The Daily Dirt April 2, 2018: R-E-S-P-E-C-T

While Atlanta United was freezing their butts off and parking giant peach buses to earn an incredibly gritty three points in Minnesota on Saturday, there was a lot more going on around the league. Let’s take a look at the wild happenings you may have missed during the euphoria of that 10-man win.

You likely didn’t miss this unless you’ve been under a rock since Friday, but it’s worth talking about anyways. The legend of Zlatan Ibrahimovic grew just a little bit bigger this weekend. The Swedish icon made his anticipated debut against LAFC in the first-ever ‘El Trafico’. In a match in which his side trailed 3-0 through 60 minutes, Zlatan entered the match at 3-1. The deficit was cut to 3-2 just minutes after his introduction and then it was time for the superstar to take center stage.

In what may go down as one of the most iconic moments in the league’s history, Zlatan latched onto a long ball and struck a first-time volley from around 40 yards. His looping shot flew over the goalkeeper’s head and into the back of the net to send the StubHub Center and social media into delirium. If that wasn’t enough, he tacked on a stoppage time game-winner to complete possibly the greatest debut MLS has ever seen.

Elsewhere, the New England Revolution pulled off the most shocking result of the weekend, defeating the Houston Dynamo, 2-0, in Houston. The Seattle Sounders remained winless so far this season, losing to the Montreal Impact at home. Also, the Columbus Crew fell to the Vancouver Whitecaps at home.

International

Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi saved Barcelona’s undefeated league season with two goals after the 85th minute to overcome a 2-0 deficit away to Sevilla.

Tottenham beat Chelsea at Stamford Bridge for the first time in 28 years (Cartilage Free Captain)

Bayern Munich totally embarrassed rivals Borussia Dortmund in Der Klassiker (Bavarian Football Works)

Mohamed Salah is having a historically great goalscoring season for Liverpool (Sky Sports)

Head-scratcher of the weekend

Everyone laugh at Minnesota United captain Francisco Calvo for blaming the lack of respect his team gets on being unable to score on a 10-man Atlanta United this weekend.

Cool story.