The gavel came down on some former members of FIFA who decided to plead not guilty.

As detailed by the Guardian’s Oliver Laughland, two ex-football officials were found guilty on multiple charges of corruption on Friday. Juan Angel Napout, former president of CONMEBOL and the Asociacion Paraguaya de Futbol, and Jose Maria Marin, former president of the Confederacao Brasileira de Futebol, were found guilty of racketeering and wire fraud conspiracies by a jury in New York City in the first case brought to trial as part of the United States Department of Justice’s investigation of FIFA. The verdict on Manuel Burga, former president of the Federacion Peruana de Futbol, is pending.

Napout and Burga were among 16 additional FIFA officials who were indicted for racketeering conspiracy and corruption in December 2015. They were charged with racketeering, wire fraud, and money laundering conspiracies in connection with a 24-year scheme to enrich themselves by corrupting international football. Marin, meanwhile, was among the nine FIFA officials who were indicted in May 2015, when the corruption scandal engulfing football’s governing body started. All three defendants pleaded not guilty.

The trial lasted more than four weeks, and, per Laughland, saw 28 witnesses testify for the prosecution, including former football executives and sports marketing executives who testified against their former colleagues. Prosecutors said that a web of corrupt practice spanning several decades resulted in at least $150 million in bribes, of which Napout took $10.5 million, Marin took $6.5 million, and Burga took $4.4 million.

As explained by The Associated Press’ Tom Hays, a federal jury in New York deliberated a week before reaching the partial verdict, and Napout and Marin were acquitted of some lesser counts. The odd twists that coloured the trial included the following:

• An unproven accusation that Burga threatened a witness
• A juror being booted for sleeping through testimony
• Word that an Argentinian lawyer had committed suicide hours before being named as a bribe-taker
• The surprise testimony of Kevin Jonas, a former member of the Jonas Brothers.

Regarding the racketeering conspiracy, most of the schemes alleged in the indictment relate to bribes and kickbacks by football officials from sports marketing executives in connection to various matches and tournaments, including the Copa America Centenario, the Copa America, the Copa Libertadores, and the Copa do Brasil.

If Tuesday’s Champions League slate was short on attacking, Wednesday’s offerings were blessed by a litany of tallies as 33 goals were bagged across eight group-stage finales.

Seven-goal Liverpool was unplayable, Porto put a five-spot on slumping Monaco, and Roberto Firmino and Cristiano Ronaldo set individual standards for proficiency in front of goal.

Naturally, it was a matchday rife with compelling statistics, and here’s a look at a baker’s dozen from an unrelentingly exciting day on the continent.

1: Gabriel Jesus finally lost his first competitive match for Manchester City courtesy of the shock 2-1 defeat at Shakhtar Donetsk.

3: Philippe Coutinho’s hat-trick was his first treble for Liverpool since joining the Merseyside club from Inter in 2013.

4: For the first time since 2006-07, four English clubs won their respective Champions League groups.

5: By virtue of Liverpool’s victory over a lifeless Spartak Moscow, the Reds join Tottenham, City, Manchester United, and Chelsea in the last-16, marking the first time five clubs from the same country have made the knockouts.

6: Dental deity Firmino’s six goals at this stage is a new Liverpool record.

12: Feyenoord’s late victory over Napoli ended a streak of a dozen Champions League defeats on the bounce for the Eredivisie holder.

16: Tottenham recorded 16 points in winning Group H, matching a record for English clubs with Arsenal (2005-06 – eventual runner-up) and Manchester United (2007-08 – eventual winner)

23: Yes, Liverpool again – but the 23 goals Jurgen Klopp’s lot scored in the group stage sets a Champions League standard for English sides, and is second all-time to Paris Saint-Germain’s record 25.

100: Pep Guardiola became the sixth manager to register a century of tilts in the competition, joining Sir Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger, Carlo Ancelotti, Jose Mourinho, and Mircea Lucescu.

306: The 2017-18 group stage set a record with 306 goals scored.

1470: Alvaro Negredo’s penalty for Besiktas was his first Champions League goal in 1,470 days, with the last coming for Man City against Viktoria Plzen in 2013.

6 for 6: Real Madrid’s Ronaldo became the first player to score in all six group games matches in the tournament’s history.

17, 192: City teen talent Phil Foden became the youngest English player (17 years, 192 days) to start a Champions League match, and is the youngest of any nationality to line up from kickoff for an English club since Cesc Fabregas did so for Arsenal in 2004.

(Photos courtesy: Getty Images)

Mircea Lucescu found his seat, pulled out a blanket, and settled in. Temperatures in Kharkhiv were tilting toward 30F on Wednesday night, and the new Turkey manager could have been anywhere else in the world. But he wanted to be right here, to see Shakhtar Donetsk face Manchester City.

