Espanyol.

Well this isn’t going to help stop any rumor mills. 

Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale have been painted as rival teammates who don’t get along ever since Bale arrived at Madrid in the summer of 2013. 

It makes sense, considering they are superstars in a team defined by its image that has been shaped around Ronaldo for the past 5 years. Gareth Bale is younger than Ronaldo, incredibly talented, and a British star. All of which make Bale a threat to knock Ronaldo off his perch as the alpha of Madrid.

A moment's silence for Cristiano Ronaldo, if you would. Lost in the hullaballoo of all things Lionel Messi, the revival of Wayne “The Boy Wonder” Rooney and our own personal dreams of winning the Powerball jackpot is the sad tale of Cristiano Ronaldo's past week.

Everyone knows the names of the greats who have taken the field for FC Barcelona over the years, from Messi to Cruyff, from Ronaldo to Iniesta, from Luis Suarez (both of them!) to Neymar, just to name a few. But all too few know the name of the man to whom these legends and all fans of Barcelona owe a huge debt of gratitude: Patrick O’Connell.

We’re just a few days into 2016, but what better way to ring in the New Year than by watching this video as a few Real Madrid players kick back and play against each other in FIFA 16?

If you played sports while growing up, there is a good chance that you had that one friend (hopefully that was you), who was miles ahead of the other kids in terms of skill.

That kid who would nutmeg everybody while playing around with the soccer ball, cross people over and leave them on the floor on the basketball court, or even juke you out of your shoes in a pickup football game. We all went through something like that at some point of our sporting careers.

January has arrived and with it the opening of the winter transfer window. The new economic realities of the Premier League television contracts mean that small English clubs have the financial muscle to meet and outbid offers from established European clubs.