THE SOCCER REPORT
Champions League returns with PSG, Spurs and Real Madrid wins
Feb 19, 2019, 6:16 am
Adidas unveiled the match ball for the 2019 UEFA Champions League Final. Courtesy: adidas
The theme of this week's actions was international competition with the return of the UEFA Champions League, the Europa League and the third round of the Copa Libertadores of South America. Concacaf teams are about to join in on the action with the start of the 2019 Concacaf Champions League, in which the Houston Dynamo will play in Guatemala City on Tuesday night.
UEFA Champions League
Roma and Tottenham were the winning home sides this week while Real Madrid and PSG picked up important away wins against Ajax and Manchester United respectfully. This week, Lyon vs. Barcelona, Liverpool vs. Bayern Munich, Atletico vs. Juventus and Schalke 04 vs. Manchester City will round out the rest of the round of 16 first leg matches.
Round of 16 - first leg results:
- Roma 2-1 Porto
- Manchester United 0-2 PSG
- Tottenham 3-0 Dortmund
- Ajax 1-2 Real Madrid
UEFA Europa League
Round of 32 - first leg results:
- Fenerbace 1-0 Zenit St. Petersburg
- Olympiacos 2-2 Dynamo Kyiv
- Lazio 0-1 Sevilla
- Rapid Vienna 0-1 Inter Milan
- Slava Praha 0-0 Genk
- Galatasaray 1-2 Benfica
- Rennes 3-3 Real Betis
- BATE 1-0 Arsenal
- FC Krasnodar 0-0 Bayer Leverkusen
- Plzen 2-1 Dinamo Zagreb
- Brugge 2-1 Red Bull Salzburg
- Celtic 0-2 Valencia
- Malmo 1-2 Chelsea
- FC Zurich 1-3 Napoli
- Shakhtar Donetsk 2-2 Eintracht Frankfurt
- Sporting CP 0-1 Villareal
- Ajax 1-2 Real Madrid
English Premier League
Action in England's top division was stalled this weekend as the FA Cup took center stage. The quarter-final matches are paired as follows: Millwall vs. Brighton, Swansea City vs. Manchester City, Watford vs. Crystal Palace and Wolves vs. Manchester United. The Prem resumes Friday with a London match-up as West Ham hosts Fulham.
Top six: 1. Manchester City (65), 2. Liverpool (65), 3. Tottenham (60), 4. Manchester United (51), 5. Arsenal (50), 6. Chelsea (50)
Scoring leader: 17 - Mohamed Salah (Liverpool) / Sergio Aguero (Manchester City)
Assists leader: 10 - Eden Hazard (Chelsea FC)
Spain's La Liga
In Spain's top-flight, FC Barcelona continues to make room between themselves and the field in the title race. Leo Messi and co. collected three points while Real Madrid slipped 2-1 to Girona, allowing Atletico Madrid to jump back up to second with a 1-0 win over Rayo Vallecano. The rest of the top six remained the same.
Top six: 1. FC Barcelona (54), 2. Atlético Madrid (47), 3. Real Madrid (45), 4. Sevilla (37), 5. Getafe (36), 6. Alaves (36)
Scoring leader: 22 - Lionel Messi (FC Barcelona)
Assists leader: 10 - Lionel Messi (FC Barcelona)
German Bundesliga
Borussia Dortmund rebounded from a midweek loss in the Champions League with a draw at Nurnberg, keeping the separation with rivals Bayern Munich to three points. The Black and Yellow lost American Christian Pulisic to injury in the UCL match against Spurs and could be in doubt for a few more games.
