“Fuck off”

That’s the first response — from a Manchester United fan — on Twitter to Zlatan Ibrahimovic tweeting on Friday a photo of himself holding the Europa League champion’s medal after Manchester United beat Ajax in the final in Stockholm in May. 

Ibrahimovic is receiving an awful lot of hate from fans of the team he scored 28 goals for last season before going down with a season-ending injury in April. His tweet was innocuous enough, with a picture and the words “Nr 33” in reference to his 33 trophies he’s won throughout his career.  

A wonderfully invented goal from Isco and a successful foray forward from Casemiro were enough to overcome Romelu Lukaku’s first competitive Manchester United goal on Tuesday, and Real Madrid captured an early piece of silverware in their 2017-18 campaign by defeating Manchester United in the UEFA Super Cup.

Last June, Real became the first club to successfully defend their European title in the Champions League era, and based off the evidence here, they have to be firm UCL favorites this season as well.

I have some thoughts on goalkeepers taking penalties. Goalkeepers taking penalties is a net positive from an entertainment standpoint. Goalkeepers taking penalties is a net negative, from a soccer standpoint.

Sure, there have been goalkeepers who double as penalty specialists and they are professional footballers, so they can be expected to have enough skill to score from the spot when called upon. On the other hand, hello Thibaut Courtois in the Community Shield:

ABBA is no longer just the greatest export of Sweden.

Arsenal defeated Chelsea 4-1 in a shootout following a 1-1 draw in the Community Shield on Sunday at Wembley Stadium in London. The match itself was nothing special but the ABBA format for shootouts made its debut in England.