I Dig Sports
Aaron Rodgers throws first MetLife touchdown as a New York Jet
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Aaron Rodgers hooked up with an old friend for the New York Jets' first touchdown vs. the New England Patriots on Monday night -- a 10-yard pass to wide receiver Allen Lazard, who celebrated by handing the ball to his quarterback. It was Rodgers' first touchdown as a Jet in MetLife Stadium.
Rodgers. Lazard. SIX!
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On first down, Rodgers read blitz and threw quickly in the left flat to Lazard, his former Green Bay Packers teammate. Cornerback Alex Austin tried to tackle Lazard in the open field, but the 6-foot-5 Lazard isn't easy to bring down. He grabbed the back of Lazard's jersey, holding on for dear life, but Lazard pulled away and scored, giving the Jets a 7-0 lead in the first quarter.
It capped an eight-play, 73-yard drive. Most interesting thing about the drive: Five different players touched the ball for the Jets.
The Jets took a 14-0 lead on Breece Hall's 1-yard scoring run in the second quarter.
After further review..@BreeceH gets 6#NEvsNYJ on Prime Video
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The Jets loaded up with blockers, using backup OT Olu Fashanu and backup DT Solomon Thomas as eligible players/blockers in their jumbo package.
Hall was ruled short initially, but the Jets challenged and the replay showed that the ball crossed the plane of the goal line before he was down.
Soto to get X-rays after 'scary' slide into wall
One day after clinching a postseason berth, the New York Yankees received a major scare Thursday after star outfielder Juan Soto banged his left knee while sliding into the short wall in foul territory on a highlight-reel catch.
Soto slid into the wall in foul territory down the right-field line in the seventh inning of a 3-2 loss to the Seattle Mariners. After a lengthy visit from Yankees manager Aaron Boone, athletic trainers and seemingly every one of his teammates, Soto remained in the game and was shaking out his left leg.
"I was really worried," Soto said. "I went straight into the concrete, and when I threw the ball, I just felt a lot of pain in my kneecap. Definitely, with time, [the pain] started going down and feeling better. Definitely, it was a little scary right there."
Boone said Soto "banged his knee pretty good" and will get X-rays "just to make sure."
The play was initially ruled a foul ball, but it was overturned to a catch on replay.
"I think him sliding the way he did served him well," Boone said. "My biggest fear was that he twisted something, and I think sliding like that preserved him a little bit.
"... As of now looks like he'll be OK."
The 26-year-old Soto, a four-time All-Star and former batting champion whose free agency after this season is expected to spark a bidding war starting at $500 million, is hitting .286 this season with 40 home runs, 120 runs scored and 103 RBIs.
With the loss, the Yankees' lead in the American League East was cut to four games over the Baltimore Orioles.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Dream's Charles breaks all-time rebounds mark
NEW YORK -- Tina Charles broke two career records Thursday night, passing Sylvia Fowles to become the WNBA's all-time leading rebounder with 4,007 and also passing Fowles with her 194th career double-double.
Charles needed three rebounds entering the game and got them quickly in the first quarter of the Atlanta Dream's game against the New York Liberty. She broke Fowles' mark on an offensive tap out that eventually led to a basket 3:52 into the game.
Charles completed her record-breaking double-double when she grabbed her 10th rebound of the night with 5:04 left in the third quarter.
The 35-year-old star got her start in Connecticut before being traded to New York before the 2014 season. The Liberty honored Charles at the end of the first quarter with a video tribute. She waved and pointed to the crowd.
Charles also played in Washington, Phoenix and Seattle before signing with Atlanta this year after sitting out last season.
Charles has averaged 9.3 rebounds during her 14-year career.
A New York native, Charles was honored before the game as she was inducted into the city's Basketball Hall of Fame along with nine other former players and coaches. Her Dream teammates were on the court cheering her on as she was announced.
Charles is the only WNBA player with 7,000 points and 4,000 rebounds in her career. She's second on the career scoring list behind only Diana Taurasi.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Sources: Pelicans bring in Payton on camp deal
The New Orleans Pelicans are bringing in veteran guard Elfrid Payton on a training camp deal, sources told ESPN on Thursday afternoon.
Payton, 30, is from the New Orleans area and played college basketball at the University of Louisiana, just a two-hour drive west.
He last played in the NBA in 2021-22 when he spent time with the Phoenix Suns. He spent time last season with the G-League's Indiana Mad Ants.
