Highlights

Lionel Messi apparently gets under his rivals' skin. I suppose being ridiculously good will do that. 

Yesterday in the Copa del Rey against Espanyol, Messi scored an absolutely absurd free kick. Espanyol keeper Pau Lopez set up his wall perfectly, positioned himself perfectly, and reacted to it perfectly, but was still left grasping for air as the kick sailed through the air, off the crossbar, and down in the the goal. 

Porto were mostly a dud Wednesday, drawing 1-1 with beatable Rio Ave side in the Premeira Liga, but at least they got this Hector Herrera golazo to soften the disappointment.

Hector Herrera Golazo

Benfica obliterated Maritimo Wednesday, winning 6-0 in the Premeira Liga match. One of the six goals was scored by 24-year-old Mexican forward Raul Jimenez, and another was assisted by him.

Raul Jimenez Goal

It is incredible to think that, with athletes across sports getting bigger, faster and stronger each and every the year, the two players most dominating their respective sports are not "big guys" at all. The two players are, of course, Messi and Curry (a.k.a. Lionel Messi and Steph Curry).

Commenting on Zinedine Zidane, Real Madrid great Alfredo Di Stéfano once said, “he dominates the ball, he is a walking spectacle and he plays as if he had silk gloves on each foot.” Zidane, World Cup, European Championship and UEFA Champions League winner, took a little time out of his day to effectively demonstrate these observations on some unsuspecting French amateurs.

Hatem Ben Arfa used to play for Newcastle. Newcastle didn't really want him, so he left. Now he's at Nice in France, and he's doing stuff like this to people.

Hatem Ben Arfa Almost Goal

Many goals have been scored in the 20 years of Major League Soccer's existence, some simple, others epic. Here at The18, we decided to pick the 18 most epic MLS goals in Major League Soccer history that showcase the quality of the league.

These goal are not in any particular order.

(Just a warning about the quality: the older the video, the worse the quality. We know. We wish they had HD digital cameras back then too.)

Cristiano Ronaldo is a good free-kick taker, but Cristiano Ronaldo just might have met his match in Cristiano da Silva.

Da Silva, a Brazilian who plays for Kashiwa Reysol in the Japanese first division, scored a hat trick made up of filthy free kicks against Vegalta Sendai.

The first goal was from the spot Willian keep scoring from this year for Chelsea. Da Silva curled it to the near post and it bounced at the perfect spot to avoid the keeper.

Benfica have pretty much dominated the Taça da Liga, a.k.a. the Portuguese League Cup, winning six times since the tournament's inception in 2008, including last year. They took another step toward defending their title Tuesday when an 89th minute Raul Jimenez winner gave them all three points in the group stage (yes, Portugal's league cup has a group stage) against Nacional.

Alessandro Rose Vieira, better known as Falcao, is Brazil’s futsal version of Pelé. For over 25 years, he’s been dazzling spectators with his improbable repertoire of tricks, skills and astounding goals. While the futsal legend may now be 38-years-old, age has done nothing to diminish the skills of Falcao. As evidenced by this saucy rainbow flick goal in a friendly charity match, the Brazilian has still got it.

Brazilian futsal legend Falcao's rainbow flick goal: