Thomas Meunier is a right back so this goal probably shouldn’t have been allowed to stand. It’s outrageous in the extreme.
This goal is so luscious that the 3 Musketeers candy bar company if filing a lawsuit for stealing their recipe. This goal is softer than goose down feathers and silkier than satin. Thomas Meunier pick up your phone, kittens are calling you, they want their velvety fluff back.
For me, it was an old VHS tape called Ooh Aah Cantona - The Cantona Phenomenon that changed everything. Before the days of soccer on ESPN or NBCSN, well before the era of YouTube skill show compilations and with the lasting memories of the 2002 World Cup seared into my mind, I was introduced to Eric Cantona.
The number seven emblazoned on his red shirt, striding around the pitch with dad bod physique, his collar upturned and with all the beguiling qualities of an existential Frenchman on his third glass of absinthe, Cantona was a side of football I’d never seen before.
The Merseyside derby was today. It had everything you'd expect from such an occasion: tackles, fouls, more fouls, lots of fouls, all the fouls, every foul, grabbing, holding, kicking, Ross Barkley doing something extremely stupid, Jordan Henderson stomping around with his chest puffed like a guy who's had a few too many and thinks everyone is looking at his girlfriend, more fouls and exactly one goal.
But what a goal.
Bayern Munich were only 20 minutes away from dropping points against Darmstadt 98 on Sunday, the team at the bottom of the Bundesliga. With RB Leipzig continuing their breakneck start to the season, Brazilian winger Douglas Costa’s 71st-minute strike was as sensational as it was important.
From all of 37 yards, the 26-year-old broke Darmstadt’s brave resistance with an absolute laser that crashed in off the underside of the crossbar.
Munich will now host Leipzig on Wednesday with both clubs level on points at the top of the table.
A meeting between two clubs sitting side-by-side in the Premier League table turned out to be a thoroughly one-sided affair, Manchester United traveling to the Hawthorns to play West Bromwich Albion and comfortably winning 2-0.
The gap between the top six sides in England and the rest of the division appears to be pretty large on the evidence of Saturday’s match between the Red Devils and the Baggies. United are now unbeaten in eight consecutive EPL matches, and they’ve drawn level, at least momentarily, with Tottenham, who have a game in hand.
It’s been a difficult debut season in the Bundesliga for USMNT striker Bobby Wood. His team, Hamburger SV, are the only club to have played in every season of the Bundesliga since its foundation, but they’ve spent the entire season mired at the bottom of the table.
With only 10 points from 15 matches, Hamburger’s struggles have been mirrored in Wood’s play. The American hadn’t scored since September 10, but he finally scored his third goal of the season against Mainz on Saturday.
It hasn’t taken much, but Jonathan dos Santos has matched his career best for goals in a season. In 66 previous La Liga appearances, Dos Santos had managed a total of two goals, both during his debut season with Villarreal in 2014-15, but he’s already scored twice in only 14 appearances for the Yellow Submarine this campaign.
You don’t ever work on your toe poke, admit it. It’s not a skill you frequently pull off after telling your mates which corner your about to put your shot in during warmups. You’d be called a child and laughed off the pitch, your ambitious toe punt looking nothing like a clean hit off the laces or a swerving effort with the instep.
But contrary to accepted reasoning, the toe poke is actually the hallmark of a genius. Legends like Ronaldo, Romario, Ronaldinho, Andriy Shevchenko and Diego Maradona all had the infamous action down cold.
Boca Juniors retained their place at the top of the Argentine Primera Division table by defeating rivals River Plate in the Superclasico on Sunday. Carlos Tevez was instrumental in Boca’s success, scoring a brace and registering his sixth assist in 10 league appearances in their 4-2 victory at River Plate’s El Monumental stadium.
We don’t often cover the Croatian Prva HNL, but when we do, it’s usually to provide you with news of an absolute banger. Hilal Soudani, an Algerian international, scored this ridiculous scissor volley against Lokomotiva Zagreb on Sunday.
Dinamo won the Zagreb derby 3-1, rebounding nicely after completing a Champions League campaign that saw them accumulate zero wins, six defeats and a goal difference of minus 15.
(H/T: World Soccer)