This was no scouting trip. Neither team had a single Turkish player in their lineup. Lucescu was here to check in on Shakhtar, whom he led to eight Ukrainian titles and a UEFA Cup during a brilliant 12-year tenure. He was hoping to see the club get the point that was needed to qualify for the knockout phase of the Champions League.

More than that, though, Lucescu was here for the same reasons he agreed to become the club’s manager in the first place, all the way back in 2004. Namely, the promise of sparkling Samba soccer even in the unlikeliest of settings.

Almost half a century has passed since Lucescu, as captain of the Romanian national team, travelled to Brazil for a series of exhibition games. It is bizarre to consider how that trip would lay the foundations for Shakhtar to beat City all this time later.

Lucescu was dazzled by his opponents on that historic tour, and they were dazzled by him. Fluminense’s attempt to take him on loan failed. He returned to Europe, played out a fine career, and became a successful manager.

His fascination with the South American country endured, however, and when Shakhtar’s wealthy owner, Rinat Akhmetov, offered him the chance to build a team according to his own vision, a love affair was consummated at last. Under Lucescu’s stewardship, as many as 13 Brazilian players would feature in Shakhtar’s first-team squad at the same time.

That number has since dwindled. Recruitment became trickier after the club was forced to relocate hundreds of miles away from Donetsk in 2014, to escape armed conflict in the region. It left behind a modern training base and new stadium to play before sparse crowds in Lviv and now Kharkiv.

And yet, a Brazilian core has endured. Even the man who succeeded Lucescu last year, Paulo Fonseca, was chosen in part to extend the tradition: a Portuguese speaker who could communicate with such players most effectively. The likes of Alex Teixeira, Luiz Adriano, and Douglas Costa departed soon before he arrived. But Bernard, Marlos, Fred, Taison, and Ismaily have all stayed.

It was the first of those players who opened the scoring against City on Wednesday, arcing a brilliant finish over Ederson and into the top corner. Ismaily had helped to create the opportunity, his run outside causing Danilo to delay and leave room for the shot. The Shakhtar left-back then added a goal of his own shortly before half-time.

City had no answers. True, this was not its strongest XI – Pep Guardiola handing a Champions League debut to the 20-year-old Tosin Adarabioyo, and a first start in any competition to the 17-year-old Phil Foden. Curiously, the latter was deployed at left wing-back, despite having thrived in the youth team as an attacking midfielder and No 10.

Yet the English champion – previously unbeaten this season – was still featuring Leroy Sane, Gabriel Jesus, and Bernardo Silva up front, not to mention the former Shakhtar man Fernandinho in central defence. There was little to play for, with first place in Champions League Group F already secured, yet Ilkay Gundogan hardly looked like a man taking the night off as he raged at the referee’s decision to award a free-kick against him in the second minute.

Even at 2-0 down, City kept chipping away. The club eventually pulled a goal back through a questionable penalty. It was only a consolation prize, yet even that felt a little harsh on Shakhtar, who had mustered three times as many shots on goal as its opponent despite having the ball at their feet for less than half as much time.

The host was able to celebrate all the same at the end. Fonseca had promised to dress up as Zorro if Shakhtar made it through a group in which the club began as clear third-favourite behind City and Napoli. Thousands of fans had showed up for this game wearing eye masks as a reminder.

For the presence of game-changing players like Bernard, he has Lucescu to thank. Seven of the nine goals Shakhtar has scored in this Champions League campaign have come from Brazilian players. The other two were scored by an Argentinian, Facundo Ferreyra.

Yet Fonseca has refined things even further, building a team that can be expansive and brilliant when the situation permits but which also knows how to kill a game. Shakhtar suffocated City, just as the club had Napoli at the start of the group phase.

Now, Shakhtar can look forward to a two-month pause as the Ukrainian winter sets in. Lucescu can pack away that blanket and head back to Turkey’s warmer climes. Until the time comes to fly back out here for another Samba fix, at least.

Although the chances of him featuring are slim, Wojciech Szczesny is yearning for a return to England after revealing his hopes that Juventus gets drawn with a Premier League team in the Champions League Round of 16.

Szczesny, who spent several years with Arsenal before losing his job to Petr Cech and leaving on a permanent transfer last summer, made his Champions League debut with Juventus on Tuesday during the Italian side’s 2-0 win over Olympiacos.

The result saw Juventus finish second in its group, meaning that the chances are good that the Serie A outfit will be drawn with an English side after four of the five Premier League teams to qualify for the knockout rounds managed to finish atop their respective groups.

“I hope that we draw an English team,” Szczesny told Juve’s website, according to ESPN FC’s Ben Gladwell.

“I’d really like it if we could win a big game in England.”

Considering his past ties to Arsenal, Szczesny will likely be eager to visit north London again if Juve draws Tottenham. Manchester City, Manchester United, and Liverpool are the other possible English opponents. Besiktas or Paris Saint-Germain are the only non-English teams that Juve can be drawn against.