Red Card

MADRID — A last-minute goal from substitute Mario Hermoso gave Atletico Madrid the victory in a seven-goal thriller as they beat Getafe 4-3 at home on Saturday.

The helter-skelter game saw six goals in the first-half, as well as a missed penalty, before Hermoso — who had been brought on after Atletico defender Felipe was dismissed in the second period — sent the Wanda Metropolitano into raptures and his team into fourth place in the table.

Looking for a favorite at the Africa Cup of Nations after the group stage, no team stood out quite like Nigeria — which won all three of its matches with Kelechi Iheanacho, Moses Simon and Samuel Chukwueze all shining in attack. 

Burkina Faso is the first nation through to the Africa Cup of Nations quarterfinals after a wild victory over Gabon that included a missed penalty in regular time, a red card, a 91st-minute equalizer for 10-man Gabon and a dramatic penalty shootout.

These days, it feels like it’s only a matter of time before Granit Xhaka does something reckless to cost Arsenal a match. For once, he did something rash and it didn’t cost Arsenal.

With some inspired defending and a bit of luck, Arsenal held on for a 0-0 draw with Liverpool in the first leg of the Carabao Cup on Thursday at Anfield. The tie felt more like a win after Xhaka was sent off in the 24th minute, forcing the Gunners to play a man down for more than an hour. 

LIMBE, Cameroon — Mali completed a 1-0 victory over Tunisia in a controversial Group F game at the Africa Cup of Nations that was ended prematurely by referee Janny Sikazwe, who later tried to play the final four minutes only for the north Africans to refuse.

Zambian Sikazwe, who officiated at the 2018 World Cup in Russia, initially blew for the final whistle on 85 minutes as he got his timekeeping all wrong.

But after playing on, he then repeated the error when he blew for fulltime once more before the clock had ticked over to the 90 minutes.