Top six: 1. Dortmund (51), 2. Bayern Munich (48), 3. Monchengladbach (43), 4. RB Leipzig (41), 5. Bayer Leverkusen (36), 6. Wolfsburg (35)
Scoring leader: 14 - Luka Jović (Eintracht Frankfurt)
Assists leader: 10 - Joshua Kimmich (Bayern Munich)
Italian Serie A
Juventus 3-0 Frosinone | Ronaldo and Dybala Help Juventus Beat Frosinone | Serie Awww.youtube.com
Cristiano Ronaldo can't stop scoring, adding one more to his season tally in Juve's 3-0 win over Frosinone. Milan picked up a 3-1 win over Atalanta to solidify their place in the top four. Inter Milan and Roma also picked up three points this week.
Top six: 1. Juventus (66), 2. Napoli (53), 3. Inter Milan (46), 4. Milan (42), 5. Roma (41), 6. Atalanta (38)
Scoring leader: 19 - Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus)
Assists leader: 8 - Suso (A.C. Milan)
French Ligue 1
Marseille made the biggest jump in the standings this week by swapping places with Montpellier and cracking the top four. As for the champs, PSG continues to roll behind the league's top scorer in Mbappé.
Top six: 1. PSG (62), 2. Lille (50), 3. Lyon (46), 4. Marseille (40), 5. Saint-Étienne (40), 6. Montpellier (38)
Scoring leader: 19 - Kylian Mbappé (PSG)
Assists leader: 8 - Nicolas Pepe (Lille) / Angel Di Maria (PSG) / Kenny Lala (Strasbourg)
Dutch Eredivisie
Top three: 1. PSV Eindhoven (57), 2. Ajax (53), 3. Feyenoord (42)
Belgian First Division A
Top three: 1. Genk (57), 2. Club Brugge (49), 3. Standard Liège (46)
Portuguese Primeira Liga
Top three: 1. Porto (54), 2. Benfica (53), 3. Braga (49)
Scottish Premier League
Top three: 1. Celtic (60), 2. Rangers (52), 3. Aberdeen (47)
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Concacaf Champions League
The 2019 edition of the Concacaf Champions League begins Tuesday night with the 1st leg matches of the quarterfinal stage. Costa Rica's Saprissa and Mexico's Tigres UANL will kick this year's edition simultaneously with Panama's Independiente hosting Toronto FC. The Houston Dynamo will face off in Guatemala against Guastatoya in the 9 p.m. match. Matches will be broadcast in English on Yahoo! Sports.
A welcome addition to tomorrow's shirts! 👀 #SCCL2019 #ForeverOrange https://t.co/1h8lCn4Xx0— Houston Dynamo (@Houston Dynamo) 1550534098.0
Major League Soccer
While five MLS teams take part in the Champions League, the rest continue their preparations ahead of the league's opening weekend in two weeks. FC Cincinatti will be the new expansion team that joins the league in 2019.
Liga MX
Top eight: 1. Monterrey (17), 2. Tigres UANL (16), 3. Leon (14), 4. Chivas Guadalajara (14), 5. Necaxa (11), 6. Santos (11), 7. Pachuca (11), 8. Club Tijuana (10)
Scoring leader: 7 - Rogelio Funes Mori (Monterrey)
Assists leader: 5 - Angel Mena (Cruz Azul)
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Copa Libertadores
Third round - first leg matchups:
- Melgar vs. Caracas FC
- Talleres Cordoba vs. Palestino
- Defensor Sporting vs. Atletico Mineiro
- Libertad vs. Atletico Nacional
Superliga Argentina
Top four: 1. Racing Club (45), 2. Defensa y Justicia (45), 3. Boca Juniors (35), 4. Atletico Tucuman (32)
Scoring leader: 15 - Lisandro Lopez (Racing)
Assists leader: 7 - Walter Montillo (Tigre)
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Upcoming Matches (All Times CT):
Tuesday, Feb. 19
