Champions League

Stephan El Shaarawy scored what we’re forever calling a Roman Hat Trick. The Roma winger scored two goals in the first half against Chelsea and received a bit of unexpected foreplay from teammate Diego Perotti. Roma beat Chelsea 3-0 on Tuesday in the Rome rematch of the remarkably entertaining 3-3 draw at Stamford Bridge a couple weeks ago. El Shaarawy was at the center of it all, spoiling the return of Blues coach Antonio Conte to his native country. 

Eden Dzeko cushions a perfect header that sets up a Stephan El Shaarawy volley for the ages. What a strike! Roma are up early in Champions League group stage play.

Roma's El Shaarawy with a SCREAMER on Halloween! https://t.co/QBWkj52HqH

— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) October 31, 2017

Pelé may be 77 years old, but he’s still winning. On Friday, Pelé won two club world championships.

FIFA actually got something right on Monday when it awarded Cristiano Ronaldo The Best FIFA Men’s Player of 2017 at the FIFA award show. Lieke Martens was named The Best Women’s Player while Olivier Giroud claimed the Puskas Award for the best goal. 

Ronaldo won the honor as best men’s player for the second year in a row and was also named to the FIFA FIFPro World XI alongside four of his Real Madrid teammates. 

The Champions League is the richest club competition in the world, paying out more than $1.5 billion to participating teams. But the Champions League prize money distribution is kinda funky given the amount of cash being tossed around. Leicester City, which reached the quarterfinals, was paid more than Real Madrid, which won the whole dadgum thing. 

England has five teams in the Champions League for the first time and amazingly all of them are still unbeaten through three matches in group play. Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City and Tottenham all lead their groups with a combined 11 wins, four draws and no losses.

Barcelona defeated Olympiakos 3-1 in the Champions League despite having defender Gerard Pique sent off in the 42nd minute. A Dimitris Nikolaou own goal, Lionel Messi free kick and Lucas Digne insurance strike were enough to overcome their Greek opposition on a wet and wild night at the Camp Nou. Messi’s goal was his 100th overall in European competition with 97 coming in the Champions League and three in the UEFA Super Cup.

Wednesday’s Chelsea-AS Roma game had everything. It had six goals in total, Antonio Rudiger playing against his former team, Gary Cahill wearing a bandage around his head like he just went to the dentist in 1876, Frederico Fazio getting magic spray on his junk because Pedro’s head smashed into his nether regions and an Edin Dzeko goal that might be one of the best you’ll see all year. In the end, Chelsea and AS Roma played to a wildly entertaining 3-3 draw in Champions League group play at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday. 

Benfica goalkeeper Mile Svilar will not be pleased with his performance Wednesday against Manchester United in the Champions League, as his mistake proved the defference between the two sides. The18-year-old caught a Marcus Rashford free kick and brought it with him across the goal line, which is not, you know, good.