Finishing

BARCELONA - Barcelona bounced back from their painful Clásico loss in style as they cruised to a 3-0 home LaLiga win over Villarreal with a brace from Robert Lewandowski on Thursday.

Barcelona remained second in the standings on 25 points, three behind Real Madrid and three clear of third-placed Real Sociedad, who have won their last five league games and eight consecutive wins in all competitions.

Sometimes, the best things in life are worth waiting for. Arsenal and Leeds played a thoroughly fascinating match following a lengthy delay due to technical issues at Elland Road, but it was the Gunners who managed to hold on, only just, against Jesse Marsh’s plucky side.

The hero on the day was Bukayo Saka, who now has four goals and four assists in his last seven Premier league games. The 21-year-old is up for the Kopa trophy this week and his performances in recent weeks can only make his case better. 

Get Malik Tillman on the plane.

The 20-year-old USMNT prodigy is at that nascent stage in his career where there's going to be ebbs and flows. Tillman arrived on loan at Rangers from Bayern Munich and had an incredible August — scoring in both Champions League qualifying and the Scottish Premiership — but a downturn in form saw him left on the bench for Rangers' last league match and Wednesday's 7-1 UCL defeat to Liverpool at the Ibrox.

The MLS Cup Playoffs are officially underway and the first day of action featured no shortage of drama. FC Cincinnati came from behind to upset the New York Red Bulls 2-1 thanks to a cool finish from Brandon Vazquez while Julián Araujo was the hero for the LA Galaxy as they beat Nashville SC 1-0. 

The Derby Della Mole has been completely dominated by Juventus, especially in recent years. However, Juve’s monotonous, predictable and uninspired performances of late have allowed their nearby neighbors to catch up and just two points separated the sides going into the derby. Despite a stunning goalkeeping performance from Torino’s Vanja Milinković-Savić, Juventus found its winner thanks to Dušan Vlahović.

Dušan Vlahović with a strikers finish. pic.twitter.com/KihBxESaN1

It was an eventful Thursday for 21-year-old Arsenal talent Bukayo Saka. 

It all started with news of the England international gracing the cover of TIME magazine's "Next Generation Leaders" issue.

How @BukayoSaka87 became the inspiring new face of British soccer. Meet TIME’s latest class of Next Generation Leaders https://t.co/QZAXRmpNZX pic.twitter.com/gMGVdcs55s

MANCHESTER, England - Both Manchester City and Liverpool spent big to revamp their striker department in the close season, with Erling Haaland and Darwin Núñez tipped to be rivals atop the goalscoring charts, but so far it has been no contest.

City's capture of Haaland and Liverpool's addition of Núñez represented a style shift for both, focusing their forward lines around a central striker, as last season's title rivals tried something different.

FC Cincinnati clinched its first-ever MLS Cup Playoffs berth with a comprehensive 5-2 win on the road over DC United. A flurry of early goals got the ball rolling and the visitors never let up as Brazilian forward Brenner bagged a first-half hat-trick. 

Christian Pulisic opened his scoring account for the 2022-23 season on Saturday as he scored in Chelsea’s 3-0 victory against Wolves. After drama with former manager Thomas Tuchel and limited starts, the Pulisic goal vs Wolves ends his 150-day scoring drought for Chelsea.