He previously played with New Orleans during the 2018-19 season and had perhaps his best NBA season. He averaged 10.6 points and career highs in assists per game (7.6) and rebounds per game (5.2). During the late stage of that season, Payton recorded consecutive games with a triple-double.
New Orleans is holding training camp in Nashville this season as renovations are still ongoing at the practice facility in Metairie, Lousiana.
Payton's deal was negotiated by his agents at Tandem Sports + Entertainment.
Melo's son: Cuse is finalist, but dad doesn't push
Kiyan Anthony knows better than most about his father's legacy at Syracuse, which is one of the finalists for the No. 36 prospect and four-star recruit in the 2025 ESPN 100 rankings.
Before a decorated NBA career, Carmelo Anthony led the Orange to the 2003 national championship as a freshman. He also donated a significant sum of money to the school's basketball facility, which now bears his name.
Despite those family ties, Kiyan Anthony said that his father and mother, La La Anthony, have not nudged him to pick Syracuse.
"[My father] never pushes me to go to Syracuse just because his name is on the gym," Anthony told ESPN on Wednesday ahead of the release of the second season of "The Evolu7ion" on YouTube with Overtime. "He did so much at Syracuse. He knows that I'm my own person. I've just got to make my own decision at the end of the day.
"If it is Syracuse -- I go there a lot and I practice, I work out there -- if it is that, that's what it is. But he's never going to say, 'You got to go to Syracuse. You got to go there because I went there.' He's not going to make me follow in his footsteps unless I really want to."
Anthony said he will choose from his list of finalists -- Syracuse, Auburn, USC, Florida State, Ohio State and Rutgers -- in the next two months and he expects to take another visit to Syracuse before his final decision.
At Long Island Lutheran High School in Brookville, New York, Anthony's career has been scrutinized because of family. His father is a likely Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductee and his mother is an actress and celebrity with 15 million Instagram followers.
On his YouTube show, Anthony hopes to show what it's like to face the attention he's had since he was a child. But he also loves that his friends and teammates get a chance to share the spotlight with him.
"My friends maybe not having the same opportunities as I have, I'm the one that's tried to bring them along with me," Anthony said. "I don't want to make them feel left out."
Anthony, a 6-foot-5 guard, also said he wants to prove that he's more than a scorer. Some of his offensive exploits, including a 15-point effort at Rucker Park in April, have gone viral, but he said he's working on showcasing his playmaking abilities in his final high school season.
And while his connection with his father draws most of the headlines, he said his mother has also played a pivotal role in his development.
"I would say everybody sees when the cameras are on [my dad] and then they're on me because I'm playing good, but I would say my mom does a lot more background stuff. Like, when I'm going through something or I need somebody to talk to, my mom is definitely the person," Anthony said. "And she's the one who really pushes me to get in the gym, even if I don't want to. To go to school and stay on top of my grades and stuff like that."
From the moment he picked up a basketball, Anthony was tied to the school where his father made basketball history as a one-and-done star who led the Orange to a national title over Kansas. And while he's always thought about the possibility of becoming the next member of the Anthony family to don a Syracuse jersey, those close to him will not pressure him.
He said his next visit to Syracuse and his other finalists, however, will influence his decision. His parents will play a role as the process unfolds, he said, but they won't decide his future.
"Even though I know basically the whole world wants me to go to Syracuse, I still haven't made the decision yet and I still have to talk to the coaches some more and really get into detail -- like what other players are coming, how they want me to play, how I'll be coached and stuff like that," Anthony said. "So I still have to finish up my visits, and then, ultimately, just make a decision. I will rely on my parents a lot with their advice and how they think a school fits me."
Sharks' Celebrini showcases skills in first practice
SAN JOSE, Calif. -- No. 1 draft pick Macklin Celebrini's first official practice with the San Jose Sharks provided a needed bit of optimism for a franchise that has had little success in recent years.
The absence of captain Logan Couture was a reason for concern, as he has no timeline to return to the ice from a groin injury that sidelined him for all but six games last season.
Celebrini delivered on the high expectations that came with his lofty draft status, looking right at home in his first scrimmage of training camp by scoring a goal and creating scoring chances.
"At the end of the day, it's the same game I've played ever since I was a kid," Celebrini said. "It's just having fun and enjoying it."
Celebrini played on a line with newly acquired veteran Tyler Toffoli, who said playing with Celebrini was a big reason why he signed with San Jose this offseason even though the Sharks haven't made the playoffs since 2019 and had the worst record in the NHL last season.
