It wasn't supposed to end like this for James Rodríguez.

This is the man who starred in his own blockbuster movie. The 2014 World Cup was his Hero Origin Story. Lights, Camera, Action. ⁣

THREAD👇 6 goals. Including that one against Uruguay.⁣ The first Colombian to win the Golden Boot carried his country on his back with pride.

"Don’t play with him. On my mother’s life, he is playing against us”

Three years is a long time in football, and Vini Jr is no longer the butt of Karim Benzema's joke.

He's a full-fledged star and maybe, the best left winger in the world.

THREAD 👇 From 8 goals in his first 82 La Liga games to 17 in 35 last season. Vini Jr has arrived. And it’s not just about the goals, there’s a deeper connection there too.

🇦🇷👟 Carlos Ruiz's store in Buenos Aires is an adidas-filled time capsule

A robbery in the 70s forced him to close the store for 2 years. Upon his return, he realized that he needed to reapply to sell new products

His aversion to paperwork has created a treasure trove
(thread) Since then, Carlos has presided over a store filled to the brim with prime, deadstock, vintage Adidas.

His treasure trove has been the mecca for many a sneaker-head pilgrimage including Noel Gallagher, Ian Brown, and the legendary Spezial, Gary Aspden.

"Same same but different"

A thread of some of the greatest and strangest tributes in the world of football...

Club badge edition...

First up, is maybe the only time you will see Walsall and North Korea mentioned in the same sentence.
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🤝 🇰🇵 Chinese Sheffield United is our new favourite club Nickname...

Mesut Özil. The OG assist king. A pioneer who forever changed the assist numbers game. A player who achieved so much yet it feels like he should have achieved more. One of the most intelligent players we’ve ever seen. [THREAD] A graduate of Schalke's academy, he debuted in Gelsenkirchen but shortly moved to Bremen. In two full seasons at Werder he recorded a staggering 52 assists and 15 goals. UEFA Cup runner-up and DFB Pokal winner. Scored the only goal in the final.

Real Madrid's UCL 3-peat was a remarkable achievement that doesn't get enough credit.
One of the best club teams of all-time [THREAD]. 🧵 After the mid-point of 15/16, Madrid won 17 out of the 20 remaining league games. They went on a 12 match winning run to close the campaign. And won the first of the three consecutive CLs. It set the tone for the next few seasons. They'd go onto sweep 9 trophies in 3 years.📈

Footballer lookalikes (THREAD) 🧵

To start with, Diego Milito looks exactly like a young Sylvester Stallone.

We're not sure if the Argentinian could have played Rocky or Rambo, but he could certainly star in a Champions League final.⭐️ Marko Arnautović - Tom Hardy

Can you imagine the ex-West Ham striker doing business with Tommy Shelby? Judging by his personality, he actually just might! 🔫

Neymar’s now only 3 goals away from Pelé’s all-time record for Brazil and yet he never gets the love. Neymar isn’t overrated, he’s overhated. (THREAD) Huge noise was coming out of Brazil about this young, skinny, audacious guy with a mohawk. He’d soon captivate the world with his unique style of play. The first internet-hyped sensation, his highlights were reaching millions of views on YouTube.

Maurizio Sarri’s Napoli: The Birth of ‘Sarri-ball’.

We’ve seen teams play a fluid, passing based style before, but ‘Sarriball’ was different.

THREAD👇 Others would pass with calmness, Napoli would play on the limit. Passes at high speeds, moving as one on the attack, ghosting through gaps in defences that the naked eye couldn’t see.

It felt like it could fall apart at any moment, but it never did.

Ronaldinho? Maradona? For many, the greatest dribbler of all time is Garrincha.

The entertainer who first brought olés from the bull-fighting arena into the stadium, Garrincha mesmerised supporters and left opponents in his wake. [THREAD]
Garrincha's left leg was 6cm longer than his right. His spine was deformed. He was, however, absolutely electric from day one. Before he turned pro, a scout remarked: "There's an unknown player who lives in the woods, has bent legs, is unmarkable and dribbles like the devil".

