champ Page 81 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Mighty Celtic FC Lose Champions League Qualifier To Lincoln Red Imps, Who We Swear Are A Real Team
Celtic FC’s annual European humiliation came early this year, as they lost today in the Champions League second qualifying round against a team of semi-professionals from Gibraltar. A police officer scored the only goal in the 1-0 victory. ...

Sprinter's Reaction To Learning He Won Euro Championship Gold Is Priceless
Spanish sprinter Bruno Hortelano placed second in the 200m at this week’s European Championships in Amsterdam, setting a new national record for Spain in the process—but a post-race inquiry revealed the runner who placed first in the final, Dutchman Churandy Martina, would be disqualified for leavin...

UFC Throws Reporter Out Of Event, Bans Him For Life For Reporting News
Imagine the NBA having Adrian Wojnarowski escorted out of a game in the third quarter and banning him for life for having reported a trade rumor. Ridiculous as it seems, a scenario exactly like this just happened at a UFC show....

So What If Real Madrid Got Lucky?
Depending on your prejudices and proclivities, there are two ways you can view Real Madrid overcoming Atlético Madrid on penalties in this weekend’s tense but unspectacular Champions League final. One’s perhaps a little too cynical, the other a touch too positive, but both are mostly fair and accura...

Yannick Carrasco Celebrates Champions League Final Equalizer By Making Out With His Girlfriend
Yannick Carrasco brightened up a lackluster UEFA Champions League final by equalizing for Atlético Madrid, then brightened things even more by joining his girlfriend for some passionate celebration....

Dominant Nigerian Scrabble Players Find That Shorter Is Better
There’s no reason to believe that success in a sport should correlate with aesthetic appeal. You don’t always win by being the Warriors with Steph breezily trotting the other way before ball touches net; sometimes you get the grit-and-grind Grizzlies with Tony Allen smacking the hardwood and shoutin...

Will Wilcox Sinks Hole-In-One, Goes On Extended High-Five Spree
Will Wilcox nailed a hole-in-one on the par-3 17th hole at the Players Championship today. The former UAB golfer celebrated accordingly....

Liverpool Can Make Liverpool Great Again With Just One More Win
Over the past decade, Liverpool have slid from Europe’s elite into the second tier. But with a comfortable 3-0 victory over Villarreal in the second leg of their Europa League semifinals match-up, they’re just one victory away from next season’s Champions League. It’s only fitting, then, that they’r...

Manchester City's Defending Is Beyond Awful
If one clip could explain how a rich and deep and talented team like Manchester City got bounced so unceremoniously from a Champions League semifinal no one thought they deserved to be in in the first place, and why such a well-run club could perform so erratically so regularly, and why one of the b...

Real Madrid Don't Deserve A Champions League Title, So They'll Probably Get One
Part of what makes European soccer and the multiple trophies it awards each season so special is how close its mechanisms of rewarding champions come to achieving true meritocracy....

Atlético Madrid Lose Their Way Into The Champions League Final
What makes Atlético Madrid different from most other great teams in the sport is that they have mastered the art of reactivity. The prevailing trend in elite soccer is the implementation of proactive, possession-based playing styles. Almost all the richest and therefore best teams in the world pack ...

Saúl Ñíguez Dances Through Bayern Defense, Gives Atlético 1-0 Lead
Check out this ridiculous run right here, and remember that Saúl Ñíguez is a central midfielder not at all known for his dribbling ability, and marvel at his awkward grace as he skates by Bayern Munich’s whole defense and scores:...

Two Butt Teams Combine To Play Butt Game
Real Madrid and Manchester City—two teams that kind of suck in similar ways, and are lucky to even be here thanks to their fortunate draws leading up to this point—met in the Champions League semifinal today. It should’ve been one of the best matches of the year, pitting two greats of Europe in a cl...

Conor McGregor Is (Probably Not, But Who Knows?) Retiring
Conor McGregor—a loudmouthed troll; a genuinely brilliant fighter; and the UFC’s biggest draw and 145-lb. champion—is due to face Nate Diaz at 170 lbs. on July 9. The proposed fight, a rematch of a bout McGregor famously lost last month, is set to headline a card the promotion hopes will be its bigg...

Striker Makes PK Save After Keeper Sent Off With No Substitutes
MK Dons found themselves in a perilous predicament today against Preston North End, as the relegation-zone Championship side had their keeper sent off after they had already used up their three substitutions. That left them to put striker Alex Revell in goal to face what would have been the deciding...

Here's The Champions League Semifinal Draw
Here they are, the matchups that will determine who wins the biggest prize in Europe. And surprise, surprise: Real Madrid got lucky again....

Atlético Madrid Kill Barcelona, Rule Europe For Now
It was always going to come down to that first goal. Coming off a 2-1 first leg of this Barcelona-Atlético Madrid Champions League quarterfinal tie that Barça narrowly edged at home, the next goal was always going to have a huge influence on who went on and who went home. Score it, and Atlético coul...

Middlesbrough Score Bonkers 94th-Minute Winner To Go Top Of The Championship
Fighting to remain above the fray and qualify for promotion to the Premier League directly, Middlesborough took on midtable Reading yesterday. Deep into stoppage time the game was still 1-1, but on a last gasp corner kick, Middlesbrough scored whatever the hell this is....

Cristiano Ronaldo Was Great Today, Just Like He Knew He Would Be
It’s hard to think of a more quintessentially Cristiano Ronaldo performance than the show he put on today. Everything that makes him the all-time great that he is—from the tangible things like his speed, power, technique, and finishing, to the abstract ones like his determination and preternatural i...
![Cristiano Ronaldo Ignites Real Madrid's Comeback With 2 Goals In 2 Minutes [Updated]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/fv3c1owkjdcnkzu0jn3e.gif)
Cristiano Ronaldo Ignites Real Madrid's Comeback With 2 Goals In 2 Minutes [Updated]
Now we’ve got a game! After their shocking 2-0 loss against Wolfsburg last week, it looked like Real Madrid were on the cusp of blowing a great chance to make it into the Champions League semifinals. Then today’s game came, and Cristiano Ronaldo showed up, and everything has changed....