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Soccer

4 things we learned from the Champions League's midweek tilts

Christian Hartmann / Reuters

With the first lot of Champions League Round of 16 fixtures over, theScore looks at what we learned in the four matches across Tuesday and Wednesday.

Tactical decimation of Barcelona

Paris Saint-Germain bullied Barcelona at the Parc des Princes on Tuesday, squeezing its illustrious opponent into submission with a sublime, relentless press, and simply striding past the midfield three of Andre Gomes, Sergio Busquets, and a seemingly fading Andres Iniesta.

Related – Anatomy of a goal: Barcelona’s midfield gets torched by PSG

The vaunted three of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, and Neymar were often chasing for lost causes due to the ineptitude of what was happening behind them, but showed very little potency when they had space and possession to exert their trademark swift swagger.

It appeared Unai Emery had been preparing for this match for months – he was brought in by the Qatari owners to deliver European success, after all – while Luis Enrique, widely rumoured to be relinquishing the reins in the summer, instead looked like he’d spent the past few days mapping out his tour of the Louvre Museum.

Collapse aside, it’s the same old story for Arsenal

Laurent Koscielny was the one nut that held the Arsenal machine together, and when that dropped to the floor everything collapsed spectacularly in the 5-1 defeat.

Even with referee Milorad Mazic seeming to favour Bayern Munich’s visitor on numerous occasions, the Gunners were listless in the second stanza. The midfield had no bite whatsoever; Francis Coquelin didn’t make a tackle, and once again Mesut Ozil was anonymous.

Related – Numbers don’t lie: Stats support Bayern brilliance, awful Arsenal

There’s no doubting Ozil’s ability. He crafted a whopping 19 assists in the Premier League last term, and toyed with the Ludogorets Razgrad’s defence in this season’s Champions League group stages – but has he really improved since he teed up Real Madrid’s lightning-quick counter-attacks before his 2013 exit?

Perhaps, if Arsene Wenger can be encouraged to ditch his stolid 4-2-3-1 setup, Ozil could work well slightly more withdrawn but heading up a midfield three, with Olivier Giroud flanked by Alexis Sanchez and perhaps Theo Walcott in attack.

Napoli disappoints in Spain

When Lorenzo Insigne bounced a shot from distance beyond Keylor Navas, the upset that many in Italy believed possible – Napoli hadn’t lost a match since October – looked in the cards.

A more concerted effort from the Campania outfit’s attacking ranks in the latter stages and a switch to a 4-2-3-1 formation wasn’t enough, however, as Insigne, Dries Mertens, and Marek Hamsik failed to rehash their form – they’ve helped Napoli collect a league-high 57 strikes – on the continental scene.

6 – No other La Liga defender has made more assists than Dani Carvajal this season in all competitions. Pitbull. pic.twitter.com/RbKCNKp8U9

— OptaJose (@OptaJose) February 15, 2017

Real Madrid deserved its 3-1 win in the end, tempering a quick start from Napoli and showcasing a clinic in how to use attack-minded full-backs in how high Dani Carvajal and Marcelo were up the park. Questions will be levelled at goalkeeper Keylor Navas, however, who was caught in no-man’s land for Insigne’s opener.

Auba the hill?

(Photos courtesy: Reuters)

Is Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s mind already elsewhere?

The Gabon artilleryman was again wasteful for Borussia Dortmund, inexplicably lofting a gilt-edged opportunity over the bar in the opening stanza and then firing a penalty straight into the grateful hands of Benfica shot-stopper Ederson Moraes.

Dortmund boss Thomas Tuchel blamed Aubameyang’s woeful outing and resulting 62nd-minute substitution on a lack of sharpness after playing at the Africa Cup of Nations but – perhaps tellingly – also cited some sloped shoulders from the striker.

“After the missed penalty, I didn’t get the feeling anymore from his body language that he was in a position to score,” said Tuchel.

It looks increasingly likely that Aubameyang will be on his way in the summer.

NFL

After comeback season, Jordy Nelson contemplates retirement … sort of

10:52 AM ET

  • Jason WildeESPN.com

    Close

    • Covered the Packers since 1996
    • On-air host at ESPN Milwaukee and ESPN Madison
    • Two-time Wisconsin Sportswriter of the Year as selected by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association

GREEN BAY, Wis. — Jordy Nelson is here to tell you there’s a reason NFL players need a mental break as much as a physical one after a grueling season.

For as impressive as the Green Bay Packers veteran wide receiver’s comeback season was in 2016 — he caught 97 passes for 1,257 yards and an NFL-best 14 touchdowns after missing all of 2015 with a torn right ACL — there were times during the year when Nelson was ready to call it quits altogether.

“If you ask my wife [Emily], I’ve told her five different things this past year,” Nelson said Tuesday morning during an appearance on ESPN Wisconsin’s Wilde & Tausch. “From, ‘Don’t ever let me play again this year,’ to ‘Don’t ever let me play after this year,’ to ‘OK, I can play another five years.’

“I fully understand why people tell you after the season to take some time off and think about it and let the body heal, because in the middle of it all, you have all sorts of things going through your head.”

