Records

Carles Gil scored in the first minute of second-half stoppage time to give the New England Revolution a hard-fought 3-2 road win over the Chicago Fire on Wednesday night, clinching an MLS playoff spot in the process.

Gil's third goal of the season, assisted by Tajon Buchanan, went past Fire goalkeeper Gabriel Slonina and also gave the Revolution a franchise-record 18th win of the year.

After a disappointing third-place finish at the Olympics, the USWNT set out on what was supposed to be a victory tour of sorts with a pair of friendlies against Paraguay in September and two more against South Korea in October. With the U.S. only “celebrating” an unsatisfactory bronze medal, the four-time world champions took out their frustrations on a Paraguay squad that may have wished it had just stayed home.

LISBON - It was only last month that Sébastien Haller was being jeered off the field but the towering Ajax forward proved his worth on Wednesday with four goals in their 5-1 Champions League win at Sporting Lisbon.

The gangly 27-year-old striker, who Ajax forgot to register for European competition last season, delivered a masterclass in finishing as the Dutch club got the perfect start to their Group C campaign.

It was a tongue in cheek joke when Erling Haaland burst onto the Champions League scene during the 2019-20 season with 10 goals in eight games to extrapolate that scoring rate into the future. But when Haaland finished as the UCL’s top scorer in 2020-21 with those exact same numbers, the giggles turned to disbelief.

Well, Haaland’s third season in the Champions League began on Wednesday with Borussia Dortmund traveling to Istanbul to play Beşiktaş, and the 21-year-old scored what would eventually prove the match-winner just before halftime. 

With Villarreal and Atalanta lying in wait, Manchester United travelled to Swiss Super League champion Young Boys knowing that three points was vital against the side 30 places beneath them in UEFA’s club coefficient. 

All eyes were on Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s team after the manager again fielded the exciting quartet of Cristiano Ronaldo, Bruno Fernandes, Jadon Sancho and Paul Pogba that’d decimated Newcastle on Saturday.

The Seville skies opened up to a torrent of rain just before halftime, sending players to the locker room to regroup after an historic first half. The Sevilla-RB Salzburg match set a record for most penalties in a Champions League match — in the first half alone.

Sevilla and RB Salzburg played to a bizarre 1-1 draw on Tuesday in Seville to open Champions League play. The final score will take a back seat to the flood of penalty kicks awarded in the first half, when the referee pointed to the spot four times in the opening 42 minutes.