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Spanish and German Soccer Royalty Collide in Third Round of Champions League Games

21 October 2024, Spain, Madrid: Borussia Dortmund coach, Nuri Sahin takes part in a press conference for the team at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, ahead of Tuesday's UEFA Champions League soccer match against Real Madrid. Photo: Alberto Gardin/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
21 October 2024, Spain, Madrid: Borussia Dortmund coach, Nuri Sahin takes part in a press conference for the team at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, ahead of Tuesday's UEFA Champions League soccer match against Real Madrid. Photo: Alberto Gardin/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
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Spanish and German Soccer Royalty Collide in Third Round of Champions League Games

21 October 2024, Spain, Madrid: Borussia Dortmund coach, Nuri Sahin takes part in a press conference for the team at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, ahead of Tuesday's UEFA Champions League soccer match against Real Madrid. Photo: Alberto Gardin/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
21 October 2024, Spain, Madrid: Borussia Dortmund coach, Nuri Sahin takes part in a press conference for the team at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, ahead of Tuesday's UEFA Champions League soccer match against Real Madrid. Photo: Alberto Gardin/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa

It’s the best in Spain against German soccer royalty in the latest round of games in the Champions League.

A rematch of last season’s final between Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund is the headliner on Tuesday, before Barcelona hosts Bayern Munich on Wednesday in the next chapter of what has been a fairly one-sided rivalry in Europe’s top club competition.

All four teams have been European champions inside the last 30 years and they’ve made mixed starts to this season’s revamped format.

Dortmund has won both of their opening matches — 3-0 at Club Brugge and 7-1 at home to Celtic — to be the early leader and top scorer of the league stage, which sees all 36 teams play eight matches: four at home and four away.

Just like last season when reaching the Champions League final against the odds before losing to Madrid, Dortmund has been far more impressive in Europe than in the Bundesliga. Indeed, after thrashing Celtic, Dortmund lost at Union Berlin four days later.

Madrid, meanwhile, is coming off a surprising 1-0 loss at Lille, the defending champions’ first defeat in the competition since the semifinals in the 2022-23 season.

In fact, the second round of matches threw up a few shockers, including Bayern losing 1-0 at Aston Villa to end its unbeaten run under new coach Vincent Kompany.

Now Bayern heads to Barcelona in search of a seventh straight win in their head-to-head, a streak that includes a humiliating 8-2 loss for Barca in the quarterfinals in 2020. Hansi Flick was in charge of Bayern that night and is now the coach of Barcelona.

Man City record

If Manchester City beats Sparta Prague at home on Wednesday, the English champions will set the record for consecutive games undefeated in the history of the competition — even stretching back before 1992 into the European Cup era.

City is currently on 25 matches unbeaten, tied with Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United team from 2007-09.

The last loss for Pep Guardiola’s team in the Champions League was the 3-1 defeat against Real Madrid in the second leg of the semifinals in 2022, which cost City a place in the final that season.

Since then, City has won 17 matches and drawn eight, having won the competition in 2022-2023 and been eliminated on penalties by Madrid in 2023-24 after back-to-back draws in the quarterfinals.

Unlikely high-flyer

Of the seven teams on a maximum six points, Brest is undoubtedly the most surprising.

This is the unheralded French team’s European debut — in any competition — after an unexpected third-place finish in Ligue 1 last season. It couldn’t be going any better.

A 2-1 win over Austrian champion Sturm Graz was followed by a 4-0 thrashing of another Austrian team, Salzburg, in the second round of games.

They will be the easiest opponents Brest is going to face. Now the hard work begins, with German champion Bayer Leverkusen next up on Wednesday.

Leverkusen won’t be heading to Brest, a pretty port city in Brittany, but Guingamp — about 114 kilometers (71 miles) away. That’s because Brest’s stadium doesn’t meet UEFA standards so its home games have been relocated.

Bad starts

With each team playing eight games in the new league system, opening with back-to-back losses isn’t the nightmare start it would have been in the old format when there were six matches per side in the group stage.

Still, AC Milan, Leipzig, Girona, Salzburg, Sturm Graz, Slovan Bratislava, Young Boys and Red Star Belgrade will be desperate to get at least one point on the board in the third round of fixtures.

Salzburg and Young Boys haven’t even scored a goal.

One of the eight pointless teams is sure to get off the mark, with tournament newcomer Girona hosting Slovan Bratislava on Tuesday.

Leipzig could easily be on zero points after three games, though, with Liverpool visiting on Wednesday — a match that has more intrigue since former Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp was signed as the head of global soccer at Red Bull, whose international network of clubs includes Leipzig.

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Sainz Wins Mexico City Grand Prix as Norris Tightens Championship Fight

Ferrari's Spanish driver Carlos Sainz rises the winner's trophy after winning the Mexico City Formula One Grand Prix at the Hermanos Rodríguez racetrack, in Mexico City on October 27, 2024. (AFP)
Ferrari's Spanish driver Carlos Sainz rises the winner's trophy after winning the Mexico City Formula One Grand Prix at the Hermanos Rodríguez racetrack, in Mexico City on October 27, 2024. (AFP)
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Sainz Wins Mexico City Grand Prix as Norris Tightens Championship Fight

Ferrari's Spanish driver Carlos Sainz rises the winner's trophy after winning the Mexico City Formula One Grand Prix at the Hermanos Rodríguez racetrack, in Mexico City on October 27, 2024. (AFP)
Ferrari's Spanish driver Carlos Sainz rises the winner's trophy after winning the Mexico City Formula One Grand Prix at the Hermanos Rodríguez racetrack, in Mexico City on October 27, 2024. (AFP)

Carlos Sainz Jr. got the win he desperately wanted in the final days of his Ferrari career. The Formula 1 title race, meanwhile, grew a lot more contentious.

