THE SOCCER REPORT
Soccer Recap: Messi, Rapinoe named Ballon d'Or winners, Liga MX playoffs down to four
Dec 3, 2019, 7:01 am
Lionel Messi is the only player to win six Ballon d'Or trophies. Credit: Getty Images
Messi wins record 6th Ballon d'Or, Rapinoe wins first
Lionel Messi is back on top of the men's soccer pyramid as the "best in the world" after winning the famed Ballon d'Or (Golden Ball) award for the first time since 2015 - breaking a tie with Cristiano Ronaldo for most all-time with six. Ronaldo finished third in the 2019 voting with Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk finishing second.
In the women's category, USA forward Megan Rapinoe was named the winner ahead of England's Lucy Bronze and fellow USA teammate Alex Morgan. It is only the second year that a Women's Ballon d'Or is awarded.
The Ballon d'Or has been awarded since 1956 by France Football magazine and is considered the standard for recognizing the world's best player, even over FIFA's annual Player of the Year award.
English Premier League
Top six: 1. Liverpool (40), 2. Leicester City (32), 3. Man City (29), 4. Chelsea (26), 5. Tottenham (20), 6. Wolves (20)
Bottom three (relegation): 18. Southampton (12), 19. Norwich City (11), 20. Watford (8)
Scoring leader: 13 - Jamie Vardy (Leicester City)
Assists leader: 9 - Kevin De Bruyne (Man City)
Spanish La Liga
Top six: 1. FC Barcelona (31), 2. Real Madrid (31), 3. Sevilla (30), 4. Real Sociedad (26), 5. Athletic Bilbao (26), 6. Atletico Madrid (25)
Bottom three: 18. Celta Vigo (13), 19. Espanyol (9), 20. Leganes (6)
Scoring leader: 10 - Karim Benzema (Real Madrid)
Assists leader: 5 - Lionel Messi (FC Barcelona)
German Bundesliga
Top six: 1. Monchengladbach (28), 2. RB Leipzig (27), 3. Schalke 04 (25), 4. Bayern Munich (24), 5. Dortmund (23), 6. Freiburg (22)
Bottom three: 16. Hertha Berlin (11), 17. Cologne (8), 18. Paderborn (5)
Scoring leader: 16 - Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich)
Assists leader: 8 - Thomas Muller (Bayern Munich)Italian Serie A
Top six: 1. Inter Milan (37), 2. Juventus (36), 3. Lazio (30), 4. Cagliari (28), 5. Roma (28), 6. Atalanta (25)
Bottom three: 18. Genoa (10), 19. SPAL (9), 20. Brescia (7)
Scoring leader: 17 - Ciro Immobile (Lazio)
Assists leader: 9 - Luis Alberto (Lazio)French Ligue 1
Top four: 1. PSG (33), 2. Marseille (28), 3. Angers (24), 4. Bordeaux (23)
Bottom three: 18. Dijon (15), 19. Nimes (12), 20. Tolouse (12)
Scoring leader: 10 - Moussa Dembele (Lyon)
Liga MX Playoffs
The playoffs stage in Mexican football kicked off with the quarter-finals, a round in which all top four seeds feel over the two-leg series.
Quarterfinal results:
- Club Leon 4-5 agg. Monarcas Morelia
- Queretaro 2-6 agg. Necaxa
- Santos Laguna 3-6 agg. Monterrey
- Club America 2-4 agg. Tigres UANL
Liga MX Femenil Playoffs
The final of the female Liga MX division kicked off it's two leg series with a 1-1 draw between Monterrey rivals Tigres UANL and Rayadas in front of a league-record 41,615 attendance. The return leg is scheduled for Saturday, December 7 at Estadio BBVA.
Most Popular
SportsMap Emails
Are Awesome
Listen Live
Alperen Sengun scored five of his 27 points in the final 2:28 to lead the Houston Rockets to a 101-99 victory over the Detroit Pistons on Sunday.
Trailing 101-99 with six seconds left, Pistons' guard Cade Cunningham intentionally missed a free throw and Jaden Ivey got the offensive rebound. His shot missed, but Tobias Harris was fouled on the rebound.
With a chance to tie the game with one second to go, Harris missed the first free throw. He intentionally missed the second, but Ivey fell out of bounds trying to secure the rebound.
Sengun added 10 rebounds, and Tari Eason scored 10 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter.
Cunningham had 26 points, nine assists and eight rebounds, falling just short of becoming the first Pistons player to record four straight triple-doubles.
Sengun's putback gave the Rockets a 96-95 lead with 2:28 to play, and Jaden Ivey was called for an offensive foul on the next possession. Houston got another putback, this one a dunk from Dillon Brooks, before Sengun scored Houston's third straight basket off an offensive rebound to make it 100-95.
Takeaways
Rockets: Houston was able to stay in the game in the first half despite shooting 18.8% (3 of 16) on 3-pointers by recording nine offensive rebounds.
Pistons: Cunningham had 14 first-half points on 5-of-10 shooting, but his teammates only managed 31 on 36.3% (12 of 33) from the floor.
Key moment
The Rockets led 84-72 with nine minutes left, but Malik Beasley hit three 3-pointers in a 16-3 run that put Detroit up 88-87 with 5:16 left.
Key stat
Houston forced seven third-quarter turnovers that led to eight points and held the Pistons to 36.8% shooting. Detroit missed all five 3-point attempts, including three by Tim Hardaway Jr.
Up next
The Rockets host the Wizards on Monday, while the Pistons host the Heat on Tuesday.