Game Recaps

This isn’t exactly a hot take, but damn that Juventus defense can be impressive, even after losing two key figures from last season’s rearguard. Massimiliano Allegri has created a defensive unit that, on its day, can shut down the most potent of offenses. They don’t sit super deep or press super high, but their supreme organization dulls even the sharpest of attacks. 

The Bianconeri defense pitched a ninth shutout of the season in a 1-0 blanking of league-leading Napoli on Friday at Stadio San Paolo in Naples, the home side’s first Serie A loss of the season. 

Grêmio claimed its third Copa Libertadores title with a 2-1 victory (3-1 aggregate) over Lanús on Wednesday. The Gremio Copa Libertadores victory sparked a wild celebration back home as the Brazilian club rounded out the field for the FIFA Club World Cup, which begins next week.

Fernandinho and Luan both scored in the first half for Grêmio, which held on despite a red card to Ramiro in the 83rd minute. 

Manchester City maintained their eight-point gap at the top of the Premier League table thanks to Raheem Sterling’s 95th minute winner against Southampton on Wednesday. Sterling’s ninth goal of the campaign (more than the likes of Alvaro Morata and Romelu Lukaku) was an absolute beauty, and it continued his remarkable penchant for the dramatic this season.

Gareth Bale made his return from another injury layoff with an exquisite assist for Real Madrid, but goalkeeper Keylor Navas’ ricocheted blunder may have overshadowed Bale’s attempted heroics. Real Madrid drew 2-2 against Fuenlabrada in the second leg of their Copa del Rey Round of 32 match on Tuesday, advancing 4-2 on aggregate as the club’s (relative) struggles continued this season.

The feel-good aura surrounding Newcastle United was evaporating faster than a fart into a Panasonic exhaust fan as they stared a fifth-straight defeat in the face on Tuesday. West Bromwich Albion took a 2-0 lead in the 56th minute of their Premier League match at The Hawthorns, but a spirited fightback earned Newcastle an invaluable point and somewhat arrested the slide on Tyneside.  

The 2017 NCAA Men’s College Cup field has been whittled to eight with many of the usual suspects advancing to the quarterfinals. The marquee matchup of the quarters will be a rematch of last year’s College Cup final — Wake Forest, the top-seed, will take on back-to-back national champion Stanford. Seeds 2 through 5 remain alive as well: Indiana, North Carolina, Louisville and Akron. 

Celtic has a lot to be proud of, most notably a 64-match domestic unbeaten streak that’s left the rest of Scotland with absolutely nothing to do. But in Champions League play, the Bhoys have gotten a little taste of their own medicine. While the Scottish Premiership bows down to the might of Celtic, Ligue 1 and the Bundesliga must similarly contend with Hoops’ UCL group stage opponents Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich. 

A capacity crowd of 21,211 at MAPFRE Stadium provided an electric atmosphere for Tuesday night’s MLS Cup Eastern Conference Final between the Columbus Crew and Toronto FC, but a deserved breakthrough for the Crew — who dominated the second half and landed three shots on target as opposed to zero for the visitors — never arrived.

Napoli absolutely had to beat Shakhtar Donetsk to have any chance to advance in the Champions League and thanks to a perfect Lorenzo Insigne goal the Italian side is still alive. Insigne’s long-range hit sparked a 3-0 victory for the home side on Tuesday.  

After a scoreless first half, Insigne gave Napoli hope when he cut in from the left wing and launched a curling effort from 25 yards out, finding the upper 90 in supreme fashion.

Some fine finishing from Luka Modric perfectly illustrated to APOEL how not to clear a ball when defending. The Croatian scored the first goal in the Real Madrid vs. APOEL Champions League match off a silly failed clearance on Tuesday in Cyprus. Los Blancos won the match 6-0.

When you’re in your own box, you do not mess around. Your first task is to keep the ball away from the other team and get the ball away from your goal. You clear it toward the sidelines and not in the middle of the pitch. If in doubt, kick it out.