Digest

SOCCER

Liverpool undone by Leno's penalty heroics

Arsenal goalkeeper Bernd Leno saved two penalties in a 5-4 shootout win over Liverpool as the Gunners reached the League Cup quarterfinals on Thursday, while Aston Villa and Fulham were knocked out by lower-division clubs.

Joe Willock scored Arsenal's winning penalty to set up a home match against defending champion Manchester City in the next round.

Leno, who also kept a clean sheet through 90 minutes as the game ended 0-0, blocked penalties from Divock Origi and Harry Wilson.

"It was a very tough game," Leno told Sky Sports. "It is very good to save some penalties and see some laughing faces but I prefer next time to win the game before penalties. But the main thing is we won."

A first-half header from Sam Vokes gave second-tier Stoke a 1-0 win at Villa to set up a quarterfinal at home to Tottenham. Fulham was ousted 3-0 by local west London rival Brentford.

European draw pits Ronaldo against Messi

Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi will face each other in the Champions League group stage for the first time.

Messi's Barcelona was drawn from the pot of second-seeded teams Thursday into the group where Ronaldo's Juventus team was already placed as a top seed. The group was completed by Dynamo Kiev and Ferencvaros.

Ronaldo and Messi had a nineyear rivalry in Spain when Ronaldo was with Real Madrid. However, they could never face each other so early in the Champions League then because clubs from the same country are separated in the draw. They did meet in the 2009 final, when Messi scored as Barcelona beat Ronaldo's Manchester United 2-0.

UEFA said stadiums can be filled to 30 percent capacity for Champions League matches, but local authorities have final approval.

Clubs permitted to pull players from qualifiers

FIFA decided on Thursday that clubs can stop their players from participating in international matches until the end of the year depending on COVID-19 conditions in the countries to which they are traveling.

The announcement comes a week before the opening rounds of South American World Cup qualifiers.

The council of soccer's governing body decided that clubs don't need to release players if they are expected to travel to countries that impose mandatory quarantine or self-isolation for at least five days upon arrival.

FIFA said that measure also applies if there are travel restrictions where the player is coming from or if local authorities do not grant a specific exemption.

The decision is in line with another FIFA ruling from August when the temporary changes applied to the mandatory transfer of players to European national teams.

ATHLETICS

Athens Marathon falls victim to pandemic

The 2020 Athens Marathon, scheduled to take place on Nov 7-8, has been canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Hellenic Athletics Federation (SEGAS) announced on Thursday.

Organizers had discussed several measures to hold the annual event in a safe manner, such as staging only the full 42-kilometer race and not the shorter distances, reducing the number of participants and having all participants undertake a COVID-19 test before the race, explained a SEGAS statement.

"It seems that even such measures would not secure the absolute safety of runners' health, which is and will be the top priority in our minds," SEGAS said.

Nearly 400 people have died in Greece from the coronavirus since February.

Registered runners can either defer their registration to next year's event or receive a refund of their entry fee. "We are very optimistic that, after this pandemic is over, we will all run together in our races in 2021," SEGAS said.

Xinhua - Agencies