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EDITOR PICKS

  • Watch: Carvajal's header delivers killer blow for Madrid in UCL final

  • An introduction to Top Soccer News on theScore ??

  • An introduction to Top Soccer News on theScore ??

  • Real Madrid beat Dortmund to win 15th European Cup

Soccer

Champions League draw: Messi and Ronaldo clash, tricky group for PSG

The draw for the 2020-21 Champions League group stage is complete. See how Thursday’s ceremony in Geneva unfolded below.

Group A

Julian Finney – UEFA / UEFA / Getty
Pot Club Country
1 Bayern Munich Germany
2 Atletico Madrid Spain
3 Red Bull Salzburg Austria
4 Lokomotiv Moscow Russia

Instant analysis: Reigning champions Bayern Munich should stroll into the knockout stage, while Atletico Madrid – now powered by Luis Suarez – will likely join them. Don’t sleep on Red Bull Salzburg, though. Erling Haaland may not be there anymore, but Zambian striker Patson Daka will turn plenty of heads in the high-profile clashes with the two Group A heavyweights.

Group B

Pot Club Country
1 Real Madrid Spain
2 Shakhtar Donetsk Ukraine
3 Inter Milan Italy
4 Borussia Monchengladbach Germany

Instant analysis: Tricky. Decorated pair Real Madrid and Inter Milan jump off the page – rightfully so, considering their talent and pedigree – but underdogs Shakhtar Donetsk and Borussia Monchengladbach both have the tools to cause headaches, if not full-blown upsets, in Group B, which should make for some intriguing viewing.

Group C

Pot Club Country
1 FC Porto Portugal
2 Manchester City England
3 Olympiacos Greece
4 Marseille France

Instant analysis: With all due respect to FC Porto, things could hardly have gone better for Pep Guardiola and Manchester City on Thursday. Winning the Champions League is becoming an obsession for the English club’s brass, and this somewhat fortuitous draw puts City in an ideal position to get their continental campaign off to a dream start.

Group D

Andrew Powell / Liverpool FC / Getty
Pot Club Country
1 Liverpool England
2 Ajax Netherlands
3 Atalanta Italy
4 FC Midtjylland Denmark

Instant analysis: Expect plenty of goals. Premier League champions Liverpool will be looking to make amends for last season’s surprising ouster against Atletico and will meet fellow high-octane teams in the form of Ajax and everybody’s new favorite club, Atalanta. Danish side Midtjylland, who have become something of a champion for analytics in football, will be interesting to watch, too.

Group E

Pot Club Country
1 Sevilla Spain
2 Chelsea England
3 FC Krasnodar Russia
4 Rennes France

Instant analysis: Frank Lampard has to be smiling from ear-to-ear amid a wonky start to the season. Europa League holders Sevilla will provide a stern test and Rennes are rolling to begin the campaign in France, but Chelsea will be the favorites to top the quartet despite coming out of Pot 2. You can’t ask for much more.

Group F

Pot Club Country
1 Zenit St. Petersburg Russia
2 Borussia Dortmund Germany
3 Lazio Italy
4 Club Brugge Belgium

Instant analysis: This is another section where the Pot 1 club – in this case, Zenit St. Petersburg – could have a tough time reaching the tournament’s knockout stage. Borussia Dortmund are easily the most talented team in Group F, while Lazio, returning to the Champions League proper for the first time since the 2007-08 season, will surely fancy their chances of advancing.

Group G

AFP Contributor / AFP / Getty
Pot Club Country
1 Juventus Italy
2 Barcelona Spain
3 Dynamo Kyiv Ukraine
4 Ferencvaros Hungary

Instant analysis: The showstopper. All eyes will be on the eternal rivalry between Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi when Juventus and Barcelona meet. The GOAT debate will once again come into full focus, for better or worse, after fans were robbed of that matchup when Ronaldo left Real Madrid for Italy. Luckily for the two perennial powers, they were afforded some relief – relatively speaking – with the rest of the Group G draw.

Group H

Pot Club Country
1 Paris Saint-Germain France
2 Manchester United England
3 RB Leipzig Germany
4 Istanbul Basaksehir Turkey

Instant analysis: Save the best for last? This may be the most fascinating group of the lot, with RB Leipzig looking to build on last season’s impressive run by knocking one of Paris Saint-Germain or Manchester United off stride. The Red Devils, in particular, will be sweating a bit here. Group-stage debutants Istanbul Basaksehir, meanwhile, will be rolling out some faces that’ll be familiar to fans of the two big-name teams in the quartet.

UEFA will release the full match schedule Friday. The Champions League group stage is slated to begin Oct. 20.

NFL

Falcons' drones will clean stadium after games

The Atlanta Falcons’ home, Mercedes-Benz Stadium, is believed to be the first professional sports venue to implement drones to clean the stadium, but they’re not the only ones using new technology.

Beginning after the team’s Oct. 11 game against the Carolina Panthers, the 71,000-seat stadium, which has not hosted fans for the first two home games because of the coronavirus pandemic, will welcome back a limited capacity. (The stadium hosted about 500 family members, friends and associates for a test run during Sunday’s Bears-Falcons game.)

