Champions League Page 13 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
COVID could make next FIFA international window a bigger mess than usual
The club vs. country fight is a long and storied one in soccer, with clubs always more than a little peeved about releasing the players they’re paying millions to travel to different training schedules and medical staffs, for games they aren’t compensated for. Players getting hurt on national team d...
Has boring-ass La Liga replaced previous snoozefest Serie A?
It wasn’t a terribly good couple of weeks for La Liga teams in the Champions League. Barcelona got ritually sacrificed by Kylian Mbappe and PSG. Sevilla got an even bigger foot in their ass from Dortmund. Atletico Madrid, the current leader in La Liga, were held at arm’s length by Chelsea and lost 1...
PSG sacks Thomas Tuchel, could save us from Mauricio Pochettino doing actual work
If you lay out Thomas Tuchel’s accomplishments with PSG, but remove the team name, even the most casual soccer fan would think he was some sort of Belichickian legend. Two league titles in two seasons, last year’s domestic treble (league and both cup competitions), as well as a Champions League fina...
![Basaksehir and PSG players walk off field after official accused of racial slur [Update]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/j7p9xwuhyqk1kpcie2lq.jpg)
Basaksehir and PSG players walk off field after official accused of racial slur [Update]
In a stunning scene on soccer’s biggest stage, players from PSG and Basaksehir walked off the field at Parc de Princes in the first half after an assistant coach for Basaksehir, former player Pierre Webo, accused the fourth official of calling him the n-word....
Baseball’s winter of discontent begins
As baseball’s non-tender deadline passed last night, it didn’t end up being the bloodbath that some had predicted, and indeed was expected. Fifty-nine players who could have been offered a contract weren’t, which is a slight rise from the 54 who found themselves in the same situation last year, when...
Will the latest Champions League revamp stave off a Super League?
It is one of the eternal fights in the world of soccer, pitting UEFA and the biggest clubs in Europe against each other every few years. The former attempts to thread the needle of appeasing the latter while also preventing them from running roughshod over the entire continent (or moreso than they a...
The NFL is plowing ahead, despite all logic
We knew when the NFL decided to go ahead with the season as scheduled, it had very little flexibility. This isn’t baseball that can pile on double-headers or fill up off-days. The NFL only has teams’ bye weeks to bounce around and that’s what they’ve done, on a limited basis. Which is why there’s no...
Ajax score freekick from five feet in loin-girding moment
We soccer fans like to think that every goal is unique and different, but every so often you do get to see something rare. I’m a total sucker for indirect freekicks from inside the penalty box, which happens once every comet. An illegal back-pass to the keeper is almost never called, and that’s just...
Paul Pogba has a Manchester United problem, not the other way around
After six Premier League games, being six points off the relegation zone while nine points off the top is not where Manchester United are supposed to be. But it feels like that gets said a lot about United the past couple years. “Not where they’re supposed to be.” ...
Spanish newspaper's description of Ansu Fati reminds us that the U.S. hasn't cornered the market on racism
Things are so terrible in this country that sometimes you can forget they can be equally shitty elsewhere. And while an interview between Jason Whitlock and President Orangutan may feel like sports “journalism” has completely fallen through the bottom of the well and is hanging out with the rock peo...
Weston McKennie’s Move To Juventus Could Be Huge Boon To USMNT...If He Plays
It kind of came out of nowhere. While rumors of Weston McKennie wanting to move on from Schalke in the Bundesliga were running pretty wild, the mentioned destinations were more mid-tier Premier League clubs. Southampton was the main one, which made all the sense in the world. Certainly McKennie woul...
Pep Guardiola Overthought It Again and City Are Out on Their Ass
We’ve all had to deal with a lot of our rites of spring being moved to another location on the calendar or lost to the pandemic altogether. Opening Day, Memorial Day blockbuster movies, Derby parties, all of these and more were lost or moved to an unfamiliar spot in life’s routine. Oh, and Pep Guard...
Sarri’s Not Enough: Juventus Boots Manager as Champions League Drought Continues
It is strange for a club to fire its manager after winning the league. It’s not unheard of, as Real Madrid once fired Vicente Del Bosque after he’d won both the Champions League and La Liga twice, but it’s still strange. To do it in two consecutive years however suggests a nutty desperation, a flail...
Smoking Your Menthols — Champions League is Back
The last stage of finishing the 2019-2020 season is upon us, more than a year after it started. The Champions League returns tomorrow, though in an abbreviated form. The quarterfinals and semifinals will not be two legs, but one-offs in Lisbon. It does change the tournament, and possibly in a major ...
Champions League Will Return, in a Can
The multiple and concurrent method of competitions in world soccer was always going to be a challenge to restart after the coronavirus shutdown. European competitions, i.e. the Champions League and Europa League, had the added challenge of dealing with multiple restrictions on safety and travel acro...
No One Will Feel Sorry for Man City Or Pep Guardiola, But They Stand To Lose A Lot
At the top, we need to add even more of a disclaimer than we usually do. There are far more important things in the world than this, but it’s our lot to discuss the silly and insignificant (at the time)....
It Would Suck If Liverpool Couldn't Finish Their Magical Run, But Leicester City Would Be The True Victims Of A Canceled Season
When discussing the bonkers plans the Premier League has floated for finishing its season—call it The Bio-Dome solution—the undercurrent to it all is that there’s a decent chance it won’t be finished at all. The idea of tacking it on to the beginning of next season almost seems a non-starter, with E...
Christian Pulisic Will Be Just Fine
This season cannot be going the way Christian Pulisic would’ve hoped. After a promising start to his Chelsea tenure, the American phenom’s status on the team took a nosedive. At its lowest point, Pulisic dropped from being a regular starter to arguably being the fifth winger on the roster, an often ...
Lionel Messi Pulls Off One Of The Worst Misses Of His Career, Presumably To Prove He's Human
One downside to being the greatest player to ever kick a soccer ball has to be that people eventually take your greatness for granted. It’s all well and good to be referred to as a god or an alien, but conjure so many miracles over a long enough timespan, and the effect of your otherworldliness sta...
Feast Your Eyes On This Unholy, Perfect Goal
Every soccer player probably dreams about hitting a ball as perfectly as Marcel Sabitzer did today against Zenit. Not only did the Austrian uncork this breathtaking outside-boot curler in an actual game, the goal wound up winning RB Leipzig a Champions League group stage match. Look at the devilish ...