European Football Thread

[EddieG]

With a pretty awesome beard too.

[FestiveJack]

In four minutes no less.

He's the reincarnation of Robbie Fowler...

A homophobic smack head?

[Rich]

Smack is harsh, he just used coke.

[brenchill]

Yeah, bit of a difference.

[Lineker]

The use of HawkEye goal line technology has been approved in the Bundesliga. 15 of the 18 top-flight teams voted in favour.

[Colly]

Rather than Goalref? Lack of German efficiency.

[Lineker]

Gabon midfielder Guelor Kanga has been banned for three matches by the Russian Football Union for gesturing at Spartak Moscow fans who racially abused him.

The FC Rostov player, 24, was targeted with monkey chants by Spartak fans during their Russian Premier League match in Moscow on Thursday.

He responded with what the RFU ruled to be an "insulting gesture to fans" and was also fined 50,000 rubles (£600).

Spartak have been fined for their fans "chanting insulting expressions".

They received a 70,000 rubles (£830) fine for the charge, which usually refers to swearing rather than the separate offence of racist chanting.

In September, Dynamo Moscow defender Christopher Samba was given a two-match ban in similar circumstances after Torpedo Moscow fans racially abused him.

[Rich]

It's nice that they can just about offset the cost if their fine

[Asuka's Gonna Kill You]

Ronaldo just destroying every team in sight, breaks the record tonight for hat tricks in La Liga with his 23rd. That's 23 goals in 13 games in the league and his 200th in La Liga in 178 games.

Incredible.

[TCO]

His goal record for Real Madrid really boggles the mind.

I don't think we'll ever have an era where there's two players at Ronaldo and Messi's level playing in their prime together.

[brenchill]

Yeah it's weird to think that both would be miles ahead of everyone else in almost every other era of football.

[King Ellis]

At least Ronaldo has done it on a wet Tuesday night in Stoke though.

[TCO]

It's kinda sad knowing this is as good as it gets for a while. Ronaldo is 30 in two months and Messi will be 28 next year. It's downhill for the both of them from here on in.

[Baddar]

Ronaldo being 30 just sounds ridiculous. Doesn't feel like he's been playing all that long, despite him being in the public eye for like 12 years.

[brenchill]

I can see Ronaldo staying at Real for another 2 years or so before making the heroes return to Old Trafford.

[MDK]

Or Brisbane Road

[Adam]

I honestly think Messi will still be as good as he is now for another 5 years or so. He is a special individual and I don't think being in his early 30's will hinder him really.

Not sure about Ronaldo, will he lose a yard or two in a couple of years? Will that even matter? As long as the pair of them continue to possess that unreal ability and keep playing in a team that can provide the service for them to score in every game I don't see anything changing in terms of productive output.

[TCO]

A fair bit of Ronaldo's output is due to his physique though. He's an absolute tank and lightning fast. That'll slowly go with age over the coming years, so I think you'll see a slight drop before he retires.

Messi? Who knows with him, his ability is less reliant on his physical tools so he may adapt better to losing a yard, that's a good bit away yet for him though. I reckon we'll see one more World Cup where they're both close to their best.

[EddieG]

[TCO]

Doesn't mean anything really. Penalties count as goals too and Ronaldo is pretty much the undisputed no.1 at the moment.