Mercedes-Benz Stadium partnered with Charlotte-based Lucid Drone Technologies for D1 disinfecting drones to sanitize areas. The drones use electrostatic spraying nozzles for even distribution of medical-grade disinfecting chemicals that include an inhibitor that prevents bacteria and virus from adhering to surfaces without leaving a residue. The nontoxic hypochlorous acid solution is in compliance with Environmental Protection Agency standards, according to the company.

Soccer

Fans allowed to attend Champions League, Europa League matches

UEFA announced Thursday it will allow clubs playing in the Champions League and Europa League this season to open up to 30% of their stadiums to fans.

But the governing body emphasized that local authorities will have the final say.

Only supporters of the home team would be permitted and social distancing measures, such as the wearing of masks, would be in effect.

The provision also extends to national teams participating in the UEFA Nations League, which resumes next week.

“Today’s decision is a sensible first step which puts fans’ health first and respects the laws in each country,” UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin said in a statement.

“While we all face a common enemy in COVID, different countries have different approaches and different challenges at any given moment. This decision allows much more local flexibility to deal with admitting fans than was previously the case, always respecting the assessment of local authorities,” Ceferin added.

UEFA ran a trial during last week’s Super Cup between Bayern Munich and Sevilla, allowing more than 15,000 fans to attend the fixture at the Puskas Arena in Budapest. Roughly 25% of the stadium was in use.

Bayern said fans returning to Germany would have to self-isolate for 14 days. However, most of the tickets were taken by locals.

Fans across Europe are gradually being granted entry to local stadiums despite fears of a second wave of the coronavirus. Up to 1,000 fans have been able to watch games in Italy, while a maximum of 5,000 people are allowed in France.

But other top divisions, like the Premier League, are still waiting for clearance. The British government delayed the return of fans due to a sharp rise in COVID-19 cases in the country.

NFL

Chiefs added 'wrinkles' on Monday that impress Patrick Mahomes and Bill Belichick

Patrick Mahomes found a lot to like last week when he got his first look at the Kansas City Chiefs’ offensive plan for their upcoming game against the Baltimore Ravens. It featured a red zone underhanded screen pass to seldom used fullback Anthony Sherman, a goal-line pass to offensive tackle Eric Fisher and even a reverse pass out of the wildcat formation.

The Chiefs were effective with all of it in their 34-20 win over the Ravens.

“Coach [Andy] Reid is never going to be stagnant,” said Mahomes, who threw for 385 yards and four touchdowns. “He’s going to keep putting in more and more plays. He’s going to keep challenging us every single day. You get in here, and it’s not the same game plan every single week. We honestly have a new game plan from top down every single week.”

Everything you need this week:
• Full schedule » | Standings »
• Depth charts for every team »
• Transactions » | Injuries »
• Football Power Index rankings »
More NFL coverage »

Reid went deep into the playbook against the Ravens, the result being the Chiefs’ first game of the season with more than 500 yards. It happened after two games in which their offense didn’t look quite right. They went into the Baltimore game with just one pass play of more than 22 yards.

They had four such plays against the Ravens to four different receivers.

The Chiefs play against New England on Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium (4:25 p.m. ET, CBS), so Monday night’s game received the attention of Patriots coach Bill Belichick as he watched on TV

“Andy’s always got a couple of new wrinkles,” Belichick said Tuesday morning. “I don’t think you see too many games where he doesn’t have something [new]. You’ve got to be ready for that. He does a good job of doing things you haven’t practiced [against], things you haven’t seen before and getting them called at the right time and getting them executed well.

“You don’t know what they’re going to be, but you know they’re going to show up somewhere along the line and you just have to be alert for them.”

The pass to Fisher covered only 2 yards, but made him the first overall No. 1 pick to catch a touchdown pass since Keyshawn Johnson last did it in 2006.

Andy Reid opened up the Kansas City offense for Patrick Mahomes against the Ravens, highlighted by a trio of trick plays and more than 500 total yards. AP Photo/Gail Burton

The Chiefs run a drill in Friday practice each week when the offensive linemen run short routes and catch passes. Fisher even had to go up so he could grab Mahomes’ pass.

“Fish is always bragging about how good his hands are, so he did a pretty good job,” Reid said. “I have to give him credit. I was a little nervous when he had to jump, but he did a nice job.”

Mahomes said the Ravens covered Fisher better on the play than the Chiefs ever did on the times they worked on it in practice. But he said he tossed it high once to Fisher in practice so he could get an idea whether the offensive tackle could catch such a pass.

“I thought he did a great job,” Mahomes said. “The dude is an athlete. That’s the reason he’s been playing the position so well for so long. I’m sure he’ll be talking about it for years to come, so I’m glad he got in the end zone.”

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Soccer

  • Watch: Carvajal's header delivers killer blow for Madrid in UCL final

  • An introduction to Top Soccer News on theScore ??

  • An introduction to Top Soccer News on theScore ??

  • Real Madrid beat Dortmund to win 15th European Cup

  • Police arrest dozens of ticket-less fans at Wembley final

  • Dortmund boss Terzic lauds 'brilliant' Sancho after UCL defeat

  • Modric, Kroos among Madrid stars to make history with latest UCL triumph

  • Madrid's inevitability is a superpower no rival can match

  • Transfer window preview: 50 players who could move this summer

  • Vinicius Jr. named Champions League Player of the Season

“If you think about it, I've never held a job in my life. I went from being an NFL player to a coach to a broadcaster. I haven't worked a day in my life.”
-John Madden


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