Today in Football – Things You May Have Missed

Football never sleeps. During any of the 86400 seconds in a 24-hour day, somewhere in the world someone is doing something related to the beautiful game, whether that’s scoring a last-minute winner in a high-profile match, posting their expert take on social media or simply booting a ball against a wall with their mates.

It’s therefore impossible for any human being to keep up with everything that’s going on in the game, and it’s often those little yet most intriguing moments, like a fan’s alternative viewpoint of a penalty save, or a three-second yet incredibly telling interaction between two arch-rivals, or thread on X explaining why N’Golo Kante is the nicest man in professional sport, which make football so great.

GIVEMESPORT have created our live blog to help solve that problem, providing the best social media has to offer and the greatest football mini-stories from the last 24 hours.

9th September: Piers Morgan Aims Fire at Ten Hag After Ronaldo Goal

Cristiano Ronaldo scores his 901st professional goal for Portugal vs Scotland

​​​​Piers Morgan, the famous British journalist and Cristiano Ronaldo super-fan, couldn’t resist a dig at Manchester United’s under-fire manager Erik ten Hag after his favourite footballer scored the 901st goal of his remarkable career on Sunday night. Ronaldo came off the bench at the start of the second half to score Portugal winning goal in a 2-1 Nations League victory over Scotland.

Piers declared Ronaldo as the GOAT (again) before firing shots at Ten Hag. Alongside a photo of himself with the former Man Utd No. 7, Morgan wrote on X: “REMINDER: Erik Ten Hag drove Cristiano out of Manchester United and said he wouldn’t lose any sleep over it. Methinks Erik may need an Ambien tonight.”. Ouch.

8th September: Non-League Player Rattled by ‘Piggy in the Middle’

Folkstone Invicta’s Tom Derry sees red – and goes viral

Folkstone Invicta’s Tom Derry has inadvertently gone viral after reacting badly when two Billericay Town players began playing ‘Piggy in the Middle’ with him this weekend. The non-league player lashed out at the goalkeeper and then booted the ball away before being shown a straight red card by the referee.

The game had been stopped when the incident occurred as another Billericay player was receiving treatment. With his team trailing 2-0 with under 20 minutes left to play, Derry was determined to get the ball back, but was made to look silly by his opponents. He snapped and was subsequently sent off. Ten-man Folkstone Invicta conceded another goal before full-time and lost the game 3-0.

7th September: Wayne Rooney Scores Stunner in Legends Match

England icon marked his return to Old Trafford with a special goal

With club football on a hiatus for the international break, a few Manchester United legends returned to Old Trafford for a special occasion on Saturday afternoon. Wayne Rooney, Dimitar Berbatov and Paul Scholes were all back for the legends game against Celtic, giving supporters in attendance a blast from the past.

And the former wound back the years at the Theatre of Dreams, producing a stunning strike from a free-kick just before half-time. Lining up the ball just outside the penalty area, Rooney sent it over the wall and into the top corner, leaving the goalkeeper with absolutely no chance.

7th September: Emiliano Martinez Backs Teammate for Ballon d’Or

Rodri and Vinicius Jr are favourites to win prestigious award

Argentina and Aston Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez has backed his international teammate Lautaro Martinez to win the 2024 Ballon d’Or award. Lautaro Martinez was named on the 30-man shortlist for the Ballon d’Or this week following an excellent 2023-24 campaign with Inter and his national team.

Commenting on Lautaro’s latest Instagram post, the revered goalkeeper commented: “Balon de oro (Ballon d’Or),” alongside some fire emojis. Currently ranked seventh on our Ballon d’Or Power Rankings, Lautaro is an outsider to win football’s most prestigious individual accolade but faces stiff competition to make the podium from the likes of Manchester City’s Rodri, Real Madrid duo Vinicius Junior and Jude Bellingham, and Barcelona starlet Lamine Yamal.

Related

Ballon d’Or 2024 Power Rankings

The race for the 2024 Ballon d’Or award is now hotting up, with the likes of Vinicius Jr and Jude Bellingham firmly in contention.

6th September: Bradley Barcola Scores After 14 Seconds

France take early lead after Italy horror show

France got off to the best possible start as Paris Saint-Germain ace Bradley Barcola bagged a goal after just 14 seconds. Playing in the first UEFA Nations League game of Group 2 in League A, the young winger capitalised on a mistake at the back to score.

Indeed, Giovanni Di Lorenzo was slow to react when receiving the ball, allowing the 22-year-old to nip in and steal the ball. The Frenchman had former club teammate Kylian Mbappe as an option but instead opted to go alone, cooly finishing past Gianluigi Donnarumma.

It’s been a blistering start to the season for Barcola has now scored five goals in four games for club and country this season.

