A look at what’s happening in the Champions League on Wednesday:
GROUP A
Napoli handed Ajax its worst-ever Champions League defeat last week with a 6-1 rout to remain perfect and will be confident of progressing when it hosts the Dutch club at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.
AMSTERDAM (AP) — A rampant Napoli condemned Ajax to its worst defeat in the Champions League on Tuesday, a 6-1 thrashing that maintained the Serie A leader's perfect start in the group stage.
Napoli's unrelenting high pressing forwards and midfielders never gave Ajax time to build up from the back and forced defenders to repeatedly turn over the ball, creating chance after chance for the visitors.
A look at what’s happening in the Champions League on Tuesday as the competition heads into the third round of group games:
GROUP A
A 4-1 thrashing of Liverpool. A 3-0 win at Rangers. An undefeated start to Serie A and 11 different scorers across both competitions.
ROME (AP) — For a team that lost its captain, all-time leading scorer and defensive stalwart in the offseason, Napoli has filled in the holes masterfully.
REGGIO EMILIA, Italy (AP) — Moise Kean’s 89th-minute winner earned Juventus a 2-1 comeback win in a tricky visit to a talented Sassuolo side on Monday — marking a major step in Serie A for the Bianconeri toward securing a Champions League spot.
A look at what’s happening in European soccer on Monday:
ITALY
Juventus looks to consolidate a Champions League place with a visit to talented Sassuolo. Juventus is fourth in Serie A and can extend its five-point advantage over fifth-place Roma, which lost to defending champion Inter Milan on Saturday.
A look at what’s happening in European soccer on Friday:
ENGLAND
Wolverhampton wants to boost its improbable ambitions of Champions League qualification. Leeds is desperate to move further clear of relegation trouble.
MILAN (AP) — Inter Milan was upset 2-0 at home by midtable Sassuolo on Sunday, wasting a chance to leapfrog city rival Milan and go top of the Italian league.
Leader Milan stumbled Saturday with a 2-2 draw at last-place Salernitana.
ROME (AP) — The departures of Cristiano Ronaldo and Romelu Lukaku from Serie A should open the way for younger players to shine in a league that has historically relied on veterans.
Moise Kean, who replaced Ronaldo at Juventus, and Giacomo Raspadori, the rapidly developing Sassuolo forward, are two of the rising players to look out for.
REGGIO EMILIA, Italy (AP) — Italy’s new-look attacking lineup fired the Azzurri to a 5-0 win over Lithuania in World Cup qualifying on Wednesday and a first victory since winning the European Championship.
It has been something of a roller-coaster couple of weeks for Sassuolo striker Giacomo Raspadori.
From the joy of getting his first call-up by Italy to the disappointment of the junior Azzurri side losing on penalties in the Under-21 European Championship quarterfinals, to getting included in Roberto Mancini’s squad for Euro 2020 and ultimately making his senior debut on Friday — in a 4-0 victory over the Czech Republic.
FLORENCE, Italy (AP) — Italy coach Roberto Mancini included uncapped Sassuolo forward Giacomo Raspadori in his 26-man squad for the upcoming European Championship on Tuesday.
The 21-year-old Raspadori had been omitted from the provisional 28-man squad that Mancini named over the weekend but was brought back after Italy crashed out of the Under-21 European Championship.
ROME (AP) — Italy coach Roberto Mancini cut Paris Saint-Germain forward Moise Kean and six other players from his provisional squad for the upcoming European Championship.
Mancini named a 28-man squad on Sunday and a further two players will have to be removed ahead of the announcement of the final 26-man list by the deadline of midnight on Tuesday.