The Luxembourg national team achieved a surprise victory over its host, the Bulgarian national team, 2-1, on Saturday, in the first round of the fourth group competitions in the third level of the European Nations League.
Bulgaria took the lead with a goal scored by Asen Chandarov in the 18th minute, but Luxembourg equalized through Leandro Bareiro in the 37th minute.
Vincent Thiel scored the winning goal for the visiting team in the 65th minute, giving Luxembourg its first 3 points in the group.
In another match in the same group, Iceland tied with its guest Estonia 1-1.
Iceland took the lead with a goal scored by Andre Gudjundsson in the 45th minute, before Estonia equalized through Maxim Paskuzzi in the 64th minute.
An Estonian national team goal scored by Kevor Palomets in the 52nd minute was cancelled.
In the town of Serravalli in San Marino, the Finnish national team achieved a major victory over its host San Marino, 7-0, on Saturday, in the first round of Group A competitions in the third level of the European Nations League.
The Finnish national team took the lead with an early goal scored by Yoel Pohanbalu in the fifth minute, before Simon Svanbak added the second goal in the 14th minute.
Benjamin Kalman increased Finland's lead with the third goal in the 33rd minute, then Leo Walta added the fourth goal in the 50th minute, before the same player returned and scored the fifth goal 5 minutes later.
Pohanbalu completed his personal hat-trick by scoring the sixth goal in the 79th minute from a penalty kick, and then concluded Finland's goals in the 88th minute, also from a penalty kick.
The match saw San Marino player Michele Golinucci sent off in the 52nd minute, leaving the hosts to complete the match with ten players.
Australian Alex de Minaur's blood ran down his right leg in a dramatic victory over German Alexander Zverev, 2/6, 7/6, 11/9, giving the world team a 5/3 lead over the European team in the Laver Cup tennis tournament, on Saturday.
The world team, led by American Andre Agassi, rose strongly on the second day of the tournament, after American Lerner Tien defeated Italian Flavio Copoli with a score of 6/3, 2/6, and 10/7 in the first match of the day.
De Minaur said, pointing to the world team shirt: “My blood is red with the color of this shirt. It was a very difficult match, like a fierce battle. I made the maximum effort possible, and I was lucky, and I am happy to give superiority to the world team.”
He added: “We lived through this scenario in last year’s tournament, and things went well, and we know that we can achieve a strong surprise, even though we are not the strongest favourite, but we can provide a strong performance in every match.”
The European team was ahead 3-1 at the end of Friday's matches.
This loss broke a series of 9 consecutive victories for Zverev, ranked second in the world, who achieved two victories with his country in the Davis Cup tennis tournament last week, and before that he won the US Open title.
The third match in the series will be held on Saturday evening, between Spaniard Carlos Alcarras and American Taylor Fritz, while Zverev will play alongside Norwegian Casper Ruud against Alexander Bublik and Brandon Nakashima in doubles matches.
The Laver Cup tournament is held over three days, with four matches per day.
The tournament stipulates that a victory equals one point in Friday matches, increases to two points in Saturday matches, then three points in Sunday matches, and the team that first reaches 13 points is crowned the title.
The European team has won the Laver Cup 5 times, compared to 3 crowns for the world team, the last of which was in 2025, and the tournament is held using the same Ryder Cup system.
The European national team is led by French coach Yannick Noah.
Lionel Scaloni, the coach of the Argentine national football team, admitted that Lionel Messi's last match with the national team against Benin on October 6 will be a very emotional occasion, stressing that he wants to bid farewell to the former team captain in the way he wishes.
Scaloni said: “It will be difficult not to cry,” explaining that he was keen for Messi to have the opportunity to say goodbye in front of his country’s fans at the “Monumental” stadium in the capital, Buenos Aires.
Messi announced his retirement from international football earlier, after an exceptional career with the Argentine national team during which he played 207 matches and scored 125 goals since his first international appearance in 2005, becoming the record holder in appearances and goals with his country's national team.
Messi contributed to Argentina winning the Copa America title in 2021 and 2024, in addition to winning the 2022 World Cup, before reaching the 2026 World Cup final with the team, which it lost to Spain.
It is expected that Messi will appear for the last time in an Argentina shirt against Benin, amid special preparations to honor the 39-year-old star.
Adidas is preparing to prepare a special shirt for Messi in the farewell match, as the shirt will bear a custom logo in the shape of the letter “M” instead of the company’s logo in its usual place. The design also includes golden details on the team’s logo and the shirt number.
Messi is also scheduled to wear custom shoes for the match, predominantly white with black and blue details and golden touches.
In another context, Scaloni announced that defender Cristian Romero will be the new captain of the Argentine national team after Messi retires from international football.
“The leader will be Romero,” Scaloni said during a press conference on Friday evening. He was already the third captain after Messi and Nicolas Otamendi. Emiliano Martinez can also wear the captain’s armband, as can Rodrigo De Paul, and so can Lautaro Martinez.”
Romero, who is 28 years old, has previously worn the Argentina captaincy three times, during the 1-0 victory over Chile in the 2025 World Cup qualifiers, and in a friendly match against Venezuela in the same year, and then against Mauritania before the 2026 World Cup.