6th September: Steve McClaren goes viral

Let’s be honest, we all knew it wouldn’t be long before a clip of Steve McClaren went viral after he was appointed Jamaica’s new head coach this summer. The 63-year-old, who is perhaps best known for his ill-fated stint with England, left Manchester United at the end of July to become Jamaica’s new boss.

Nobody can forget when he adopted a Dutch accent during his spell with FC Twente, and now he’s doing his best to learn some Jamaican slang. What a guy. The clip has gone down well on X, as you’d expect. One fan commented: “I’ve got a lot of time for this,” while another said: “That has made my morning. Steve McClaren truly can blend in anywhere.”

5th September: Rodrygo Unhappy After Ballon d’Or Snub

Real Madrid ace didn’t make the 30-man nominees list

Real Madrid star Rodrygo has made it clear how unhappy he is after being snubbed from the 30-man Ballon d’Or nominations list with a recent social media post.

The Brazilian won both La Liga and the Champions League last term – scoring 17 goals and picking up nine assists along the way – but was overlooked for football’s biggest prize. Teammates such as Jude Bellingham, Federico Valverde, Toni Kroos, Vinicius Jr, Dani Carvajal, Antonio Rudiger, and Kylian Mbappe all made the cut ahead of him, with Madrid receiving more nominations than any other club.

With that in mind, Rodrygo is understandably upset and shared a picture of his many achievements throughout 2023/24 on Instagram. International teammate Neymar also shared a message of support, saying: “Rodrigo is Minimum top 5 player in the world.”

3rd September: Alejandro Garnacho Snaps at Fan on X

Man Utd winger posted, and then deleted, tweet

Manchester United winger Alejandro Garnacho reacted badly for a fan-created video on X (formerly Twitter) which highlighted some of his poor moments from the 2024-25 season so far. Despite scoring against Manchester City in the Community Shield at Wembley on August 10, Garnacho wasn’t selected in Erik ten Hag’s starting line-up for the Premier League games against Fulham and Brighton.

However, the Argentina international did start in the 3-0 defeat against Liverpool on Sunday and the Old Trafford crowd voiced their dissatisfaction when Ten Hag withdrew the talented wide-man for Amad Diallo in the 69th minute.

Garnacho appeared to take some of his frustrations out on X, when he responded to a video with the message: “Wasting your time making clips for me – Your life so far,” alongside a laughing emoji. The post was swiftly deleted, but not before plenty of screenshots had been taken. The fan in question doubled down by replying: “Focus on your first touch and dribbling you bum. If you weren’t so bad I wouldn’t have any footage to post.” Ouch.

2nd September: The Moment Liverpool Took the Mickey out of Man United

Liverpool were completely dominant as they defeated Manchester United at Old Trafford on Sunday afternoon. A Luis Diaz brace and a Mohamed Salah goal gave them a comfortable victory at the home of their fierce rivals. There really was a huge gulf in class between the two sides and that was emphasised in the 58th minute when the away side decided to toy with the Red Devils with some quick, intricate passes.

The Reds were playing some beautiful football and United couldn’t get anywhere near them, with the travelling Liverpool supporters shouting ‘Ole!’ every time they completed a pass. The move culminated with Alexis Mac Allister finding Salah with a superb ball but his curled effort was just off target.

2nd September: Trent Alexander-Arnold Reacts to Man United Fans Booing Him

Alexander-Arnold couldn’t resist giving some back

Trent Alexander-Arnold put in another superb display as Liverpool defeated Manchester United on Sunday afternoon. Despite being substituted late on in the game once again, the Englishman was all smiles after helping his side to a 3-0 victory at the home of their fierce rivals.

After the match, Alexander-Arnold and his Liverpool teammates were booed by United supporters as they left the ground to return home. The 25-year-old couldn’t resist giving some back as he held three fingers up at the booing supporters to signify their victory while wearing a beaming smile on his face. The video has gone viral on social media with his actions going down very well with Liverpool fans.

1st September: Portsmouth Score Comical Own-Goal

Zak Swanson’s unfortunate own-goal gave Sunderland the lead

Portsmouth scored one of the most comical own-goals we’ve seen in some time in their defeat to Sunderland on Saturday afternoon. Sunderland broke the deadlock in the 31st minute and it came in bizarre circumstances. The danger looked to be averted for Portsmouth after Will Norris saved Eliezer Mayenda’s effort and fell to Jordan Williams inside the box.

However, Williams’ powerful clearance cannoned off the unfortunate Swanson, who was standing around five metres away from his teammates, and the ball managed to find a way past Norris and find the back of the net. Portsmouth went on to lose the match 3-1 as Sunderland made it four wins from four to start the campaign.