Game Recaps

Megan Rapinoe and Carli Lloyd are both over 35 and showing no signs of slowing down. While both will face stiff competition to make the 18-woman roster for this summer’s Olympics, they both showed they’re still among the best in the world in a dominant first half against Argentina on Wednesday.

Rapinoe, 35, scored twice and Lloyd, 38, added a third as the USWNT won its fourth SheBelieves Cup by strolling to a 6-0 victory over Argentina on Wednesday night in Florida. The U.S. won all three matches in the competition, becoming the first team to win it in back-to-back years. 

Manchester City reached the preposterous milestone of 19 straight wins across all competitions following Wednesday’s 2-0 Champions League Round of 16 “away” victory over Borussia Mönchengladbach. Goals either half from Bernardo Silva and Gabriel Jesus turned it into a training exercise at Puskás Aréna in Budapest as Gladbach only landed one shot on target. 

Real Madrid will head home with a 1-0 win over Atalanta on Wednesday at Gewiss Stadium in Bergamo, Italy, but the Italian side will be left wondering “what if.”

Atalanta was bossing the 13-time Champions League winners for the opening 15 minutes before a soft red card irreversibly altered the match. Fullback Ferland Mendy both drew the red card and scored the late winner as Zinedine Zidane’s side escaped with a win in the first leg of the Champions League Round of 16. 

Barcelona stayed within two points of Real Madrid and five of Atlético following a comforting 3-0 win over relegation-threatened Elche at the Camp Nou on Wednesday. Lionel Messi was the star of the show with two goals before playing a large role in Jordi Alba’s third, and the Argentine is now LaLiga’s outright top scorer with 18 goals in 22 games. 

The first half saw nice bits of skill from Frenkie de Jong, Messi and Pedri, but Barcelona couldn’t find the opener with Francisco Trincão wasting the best opportunity of the opening 45.

LONDON — Dele Alli and Gareth Bale staked their claims for places in Tottenham Hotspur's first team with superbly-taken goals in a 4-0 victory over Austrian club Wolfsberg in the Europa League last 32 second leg on Wednesday.

Alli has fallen down the pecking order under manager Jose Mourinho, not starting a Premier League game since the opening day of the season, but was clearly in the mood to impress.

The midfielder produced a sensational overhead kick in the 10th minute to give his side the lead on the night, after they won the first leg 4-1 in Budapest.

He’s a big beefcake who peaked late, so Olivier Giroud was never going to be given the credit he deserves. But the World Cup winner has scored and created enough golazos that what he did on Tuesday was not at all surprising. 

The present and future of the Champions League combined to lead Bayern Munich over Lazio on Tuesday with Robert Lewandowski scoring his 72nd goal of the competition and 17-year-old Jamal Musiala scoring his first as Bayern prevailed 4-1 in Rome.

You can’t give the world champions anything if you want to last over the course of 180 minutes, but Lazio damned itself as early as the ninth minute after Mateo Musacchio’s suicidal back-pass allowed Lewandowski to collect possession, round Pepe Reina and finish into an empty net.

Cristiano Ronaldo, like every other footballer on the planet, is underrated when it comes to headers.

The sternest test of the USWNT’s 2021 SheBelieves Cup was ultimately passed on Sunday as Christen Press’ 11th-minute goal was enough to overcome Brazil before Megan Rapinoe’s late insurance strike at Exploria Stadium in Orlando.

Vlatko Andonovski made four changes to the side that labored to a 1-0 victory over Canada last Thursday, including Press for Rapinoe at left wing, Alex Morgan for Carli Lloyd at striker and match-winner Rose Lavelle for Catarina Macario in midfield. 

BARCELONA - Barcelona coach Ronald Koeman said he was even more disappointed by his side being held to a 1-1 draw at home to Cádiz in LaLiga on Sunday than after last week's 4-1 home drubbing by Paris St Germain.

Barça led thanks to Lionel Messi's 32nd-minute penalty but they failed to kill their opponents off and Álex Fernández leveled in the 89th minute, ending a run of seven straight league wins for the Catalans.