Tag: Julián Álvarez

This close-up video of Lionel Messi’s ridiculous assist vs. Croatia left soccer fans in total awe

Even this video can’t do Messi’s unique brilliance justice.

Whenever he does hang his cleats up, Lionel Messi will probably be remembered as the greatest soccer player in history. And with his likely last World Cup game on the docket — the 2022 Final this Sunday — he may well capture the one title that has eluded him over his entire career.

During Argentina’s semi-final bout with Croatia, the 35-year-old Messi showed why his trademark dominance has him again on the precipice of soccer’s greatest team honor. The Argentinians, of course, humbled the Croatians in a 3-0 win. And after he scored an easy penalty kick goal, Messi later decided to stunt on his opponent with an exclamation point play/pass that set up Argentina’s third tally.

While there are countless broadcast replays of the Messi highlight, a close-up video from actor Connor Kalopsis at the stadium in Qatar shows just how unbelievably hard the superstar worked before setting up Julián Álvarez on the doorstep. 

It is positively bananas to see from this view:

I mean, COME ON! Messi takes a play that took around 10 seconds to develop and seemingly does it all in the blink of an eye when you see it presented like that.

I’d say other soccer players could replicate what Messi did with his assist, but we all know that probably isn’t true. Messi now leads this World Cup in both goals (6) and assists (5). All he needs is that elusive World Cup title to cap what has been a truly immaculate tournament for the legendary No. 10.

Erling Haaland scores another hat trick as Man City crushes Nottingham Forest

Haaland is making hat tricks just a thing that happens all the time

Erling Haaland is going to make scoring hat tricks boring at this rate.

Manchester City thumped Nottingham Forest 6-0 on Wednesday, with Haaland scoring three times in the first 38 minutes of the game. Haaland even managed to score one with his left foot, one with his right, and the third on a header.

Just four days earlier, Haaland had a hat trick in the second half of a 4-2 win over Crystal Palace. In his Premier League debut earlier this month, he had a brace against West Ham, and he’s now put up nine goals in five league matches since a €60 million move from Borussia Dortmund this summer. That is, per Opta, a new record for goals in a player’s first five Premier League games.

Haaland opened the scoring in the 12th minute, muscling past his marker to stab home a Phil Foden cross following a short corner.

That duo linked up again 10 minutes later after a poor Forest clearance quickly became some typically intricate one-touch passing from Man City to rip the defense open, leaving Haaland to guide a shot into an empty net.

Haaland finished the hat trick in the 38th minute as Man City began to truly show off. João Cancelo scooped a service to the back post with the outside of his foot that Foden headed back across goal to John Stones, who then nodded it to Haaland to head home from about two yards out.

Man City got one goal from Cancelo and two more from Julián Álvarez in the second half, while Pep Guardiola—presumably frustrated when Haaland went several minutes without scoring more goals—pulled the Norwegian in the 69th minute.

Watch yet another Haaland hat trick

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Liverpool, Man City treated the Community Shield like a real game

The Community Shield seemed to matter this time

The FA Community Shield functions as a curtain raiser for English soccer, but with Liverpool and Manchester City likely set to battle for every trophy once again, the Premier League giants treated what is ostensibly a friendly like a final.

Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola fielded extremely strong lineups, and kept them out there for the first hour before making subs like…£85m addition Darwin Núñez. Fans in the crowd roared, both teams lobbied furiously for VAR decisions that went their way, smoke bombs were tossed onto the pitch. If the teams were supposed to just be getting an easy run-out in as part of their preseason preparations, no one told them.

Trent Alexander-Arnold’s beautifully composed 20-yard finish gave the Reds the lead, but new addition Julián Álvarez got Man City level on a goal that was initially called off only for VAR, after a spell, to overturn that choice.

VAR was involved again on the winner, as Núñez’s header struck Rúben Dias. This wait was even longer, but in the end Mohamed Salah was granted a spot kick after Dias was judged to have handled the ball, and the Egyptian fired home the winner.

Even with Liverpool facing another friendly Sunday—they’ll host Strasbourg at Anfield—they were playing at their familiar high tempo, and Núñez improvised a header in stoppage time to get Liverpool their first trophy of the year.

That said, there was still a preseason sort of moment mixed in. Even deeper into stoppage time, Erling Haaland somehow managed to fire into the stands when standing in front of an open net, capping off a frustrating day at the office for Man City’s biggest summer addition.

Still, the fact was that it felt like it mattered, rather than simply being one more game in the mess of preseason fixtures. Teams generally brush off a Community Shield loss, especially when their opponent isn’t supposed to contend for much in the coming season (see: Man City losing to Leicester City last season).

But when you’re Liverpool, coming off of a season that kept ending with second-place finishes, it makes sense to throw down the gauntlet to Man City and the rest of the league. And if you’re City, of course you want to maintain your place as England’s best team.

Sometimes this kind of ceremonial season kick-off kind of game can just sort of drift by. They give a trophy out, and no one spends time thinking about it again for the rest of the year.

This time, between these two teams? It feels like the first chapter of a saga.

See the goals that won Liverpool the Community Shield

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