MADRID — Spanish champion Real Madrid suffered a shock 1-0 loss at home to promoted Cadiz on Saturday, its first LaLiga defeat in over seven months.
Honduran forward Anthony Lozano put Cadiz ahead in the 16th minute, darting between Madrid defenders Sergio Ramos and Raphael Varane to meet a cushioned header from Alvaro Negredo and lifting the ball over keeper Thibaut Courtois into the net.
GOAL FOR CADIZ!
Zlatan Ibrahimovic caught Covid-19 in September and turned 39 on Oct. 3. Neither has slowed him down one bit.
I tested negative to Covid yesterday and positive today. No symptoms what so ever. Covid had the courage to challenge me. Bad idea
— Zlatan Ibrahimović (@Ibra_official) September 24, 2020
BERLIN — RB Leipzig muscled past Augsburg 2-0 on Saturday to stay top of the Bundesliga after four matches while fellow title contenders Borussia Dortmund needed a second-half goal by substitute Marco Reus to beat hosts Hoffenheim 1-0.
Leipzig struggled throughout the first half but scored on the stroke of halftime when Angelino drilled in a header at the far post from a perfectly-floated Dani Olmo cross.
LIVERPOOL, England — Champion Liverpool was frustrated by VAR as it was held to a 2-2 Premier League derby draw with Everton at Goodison Park on Saturday after a late effort from Jordan Henderson was ruled out.
Everton remained top of the table on 13 points, three ahead of Liverpool, after an incident-packed end to the 237th Merseyside derby.
The game was locked at 2-2 after Dominic Calvert-Lewin's 10th goal of the season in all competitions had brought Everton level in the 81st minute.
PARIS — Paris St Germain left it late to wrap up a 4-0 win at 10-man Nimes with Kylian Mbappe scoring twice as the French champions moved top of the Ligue 1 standings on Friday ahead of their Champions League opener against Manchester United.
Mbappe opened the scoring before the break and joined Alessandro Florenzi and Pablo Sarabia in netting inside the final 12 minutes to put PSG on 15 points from seven games, four days before hosting United at the Parc des Princes.
Goals from Bernardo Silva and a brace from Diogo Jota gave Portugal a comfortable 3-0 win over Sweden in the Nations League on Wednesday as the hosts made light of the absence of Cristiano Ronaldo due to a positive COVID-19 test.
Mexico salvaged a 2-2 draw against 10-man Algeria on Tuesday with Jesús Corona’s beautiful opener pegged back by goals from Ismaël Bennacer and Riyad Mahrez before Diego Lainez provided one final flourish to the script in The Hague.
A beautiful aspect of international football is that it allows you to sample the vibe of a far-flung locale from the comfort of your own living room. Today, I took a trip to Riga, Latvia, to watch a UEFA Nations League D Group 1 meeting between the host nation and visiting Malta.
With Faroe Islands pacing the group on seven points from three matches, this was effectively a must-win game for both 137th-ranked Latvia (three points off three draws) and 186th-ranked Malta (two points).
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.
Marcus Rashford's penalty and a lucky strike from Mason Mount helped England come from a goal down to overcome top-ranked Belgium 2-1 at Wembley on Sunday and climb above them in their UEFA Nations League group.
Romelu Lukaku opened the scoring for the visitors from the penalty spot in the 16th minute after being brought down by a lunging tackle from England's Eric Dier. It was the Inter Milan striker's 13th goal in his last 11 matches for his country.