Barcelona forward Lionel Messi equalled the Champions League scoring record of 71 goals when he struck for the second time in the 76th minute of Wednesday’s Group F match at Ajax Amsterdam.

Barcelona’s Lionel Messi (L) celebrates his goal during a Champions League Group F soccer match against Ajax at Amsterdam Arena stadium in Amsterdam November 5, 2014.
Reuters

The Argentina four-times world player of the year matched the record set by former Real Madrid and Schalke 04 striker Raul.
Messi moved within one goal of the record when he headed home Marc Bartra’s hooked cross after 36 minutes in the Amsterdam Arena to draw level on 70 goals with Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo.
He matched Raul with 14 minutes remaining, tapping home after exchanging a neat one-two with Pedro.
“Is Messi the best player of all time? Absolutely,” Barcelona coach Luis Enrique told reporters. “He is the best player I have ever seen as a player or as a coach.”
Messi’s feat was also enjoyed by his team mates.
“I’m happy for Leo because of the work he does for the team and because he is number one, the best,” Barca midfielder Xavi said.
“Leo has a free role along with the others up front, but they also have some important defensive work to do. At this club we all work and when we all work the team functions.”

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Borussia Dortmund shrugged off their dismal domestic form to sweep past Galatasaray 4-1 on Tuesday and cruise into the last 16 of the Champions League with two matches to spare.

Borussia Dortmund’s goalkeeper Roman Weidenfeller fails to save a goal by Galatasaray’s Hakan Balta (L) during their Champions League group D soccer match in Dortmund November 4, 2014.
Reuters

Germany international Marco Reus, on the transfer wish-list of several leading European clubs, slotted in the first goal after 39 minutes.
Central defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos, who also hit the woodwork, and Ciro Immobile netted in the second half before Semih Kayaadded an own goal with four minutes left as Dortmund made it four wins from four games in Group D.
Galatasaray pulled one back through Hakan Balta’s header in the 70th minute but could do little to counter Dortmund’s attacking punch.
Dortmund, who have plunged into the relegation zone in the Bundesliga, have 12 points in Group D, five ahead of Arsenal who drew 3-3 with Anderlecht (two points) on Tuesday. Galatasaray are bottom on one point.

“We fought from the very first minute and played a really good game,” coach Juergen Klopp told reporters. “If it did not work tactically we tried to do it with passion.
“I saw today that the team was stable but Galatasaray kept playing good football and made it hard for us.”
The last time Dortmund won their first four group games they went on to lift the Champions League title — in 1997.
Tuesday’s match was twice briefly interrupted as Galatasaray fans threw firecrackers on to the pitch near the corner flag.
“It was not a fair result if you look at our performance tonight,” said coach Cesare Prandelli.
“The guys worked very hard. We conceded the goals because of some little mistakes. We will improve in time.”
Fiery start
The hosts got off to a fiery start, eager to bounce back from Saturday’s 2-1 defeat by Bayern Munich — their fifth straight reverse in the Bundesliga.
Reus fired wide and it was all Dortmund in the opening minutes with the Turks dropping back, deep in their own half.
The visitors had one good chance with Wesley Sneijder seeing his bicycle kick smothered by keeper Roman Weidenfeller but with possession close to 70 percent Dortmund circulated the ball, looking for a chink in the armour of the opposition.
The home side went close when Papastathopoulos rose high to connect with a Reus corner and his header cannoned off the bar.
Reus then showed him how it was done, slotting the ball through the legs of keeper Fernando Muslera after a perfectly-timed pass from Lukasz Piszczek sent the attacking midfielder charging through.
Dortmund looked nothing like the team that is struggling domestically, pouring forward at every opportunity with the driving rain making the pitch slippery.
Papastathopoulos gave them a two-goal cushion when he beat Muslera to the ball and drilled in from close range after a header fromSebastian Kehl in the 56th minute.
Galatasaray breathed new life into the game through Balta’s thumping header in the 70th minute but Dortmund struck again thanks to substitute Immobile and the own goal from Kaya.

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Vietnam is not the place where Lee Nguyen wanted to end his career, even though he was treated like a celebrity when playing in the country’s top-tier football (soccer) league, the Major League Soccer (MLS) Player of the Month revealed last week.

