Europe

Barcelona must press on with plans to renovate Camp Nou in order to replenish revenues lost because of the COVID-19 pandemic, vice-president Jordi Moix told Reuters, adding that the $957 million project will pay for itself.

The club announced a financing deal with Goldman Sachs on Monday to modernize their iconic but run down stadium and raise its capacity from 99,000 to 105,000. Should the plan be approved by club members next year, building work can begin by June 2021 and will take around five years to complete.

Francesco Caputo was thrilled to finally pull on an Italy shirt at the age 33 but there was also a tinge of regret at what might have been after a career spent largely in the lower divisions of Italian football.

The Sassuolo forward became Italy's second-oldest debutant when he started Wednesday's friendly against Moldova and needed only 23 minutes to score his first international goal in the 6-0 win.

Olivier Giroud became France's second top scorer when he netted a double to take his international tally to 42 goals as the world champions crushed an injury and COVID-19-ravaged Ukraine 7-1 in a friendly in a near-empty Stade de France on Wednesday.

Giroud, who celebrated winning his 100th cap, found the back of the net twice in the second half to move within nine goals of Thierry Henry's French scoring record. The Chelsea striker leapfrogged Michel Platini, who scored 41 goals from 72 games between 1976-87. 

Mexico has gone into the empty belly of the beast and defeated the Netherlands 1-0 at Johan Cruijff ArenA. The game’s only goal — a penalty converted by Raúl Jiménez — was fortunate in that Jiménez was offside before the foul that led to the spot kick, but Mexico’s play in defense, midfield and attack was superior to the Dutch’s over the course of 90 minutes in Amsterdam.

Here are my five key takeaways after watching Wednesday’s match on ESPN2.    

#1. Tecatito is fun as hell.

When Spain and Portugal meet today in a friendly at Estádio José Alvalade in Lisbon, Portugal, it’ll mark the first meeting between the Iberian rivals since that legendary 3-3 draw during the group stage of the 2018 World Cup.

The match will also be a direct contest between Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo and Spain captain Sergio Ramos, who spent nine years together at Real Madrid while winning two league titles and four Champions League crowns. 

Czech footballer Antonin Panenka, whose cheeky winning penalty technique against Germany in the 1976 European Championship has been copied by some of the game's greatest players, is in intensive care at a hospital, his former club said on Wednesday.

Panenka, 71, led the Czechoslovak national team to their only international title after he lofted the decisive penalty past a surprised and sprawling German goalkeeper Sepp Maier in the shoot-out of the final.

Ukraine have included 45-year-old retired goalkeeper Oleksandr Shovkovskiy in the squad for Wednesday's friendly against France after three other keepers tested positive for COVID-19, the country's football federation (UAF) said.

Shovkovskiy, who retired in 2016 and has made 92 appearances for Ukraine, is currently assistant to head coach Andriy Shevchenko.