Toffoli said playing with Celebrini was simple, with the primary goal being to get him the puck.
"Today was obviously something special," he said. "It was the first day of camp and he was flying out there, one of the best players on the ice, for sure. I think the goal for him is he wants to be the best player on the ice every day. So far, he accomplished that today."
The goals for Couture are much simpler. He is just trying to get healthy and be able to skate again.
Couture, 35, missed all of training camp and the first 45 games last season because of a potentially debilitating condition called osteitis pubis, or inflammation in the joint between the left and right pubic bones.
He managed to return to play six games in January before the condition got worse and he was shut down for the rest of the season after a Jan. 31 game in Anaheim.
"It's been tough," Couture said. "There's been different stages of where mentally I've been at in the last 15, 16 months. A lot of ups and downs, highs and lows. I can't say it's been easy for sure, but I've kind of learned how to properly deal with it."
Couture said the first few weeks were the worst when it was painful even to do everyday things around the house like play with his son. His condition has improved considerably but not to the point where he even has a timeline for when he can skate again.
"We're not even at that point really," he said. "I haven't skated since Jan. 31, or whatever it was that game in Anaheim. There's no immediate plan to get back on the ice."
Couture has been a stalwart in San Jose and is one of the few remaining ties to the team's successful runs in the 2010s. He has 323 goals and 378 assists in 933 career games and has been a postseason star. He has 48 goals and 53 assists in 116 playoff games and led all players in postseason goals in 2019 with 14 and in postseason assists (20) and points (30) in 2016.
He has three years remaining on his contract with salary cap hits of $8 million per year and still has hope that he will be able to play again this season.
General manager Mike Grier said Couture will start the season on injured reserve but will still contribute as a leader and captain.
"It's just not a situation or an injury that we can kind of rush or put a timeline on," Grier said. "When his body tells him he's ready to play, then he'll get back out there. He's doing all he can to get back and help the group."
Source: Ex-Bucks owner nearing NC Courage deal
Former Milwaukee Bucks owner Marc Lasry is close to a deal to buy a controlling stake in the National Women's Soccer League's North Carolina Courage, a source confirmed to ESPN.
Sportico reported that the deal would value the Courage at $108 million.
If the transaction goes through, Lasry would become the principal owner of the Courage, taking over the role from Steve Malik, who bought the franchise rights from the Western New York Flash in January 2017 and relocated the team to Cary, North Carolina.
Lasry is the chairman of Avenue Capital Group, whose athlete team of advisors includes former NWSL MVP, United States international and World Cup winner Lauren Holiday. Lasry, who sold his stake in the Bucks last year, has been vocal about his desire to invest in women's sports and previously pursued investing in Angel City FC.
Courage owner Malik and a team spokesperson, could not be reached for comment.
North Carolina is the only franchise in the 14-team NWSL that has not introduced new controlling ownership or a new team governor in the past four years. The league has grown from 10 teams in 2021 and is expected to add two more in 2026.
NWSL team valuations have soared from $3.5 million in early 2020 (Seattle Reign FC) to multiple records this year. The San Diego Wave are in the middle of a two-part sale process valued between $113 million and $120 million, which was a new record in the spring.
Angel City FC set a record in a deal that closed earlier this month. Willow Bay, dean of the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, and Disney CEO Bob Iger bought the LA-based club for a valuation of $250 million. (The Walt Disney Company is the majority owner of ESPN.)
The Courage have been highly successful on the field, winning NWSL Championships in 2018 and 2019, the NWSL Shield in 2017, 2018 and 2019 and the NWSL Challenge Cup in 2022 and 2023. The Western New York Flash also won the 2016 NWSL Championship a few months before the franchise's relocation.
Off the field, however, the Courage have struggled in Cary, which is a suburb of Raleigh, North Carolina.
The Courage averaged about 5,400 fans in 2023, which ranked second to last in the NWSL. The team plays at WakeMed Soccer Park, a 10,000-seat venue that opened in 2002 and is publicly owned.
Malik had led efforts to get a soccer stadium built in the southern part of downtown Raleigh, but those plans have been on pause for years.
Sports development in Raleigh has continued, however, with the NHL's Carolina Hurricanes announcing last week a $1 billion mixed-use development around their current arena, which sits next to NC State's football stadium. The arena is only three miles from WakeMed Soccer Park.