The New England Revolution midfielder is in the spotlight not only in the U.S. but also in Vietnam, where people are puzzling over why his three seasons in the V-League did not end with flying colors.
And the 28-year-old Texas-born player on Friday gave some hints to speculators in the Southeast Asian country by telling the Boston Globe why he returned to the U.S. from a country where he was “a fan idol with a fat contract.”
“It was definitely eye-opening for me,” he was quoted by the daily as saying of the experience he got with V-League side Hoang Anh Gia Lai, to which he moved from Danish Superliga side Randers on January 18, 2009.
Nguyen, who holds dual citizenship in the U.S. and Vietnam, said even though he had played for European clubs and had fans, there was nowhere to compare to Vietnam, where he was “getting paparazzis everywhere and getting invitations to red-carpet events.”
He however admitted that he “definitely enjoyed” the experience.
“That’s why it was difficult to leave.”
Nguyen had 24 appearances in all competitions with Hoang Anh Gia Lai in 2009, scoring 13 goals and adding 16 assists, according to his profile on the MLS website.
He was paid US$10,000 a month, excluding bonuses, by the Vietnamese club, according to Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper sources.
His guaranteed compensation at New England Revolution was more than $80,000 in 2013, and $193,750 for the 2014 season, according to The Bent Musket, an online community of the club.
But apart from the hefty compensation, the reason Nguyen signed a three-year contract with Hoang Anh Gia Lai was that he had no hope of being called for the U.S. national team by the then head coach, Bob Bradley, according to the Boston Globe.
He would still be playing in Vietnam if Bradley had remained the U.S. head coach after the 2010 World Cup. But as Jurgen Klinsmann took over in July 2011, Nguyen decided that it was time “to return to the States and make his case,” the daily said.
“If I stayed [in Vietnam], this was where my career was going to be and I was going to have to play the rest of it out, and I don’t think I was ready for that,” he told the Boston Globe.
“I wanted to keep challenging myself and I felt like I still had a lot more to prove in my game and I wanted to prove people wrong.”
Nguyen signed with MLS at the end of 2011 and, after only three seasons, developed into what the Boston Globe described as “a most dangerous hybrid, an orchestrator/terminator who can finish what he sets in motion.”
Nguyen was among the top four scorers in the MLS this season with 18 goals, including nine game winners, and garnered the Etihad Airways MLS Player of the Month award for October, according to the MLS website.
“You’ve got to make it count,” he told the Boston daily.
“For me it’s always, in pressure situations, can you make it count? That’s the most important thing for a player.”
Leaving his past as an unsuccessful superstar in Vietnam behind, Lee Nguyen is now a real hero in the MLS, and just the icing on the cake, he has been picked up for the U.S. national team to play in two friendlies against Colombia and Ireland this month.

Source Tuoitre

Holders Real Madrid breezed into the last 16 of the Champions League with two games to spare when a Karim Benzema strike secured a 1-0 win in their Group B match at home to a toothless Liverpool on Tuesday.

Benzema clipped a Marcelo cross high into the net from close range in the 27th minute, the France forward’s fifth goal in this season’s ompetition, to maintain Real’s perfect record in the section with 12 points from four games.
It was the record 10-times European champions’ 12th win in a row in all competitions and followed their 3-0 success against Liverpool at Anfield last month.