Packers wide receiver Jordy Nelson caught 97 passes for 1,257 yards this past season. Jim Matthews/USA TODAY NETWORK

Now, don’t turn this into the annual Brett Favre will-he-or-won’t-he retirement melodrama. Nelson, who turns 32 in May and was named the AP NFL Comeback Player of the Year at the NFL Honors event on Feb. 4, enjoyed his comeback way too much to hang ’em up now. He played through painful broken ribs in the team’s season-ending NFC Championship Game loss to Atlanta and said the team’s eight-game winning streak late in the year allowed him to get “to the point where I was really able to enjoy football again.”

But Nelson does recognize he’s closer to the end of his career than he is to the beginning, and he contemplates his football mortality more now than he did when he entered the league as a second-round draft pick out of Kansas State in 2008.

Nelson, who is one of only eight players who remain with the Packers from the Super Bowl XLV-winning team of 2010, said he, his wife and the couple’s two sons are also very happy living in Green Bay year-round.

“I have two years left on my deal,” Nelson said of the four-year, $39.05 million extension he signed before the 2014 season, which included an $11.5 million signing bonus. “It’d be great to finish that out and then see where the body is at, to be honest with you.

“I’m going to take it year-by-year, because it’s 100 percent on how the body feels. We love it up here, my son loves his school, everything’s been perfect. As long as the body can handle it and [the Packers] want me, I’ll play. But as soon as one or the other gives in, then I’ll be more than willing to walk away and move back on the farm and kind of disappear from earth.”

Editor’s note: Jason Wilde covers the Green Bay Packers for ESPN Wisconsin.

Soccer

Football world tears Arsenal apart after Bayern collapse

After falling behind early, Arsenal fans had every reason to dream about leaving Germany with a positive result when Alexis Sanchez made it 1-1 at the half-hour mark.

It was all downhill after halftime, however, as Laurent Koscielny triggered a defensive collapse when he was forced to leave the tie through injury.

A Robert Lewandowski goal and Thiago Alcantara brace later, Arsenal found itself facing elimination with over 25 minutes to go in the first leg of the Round of 16 encounter as Bayern enjoyed a 4-1 advantage.

Thomas Muller added the cherry on top with Bayern’s fifth in the 90th minute.

The Twitter world was predictably quick to pounce on Arsenal like a lion stumbling across a carcass:

49 – Arsenal with Koscielny : 1 goal conceded in 49 minutes
Arsenal without Koscielny : 3 goals conceded in the next 14 minutes. Dependant.

— OptaJean (@OptaJean) February 15, 2017

We are a ******g shambles ?

— Ian Wright (@IanWright0) February 15, 2017

You lose Koscielny, you lose.

— Arsène’s Son (@hughwizzy) February 15, 2017

Can’t have a thrilling second-leg comeback if you don’t get blown out in the first leg pic.twitter.com/QOp3zf2OJj

— Howler Magazine (@whatahowler) February 15, 2017

Set up nicely for a heartening but ultimately fruitless 2-0 win back at the Emirates

— Jack Lang (@jacklang) February 15, 2017

It’s been 10 whole minutes… #UCL #FCBARS 4-1 pic.twitter.com/KcJmCwHkld

— FC Bayern English (@FCBayernEN) February 15, 2017

Alexis Sanchez after Bayern makes it 5-1. pic.twitter.com/uLdkZekKvH

— Joshua Robinson (@JoshRobinson23) February 15, 2017

5-1. #afc thrashed. Wenger humiliated. When will Kroenke and the board stop sleepwalking, wake up and see the problem? No leadership.

— Henry Winter (@henrywinter) February 15, 2017

STOP THE FIGHT

— Jason Davis (@davisjsn) February 15, 2017

It’s happening again #FCBvAFC pic.twitter.com/DUT3Ze7gKr

— Bleacher Report UK (@br_uk) February 15, 2017

5-1 here in Nov 2015. Heading that way again now. Arsenal 4-1 down to a ferocious Bayern assault, with three in 10 minutes.

— Paul Hayward (@_PaulHayward) February 15, 2017

Arsenal have completely disintegrated. An utter shambles and rudderless after koscielny went off.

— Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) February 15, 2017

Maybe Barcelona and Arsenal can start a league for clubs that get annihilated in the #UCL Round of 16.

— Church of Soccer (@churchofsoccer) February 15, 2017

NFL

Mularkey says Mariota doing well with rehab

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Titans coach Mike Mularkey said Marcus Mariota is doing well in his rehab from a broken fibula but said that the team plans to be “very cautious” with the quarterback, who will likely miss the team’s summer work.

“We texted back and forth last night. He’s on schedule,” Mularkey said Wednesday during an in-studio visit with The Midday 180 in Nashville.

“I saw some video of him in a pool, one of the treadmills that are now designed to keep the weight off but you can still walk. That was good to see, him walking on that treadmill. He’s right on schedule.”

Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota suffered a broken right fibula in a Week 16 loss to the Jaguars last season. Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports

Mularkey said he doesn’t have specific dates for benchmarks in recovery.

“I think we’re going to be really smart about how we handle him and probably be overly cautious,” he said.

Mariota suffered the injury to his right leg in a 38-17 Week 16 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars.

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