Prodigies

Norway showed Brendan Rodgers levels of character by rebounding from Thursday’s heartbreaking 2-1 defeat to Serbia in the Euro 2021 playoffs with a 4-0 win over Romania in Nations League play on Sunday.

It’s obviously small consolation for the nation’s failure to qualify for a first major international tournament since Euro 2000, but today’s victory showed why qualifying for the 2022 World Cup might be within this current generation’s reach. 

In his MLS debut, 17-year-old Caden Clark scored shortly after halftime to lift the New York Red Bulls to a 1-0 victory over Atlanta United on Saturday night at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

Clark's goal, his fourth in the pros after scoring three times for the New York Red Bulls II of the second-tier USL Championship, came on the match's first shot on target.

Bayern Munich's Robert Lewandowski scored four goals including a stoppage-time penalty to give the German champions a 4-3 home win over Hertha Berlin in a pulsating Bundesliga clash at the Allianz Arena on Sunday.

The result left Bayern fourth in the standings on six points from three games, one behind the top three led by Leipzig on goal difference, while Hertha slipped to 13th on four points.

Lewandowski fired Bayern into a 2-0 lead with two trademark goals before the visitors hit back through Jhon Cordoba and Matheus Cunha to set up a frantic climax.

For Real Madrid supporters, the new season had been worryingly labored, bordering on wasteful. It began with a 0-0 draw against Real Sociedad, continued with a narrow win over 10-man Real Betis that required a late Sergio Ramos penalty and reached a crescendo at mid-week after Vinícius Júnior’s scuffed effort was the only difference in a home victory over Valladolid.  

In-form Everton striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin has earned his first call-up to the senior England squad while Phil Foden and Mason Greenwood were dropped for disciplinary reasons.

England host a friendly with Wales on Oct. 8 before Nations League matches at home to Belgium and Denmark.

Calvert-Lewin has scored eight goals this season in all competitions, including a hat-trick against West Ham United in the League Cup fourth round on Wednesday.

Lionel Messi might have grabbed the headlines this summer for all the wrong reasons as he attempted to leave Barcelona, but on Monday morning they finally belonged to someone else.

Despite being just 17, a lot is expected of Ansu Fati and he did not disappoint, putting in a magical display as Barça thrashed Villarreal 4-0 on Sunday.

Many have pondered what life is going to be like at the Nou Camp once Messi finally leaves, and with the Argentine apparently seeing out the final year of his deal before moving on next year, Fati gave a glimpse of what that might be like.