Europe

It’s long been known that the atmosphere inside of Turkish football stadiums is otherworldly. Most commonly, the domain of Turkish stadia has been said to bear an uncanny resemblance to playing in hell for visitors. From your greeting at the airport to your sleepless night in the team hotel, you finally arrive inside a cauldron of noise like Besiktas’ Vodafone Park and encounter scenes that last from the first minute until the 90th.  

Liverpool visited Spartak Moscow on Tuesday in what promised to be a special Champions League night for Jürgen Klopp’s side. However, in the 22nd minute Fernando gave the Russian side a shock lead with an impressive free kick. 

Fernando's goal for Spartak Moscow pic.twitter.com/O5cTdhhMmA

— ♥️ Football ツ (@footballpr0n) 26 de septiembre de 2017

Harry Kane is having himself a month. In fact, the entire 2017 year has been good to Tottenham’s No. 10. A Harry Kane hat trick on Tuesday against APOEL saw his tally rise to nine goals in five matches in September as Tottenham saw off their Cyprian hosts 3-0 in the Champions League group stage.

Miguel Layun scored his first goal of the season Tuesday, putting the finishing touches on Porto's 3-0 win over Monaco.

Jesus "Tecatito" Corona and Hector Herrera were involved in the buildup, although said buildup wasn't exactly pretty.

Borussia Dortmund may be just about perfect in the Bundesliga, but the Champions League has been a different story. Real Madrid may be struggling in La Liga, but it’s business as usual in the Champions League. Real Madrid walloped Dortmund 3-1 on Wednesday at Signal Iduna Park, leaving the German side in danger of missing out on the knockout rounds. 

In the United States, it’s ubiquitous. Whether it’s the Super Bowl or a high school basketball game, the national anthem will be played before a sporting event. So why don’t European soccer teams play the national anthem before matches? The answer lies in the history of America’s own devotion to the Star-Spangled Banner.

So this is it. The 2017 portion of Paris Saint-Germain’s 2017-18 season boils down to Wednesday’s match against Bayern Munich at the Parc des Princes, followed by their clash on December 5 at the Allianz. Will Neymar do enough in those two matches to kick-start his campaign for the 2018 Ballon d’Or?

The list for the players with the most official appearances in the history of soccer stretches from players who played in the 1940s to the present day. Goalkeepers like Iker Casillas and Gianluigi Buffon have both entered the top 20, but there are still many players ahead of the two active legends.

According to Footballdatabase.eu, English goalkeeper Peter Shilton has accumulated the most official appearances with 1,390.