Suffering from Champions League withdrawal?
It’s been less than a month since Real Madrid thrashed Juventus to claim the crown of top club in Europe, but teams are about to begin the quest to take away that crown.
The first qualifying round for the world’s premier club competition (go away, FIFA Club World Cup, no one cares about you) begins Tuesday and Wednesday.
Here it is: your complete guide to the 2017 summer soccer schedule.
For most sports, the offseason is a time of respite. Once the Super Bowl ends in February, NFL teams don’t suit up for another game, scrimmage or otherwise, for six months. Soccer, fortunately, doesn’t abide by such silly rules.
The European soccer season technically ends after the Champions League final around late May or early June, but preseason exhibitions pick up in early July. Then there are also international matches (friendlies and cups) to also fill the void.
Now that the 2016-17 season has concluded, let’s take a look at 10 managers who exceeded expectations for their clubs.
During the NBA playoffs, we've been asking ourselves which soccer players would come together to form the best starting five. It seems soccer players love shooting around, with a few possessing a little more talent on the court than you might expect. Here's our starting five:
C - Zlatan Ibrahimović
Antoine Griezmann has said his chances of moving to Manchester United are six out of 10. Well, at the 1:04 minute mark in the video below, Griezmann hangs up a call from "Jose".
Découvrez comment j'ai changé la vie de Julien Boquet avec @HuaweiMobileFr. #UneHistoireDeFlou pic.twitter.com/rkx8XmMe78
The Champions League final is set. Real Madrid beat Atletico Madrid 4-2 on aggregate. We all knew Real madrid would win. We pretended that Atletico Madrid had a chance, that they could really do this, but we were fooling ourselves.
Real Madrid is Atleti's big, mean older brother who's smart enough to give the little guy a little hope before ripping his heart out.
This time, Real allowed two early goals to bring the aggregate score to 3-2, and then Karim Benzema danced down the end line past three Atletico Madrid defenders and Isco finished the play, ending Atleti's hopes.
Well, for the neutral fans out there it was fun while it lasted. After a high-octane first 30 minutes that included five yellow cards and two goals from Atleti, Karim Benzema and Real Madrid decided they had enough of delaying their spot in the UCL Final. Benzema did some magical dribbling (what are you doing Godin, Savic and Giménez?) on the endline that ended in a crucial away goal by Isco.
Isco 42'
With a spot in the Champions League final on the line you knew Atletico Madrid would not go silently into the night. A chaotic first five minutes included two big saves by Keylor Navas and Jan Oblak, and a yellow card on Stegan Savic. Being down three goals to none, many questioned if Atletico had the firepower to crack Real Madrid’s defense. But early on the Vicente Calderon stadium has ignited Diego Simeone’s team to an early two goal lead.
Saul 12’
For all of Real Madrid’s dominance in the first leg of their Champions League semifinal with Atletico Madrid, it looked as though Atleti would escape to the Vicente Calderon with only a one-goal deficit. But then Cristiano Ronaldo happened. And then again.
Ronaldo scored goals number 101, 102 and 103 to extend his all time record in the Champions League, and Atletico’s inability to grab an away goal, or to really trouble Real for that matter, makes the possibility of a comeback next Wednesday seem extremely farfetched.