New Carbon-plate Boots Give Speed Boost At Champions League

Designed after deconstructing track spikes, new lightweight soccer boots featuring carbon-fiber plates have been giving players a speedy edge at the Champions League finals. Serge Gnabry has three goals in two games for Bayern Munich, and rival winger Angel Di Maria scored one and set up Paris Saint-Germain’s other two goals in the semifinals. The pandemic-enforced extension to the European season meant the new boots were ready for Gnabry and Di Maria and other Adidas-backed players to wear at the Champions League mini-tournament which ends Sunday with Bayern playing PSG in the final. What we have done is deconstruct that sprint spike and that sprint spike knowledge and completely rebuilt it in the context of football and its specific movements,” Adidas Senior Product Manager Philipp Hagel told The Associated Press.