Flick: Early red changed game 'totally' for Barca
Barcelona coach Hansi Flick felt Eric García's early red card was the turning point in Thursday's 2-1 defeat to Monaco and insisted his side are strong enough to progress in the new-look Champions League.
García was dismissed after just 10 minutes for a last-man challenge before goals from Maghnes Akliouche and George Ilenikhena, either side of Lamine Yamal's equaliser, earned the Ligue 1 side three points at the Stade Louis II stadium.
The loss was Barça's first defeat under Flick following an impressive start to the campaign which has so far yielded five successive wins in LaLiga.
"I think we defended with a lot of passion," the German coach said in a news conference after the game. "The goal from Lamine brought us back to 1-1. We had chances. At the end, we tried to stay in the game with a compact defence, close together, but you can also see that [Monaco] bring a lot of players in with huge speed. It was not easy to defend.
"After the red card, the game changed totally. The positive things are we tried to defend as a team and attack as a team. We have chances, but they deserve the 2-1 so we have to accept that.
"I am not worried. We have to analyse this, but as I say to the team now, 'Heads up,' because they were a little disappointed in the dressing room."
Barça host Young Boys in their next Champions League game on Oct. 1 and still have to play Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Benfica and Atalanta, among others, in the competition.
The new format will see the top eight teams in the league phase progress directly to the round-of-16, with the sides finishing between ninth and 24th entering a knockout round and 12 teams being eliminated.
Despite opening with a defeat to Monaco, Flick has no doubts that Barça will qualify for the next phase.
"No," he responded when asked if Thursday's loss was further proof that Barça have a problem with the Champions League having failed to reach the knockout rounds in two of the last three years.
"You see the situation today. After 10 minutes, the red card. It changed totally our idea, our match plan. We have to accept this. It happens.
"I think we are strong enough to play a good Champions League. We have seven matches and I think we will win many matches and at the end we reach our goals."
The game changed when García hauled down Takumi Minamino after the former Liverpool forward intercepted a short pass from Barça goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen in the early stages of the match. Ter Stegen said the mistake was a misunderstanding between the two and claimed Barça deserved a point.
"Yes, for sure [the red card conditioned the game]," he told reporters. "There was a misunderstanding in that situation. I feel bad for Eric because it has cost him. Then we have to play for 80 minutes a player down.
"It should not have happened, but it does happen from time to time in football. It hurts because even with 10 men we showed up.
"The game was not under control, but we showed up. At the end of the day, we lost by one goal, the second one, which came from nowhere and wasn't really deserved in that moment."
Among the positives in defeat for Barça was the return of Ansu Fati, who returned from injury to make his first appearance of the season.
"I saw him in the last weeks of training and when we start the preseason, I saw him really different," Flick said.
"I spent some time at Brighton last season and I saw him in training and a match and here he is totally different. He's focused, he brings his quality on the pitch. He needs some time now, but he will get this."
Fati remains the youngest scorer in the Champions League at 17 years and 40 days old when he netted against Inter Milan in 2019, but he watched from the bench as teammate Yamal became the second youngest to score in the competition at 17 years and 68 days old.
Yamal now has four goals and four assists in six games in all competitions this season, which has seen opposing teams start to double up on him or treat him differently. As a result, Flick removed him early in Monaco to save him for Sunday's trip to Villarreal in LaLiga.
"Lamine today he tried a lot," Flick explained. "It was a tough match for him, they [were] attacking him really hard. This is the way. He has to adapt to this. For Pau [Cubarsí] and him, [taking them off] was also to think about Sunday."
'He's a cat': Raya praised for stunning double save
Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya was hailed by his manager Mikel Arteta and Atalanta boss Gian Piero Gasperini after the Spaniard's miraculous double save earned his side a 0-0 draw in the Champions League on Thursday.
But for Raya saving Mateo Retegui's 51st-minute penalty and then somehow springing across his goal to claw out the same player's headed rebound effort, Arsenal could have begun their group games with a damaging defeat away to the Serie A side.
"I witnessed two of the best saves I've ever seen in my career from David in that moment," Arteta said.
"If you can't win, you have to take the point. We started well, then we lost control and were very inconsistent. We didn't suffer defensively, apart from the penalty."
Atalanta manager Gasperini was equally in awe.
"He's a cat. The first save is good but the rebound is unbelievable. The goalkeeper has been crucial," the Italian coach said.
Raya was modest about his effort, saying he had been lucky and also paid tribute to Arsenal's goalkeeping coach Inaki Cana who he consulted while VAR checked the penalty decision.
