Reading about a scoreless draw is pretty boring, right?
No goals, no costly mistakes, no tactical masterstrokes which decide the game. We might as well not bother. But here we are, with an article about a nil-nil match which happened on Saturday night when most people were somewhere having much, much more fun.
Consider it karma for Jose Mourinho. The Special One used boring tactics to beat Liverpool on Saturday and tried similarly cynical tactics on Tuesday for Manchester United vs Sevilla. This time, the result was a stunning 2-1 defeat, the Red Devils going out in the Champions League Round of 16.
AS Roma did just enough to overturn their deficit against Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League Round of 16 on Tuesday, Edin Dzeko scoring the lone goal in the 52nd minute to put Roma through via the away goals rule, 2-2 on aggregate.
Shakhtar went about their business professionally in the opening 45, looking dangerous on the counter and assured in possession while Roma struggled to generate any chances of note.
The New York Red Bulls took a giant step towards the CONCACAF Champions League semifinals with a rare MLS victory in Mexico on Tuesday night, downing Club Tijuana at Estadio Caliente 2-0 in their quarterfinal first leg matchup.
The Metros will need to take care of business at Red Bull Arena on March 13, but they played the first leg to perfection. Bradley Wright-Phillips, the club’s all-time leading scorer, scored a brace and USMNT goalkeeper Luis Robles recorded 13 saves, and the MLS side now returns to Harrison with two vital away goals and a precious clean sheet.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic hasn’t played for Manchester United since getting the halftime hook in a 2-2 draw with Burnley back on December 26, and he wasn’t named in the club’s 18-man squad for Monday's win over Crystal Palace, but that doesn’t mean we should stop talking about the Swedish lion.
United boss Jose Mourinho recently revealed that this’ll almost certainly be Zlatan’s final season in Manchester.
On paper, this is one of the more shocking upsets you’ll ever see in the CONCACAF Champions League. FC Dallas joined the Colorado Rapids as victims of the CCL Round of 16, leaving just Seattle and NYRB as the only remaining American representatives. But while Colorado’s defeat to Toronto FC was widely expected, Dallas’ plummet from grace continues to be a free fall.
With all due respect to Juventus supporters, as exciting as it would be to watch you lift your seventh straight Scudetto, the entire planet is behind Napoli’s push for their first title since 1990, when Diego Maradona lifted the Neapolitan club to glory. On Monday, we were given further evidence as to why Napoli is essentially In-N-Out Burger when comparing football clubs to restaurant chains (hell, there’s even a Neapolitan shake on The Secret Menu).
If not for Brazilian international Lucas Moura — making his first start for Tottenham following a January transfer from PSG — Spurs would’ve been knocked out of the FA Cup by third-tier side Rochdale on Sunday. There were the late dramatics of Dele Alli winning a penalty and Harry Kane converting from the spot, only for Rochdale to deservedly earn a Wembley replay with a 92nd minute equalizer, but Lucas was the only real positive for Tottenham on the day.
Liga MX’s Atlas welcomed second-tier Tampico Madero to the Estadio Jalisco on Wednesday night, and the courageous Brave Crabs of Tampico pulled off a stunning upset that all began with a 45-yard piece of violence from 19-year-old forward Eduardo Aguirre.
A penalty from Atlas’ Milton Caraglio gave his side a 1-0 lead in the 44th minute, but a five-minute brace from Aguirre turned the match on its head, gave Tampico Madero the three points and put them on the cusp of the knockout stage.
According to FIFA, 8.4 million requests have been made for seats at the 2018 FIFA World Cup after two sales phases. The second phase saw a total of 4,905,169 tickets requested, with the majority of those applications coming from Russia. While the top five for requests is rounded out by Germany, Argentina, Mexico and Brazil, the percentage of Icelandic people requesting tickets is absurd.