Upsets

Southampton forward Danny Ings required just 17 minutes of action in 2020 to begin utterly embarrassing defenders. In Wednesday's 1-0 victory over Tottenham — which saw the Saints move up to 12th place on 25 points — Ings kept up his red-hot form with a goal which is sure to leave Toby Alderweireld with nightmares. 

Ajax, semifinalist last time around, has been eliminated from the UEFA Champions League at the group stage following a heartbreaking 1-0 defeat to Valencia in Amsterdam. 

Heading into the day as Group H leaders, Johan Cruijff ArenA fully expected a celebratory affair given the fact that Ajax had previously crushed Valencia 3-0 at the Mestalla back on Oct. 2, but Rodrigo’s goal in the 24th minute — coupled with Chelsea’s 2-1 victory over Lille — sent Ajax crashing down to third and into the Europa League.

Monterrey secured a 1-1 draw away to Santos Laguna in the second leg of their Liga MX quarterfinal to advance to the semis 6-3 on aggregate. Santos Laguna suffered the dreaded Curse of the 'Superlider' at the first hurdle after entering the Liguilla as the Apertura’s top team.

Monterrey, however, isn’t a very forgiving eight-seed, as demonstrated by their 5-2 first leg victory at Estadio BBVA Bancomer last Thursday.

Sheffield United and Manchester United played out a sensational 3-3 draw at Bramall Lane on Sunday evening with the Red Devils overturning a two-goal deficit and looking certain of three points themselves before Oli McBurnie’s late equalizer in the 90th minute.

Sheffield’s early period of dominance could’ve been more pronounced on the scoreboard but for the brilliance of David de Gea, who recorded five saves on the night, including this incredible double save to keep things at 0-0 in the 11th minute.

After getting hammered 4-0 by Bayern Munich before the international break, Borussia Dortmund manager Lucien Favre was essentially coaching for his job during today’s Bundesliga match against Paderborn. 

What’s more, Paderborn travelled to the intimidating Westfalenstadion in last place with only one win from 11 matches. Dortmund entered the match in fifth but the gap between BVB and surprise leader Mönchengladbach stood at only six points.

Swaths of empty seats around the Camp Nou on Tuesday for Slavia Prague's visit in the Champions League reflected the current malaise surrounding Barcelona, one amplified by this past weekend’s 3-1 defeat to Levante in LaLiga. That match both increased the pressure on manager Ernesto Valverde and condemned Luis Suárez to a three-week spell on the sidelines with a new calf injury.

Former Atlético Madrid youth/Arsenal flop Lucas Pérez scored the greatest goal of his career (although he did hit a nice bicycle kick earlier this season), earning Alavés a 1-1 draw with Atlético in Basque Country on Tuesday.

The LA Galaxy triggered a first-ever playoff El Tráfico by defeating Minnesota United 2-1 at Allianz Field in Saint Paul on Sunday, registering the only upset of the first round of 2019 MLS Cup Playoffs. Zlatan Ibrahimović was oddly ineffective and wasteful for the Galaxy, but Sebastian Lletget and Jonathan dos Santos struck in quick succession in the second half to sink the Loons in their maiden playoff voyage.

On Wednesday morning, Canadian residents awoke to extensive coverage of the massive sporting news: Toronto had defeated Minnesota 4-2, the Habs lost to Tampa Bay 3-1, Winnipeg succumbed to Arizona 4-2, Calgary thumped the Flyers 3-1 and the Canucks battered the Red Wings 5-1. What’s more, Donald Trump had welcomed a heavy concentration of Canadians to the White House on Tuesday in the form of the Stanley Cup champion St. Louis Blues. 

Trump congratulated the Blues on the stock market being way up, an agriculture deal with China and a Mike Pence trip to Turkey.