Comoros made history last night🇰🇲

A win against Ghana kept them in contention of qualifying for the later stages and knocked out the Black Stars in the process. All in their first-ever major tournament.

THREAD👇
Formed in 1979, it wasn't until 2005 that they were officially recognised by FIFA, having only become a member of CAF 2 years prior.

A whole 26 years on from their formation…

A decade ago *today* kicked off arguably the maddest month in Spanish football history.

4 El Clasicos in 18 days that decided La Liga, the Copa Del Rey & the UCL Semi Finals.

Red Cards, Pitch invasions, Press conference meltdowns. El Clasico hasn't been the same since.
THREAD So, the 1st meeting is a La Liga fixture in the Bernabeu & the pressure is on Madrid as they trail Barca in the league by 8 points & were humiliated in the first clasico of the season 5 - 0.

We're all loving the return of the UCL but in terms of football folklore, a fixture going down in Chile tonight may just be the most important match of the week.

It's a relegation playoff between CD Universidad & Colo Colo it has all of Chile holding it's breath. (THREAD) It's all because the away side is Colo Colo, the country's biggest, most successful club, with 32 titles & the only Chilean Copa Libertadores trophy.

They have never even come close to relegation & the sheer thought of going down is causing all kinds of scenes across the country

In two years, Jamie Lawrence went from playing football in prison to the Premier League.

We teamed up with our friends @planetfutebol to bring you his remarkable story 🙌 (THREAD)... Lawrence was born in Balham, south London, to Jamaican parents in 1970.

His life took a turn for the worst at 16, when his mother and step-father moved back to Jamaica. Lawrence stayed in London, falling into gang violence to make ends meet.

Club football is finally back with us this weekend but forget the Barclays or La Liga, this weekend is ALL about what’s going down in Norway 🇳🇴 where a Leicester City style title win is about to go down, a football fairytale for the ages THREAD: That’s because if Norwegian giants Molde drop points in their match today, FK Bodø/Glimt, a tiny club from the Arctic circle in the very north of Norway will win their very first Norwegian top division or “Eliteserien” title, only three years after being promoted to the top tier

Leicester City were the only Premier League team to vote against PPV matches. They're a club who genuinely seem to have fans at the forefront of their thinking.

We teamed up with @planetfutebol to look at how @LCFC just keep getting it right.

THREAD 👇 Firstly, it hasn't always been plain sailing...

Relegation to the 3rd tier in 2008, going straight back up the season after, Kermorgant’s failed Panenka getting them knocked out the play-offs in 2010, the madness of Knockaert and Deeneeeey in 2012.

They've been through a lot!

Here are some of our favourite books that have inspired us over the years.

Perfect lockdown material. 📚

https://twitter.com/MarcusRashford/status/1329049202169700353

This book is perhaps the most complete exploration of the Italian Ultras scene. It will give you an understanding of why the phenomenon of Ultras has it roots as a uniquely Italian tradition.

This book was seminal in our research for Lombardia Derby Days.

We felt that it was important to give a roundup contextualising the various scenes before and after the Champions League final last night to bring some context to the scenes we saw in Paris, Marseille, and the lesser noted scenes in Munich: Yesterday PSG supporters marched to the ground with a banner dedicated to James Rophe, a legendary fan who was critical in their fight to return to the ground. Earlier this year he passed away:

https://twitter.com/GFFN/status/1297591172194545665

Behind the badge: @OM_Officiel 🇫🇷

Thread 👇 Olympique de Marseille were formed in 1899 by all-round athlete René Dufaure de Montmirail, with a particular focus on his speciality: rugby.

An AMAZING tribute by @NFFC fans this weekend to their former players who fell during the wars. 👏

"They played freely on the pitch.
They fought for our freedom off the field.
So when you wear this shirt, remember what they did." So why those colours, and not the traditional red of Nottingham Forest?

They are the official colours of the Sherwood Foresters, the Nottinghamshire regiment which included the inhabitants of Nottingham and Derby.

Fittingly @NFFC and @dcfcofficial played each other on the day.