Highlights

Inter Milan revived its hope of advancing to the Champions League Round of 16 with a much-needed 2-0 victory over Borussia Dortmund at the San Siro on Wednesday. Goals from the red-hot Lautaro Martínez and Antonio Candreva catapulted Inter up to second in Group F — three points behind leaders Barcelona — while Dortmund dropped to third.

There were not, admittedly, many great matchups in Tuesday’s Champions League slate. All the big clubs played opponents they were expected to beat, and while some struggled to claim all three points, most came away with easy victories. 

Two of the most emphatic victories came from PSG (5-0 over Club Brugge) and Manchester City (5-1 over Atalanta). Their star men both recorded stunning hat tricks.

Match Day 8 in Serie A confirmed the early trends we’ve seen in Italy: It’s going to be an incredible title race between Juventus and Inter, while it’s going to be another season in hell for AC Milan. However, while those two plot points will dominate the headlines for months to come, a lot of the talk over the next few days will concern the wonder strike that Cagliari’s Radja Nainggolan hit against SPAL on Sunday.

While the new single-elimination format for the MLS playoffs was widely hailed immediately after its announcement, it’s been edifying to watch the first round produce some all time classics over the course of its first two days.

An 85th-minute equalizer from Adam Lallana — his first goal since May 21, 2017 — earned Liverpool a dramatic point from Old Trafford on Sunday, extending Manchester United’s winless streak in league play to four games. It was a gut punch to the home side, who’d largely dictated the run of play for the entirety of the match.

Barcelona had to leave for Eibar a day early due to massive political protests around the city, but the Blaugrana got out of town with an easy three points on Saturday.

MSG all found the back of the net in the same game for the first time for Barcelona, which cruised to a 3-0 victory over Eibar, momentarily leapfrogging Real Madrid into first-place. Los Blancos can surge back into first place in LaLiga with a win over Mallorca later Saturday.

We’re a little over a month away from the 2019 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup in Asunción, Paraguay, but the defending champion has just delivered a timely reminder of its mastery of the sand. The World Beach Games wrapped up yesterday in Doha, Qatar, and it was Brazil that captured the men’s beach soccer title following a 9-3 victory over Russia in the gold medal match.