CINCINNATI – One of Jimmy McLaughlin’s first professional games put him directly matched up with Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo in an international friendly between the Philadelphia Union and Real Madrid.



If you search hard enough, you can maybe even find a clip of him – at the age of 18 and then playing in the Union’s youth academy – nutmegging Ronaldo.



Now, the 25-year-old FC Cincinnati midfielder can only dream of such a matchup, but in the near future, it might not be so far-fetched to think the world’s top teams could be willing to make a trip to Cincinnati for a preseason tune-up.



FC Cincinnati, a third-year United Soccer League club that begins Major League Soccer play in 2019, announced Friday it will host Spanish La Liga’s RCD Espanyol in an international friendly July 28 at Nippert Stadium.



Barcelona-based Espanyol finished 11th in top-division La Liga this year and is the oldest club in the...