Champions League: Chelsea, Roma stay alive; Bayern humiliates Arsenal

The late goals by Chelsea and Roma earn both crucial victories in the Champions League on Wednesday, improving their chances of advancing to the knockout stage. Chelsea defeated Dynamo Kiev 2-1 in London thanks to an 83rd-minute free kick by Willian, while Miralem Pjanic’s 80th-minute penalty gave Roma a 3-2 home win over Bayer Leverkusen.

Zenit St. Petersburg secured its place in the round of 16 with a win at Lyon, while Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Porto and Olympiakos also won on Wednesday, staying on track to advance.

Arsenal remains in trouble and is on the brink of elimination after losing 5-1 to Bayern Munich in Germany.

Matuidi's foul worse than Suarez's bite says Maradona

Argentina legend, Diego Maradona, has described as "criminal" Blaise Matuidi's tackle challenge on Nigerian midfielder, Ogenyi Onazi in Monday's round of 16 clash at the Fifa World Cup between France and Nigeria in Brasilia.

Maradona, working a pundit for the World Cup with Venezuelan television, Telesur TV, hit out at the American referee, Mark Geiger, for not considering Matuidi's "tackle as a criminal act."

He went on to state that the Frenchman's challenge on Onazi is worse than Luis Suarez's bite on Italian defender, Giorgio Chiellini.

"It is impossible that the referee did not see the tackle as a criminal act. It is even worse than what Suarez has done [to Chiellini]," Maradona said during the Venezuelan television show.

England Joined Spain as Uruguay win by 2-1 ; Luis Suarez double wins it after Wayne Rooney scores first World Cup goal to equalise

The Uruguay players remain on the pitch after the final whistle to celebrate with their fans. After their calamitous opening defeat to Costa Rica, it's quite a turnaround. There's one man who can take a large portion of the credit: Luis Suarez.

For England it was all in vain. Wayne Rooney’s first goal, the mighty effort in Manaus – almost certainly it ends here. England will need to be the first team in World Cup history to lose their opening two games and go through, if they are to qualify from here.

That isn’t going to happen. It won’t happen, most likely, because there is no guarantee England can win, even against Costa Rica, with a defence that cannot be trusted, not even for five minutes.

That was how long remained when Luis Suarez struck, a second time. It was a goal of almost agricultural quality. A long kick upfield by goalkeeper Fernando Muslera, perhaps glancing the header of captain Steven Gerrard, inexplicably catching Gary Cahill unaware.

Brazil World Cup: Wayne Rooney hopes partner Daniel Sturridge for England

Wayne Rooney hopes to strike up a partnership with Daniel Sturridge that emulates his England colleague’s club success with Luis Suarez.

Rooney believes Suarez and Sturridge were the best front pair in the Premier League last season(external) as they fired Liverpool into title contention. Now he wants to play the Uruguayan’s role with Sturridge for England.

“It’s easier at a club but we have had time to work on stuff. Hopefully we’ll see the benefits of that,” said Rooney. “Suarez and Sturridge have certainly been the best two front men in the Premier League this season.