Bukayo Saka led Arsenal to victory in the Champions League on Wednesday, but was left with some regrets after being denied his first hat trick for his boyhood club by one of his teammates.

The England winger had already scored twice against Monaco at Emirates Stadium when he sent a shot toward goal in the 88th minute. The shot might have been saved by the goalkeeper, but it deflected rather unwittingly off the shin of Kai Havertz and into the net to seal a 3-0 win for Arsenal.

"He got in the way of it," Saka said about Havertz, laughing, "but don't worry, it's [a hat trick] coming. It's on the way."

Still, with three goal contributions, Saka was again decisive for Arsenal and manager Mikel Arteta said the 23-year-old right winger was on his way to reaching a world-class level.

"You have to be able to do that consistently throughout many years to put yourself in that position," Arteta said. "We can compare what he's done in his first six years of professional football, which is exceptional, you know, and that's it and his aim is to improve.

"He has the players and environment to continue to do that and I'm sure he will."

Amid injury problems in defense, 18-year-old Myles Lewis-Skelly was handed a Champions League debut and played at left-back, where he has featured a number of times as a substitute in the Premier League this season.

The highly rated Lewis-Skelly said he was taking inspiration from Saka, who also came out of the Arsenal academy as a teenager.

"Looking up to Bukayo, he has that mindset, he has everything," he said. "I've learned a lot from him and I want to keep learning."

Arsenal climbed to third place in the 36-team standings with the win.

"In the first half we should have put the game to bed but we didn't," Arteta said. "In the Champions League you will have difficult moments and we suffered.

"Then with the second goal the game was in control."

Arsenal's final two UCL matches are against Dinamo Zagreb at home and away to Girona.

Information from The Associated Press and Reuters was used in this story.

United States internationals Weston McKennie and Timothy Weah were a big part of the reason Juventus toppled Manchester City in the Champions League on Wednesday.

The duo also made history in the process.

Weah played a perfect cross to his USMNT teammate in the second half of Juve's 2-0 win over City in Turin, Italy, and when McKennie buried an exquisite side volley past Éderson, the two became the first Americans to connect for a goal and assist in Champions League history.

"It was a big moment for the team with the situation we have been in," McKennie said after the match. "We wanted to come out and do the best we could. We knew Man City could punish us with one action and we knew what type of game it was going to be and we wanted to win this game to boost our confidence."

The result ended a string of four straight draws for Juventus, who are in sixth place in Serie A, and it kept them on track to reach the knockout phase of this season's revamped Champions League with 11 points and a spot in 14th place in the table.

Weah and McKennie have both been part of the U.S. senior side since 2018, and have played a combined 73 games together for club and country. After the game, McKennie talked about the challenges of being an American and playing for a top team in Europe as the pair battle for minutes at Juventus.

"Being an American, being over here, it's something you deal with, but I like it," McKennie said. "I like when people doubt me, and sometimes I play my best football when people doubt me."

McKennie has only five starts in the Italian league this season, scoring one goal, but Juventus coach Thiago Motta said the midfielder brings unique qualities to the team.

"Weston can do everything," Motta said after the game. "He has unusual physicality, but also great technique, knows when to time his runs and can be even more dangerous when he comes in from behind, as we saw today and against PSV Eindhoven.

"We are fortunate to have players with these qualities, because he can give us different alternatives during a match. I am happy for him and all the players this evening."

Juventus have now defeated Man City in each of the past three meetings, and ended the Premier League champions record of six straight games unbeaten against Italian teams.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

TURIN, Italy -- Manchester City are facing elimination and Pep Guardiola now looks as vulnerable and troubled as any other manager who has suffered a seventh defeat in 10 games. Both statements would have seemed unthinkable just a month ago, but after Tuesday's 2-0 Champions League loss against Juventus, the old certainties no longer apply.

Second-half goals from Dusan Vlahovic and Weston McKennie put Juventus on course for a playoff spot and left City in 22nd position in the Champions League, a point clear of 25th place Paris Saint-Germain, currently below the cut-off point that will see teams drop out of the competition altogether. City face PSG in Paris in their next game and if they lose that, elimination from the Champions League will loom large.

But while that prospect would be a humiliation for a club of City's stature and ambition -- they were Champions League winners in 2023 -- the biggest problem might just turn out to be Guardiola and whether we are witnessing the beginning of the end of his incredible eight-year reign in charge.

Is Guardiola's position as City manager under threat after his team's unprecedented slump? It is highly unlikely that the club's hierarchy, who were in Turin led by chairman Khaldoon al-Mubarak, would be so knee-jerk as to think about dismissing the most successful manager in City's history, a man who has delivered 18 trophies since 2016, but the faith and support of his bosses is not the issue.

