Women's World Cup champion Spain widened its points lead atop the FIFA rankings Thursday over the second-placed United States.

Spain retained its UEFA Nations League title since the last rankings update in August, while the U.S. won four of five friendlies played in that time.

The pressure was already on Real Madrid coach Xabi Alonso and a 2-1 defeat to Manchester City in the Champions League on Wednesday raised further questions about his future.

Arsenal remains perfect in this season's competition and three points clear at the top of the standings after a 3-0 win against Club Brugge, while defending champion Paris Saint-Germain was held 0-0 at Athletic Bilbao.

At a cafe in a bustling Cairo neighborhood, Liverpool games once drew wall-to-wall crowds, but with Mohamed Salah off the pitch, his Egyptian fans would now rather play cards or quietly doomscroll than watch the Reds play.

Salah, one of the world's greatest football stars, delivered an unusually sharp rebuke of manager Arne Slot after he was left on the bench for three consecutive games.

Best player. Best team. Inter Miami's Lionel Messi is the unquestioned force in Major League Soccer right now, on a run like nobody else the league has ever seen.

The 38-year-old Argentine star — and captain of the MLS Cup champions — has become the first back-to-back MVP in MLS history, getting announced Tuesday as this year's winner of the league's top individual honor.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino's public support for Donald Trump and a peace prize awarded to the U.S. president are the subjects of formal complaints to the global football body's ethics investigators.

Even from the penalty spot, Liverpool managed just fine without Mohamed Salah.

After leaving the Egypt forward in England, Liverpool got a much-needed boost with a 1-0 win over Inter Milan in the Champions League on Tuesday. Barcelona and Bayern Munich celebrated comeback wins and Chelsea lost.

After leaving Mohamed Salah at home, Liverpool needs to show it can win without the Egyptian forward as Arne Slot's team takes on Inter Milan in the Champions League on Tuesday.

On a night when Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Chelsea and Tottenham are all in action, the focus is on Liverpool after Salah said Saturday it "seems like the club has thrown me under the bus." Liverpool's response was to leave him out of the squad for its trip to Italy.

Ballon d'Or winner Ousmane Dembélé and goalkeeper Lucas Chevalier will both miss Paris Saint-Germain's trip to Athletic Bilbao in the Champions League on Wednesday.

PSG said Dembélé is sick while Chevalier is still recovering from a right ankle injury.

A second-half double from substitute Christian Pulisic gave AC Milan a come-from- behind 3-2 win over Torino on Monday and swept it back to the top of Italy's Serie A.

Weekend wins for title rivals Napoli and Internazionale left Milan in third and it knew three points were required to return to the summit.

Celebrations erupted on the pitch and in the stands in Doha on Sunday when both Palestine and Syria made it through to the Arab Cup quarter-finals following a 0-0 draw.

For both sides, reaching the knockout stage in the regional tournament hosted by Qatar was magnified by the all-too recent memory of conflict in their homelands.