"It was a long time to decide if it was a penalty so I took the decision to go to the side and I went to speak with the goalie coach about where to go and where not to go," he said.
"He helped me a lot in every aspect so credit to him."
While it was a solid start by Arsenal, Arteta was less happy with his team's performance as they offered little in the way of attacking threat against last season's Europa League winners.
"We had moments with the ball but we never got it into dominance or threat," he said.
"The first 25 minutes we read their approach really good. After that we lost control of the game."
Information from Reuters contributed to this report.
Which Americans impressed, best and worst teams, more
The 2024-25 UEFA Champions League is underway in its new format, and match day one is wrapped up as Real Madrid kicked off their title defense, while big hitters Manchester City, Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain got off to a winning start. After a first round with plenty of goals, drama and storylines we asked our writers Gab Marcotti, Mark Ogden and Alex Kirkland to answer some of our burning questions.
Does the new model mean we're going to get more blowouts like Bayern 9-2 Zagreb or Celtic 5-1 Bratislava? And is it right for teams to run up the score?
Ogden: I'll answer the second part of the question first -- I don't have a problem with teams running up scores. It's a league competition, goal difference could matter at the end of it all and, as brutal as it may sound, that's the reality of life at the top. If it's a knockout cup tie between teams from three or four divisions apart, then don't humiliate the smaller team by running up a big score, but the 32 teams in the Champions League are in a league competition, so tough, get on with it.
As for the first part, I don't see how the new model makes any difference to the prospect of more blowouts. Bayern could have faced Dinamo Zagreb in the old group stage and scored nine, so let's park the idea that the new format will give us more big winning margins. Arsenal beat Lens 6-0 in last season's group stage, Atletico Madrid beat Celtic by the same scoreline. A year earlier, Liverpool beat Rangers 7-1 and Napoli won 6-1 at Ajax. So there's really nothing unusual about the Bayern and Celtic scorelines this week.
Marcotti: I don't understand...why would the new model incentivize blowouts? Goal difference was a thing in the old group stage too. If anything, you could argue that with eight games it's less important. Also, Bayern defeating Zagreb is one thing, Celtic beating Slovan Bratislava is another. There are different levels of resource imbalance there.
As for running up the score, it's a cultural thing I guess and a question of how you show respect to an opponent. In some cultures, it's playing hard until the end and scoring as much as you can. In others, like mine, once the game is won (and there is no particular incentive to score more because goal difference isn't rewarded) there's no point in running up the score and making your opponent look bad. What I think is pathetic is when teams run up the score when the opponent has had a man sent off. That's frankly unnecessary.
Kirkland: As Mark said, we've always had big scorelines in the Champions League. Real Madrid scored five goals against Celtic in 2022, and five against Shakhtar Donetsk in 2021, and six against Galatasaray in 2019, and five against Viktoria Plzen in 2018. There are countless examples. In a competition that often pits the biggest, most expensively-assembled teams in Europe against the champions of much less wealthy leagues, it's inevitable. And running up the score is fine. It's sport. They're professionals. It would be disrespectful to do anything else.
Jurgen Klinsmann believes Manchester City and Inter are loaded and expects both to make deep runs in the Champions League.
This European season is due to be a long and grueling one for players. Which team has the best supporting cast of players to rotate in and make an impact?
Ogden: The obvious answer here is Manchester City and Real Madrid, but let's just look a bit deeper into this season's new format and spell out why it's not quite as grueling as some may think. Why? Because there are more opportunities for big teams to rotate squads and take it easy. They know they're going to qualify for the knockout stage, barring an incredible run of bad form and bad luck, so they can treat some games less seriously than perhaps in a traditional group stage.
City can play their second string against Slovan Bratislava on match day two and win. Even if they don't, City will still make it through. And manager Pep Guardiola will also know he won't need to field all of his big players against Sparta Prague or Club Brugge. The bigger games against PSG and Juventus will need a stronger team, but because the top clubs have so many chances in this phase, we will see lots of them treat some games like early round Carabao Cup ties, which won't be great for the spectacle.
Marcotti: I think there are two different factors at play here. One thing is rotating once you've clinched qualification. It happened regularly in match day 6 (and sometimes match day 5) with the old format. With this one it's supposedly disincentivized because clubs will care about their seeding (I'm not super convinced that will be the case, frankly). But the other factor is teams that are likely to rotate from the start. And here a side like Inter (and to a lesser degree Atletico Madrid) will have an edge.