With Guardiola cutting an unusually restrained figure on the touchline during this game in Turin -- when he wasn't slumped in his seat he stood with his hands in his pockets, barely delivering instructions to his players -- the real question is how long he will be able to sustain himself in a role when nothing is working.

Guardiola has never been just another manager, one of those guys who has good days and bad days and ultimately runs out of solutions when the problems begin to mount. Yes, he has had bad results in charge of Barcelona, Bayern Munich and City, but Guardiola has never been through the kind of crisis that all other managers endure. Until now.

The gilded career that has been a tale of almost unbroken success since he won the Treble with Barcelona in his first season in 2008-09 has placed the 53-year-old above the trials and tribulations of his contemporaries, but now that he is having to deal with them himself. Guardiola is failing for the first time in his career.

In Turin, he watched his team struggle to overcome a Juventus side that had gone into this game with just one win from their last six games and he did virtually nothing about it. He watched Kevin De Bruyne (33) and Ilkay Gündogan (34) run out of steam in midfield and left them toiling until waiting until the 87th minute to make his first change by introducing Matheus Nunes in favour of Jack Grealish.

Erling Haaland, City's goal machine, once again failed to contribute anything in a game when he doesn't score -- he managed just 18 touches all night. But again, Guardiola was unable to make the crucial tweak in his selection or system to make the difference.

When asked after the game whether he was now questioning himself, Guardiola conceded he was, but with an air of defiance rather than hinting at a lack of self-confidence.

"Of course I question myself and I have my thoughts," Guardiola said. "I'm stable in good moments and bad moments. I try to find a way to do it."

When pushed on whether he was now experiencing the toughest challenge of his career, Guardiola insisted it was not.

"My biggest challenge is to get results to continue to work in the first seasons [at Barcelona]," Guardiola said. "It's life, it happens. Sometimes you have a bad period, but I'm going to insist until we're there."

When Guardiola signed a two-year contract extension last month, he said that he had begun to view this season as his last at City.

Matchday six of the 2024-25 UEFA Champions League is in the books as we enter the business end of the league phase and the 36-team table continues to take shape.

Manchester City's loss to Juventus leaves Pep Guardiola's chances of staying in the competition on a knife-edge, while Arsenal and Liverpool added to their claims as the continent's best this season.

Elsewhere, there were some wonder-strikes from the like of Michael Olise, Julián Álvarez and Jhon Durán -- but which was the best?

ESPN writers Gab Marcotti, Sam Marsden and Julien Laurens reflect on some of the burning questions after six rounds.

1. It's do or die for Man City and PSG now. Which team do you favor more to go into the knockouts (through playoffs or top eight finish)?

Marcotti: I don't think PSG can mathematically get into the top eight. And it's going to be tricky for City as well. Obviously, PSG vs. Man City in the next round is going to be HUGE. I think the stakes are a little higher for PSG though, because their final game is away to VfB Stuttgart, who are not the easiest team to play on the road. So it's more of a "can't lose" game for them than it is for City. Crazy as it sounds, City could lose and still control their destiny as they play Club Brugge in the final game at the Etihad. That said, PSG are in far better form right now.

Laurens: I think both of them will finish in the top 24 and qualify for the playoffs. As I see it, they will draw with each other then both win their final game to finish with 12 points for the English champions and 11 for the French ones. That was not the plan at the start of the competition -- as the objective was obviously the top eight -- but both City and PSG will still be in it. This league phase has been a rollercoaster for them with a lot of drama, controversy, ups and downs. It has added a lot of entertainment to the campaign (except for Paris and for City fans) and a lot of pressure on coaches Guardiola and Luis Enrique. Which is also why we like this competition so much.

Marsden: Neither will finish in the top eight, but I also don't think either team will go out. PSG have the advantage of playing City at home and, domestically at least, are in much better form than Guardiola's team. If PSG really had to win at Stuttgart in their final game, I think they would pull it off, too. That said, with a point less than City and two tough games to come, they are under the biggest threat of a humiliating knockout stage exit. City should be fine because they have Brugge at home in their final game -- 11 points will be just enough to finish in the top 24.

2. Liverpool continued their perfect run. Are they primed to lift the title this year? Why or why not?

Marcotti: Obviously it's early in the season and there's always stuff that can go wrong. I think Liverpool boss Arne Slot has been exceptional this year in so many ways. The expiring contracts haven't been a distraction thus far and I don't think they will become one. My biggest concern is how the squad handles being in a Premier League title race and going deep in the Champions League as well. It's not straight-forward. He has the squad to rotate and you're seeing more of it recently, but it's not easy to do effectively. That's one of thing which, I think, he'll need to do if they are to win the title. The other thing is to keep Ryan Gravenberch fit and productive all season long (or, alternatively, find somebody else who can do what he does). Other than Mohamed Salah, he's probably Liverpool's most important player simply because there is no obvious replacement.

