We watched a total of four matches between yesterday and today: Barcelona v PSG, Liverpool v Leipzig, Juventus v Porto and, finally, Sevilla v Borussia Dortmund. During these four matches, we noticed plenty of new developments in football boots and gloves, which is why we’ve decided to take a look at the most interesting features, the most unusual boots and the latest releases, with the players naturally taking centre stage.
FC Barcelona - PSG
Obviously, we can’t help but start with the match that saw Mbappé step onto the Camp Nou pitch for the first time and shine like the brightest star. As well as the thrashing we witnessed, we noticed plenty of other interesting details, such as the football boots worn by Pedri, the very young Blaugrana player who was wearing the new Copa Sense+, a pair of adidas boots launched that very same day. On the opposite side, we saw several players wearing boots from previous seasons or customised versions. Without a doubt, the ones that stood out the most were Kurzawa’s football boots. We saw him take to the pitch in a pair of customised Nike Phantom GTs – in other words, a pair of ‘Nike By You’ boots. We must say that we personally like them a lot, and the colour combination chosen by the Frenchman makes the boot look very striking and undoubtedly a standout on a stage of this calibre. Alongside the full-back, we saw how the PSG and France centre-back continues to use the previous generation of Mercurials, but that didn’t surprise us too much, as many players still use them; what caught our attention most was the colourway he played the match in. A colour combination that dates back to last summer and which we should have seen on the players’ feet during the EURO, which was unfortunately postponed. The pack it comes from is the Neighbourhood Pack. Staying with Nike, we were lucky enough to see all the models released as part of the new Spectrum Pack: the Nike Phantom GT, spotted on the feet of Busquets and Marquinhos; the Mercurial Dragonfly, naturally on Mbappé’s feet; and finally the Tiempo, which Piqué wore on his return to the pitch following a serious injury. We finish with the goalkeepers: on one hand, Germany’s Ter Stegen with his Predators on both his feet and his hands, and on the other, Keylor Navas with a pair of blackout Predators in his hands and the older Predator 19.1 on his feet.
Leipzig – Liverpool
Liverpool had an easy time of it away to the Germans, and a 2-0 win will put them in with a chance of reaching the quarter-finals. Here too we saw several very interesting football boots. Without a doubt, the most eye-catching boots are those of Alexander Arnold, who wears Under Armour, and those of Mané, who wears New Balance Furon. Many wonder why Liverpool’s Brazilian goalkeeper, Alisson, who is sponsored by Nike, wears two different pairs of gloves in domestic and European competitions. Well, the answer is simple. In fact, in European competitions such as the Champions League, brand logos – in this case, the Nike Swoosh – cannot exceed a certain size, so brands must adapt to these rules imposed by FIFA. That is why goalkeepers such as Alisson or Courtois wear a different pair of gloves to their usual ones.
Sevilla – Dortmund
In sunny Andalusia, a match full of thrills, goals and top-class players took place. Of course, we also spotted a few interesting details regarding the football boots. Let’s start with the now classic example of Dortmund captain Marco Reus, who, as we’ve seen on several occasions, wears a pair of laceless Puma Future Z boots. Dahoud also wears Puma Futures, but from a previous generation: the orange and black Puma Future 6.1.
Porto – Juventus
In Portugal, the Bianconeri were unlucky and failed to secure the three points they were aiming for. CR7 and his teammates return to Italy feeling disappointed and regretful, but this has merely been a setback that will surely see them come back stronger than before. That said, let’s take a look at what we noticed about the football boots. Bentancur’s back pass, which led to the home side’s first goal, did not go unnoticed, but what boots was the Uruguayan wearing? We honestly thought he’d take to the pitch in the new generation of Copa boots, but he opted to stick with a pair of super-classic white Copa Mundial boots.
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