Maybe Douglas Costa doesn’t like sharing the spotlight with Cristiano Ronaldo? How else do you explain the shocking events that unfolded in the lead-up to the Douglas Costa red card on Sunday?
Ronaldo scored his first and second Juventus goals against Sassuolo on Sunday. The first was a simple tap-in but the second was pretty good.
It took Cristiano 322 minutes, more than three full matches, for the first Ronaldo Juventus goal to finally arrive. It took 15 more minutes for the second.
But that first one ... it was a bit of a dud, though that didn’t stop the Juventus fans (and Ronaldo himself) from celebrating like they had just clinched the league title.
Italy is famous for a few things. The country boasts some of the world’s most fascinating and important historical sites, high quality shopping and the best food. Like really, really amazing food. The cuisine is not only a reason for tourists to flock to Italy, but it also apparently has a major pull on top footballers who wish to ply their trade in the land of good eats. Just check out the Kevin Prince-Boateng pasta love.
Portugal defeated Italy 1-0 Monday at the Estadio da Luz in Lisbon to go top of UEFA Nations League Group 3 while Italy crashed to the bottom of the three-team group with only one point from two matches. The Azzurri’s worrisome 1-1 draw with Poland in Bologna last Friday served to foreshadow the day’s events: Italy mustered only two shots on target while creating absolutely nothing of note.
Cristiano Ronaldo Jr. set the Italian youth league on fire this weekend, bagging four goals in the Juventus U-9’s 5-1 win against Lucento. The youngster, repping the No. 7 shirt of course, notched two goals in each half, darting past the legs of outstretched defenders in seamless fashion, much in the way his old man does.
It really shouldn’t come as a surprise given the outcome of the 2017-18 UEFA Men’s Player of the Year Award voting (finishing order: Luka Modric, Cristiano Ronaldo, Mohamed Salah), but the three finalists for The Best FIFA Men’s Player 2018 are Modric, Ronaldo and Salah, leaving the likes of Lionel Messi, Antoine Griezmann, Kylian Mbappe and Kevin De Bruyne on the outside looking in.
While we should probably wait to see what Cristiano Ronaldo offers after he gets his first for Juventus, this early September strike from Sampdoria’s Fabio Quagliarella could easily fit the bill for the 2018-19 Serie A Goal of the Season.
The 35-year-old is in the midst of a career renaissance after scoring a personal-best total of 19 goals in 35 matches last year, and he’s now off the mark this season with one of the best goals of his legendary career.
This world-class bit of instinctive finishing put the final touches on Sampdoria’s 3-0 win over Napoli today.
Serie A banned Udinese’s Rolando Mandragora for one match after “blasphemous remarks” concerning the Virgin Mary. The 21-year-old midfielder said “Porca Madonna, Vaffanculo, Dio Cane” and television cameras caught it, the BBC reports.
The words, an insult to the Virgin Mary and calling God a dog, heavily disturbed the Italian FA. The angry outburst reportedly came after Sampdoria’s goalie Emil Eudero saved a shot against Udinese. Mandragora’s team won 1-0 on Monday, Aug. 27.
Who are the fastest soccer players in the world today? Well, by working toward a composite of various top speeds collected throughout last year’s club season and this summer’s World Cup, we can somewhat confidently say that this list here comprises the 40 fastest soccer players in the world today.
Cristiano Ronaldo didn’t score and he even put an opponent in the hospital during his debut with Juventus on Saturday. But Ronaldo’s mere presence in Serie A spiked TV ratings in his new country.