“We have done our homework and we can now focus on La Liga, the King’s Cup and the Club World Cup,” Real captain and goalkeeper Iker Casillas said in an interview with Spanish television.
“We are very pleased,” added the Spain international, who was making a record 144th Champions League appearance.
“We have had some very tough and difficult matches recently and once we went 1-0 ahead we controlled the game.”
A major surprise was the fact that Cristiano Ronaldo failed to get on the scoresheet and he remains one goal short of the ChampionsLeague scoring record of 71 set by former Real and Schalke 04 forward Raul.
FC Basel are well placed to join Real in the knockout round after they beat Ludogorets 4-0 to move onto six points, with Liverpool and the Bulgarian champions on three each.
Breezy Bernabeu
Real were close to full strength for the clash at a chilly and breezy Bernabeu, while Liverpool coach Brendan Rodgers made a host of changes from the team that lost to Newcastle United in the Premier League at the weekend.
Captain Steven Gerrard, Coutinho, Raheem Sterling, Jordan Henderson and Mario Balotelli were all on the bench, while Gareth Bale, who is coming back from injury, was among the Real substitutes.
Real had an early chance when James Rodriguez forced a good save from Simon Mignolet in the fourth minute before the visitors settled and started to play some neat football without threatening the home goal.
A mistake by Liverpool captain Martin Skrtel in the 10th minute gifted possession to Benzema and he set up Ronaldo, but Mignolet pulled off another fine stop to deny the Portuguese.
A well worked move yielded Real’s opening goal. Isco sent Marcelo clear on the left and his pinpoint cross was turned high into the net by Benzema as the Liverpool players appealed for a non-existent offside.
Liverpool failed to muster a shot in the first half to Real’s 13 and the European champions continued in the second period where they had left off with Ronaldo going close in the 49th minute.
Alberto Moreno had Liverpool’s first effort when he forced Casillas into a save in the 56th minute and Adam Lallana fired wide two minutes later.
Bale, who had replaced Rodriguez nine minutes earlier, turned a Marcelo cross onto the bar in the 71st and although the introduction of Sterling with about 20 minutes left gave Liverpool extra zip they did not come close to an equaliser.
“I knew what I was doing with the team selection and we are disappointed with the result but it was a good performance,” Liverpool coach Brendan Rogers, whose side host Chelsea in the Premier League on Saturday, said on UEFA.com.
“We showed great composure and a courage to want to play,” he added.

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League leaders Chelsea were made to battle for a narrow 2-1 win over strugglers Queens Park Rangers at Stamford Bridge as they maintained their unbeaten start in the Premier League on Saturday.

Chelsea’s Oscar celebrates after scoring a goal against Queens Park Rangers during their English Premier League soccer match at Stamford Bridge in London November 1, 2014.
Reuters

The winner came from Eden Hazard who scored with a 75th minute penalty after Charlie Austin had pulled strugglers QPR level in the 62nd minute.

Oscar had put Chelsea ahead with a curling shot with the outside of his right foot in the first half.

Chelsea moved on to 26 points from 10 matches and stayed four points clear of second-placed Southampton, who won 1-0 at Hull City with Victor Wanyama crashing home a speculative 40-metre shot after three minutes as the Saints won for the 10th time in 11 matches in all competitions.

Arsenal left Burnley without a win in their first 10 games by beating them 3-0 at the Emirates with Alexis Sanchez scoring twice and Calum Chambers also finding the net to move the north Londoners above West Ham United into fourth place.

West Ham, who slipped back to fifth, came from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 with Stoke City at the Britannia Stadium.

Newcastle United maintained their recent revival with their third straight league win, beating Liverpool 1-0 at St James’ Park with Spain Under-21 international Ayoze Perez scoring the winner 17 minutes from time.

Everton and Swansea City, who had Jonjo Shelvey sent off, drew 0-0 at Goodison Park while West Bromwich Albion won 1-0 at Leicester City with an own goal from Esteban Cambiasso just after halftime giving the Baggies the points.

Champions Manchester City host Manchester United on Sunday when Aston Villa play Tottenham Hotspur before Crystal Palace play Sunderland on Monday.

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Real Madrid turned up the heat on their La Liga title rivals when James Rodriguez scored twice, including a stunning volley, in a 4-0 win at Granada on Saturday.

match at Nuevo Los Carmenes stadium in Granada, November 1, 2014.Reuters

Cristiano Ronaldo set the European champions on their way in the second minute at the Nuevo Los Carmenes stadium when he clipped home a Karim Benzema centre — the Portugal forward’s 17th goal in nine La Liga appearances this season.

Rodriguez made it 2-0 in the 31st minute when he crashed a superb, dipping volley into the top corner before Ronaldo’s clever backheel sent Benzema clear to make it 3-0 in the 54th.

Granada squandered their few chances before Rodriguez followed up a scuffed Ronaldo effort to score the fourth four minutes from time as Real eased to an 11th win in a row in all competitions.

Real top La Liga on 24 points from 10 matches, two ahead of Barcelona and Sevilla. Barca host Celta Vigo later on Saturday while Sevilla are at Athletic Bilbao on Sunday.

Champions Atletico Madrid are fifth on 20 points ahead of their match at home to Cordoba later on Saturday while Valencia, who have 20 points in fourth, visit Villarreal on Sunday.

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