Other Clubs

SAO PAULO — Spanish club Barcelona will play Argentine giants Boca Juniors in a December tribute match to mark the one year-anniversary of the death of their former player Diego Maradona, the two clubs announced on Monday.

“FC Barcelona and Club Atletico Boca Juniors will play the ‘Maradona Cup’ on Dec. 14, a game to pay tribute to the star Diego Armando Maradona when the first anniversary of his death is remembered,” Barcelona said in a statement.

Chelsea defeated Swedish opposition Malmö in the Champions League on Wednesday 4-0 in the pouring London rain but suffered a pair of injuries as Romelu Lukaku and Timo Werner both left the game early. The Lukaku and Werner injuries took place in the first half.

Lukaku was substituted out after his ankle was caught in a challenge by a Malmö defender. Later on, Werner was sprinting for a ball over the top and pulled up grabbing at his hamstring.

Bayern Munich has been blowing out competition this season, scoring three or more goals in 11 of 12 matches coming into Wednesday, including eight in two Champions League games. But through 70 minutes on Wednesday, the German giants were scoreless. That is, until the Leroy Sané free kick vs Benfica. 

Sané blasted a marvelous free kick to break the deadlock and open the floodgates as Bayern poured it on late in a 4-0 win on Wednesday at the Estádio da Luz. Sané scored the first and fourth goals after his club had two goals denied by the VAR.

AC Milan sits bottom of the Group B table after Porto’s Mehdi Taremi set up the game’s only goal from his bottom. The Porto goal vs Milan was awkward and fluky but no less than the home side deserved at the Estádio do Dragão. 

There’s nothing quite like a Europa League match at 8:30 a.m. on a Tuesday between two Americans, I guess. Though not on the normal Thursday night timing, Celtic’s match with Ferencváros brought the same eccentricity you expect from a Europa League game. 

Rangers fell 1-0 to Sparta Prague on Thursday, but the real loser was humanity. Rangers midfielder Glen Kamara — who was racially abused by a Czech player from Slavia Prague last season — was booed throughout Thursday night’s match.

Zenit St. Petersburg sits in third place in Champions League Group H after Wednesday's 4-0 stomping of Swedish side Malmö, level on points with Chelsea. Zenit opened group play with a 1-0 defeat to the Blues, its first loss of the season, on Sep. 14. 

Sergei Semak's team coasted to victory in its second UCL outing of the season, already up 2-0 when Malmö's Anel Ahmedhodžić was sent off for a handball after 53 minutes.

Ronald Koeman, it’s time for your 45-second phone call.  

After an embarrassingly limp (zero shots on target) 3-0 defeat to Bayern Munich at the Camp Nou to begin Champions League play, Barcelona played even worse on Wednesday night during a 3-0 defeat to Benfica in Lisbon (one shot on target!).