Real Madrid pulled off another sensational comeback in the Champions League on Tuesday night, coming from two goals down to defeat Borussia Dortmund 5-2 at the Bernabeu.

The Bundesliga side stunned the home crowd with goals from Donyell Malen and Jamie Bynoe-Gittens.

But Vinicius Junior struck a second-half hat-trick as the holders took all three points.

At the Emirates, Gabriel Martinelli forced an own goal in the first half, as they edged Shakhtar Donetsk 1-0.

PSV played out a 1-1 draw with Paris Saint-Germain.

In other fixtures, AC Milan beat Club Brugge 3-1, Aston Villa saw off Bologna 2-0, Stuttgart shocked Juventus 1-0 in Turin and Sporting Lisbon won 2-0 at Sturm Graz.

More than 400 footballers have been waiting for over a year to receive payments from a FIFA-run fund designed to help players owed money by their clubs, according to AFP.

The amount of $4 million was reportedly meant to be paid to 420 players by September 30 of last year.

However, it has been reported that these payments destined for the out-of-pocket players have still not been made.

Emails and letters from global players’ union FIFPro to FIFA chasing up the payment have reportedly gone unanswered.

Many of the players impacted are believed to be based in Portugal, Greece and Romania. Although the figure of 420 does also include players from all over the world.

The sum is part of the FIFA Fund for Football Players (FFP), which was set up in 2020 following an agreement between the governing body and FIFPro.

FIFA set aside $16 million at the fund’s launch, with the aim of providing “financial support to players who have not been paid and have no chance of duly receiving the wages agreed with their clubs”, as per Inside FIFA.

The reports follow the filing of a complaint last week by bodies representing footballers and clubs in Europe, including FIFPro, which accuses FIFA of abusing its position over changes to the international match calendar and tournament expansions.

AFP

The Confederation of African Football will on Wednesday announce its decision on the botched AFCON qualifying Group D between Libya and Nigeria, which was scheduled for Benina Martyrs Stadium on October 15 l.

According to Libya Al-Ahrar Channel, the apex continental football body will announce the final decision regarding the players’ ordeal during the first leg in Nigeria in October, which ended 1-0 in favour of the Super Eagles and the reverse fixture that would have held at the 10,550-capacity, Libya’s first all-seater stadium.

The outlet also revealed that the Libyan Football Federation submitted all the documents it collected with a specialised lawyer assigned by the body to supervise the Libyan file with the Confederation of African Football.

A day after the botched encounter, CAF delisted the fixture from its calendar after announcing its cancellation hours before kick-off, with the matter referred to the Disciplinary Committee for consideration.

In its statement on Monday, the Libyan Football Federation denounced the measures taken by the Nigerian side regarding the team’s refusal to play its match against Libya. The Federation confirmed that it would take all legal measures to preserve the interests of the national football team.

Nigeria had arrived for the match on Sunday, October 14, only for their flight to be diverted to Al Abraq International Airport, which is about three hours away by road to Benghazi, the venue of the match. The Libyan authorities held them captive for approximately 17 hours, leaving them traumatized as they flew back to their home country.

Nigeria lodged a complaint with CAF lamenting their ordeal, and the Libyan Federation said that the Nigerians did not cooperate with them in any way, whether in the first or second leg, indicating that their experience is a child’s play compared to theirs while in Nigeria for the first leg.

CAF had described what happened to the Nigerian team in Libya as “extremely dangerous,” noting that it had contacted the Libyan and Nigerian authorities after reporting that the latter had been subjected to worrying conditions for hours at the airport. It referred the matter to its disciplinary committee to investigate and take appropriate action against those who violated the regulations.

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