Champions League semifinals set, Catarina Macario gets first Chelsea start, and more: Thursday Freedom Kicks
Happy Thursday, everyone. Yesterday had a lot of Champions League action, so we start there:
Real Madrid dethrone Manchester City after Rüdiger holds nerve in shootout (The Guardian)
What a wild match, down to the shootout, where Antonio Rudiger’s penalty secured the win for Real Madrid, knocking out the current Champions League title holders. I was very happy about that…Hala!
Arsenal knocked out by Bayern after Kimmich header secures last-four spot (The Guardian)
Joshua Kimmich’s goal was the difference as Bayern Munich advances to the semifinals. They will take on Real Madrid, while the other semifinal is PSG against Borussia Dortmund.
USWNT star Macario gets assist in first Chelsea start (Pro Soccer Wire)
Catarina Macario was in the starting XI for the first time for Chelsea and she didn’t disappoint, providing an assist as Chelsea got back to their winning ways.
Arsenal exit gives FC Salzburg 2025 Club World Cup place (ESPN)
Since Arsenal is out of Champions League, Red Bull Salzburg will be the final European team at next summer’s FIFA Club World Cup. What a world!
Columbus Crew sign Wilfried Nancy to contract extension (MLS)
Wilifried Nancy has already led the Crew to a MLS Cup, and now he will remain at Lower.com Field a little longer as he inks a contract extension.
Football icon Romario, 58, registers as player in Brazil (ESPN)
Romario is the club president for America Football Club Rio de Janeiro, and his son Romarinho plays for the team. He’s giving himself a chance to live out a dream of playing alongside his son, so he has registered to return to the field at age 58.
Cristiano Ronaldo: Juventus ordered to pay their ex-striker £8.3m in wages owed (BBC)
Juventus apparently owed Cristiano Ronaldo a ton of money in unpaid wages. A court has ordered them to fork over the cash.
That’s it for today. Enjoy!
Couldn’t lay off typing about Real Madrid first, could you? (LOL)
Looking forward to the match with Bayern!
Also, PSG v Dortmund should be exciting too!
An impressive showing by two has-beens from the Bundesliga! Could an all German final give us another Der Klassiker? (I know I am getting ahead of myself, what a nice final four!)
I don’t see it happening, but that would be fun. I think we’re destined to see RM lift the trophy yet again.
A man can dream, can’t he?
(admittedly, Bayern has had a tepid year by Bayern standards. Yet, they are really focused on this to save face. I wouldn’t count them out)
Loudoun ended up winning in penalties against Richmond after a 0-0 game last night in Open Cup action. Glad to see the closest thing DC has to a team in the tournament moving on. I wasn’t able to watch the entire game, but Gavin Turner (who I think is in the running for a DC homegrown contract?) seemed to do pretty well.
Also, dear lord that game was difficult to find. I intended to watch it through the Youtube app on my TV, but I don’t think any of the games last night were actually searchable. Unless you had a specific link to a stream, it was seemingly impossible to find. I ended up specifically searching for “2024 lamar hunt us open cup loudoun united richmond kickers” on my TV (which is incredibly annoying to type out using the arrows on a TV remote) and it just wasnt there. Ended up having to watch entirely on my phone via a link I found on twitter.
I hate Madrid, I may dislike them more than Arsenal and I really, really, really dislike Arsenal (except for Odegaard and Saka). Hope one of the German teams wins it all, it would be nice to see Harry Kane win it.
Poor Harry is kind of do, don’t you think?
To be honest, I don’t follow the Bundesliga so I don’t know how Harry is doing. It must have been difficult for him to adjust to a new team, new country and to make it worst, no Son. Kane and Son had the type of partnership where they could read each other’s movements while blindfolded. But I have always like Kane, I have respect for players like him, who do their job successfully, without much boasting. So it would be nice to watch him win Champions.
typo: do should be due
Houston signed Ben Olsen to a contract extension through 2026. Good for Benny! He’s already won them one trophy (as many as he won in his time here), and it seems like he’s enjoying himself down there.
Very happy for the man. He’ll always be special for DCU (as a player and coach). He was with an organization that didn’t give him the support he needed–we were always “on a budget” and shopping from the bargain bin.