Goals

After losing the home leg of its Copa Libertadores semifinal against Grêmio 1-0 in Buenos Aires, River Plate pulled off a shocking 2-1 reverse scoreline in Porto Alegre on Tuesday night to advance to the final of South America’s premier club competition on away goals. For River Plate, the late dramatics were pure delirium; for Grêmio, it was the cruelest of defeats.

Everything started brilliantly for the Brazilian club. In the 36th minute, Léo Gomes gave his side a 2-0 aggregate lead with a nicely taken half-volley from outside the 18. Arena do Grêmio lost it. 

When’s the last time you thought about Alexandre Pato? 

Was it when you were walking your dog and he started pulling on the leash, trying to get after a cacophonous flock of ducks, and you mused: “Silly dog, you’ll never catch those patos, just like Barcelona was never going to catch Pato . . . I have a problem.” 

The Stanford Cardinal women’s soccer program is at it again. The defending NCAA College Cup champion is the No. 1-ranked team in the land with an undefeated record of 15 wins and two ties. The Cardinal defeated No. 15 Colorado 7-0 on Oct. 21, and the side features the likes of Tierna Davidson (she’s been capped 12 times by the USWNT at the age of 20), 2017 Pac-12 All-Conference First Team selection Alana Cook and 2017 ESPNW Player of the Year Catarina Macario.

Last weekend, the LA Galaxy’s 3-1 win over Minnesota United — coupled with Real Salt Lake’s 0-3 defeat to Portland — seemed to all but guarantee Zlatan’s side a place in the playoffs. The route was clear: defeat the Houston Dynamo, the West’s 10th-place side, at home, and the Galaxy would be in.

Anything less and it was all over.

27 minutes into the first half, the Galaxy took control through Ola Kamara with Romain Alessandrini providing the assist. 

Alphonso Davies signed off on his Vancouver Whitecaps career with a sensational solo strike in the club’s match against the Portland Timbers on Sunday. Vancouver had already been eliminated from playoff contention and used the season finale at BC Place as a send-off to the 17-year-old, who joined the club’s residency program in 2015.

Barcelona heaped the pressure on crisis-stricken Real Madrid Sunday with a 5-1 El Clásico victory at the Camp Nou. The first half was dominated by the home side and both Philippe Coutinho and Luis Suarez helped Barça to a 2-0 lead by the interval. But Real answered through Marcelo in the 50th minute and came extremely close to equalizing on a number of occasions before Suarez’s brilliant header in the 75th minute gave the league-leaders some breathing room.