Lionel Messi. Luis Suarez. Neymar Jr. Cristiano Ronaldo. Per Mertesacker.
These are the names of some soccer players, but not just any soccer players. These are the names of some soccer players who are capable of the extraordinary.
Some might be confused as to why we would include a German center back with the best strikers in the world, but those people haven't seen his wonder strike against Bournemouth.
It appears that Liverpool's youth academy in India, DSK Shivajians Liverpool International Football Academy, is turning out world-class talent. On Sunday, Chhangte Lallianzuala – a product of DSK – scored a brace in only his second-ever international cap for India.
Talk about a good end to the year. On Christmas, Lallianzuala became the youngest player ever to appear on the senior national team for India. Two days later, during India's match against Nepal in the SAFF Championships, he scored this gem:
We're not going to lie. We here at The18.com are partial to any player who sports our digits on his or her back. (Note to Harry Kane: We liked your old number better.) So, it's only fitting that today we celebrate another #18 – Paul Scholes – and what many consider to be the Manchester United legend's finest goal. It came during a match against Aston Villa on this very day in 2006.
In addition to ubiquitous cat videos, YouTube serves as a veritable clearinghouse for amazing footballing exploits. While many of these displays of superhuman skills have been performed on the world’s biggest stages — the Champions League, La Liga, the English Premier League, the Bundesliga — even more are training goals.
Hector Herrera appears to be rounding into form, which is a good thing for Porto.
Look at what he did to Academica on Sunday:
Raul Jimenez is sometimes lost in the shuffle among Mexico's European-based players.
Not Sunday, though, as Jimenez flashed the kind of form that caused Benfica to sign him in the first place and Benfica rolled over Rio Ave, 3-1.
What can you say about the little pea that hasn't already been said? Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez scored his 17th goal in his last 14 games — he has 19 total this season — to give Bayer Leverkusen a 1-0 win over FC Ingolstadt 04 Saturday.
And it was a beauty. Hernandez timed his run perfectly and finished cleanly, two talents that he has shown throughout his career.
Bayer Leverkusen played today, and you know what that means: Chicharito scored another goal.
I will set the scene: Tigres are up 3-0 on Pumas after thoroughly dominating the first leg of the 2015 Liga MX final.
The second leg, though, ended up being one of the craziest games we have ever seen, in a final to boot. Pumas needed something damn near a miracle to come back and win, but this is Liga MX, and anything is possible. Lalo Herrera got Pumas on to the comeback trail just before half time.
Just when we thought Mexican forward Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez had reached the peak of his powers with an incredible run on form, he went and topped himself by scoring a hat trick in Bayer Leverkusen's 5-0 victory over Borussia Monchengladbach.
On the first goal, Hernandez got to show off his dribbling skills.