Lion Links: 5/6/19

It was a tough weekend once again for Orlando City as none of the club’s three teams were able to score and accumulated just one point. Orlando City B started well by claiming its first clean sheet of the season, but the Lions and Pride both disappointed as they fell once again. This morning, I’ll try to get your mind off the local club with some news from around the soccer world.

Pride Fall in Houston

The Pride took to the field last night looking to salvage something from this weekend for the club but was unable to find the back of the net once again, falling to the Houston Dash 1-0. A seventh-minute goal by Kealia Ohai was enough as the Pride were unable to get a single shot on target.

Diego Valeri Joins the 70/70 Club

Portland Timbers star Diego Valeri remains one of the best signings by an MLS team in recent memory and he proved that once again by joining an elite list of players that have accumulated 70 goals and 70 assists. This weekend Valeri became the ninth player to reach this feat, joining Landon Donovan, Jeff Cunningham, Jaime Moreno, Jason Kreis, Dwayne De Rosario, Preki, Steve Ralston, and Cobi Jones. It’s an impressive achievement for the three-time MLS Best XI selection and 2007 MLS MVP.

Bad to Worse for Liverpool

While MLS is in full swing, most of the soccer world remains focused on the UEFA Champions League which continues the semifinal ties this week. FC Barcelona handled Liverpool 3-0 last week at Camp Nou and it’s not getting any easier for the Reds. Roberto Firmino is already unavailable for Tuesday afternoon’s second leg with a muscular injury and now it looks like Mohamed Salah might be out as well. It’s hard to see a way that Barcelona doesn’t advance to another Champions League final.

Manchester City Women Complete Domestic Double, Atletico Claim Title

While the Manchester City men’s team continues to fight for the domestic treble, the women’s team continues to dominate the domestic game, completing the domestic cup double this weekend. After narrowly losing out on the Women’s Super League title to Arsenal, Manchester City defeated West Ham United in the FA Cup final 3-0. This adds to the WSL Cup that the team won when it defeated Arsenal in penalties in February.

Atletico Madrid’s women’s team has been Spain’s best for some time now and it continued its impressive run by capturing the Spanish league title for the third consecutive year. The team claimed the title after defeating Real Sociedad 3-1 with the help of an Esther Gonzalez hat trick.

Free Kicks

• Bayern Leverkusen hammered Eintracht Frankfurt 6-1 in Germany but the big news was that all goals came in the first 36 minutes, a Bundesliga record.
• Rangers’ Allan McGregor lost his mind against Hibs this weekend, resulting in this karate kick at the Hibs forward.
• Toronto didn’t need him Saturday but Jozy Altidore is nearing a return.

This all for today’s Lion Links. Have a great week and hopefully next weekend will bring more points than this one for the city’s purple teams.