Sainz won the Mexico City Grand Prix on Sunday and Lando Norris closed the gap on Max Verstappen after another furious battle that cost the reigning three-time series champion three penalties and shaved 10 points off Verstappen's lead in the standings.

Sainz not only won but finished on the podium for the first time in Mexico City. It was the fourth win of his career, and second of the season for the driver who is being replaced by Lewis Hamilton next year at Ferrari. The Spaniard had never before won two races in a season.

"Honestly, I really wanted this one," said Sainz, who sounded emotional on his radio on the cool-down lap. "I really needed it for myself, I wanted to get it done. I've been saying for a while I wanted to get one more win before leaving Ferrari, and to do it here in front of this mega crowd, it is incredible."

Verstappen started second and took the lead from pole-sitter Sainz on the start, but the first lap quickly drew a caution when contact between Yuki Tsunoda and Alex Albon caused Tsundona to crash and Albon to retire with damage to his car.

The restart was spicy with the Ferraris racing Verstappen and Norris for position. And for a second consecutive week, the title contenders clashed.

Norris was penalized last week. This time it cost Verstappen two penalties totaling 20 seconds. After the race, the FIA also penalized Verstappen two points to give him six for the 12-month period.

"I knew what to expect. I don't want to expect such a thing, because I respect Max a lot as a driver, but I was waiting to expect something like this," Norris said of Verstappen's driving. "Not very clean driving in my opinion, but I avoided it."

Norris was penalized a week ago at the United States Grand Prix for forcing Verstappen off track — a punishment that gave the final spot on the podium to the three-time reigning world champion. It also allowed Verstappen to widen his lead in the driver standings to 57 points before the race Sunday.

The tables were turned at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez when Verstappen was given a 10-second penalty for banging wheels with Norris and forcing Norris off the track.

"Ten? That's aggressive," Verstappen said.

He then was slapped with a second 10-second penalty for gaining position when he left the track for a combined 20-second penalty to be served on his first pit stop.

"That's fine then. That's silly, man," Verstappen radioed.

He pitted from third on Lap 27 and his mechanics could not begin his service until the 20-second penalty was served. He dropped to 15th when he rejoined the race.

Although Verstappen recovered to finish sixth, Norris spoiled what looked to be a Ferrari sweep when he snatched second place from Charles Leclerc with eight laps remaining. The finishes were a 10-point swing for Norris, who now trails Verstappen by 47 points with four races remaining.

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner brought printed sheets of telemetry to his post-race media session to argue against one of Verstappen's penalties. He also argued that part of the punishments were carry-over from last week's incidents with Norris, when many thought Verstappen also deserved a penalty, and that F1 is in danger of being overpoliced.

"Obviously, there's been a reaction to last weekend and I think it's very important for the drivers, stewards to sit down," Horner said. "It used to be a reward of the bravest driver to go around the outside. I think we're in danger of flipping the overtaking laws upside down. We're overcomplicating things and when you have to revert to an instruction manual for an overtake ... it's something that just needs to be tidied up."

Horner said Red Bull would not appeal the penalties the way McLaren did this week.

Leclerc, meanwhile, finished third and set the fastest lap of the race for Ferrari, which like McLaren is trying to dethrone Red Bull for the lucrative constructors' championship. Ferrari jumped ahead of Red Bull for second in the standings and trails McLaren by 27 points. Red Bull, which won the last two constructors' titles, is now third in the standings.

"Obviously, the constructors is still our target and we are getting closer to it," Leclerc said. "I hope we can continue in that direction and get that constructors' title, which is very important."

Mercedes drivers Hamilton and George Russell finished fourth and fifth and Verstappen was sixth. Kevin Magnussen was seventh for Haas and followed by Oscar Piastri of McLaren, Nico Hülkenberg of Haas and Pierre Gasly of Alpine.

Perez's long day

Embattled driver Sergio Perez had a long day at his home race from the very start.

The Mexican, who was eliminated in the first round of qualifying to earn an 18th-place starting spot, gained five positions at the start. But was immediately handed a five-second penalty for being outside his box at the start.

It dropped him to 16th and he finished 17th.

Perez also got into a wheel-to-wheel battle with Liam Lawson that turned contentious on team radio as the two battled for position on the 19th lap.

"What the (expletive) is this idiot doing? Is he OK?" Perez asked on his radio as the drivers went wheel-to-wheel and made contact. Perez was run wide of the track in the battle.

Lawson was just as irate and flashed his middle finger at Perez.

"Is he (expletive) serious?" Lawson asked on his radio.

"Loud and clear, we'll review it, head down," Lawson was told by his RB team, which is Red Bull's junior team.

Lawson reportedly apologized to Perez after, according to Horner, but Perez's job status is in danger. He is eighth in the driver standings and a huge reason why Red Bull has slipped in the constructors' championship.

When asked directly by The Associated Press if Perez, who this year was signed to an extension through 2025, if Perez would even finish the season, Horner refused to commit.

"There comes a point in time that difficult decisions have to be made," Horner said. "We're now third in the constructors' championship."

Alonso out early

Fernando Alonso's 400th career Formula 1 start was a short one: he drove his Aston Martin back the garage on the 16th lap.

He finished 18th and the team said the brakes on his Aston Martin were overheating.

Alonso began the race weekend ill and skipped Thursday events but returned by Friday's second practice. The two-time F1 champion already held the record for most starts in series history, setting the record when he passed Kimi Räikkönen, who retired with 353 starts.

The 43-year-old Alonso started the race ninth in the driver standings. He has 32 career victories and 106 podium finishes.