The Parable of the Prodigal Son who abandoned his roots and wasted his inheritance only to later return is one of the oldest tropes used in books, movies, and television. Guess what, soccer has had more than its fair share of prodigal sons, and here are two of the best examples in the world’s game.
#1: Fernando Torres | Atletico Madrid
After announcing that Lionel Messi would no longer grace the cover of EA Sports’ FIFA franchise, a global vote was conducted to determine the FIFA 17 cover and the new face of the game.
3.1 million votes were cast to decide between Manchester United’s Anthony Martial, Real Madrid’s James Rodriguez, Chelsea’s Eden Hazard and Borussia Dortmund’s Marco Reus.
In April of 2013, Mario Gotze became the most hated man in Dortmund after it was announced that Gotze, a product of Dortmund’s youth academy, would be transferring to fierce rivals Bayern Munich.
The timing of the announcement did little to help Gotze’s cause — it emerged on the eve of a momentous Champions League semi-final against Real Madrid. Munich had met Gotze’s release clause of €37 million and the midfielder was keen to play under Pep Guardiola, much to the annoyance of then BVB manager Jurgen Klopp.
By January of 2004, Barcelona was a club in deep crisis. Since the 1999-00 season, they’d finished further and further down the LaLiga table — second in 2000, fourth in 2001, fourth in 2002 and a disastrous sixth in 2003.
The 2003-04 season looked to be even worse yet. Club president Joan Gaspart had been forced to resign because of the decline, and his young replacement, Joan Laporta, had begun his presidency in farce after promising Barcelona supporters David Beckham only to see him land at Real Madrid.
There’s no athlete in the world of sport quite like Diego Costa. On his day, he’s a brutally effective striker who blends determination, power, physicality and a mean goalscoring streak. On that same day, Costa also demonstrates a red hot temper, a clear lack of self-control and a penchant for the absurd.
If a football match takes place in Italy and no one is around to see it, does it actually happen? Lazio started selling season tickets on Monday, but their ticket offices remained an apparent ghost town throughout the day as they sold only 11 season tickets by the day’s end.
You can keep your Dele Allis, your Ross Barkleys, your Raheem Sterlings and Adam Lallanas and James Milners and Jack Wilsheres. I want Joe Cole.
Cole, formerly of Chelsea, Aston Villa, Liverpool and West Ham, is one of the few English footballers having a summer you wouldn't describe as "underwhelming." Look at this goal he scored for the Tampa Bay Rowdies in the NASL (the USA's second division for those of you reading this somewhere besides the good ol' USA).
17-year-old phenom Martin Odegaard’s standing with the Real Madrid first team just became that much more confusing. The latest reports from the Santiago Bernabeu allege that Real Madrid club president Florentino Perez has forced manager Zinedine Zidane to include Odegaard in the club’s pre-season tour against Zidane’s wishes.
RB Leipzig is a German club newly-promoted to the German Bundesliga. Red Bull Salzburg is an Austrian club that won the Austrian Bundesliga this season.
They are not the same team.
Looking at their jerseys, though, one could be forgiven for thinking they are.
Nike, apparently, made the jerseys for RB Leipzig and Red Bull Salzburg and made them nearly identical. The crest is slightly different (because the team names are different).
While many consider Lionel Messi to be Cristiano Ronaldo’s rival on the football pitch, Forbes has revealed that Ronaldo’s rival celebrity cash earner is none other than Dr. Phil McGraw of the Dr. Phil show.