Goal 90

Every day, there are new developments on the crisis involving Russia and Ukraine. And sadly, it doesn’t seem like there’s an end in sight with the deputy Prime Minister of the UK saying that the conflict could go on for months or even years.

For those who have always known him as La Pulga, do you know why he was given that nickname? Well, it’s okay if you don’t. We’re here to tell you the story behind why Messi is called La Pulga.

Football is one of the most popular sports in the world. Millions of people around the world follow the sport and have a football team they support. And of those millions of people, there are many powerful people who are loyal to different clubs around the world.  

1. David Cameron – Aston Villa 

2. Prince William of Wales – Aston Villa 

3. Queen Elizabeth II – Arsenal 

4. Angela Merkel – Borussia Dortmund 

5. Vladimir Putin – Zenit St. Petersburg 

6. Barack Obama – West Ham United 

7. Mariano Rojay – Real Madrid 

8. Kim Jong-un – Manchester United 

9. Emmanuel Macron – Marseille 

Chelsea are the latest bystanders who have been caught in the crossfire between Russia and Ukraine.  Of course, you know that the London club is owned by a Russian billionaire, Roman Abramovich, whom the UK government has identified as a “pro-Kremlin oligarch”. He and the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, apparently have a close relationship which goes way back.

Every time a club signs a new manager, the manager usually comes in with a new set of rules and informs the entire dressing room about it as soon as possible. That’s normal. And those rules, many times, involve some restrictions and even outright bans. That’s also normal.  However, what has perhaps become a little too normal is the banning of ketchup by every new manager at almost every club. At this point, it just feels like once a club gets a new head coach, you're expecting the announcement of the ketchup chop in the next 3 to 5 business days.  What has ketchup done to these managers that they never want to see it anywhere near their players? Or could tomato ketchup really be that bad for footballers?

It’s now been two weeks since the Russians first invaded Ukraine, and since then, there have been death, destruction of property, and a lot of distress suffered mostly by the Ukrainian people. And the Ukrainian world of football is not exempt from all the chaos.

Guillame Briquet, a Swiss reporter currently out in Ukraine, is one of the many victims of the brutality on journalists. He narrated how he was shot and robbed by a Russian group in spite of the fact that his vest and car had the word “press” boldly written across.  Apparently, a couple days ago, he and his Argentinian partner, Guillermo Panizza, along with their cameraman, Juan Zamudio, were stopped by Ukrainian police at one of the many checkpoints.

Sadly – very sadly – the war in Ukraine is still on. Yes, Russia declared a limited ceasefire in Mariupol to allow the civilians in that region to evacuate safely, but more than 1 week after the first invasion, the war is still on, and people are still dying every day.

16 years ago, a little 6-year-old boy was a mascot in a Premier League game between Liverpool and Chelsea, and one thing he did in the tunnel that day turned him into an overnight sensation.

Some people see tattoos as just meaningless body artwork, some people even think it is a sign of irresponsibility. But many footballers have proven that tattoos are far more than that. Many of them have tattoos which have deep meanings and we will be looking at some of them in this video today.   

1. Raheem Sterling 

2. Toni Kroos 

3. Jadon Sancho 

4. Neymar Jr 

5. Roberto Firmino 

6. Mario Balotelli 

7. Lionel Messi 

8. Gabriel Jesus 

9. Zlatan Ibrahimovic 

10. Daniele De Rossi