Europe

Euro 2020 finalists England pushed world champions France out of the top three in world soccer body FIFA's latest men's soccer rankings published on Thursday.

Belgium remained the top ranked side, followed by Brazil. European champions Italy, on a record unbeaten international run of 37 matches, are fifth with Argentina sixth.

Third place equals England's highest ranking since 2012. Gareth Southgate's side lost on penalties to Italy in the Euro 2020 final at Wembley in July and were World Cup semifinalists in Russia in 2018. France went out of Euro 2020 in the Round of 16.

LISBON - It was only last month that Sébastien Haller was being jeered off the field but the towering Ajax forward proved his worth on Wednesday with four goals in their 5-1 Champions League win at Sporting Lisbon.

The gangly 27-year-old striker, who Ajax forgot to register for European competition last season, delivered a masterclass in finishing as the Dutch club got the perfect start to their Group C campaign.

In the annals of soccer history, you have to pick from some of the greatest teams of all time to find a front three that compares to the PSG lineup Mauricio Pochettino chose on Wednesday. For the first time, he was able to field Lionel Messi, Neymar and Kylian Mbappé, the much-hyped MNM trio.

The vaunted PSG lineup didn’t last long nor did it impress on the road at Club Brugge. The star forwards went scoreless as Paris Saint-Germain was held to a stunning 1-1 draw by the Belgian side. Club Brugge looked far more exciting on offense, outshooting PSG 16-9 (7-4 on target). 

Manchester City and RB Leipzig played the most thrilling game to open up the 2021-22 Champions League season with a nine-goal thriller that saw City win 6-3. American fans won’t want to talk about the Jack Grealish vs Tyler Adams moment for City’s fourth goal.

Adams was caught ball watching and far too lackadaisical tracking back to get to a ball in his final third. His slowness allowed Grealish to pick up the ball and proceed to do horrible things to the American. Close your eyes USMNT fans, Adams is about to get murdered.

Nothing ignites the kindling like Liverpool versus Milan — two clubs that’ve combined to appear in 20 Champions League finals and contested the greatest of them all — and Wednesday night’s group stage encounter at Anfield was a wildfire.    

The first half was a miniature reversal of the “Miracle of Istanbul.” Liverpool dominated the opening 40 minutes with wave after wave of pressure while Milan struggled to break through the press. The stat that best exemplified the one-way action was Liverpool earning 10 corners in the first half to Milan’s zero. 

FC Sheriff Tiraspol made headlines for being the first club from Moldova (Transnistria) to make the Champions League group stage. I don’t think anyone realized how much of a gold mine this team is until the club’s historic 2-0 home victory against Shakhtar Donetsk.

It was a tongue in cheek joke when Erling Haaland burst onto the Champions League scene during the 2019-20 season with 10 goals in eight games to extrapolate that scoring rate into the future. But when Haaland finished as the UCL’s top scorer in 2020-21 with those exact same numbers, the giggles turned to disbelief.

Well, Haaland’s third season in the Champions League began on Wednesday with Borussia Dortmund traveling to Istanbul to play Beşiktaş, and the 21-year-old scored what would eventually prove the match-winner just before halftime. 

Ronald Koeman might be right that Barcelona could still cobble together a league challenge, but Barça hasn’t been this far from competing for Europe’s ultimate club prize since it played in the Europa League (the same season a 16-year-old Cesc Fàbregas left La Masia for Arsenal).