2:00 p.m. - [UEFA Champions League] Liverpool vs. Bayern Munich (TNT/Galavision)
2:00 p.m. - [UEFA Champions League] Lyon vs. Barcelona (Unimas/Univision Deportes)
9:00 p.m. - [Concacaf Champions League] CD Guastatoya vs. Houston Dynamo (Yahoo! Sports/Univision Deportes)
Wednesday, Feb. 20
2:00 p.m. - [UEFA Champions League] Atletico Madrid vs. Juventus (TNT/UniMas/Univision Deportes)
2:00 p.m. - [UEFA Champions League] Schalke 04 vs. Man City (B/R Live/Galavision)
Thursday, Feb. 21
12:00 p.m. - [UEFA Europa League] Arsenal vs. BATE (B/R Live/Galavision)
12:00 p.m. - [UEFA Europa League] Valencia vs. Celtic (B/R Live/Univision Deportes)
12:00 p.m. - [UEFA Europa League] Villarreal vs. Sporting CP (B/R Live/UniMas)
2:00 p.m. - [UEFA Europa League] Chelsea vs. Malmo (B/R Live/UniMas)
2:00 p.m. - [UEFA Europa League] Inter Milan vs. Rapid Vienna (B/R Live/Galavision)
Friday, Feb. 22
1:30 p.m. - [Bundesliga] Werder Bremen vs. VfB Stuttgart (FS2)
1:45 p.m. - [Premier League] West Ham vs. Fulham (NBC Sports)
Saturday, Feb. 23
8:30 a.m. - [Bundesliga] Bayern Munich vs. Hertha BSC Berlin (FS2)
8:30 a.m. - [Bundesliga] Mönchengladbach vs. VfL Wolfsburg (Univision Deportes)
9:00 a.m. - [Premier League] Burnley vs. Tottenham (NBC Sports)
9:15 a.m. - [La Liga] Sevilla vs. FC Barcelona (beIN Sports)
11:30 a.m. - [Premier League] Leicester vs. Crystal Palace (NBC)
Sunday, Feb. 24
8:00 a.m. - [Premier League] Manchester United vs. Liverpool (NBC Sports)
9:15 a.m. - [La Liga] Atletico Madrid vs. Villarreal (beIN Sports)
10:30 a.m. - [Carabao Cup FInal] Chelsea vs. Manchester City (ESPN+)
11:00 a.m. - [Bundesliga] Borussia Dortmund vs. Bayer 04 Leverkusen (FS2)
1:45 p.m. - [La Liga] Levante vs. Real Madrid (beIN Sports)
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Oswald Peraza hit a two-run single in the ninth inning to help the Los Angeles Angels snap a three-game losing skid by beating the Houston Astros 4-1 on Saturday night.
Peraza entered the game as a defensive replacement in the seventh inning and hit a bases-loaded fly ball to deep right field that eluded the outstretched glove of Cam Smith. It was the fourth straight hit off Astros closer Bryan Abreu (3-4), who had not allowed a run in his previous 12 appearances.
The Angels third run of the ninth inning scored when Mike Trout walked with the bases loaded.
Kyle Hendricks allowed one run while scattering seven hits over six innings. He held the Astros to 1 for 8 with runners in scoring position, the one hit coming on Jesús Sánchez’s third-inning infield single that scored Jeremy Peña.
Reid Detmers worked around a leadoff walk to keep the Astros scoreless in the seventh, and José Fermin (3-2) retired the side in order in the eighth before Kenley Jansen worked a scoreless ninth to earn his 24th save.
Houston’s Spencer Arrighetti struck out a season-high eight batters over 6 1/3 innings. The only hit he allowed was Zach Neto’s third-inning solo home run.
Yordan Alvarez had two hits for the Astros, who remained three games ahead of Seattle for first place in the AL West.
Key moment
Peraza’s two-run single to deep right field that broke a 1-1 tie in the ninth.
Key Stat
Opponents were 5 for 44 against Abreu in August before he allowed four straight hits in the ninth.
Up next
Astros RHP Hunter Brown (10-6, 2.37 ERA) faces RHP José Soriano (9-9, 3.85) when the series continues Sunday.