When you've got teams that are accustomed to sending out the same XI most weeks and suddenly you have four or five new faces, that will have an impact, even if they're all stars. But when you have sides -- like Inter -- who rotate all season long, there's a certain interchangeability. We saw this in match day 1, when Inter traveled to face City and Simone Inzaghi had no problem benching Lautaro Martínez, Denzel Dumfries, Benjamin Pavard and Henrikh Mkhitaryan. In a league setting like this, that can give you an edge. But frankly, it's all hot air right now: once the knockouts kick in, you'll see the best XIs.
Kirkland: Real Madrid's squad is strong, no question. On Tuesday against Stuttgart, their bench included Éder Militão, Luka Modric, Arda Güler, Endrick, and Andriy Lunin -- and that's with David Alaba, Eduardo Camavinga and Brahim Díaz all out injured. That's almost an alternative XI that could compete in the Champions League, right there.
Coach Carlo Ancelotti has already talked about how he's planning to give players individualised mini-breaks as the season goes on, so he will rotate. Otherwise, Atletico Madrid's squad is stronger than it's been in years. And Barcelona's squad is stronger than you might think, when you consider the quality of their youngsters and the number of players -- Ronald Araújo, Gavi, Fermín López, Frenkie de Jong, Dani Olmo -- who are currently unavailable.
Several Americans showcased across the games including Weston McKennie and Christian Pulisic. Who were you most impressed with and why?
Ogden: I was impressed by Christian Pulisic's goal for AC Milan against Liverpool. Great run, great finish, but that was as good as it got for him on the night. Still, a stunning goal in the San Siro against Liverpool isn't a bad contribution.
Marcotti: He talked Pulisic, so I'll talk McKennie. Juventus tried to move him on in the summer not because he was terrible, but mainly because, they're in cost-cutting mode, he wasn't playing up to his salary and he was a year away from free agency. They did mull a new deal, but it was actually a pay cut which, lets face it, can be a bit humiliating.
McKennie wasn't interested in leaving and basically ended up betting on himself: that he would carve out enough playing time that he could move next summer as a free agent (and maybe even get a bump in salary). That's a credit to him and it's a credit to Thiago Motta that, once the window closed, he was open to giving him minutes. And he rewarded the coach with a goal in the win over PSV.
Kirkland: McKennie is the one who stands out, not just because of his goal -- which was well taken -- but a good all-round performance. Otherwise, I hadn't seen Malik Tillman play before, and thought he looked decent for PSV.
Stevie Nicol and Craig Burley react to Liverpool's dominating performance after conceding the opener to Christian Pulisic and AC Milan.
Which team was most impressive, and which was the most disappointing?
Ogden: I'm going to say Celtic as the most impressive. To score five goals against Slovan Bratislava was one thing, but the atmosphere at Celtic Park emphasised what the Champions League means to teams outside the small cohort of likely winners. Two wins will probably be enough to qualify for the playoff stage and Celtic are now halfway there. This new format gives clubs like Celtic the chance to reach the knockout stage, which is why the final match days could be as exciting as UEFA hope.
Least impressive? AC Milan. It's sad to see one of the world's great clubs -- only Real Madrid have been European champions more than Milan -- produce such a dismal performance against Liverpool. The days of Milan dominating the competition aren't so far in the past, but they seem a million years away.
Marcotti: So in the last 30 months only one team has gone to the Etihad and kept Manchester City from scoring. That was Arsenal in the Premier League last year and now Inter have matched that feat. And I think it was impressive because Inter had chances of their own (so did City, but that's inevitable).
Most disappointing has to be Real Madrid. Yeah, they won, but Thibaut Courtois had to make some incredible saves and the third goal was a garbage time gift for Endrick. So far, the front three of Vinícius, Kylian Mbappé and Rodrygo, plus Jude Bellingham isn't working. I thought, given the players Stuttgart lost in the summer, this would be the game where Madrid might click, at least offensively. They did not.
Kirkland: I was impressed by two teams whose performances merited more than the results they got: Girona and Stuttgart. Girona played really well away at PSG on their UCL debut, and were desperately unlucky to not leave Paris with at least a point, conceding in the 90th minute thanks to an error by goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga. PSG coach Luis Enrique said afterwards that playing Girona was "worse than giving birth." And yes, Stuttgart ended up losing 3-1 at Real Madrid, but they deserved much more, playing brave, attacking football and creating plenty of chances. The biggest disappointment: Manchester City 0-0 Inter.