Barcelona in world final, Atlético advance in cup
Thursday, December 17, 2015
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Luis Suárez's hat-trick against Guangzhou Evergrande took Barcelona into the FIFA Club World Cup final, while Atlético Madrid made Copa del Rey progress on Thursday.
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THURSDAY:
Barcelona 3-0 Guangzhou Evergrande, FIFA Club World Cup semi-final (Suárez 39 50 67pen)
A Luis Suárez hat-trick in Yokohama took Barcelona into Sunday's final against Argentina's River Plate. Lionel Messi was ruled out of the game due to renal colic, joining Neymar on the sidelines, but Barcelona still proved too strong for Luiz Felipe Scolari's Asian champions and will now aim to win the trophy for a record third time.
Atlético Madrid 1-0 Reus Deportiu (agg: 3-1), Copa del Rey last 32, second leg (Thomas 53)
Ghanaian midfielder Thomas Partey's first goal for the Rojiblancos wrapped up a 3-1 aggregate victory. They now meet Rayo Vallecano matches over two legs in the first fortnight of January while Barcelona play Espanyol.
WEDNESDAY:
Paris Saint-Germain 1-0 St-Étienne, French League Cup last 16 (Cavani 86)
Holders Paris began their trophy defence with victory thanks to Edinson Cavani's late volley from Ángel Di María's precise long pass. The runaway Ligue 1 leaders will host Lyon in January's quarter-finals.
Roma 0-0 Spezia (aet, 2-4pens), Italian Cup last 16
After 120 goalless minutes, Serie B side Spezia knocked out Roma after the home club's first two spot kicks were missed by Miralem Pjanić and Edin Džeko. Spezia are next at home to Alessandria, who became the first third-tier team since Bari in 1983/84 to reach the quarter-finals after beating Genoa on Tuesday.
Juventus 4-0 Torino, Italian Cup last 16 (Zaza 28 51, Dybala 73, Pogba 82)
The holders cruised to victory against a Torino side that played the final 40 minutes with ten men. Juventus will visit Lazio in January's quarter-finals.
Heracles 2-3 PSV Eindhoven, Dutch Cup last 16 (Bel Hassani 18, Tannane 50pen; Locadia 36 90, Castro 69og)
PSV came from behind twice to book a place in February's quarter-final. Remko Pasveer's 48th-minute red card hindered the visitors but Jürgen Locadia's late winner accounted for the side one place below them in the Eredivisie.
Gent 1-0 Mechelen, Belgian Cup quarter-final (Dejaeghere 10)
Brecht Dejaeghere's early goal was enough for the league leaders to see off struggling Mechelen.
TUESDAY:
União da Madeira 0-0 Benfica, Portuguese Liga
Benfica missed the chance to close the gap on the top two as they were held by the relegation strugglers in their game in hand. The Eagles are eight points behind leaders Sporting CP and five adrift of Porto.
Bayern München 1-0 Darmstadt, German Cup last 16 (Alonso 40)
A spectacular finish from Xabi Alonso ensured Bayern reached February's quarter-finals, where they will visit second division Bochum. Bayern had the better of the chances and Philipp Lahm said: "We did not allow anything at the back but we could still have played a bit better in the last third of the pitch."