That was some week.
Here are a few things that caught our eye in the Champions League this week, for the right and the wrong reasons.
LOVE
Cristiano Ronaldo’s first touch
Cristiano Ronaldo is a lot of things but subtle isn’t the first word that comes to mind when you think of the Portugese; words like ‘power’ ‘pace’ ‘explosive’ and ‘clinical’ are more appropriate.
Subtlety was in plentiful supply when Ronaldo dragged Iker Casillas’ kick-out out of the air against Schalke on Tuesday night and guided it to earth as softly as a feather landing in a pile of marshmallows.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xflISSMM5_w
Divine.
David Luiz’s header
If Ronaldo’s piece of skill was about subtlety, David Luiz’s was about raw, brute force.
There is something beautiful about a bullet header and Luiz’s was more powerful than any we’ve seen in a long time.
No stopping that.
HATE
The reaction of the Chelsea players to Zlatan’s tackle on Oscar
Jose Mourinho did his best to put pressure on the referee before the clash with PSG and his players did an even better job on the pitch.
We happen to think that Zlatan’s red card was incredibly harsh, but the way the Chelsea players reacted, you’d swear the Swede had taken out a gun, shot Oscar there and then and spat on him while he was on the ground for good measure.
There are nine Chelsea players in the vicinity of the referee in the picture below. Of the two left over, one is on the ground and the other is in goal.
will jose fine courtois for failing to get himself into this picture? MT @Dunnyball84 pic.twitter.com/yLg4jjaFff
— Ken Early (@kenearlys) March 11, 2015
Bad form.
Douglas Costa’s cheap shot on Franck Ribery
We know Shakhtar were getting hammered and of all teams, it must be incredibly frustrating to play against Bayern Munich when you’ve only ten men.
But there is no excuse for Douglas Costa’s sly knee on Franck Ribery when Ribery wasn’t looking, a terribly cheap shot which has no place on the football field.
Footage of the incident appears to have been removed and it’s probably no bad thing either, because it was filthy.
Come on Douglas, you’re better than that.