Laurens: Right now, they have been the best team in the competition, finding solutions against all their opponents and finding ways of winning without always playing great. Their masterclass was against the current holders, Real Madrid, when they outplayed them at Anfield on matchday five. But there is a long way to go still and in the knockout stages anything is possible. All the big teams will get better, Liverpool included, which makes this Champions League campaign really unpredictable.

Marsden: Liverpool are one of several sides that could win the competition, but their perfect league phase will not mean anything come March. Everything has gone so smoothly so far for Slot, but he will have to manage setbacks at some point if his side is to compete on various fronts. How would he cope without Salah, who has been directly involved in 28 of Liverpool's 50 goals this season? Teams will also begin to find ways to play against his side, as Girona, despite losing, did this week. Slot admitted Liverpool were "outplayed" at times and said he was "far from pleased with the performance." The challenge now is to keep the levels as high as they have been so far.

3. We had some nice goals this round. What was your favorite from this match day?

Laurens: I won't lie, I love a curler. Julián Álvarez's goal in Atlético Madrid's win over Slovan Bratislava was beautiful, as was the one scored by Paris born-and-bred Anis Hadj-Moussa for Feyenoord against Sparta Prague. But I can really only pick Olise's goal as the goal of the week. His slalom with the ball is sick. He beats six Donetsk players by making it look so easy. He makes the Shakhtar defenders look like cones on the pitch; it's all on his left foot with pace and swagger and finishes it all off by sitting down the keeper with the smallest of dummies. It's a wonder goal from a very special player.

Marsden: I want to say Olise but the defending from Shakhtar Donetsk, already 4-1 down and in the 93rd minute, is holding me back. I'll go for Durán -- it flew in -- but with an honorable mention for USMNT duo Timothy Weah and Weston McKennie, who combined for Juventus' second in their 2-0 win over Manchester City. Weah's cross was acrobatically finished by McKennie.

Marcotti: Jules was right to touch on Hadj Moussa's curler. It was just as delightful as Álvarez's strike, except with a little dummy to leave the defender on the spot. But yeah, otherwise it's Olise, regardless of the fact it was in garbage time.

4. There are some surprise teams at the top of the table. Who is your "dark horse" to go furthest in the competition?

Marcotti: I guess it depends on your definition of "dark horse". Other than Brest and Lille I'm not sure anybody in the top 14 is a "dark horse". I guess I'd go with Lille out of those two, just because they're a more complete squad than Brest. If we use "clubs who were not founding members of the Super League" as a definition for dark horse, then maybe Bayer Leverkusen (if they get their injured guys back) or Atalanta, just because anything can happen (and often does) when they take the pitch.

Laurens: As much as I would love it to continue, the Brest fairytale will stop in the next round. They've done so well to lock-in a top 24 spot with two games to spare, but they won't finish in the top eight and will struggle to get past the playoffs. Lille could go a step further but they are a young team, as we saw in Wednesday night when they gave away a two-goal lead against Sturm Graz at home. For me, the biggest dark horse is Atalanta. They are top of Serie A, should have got a point against Real Madrid on Tuesday and Gian Piero Gasperini is doing a great job. They will finish in the top eight and nobody will want to face them.

Marsden: Taking Gab's second definition, because I don't think Lille or Brest will make it past the last 16, I like the look of Leverkusen and Aston Villa. Both teams look well set up for knockout games and capable of upsetting the more fancied sides. The defeat to Liverpool aside, Leverkusen have been solid and this week's win over Internazionale will give them confidence heading into the latter stages. Unai Emery is known for his Europa League pedigree, but he also took Villarreal far in this competition and can do the same with 1982 winners Villa this season.

PHILADELPHIA -- Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts and receiver A.J. Brown addressed the speculation surrounding their relationship Wednesday, with both indicating it isn't fractured, as teammate Brandon Graham suggested earlier this week.

"BG was just being BG," Brown said at his locker Wednesday. "He's emotional. In that case, he just misspoke. Me and Jalen are good."

Hurts echoed Brown's sentiment, saying that Graham, one of the most respected players on the team, "spoke out of place. He knows that."

The drama started following the Eagles' 22-16 win over the Carolina Panthers, marking their ninth consecutive victory. The passing game was not up to their standards, as Hurts finished 14-of-21 for 108 yards with a pair of touchdowns.

Brown, who wasn't targeted until late in the second quarter despite flashing open on a couple of occasions, slammed his helmet on the sideline following a three-and-out and expressed frustration after the game.

When asked where improvement was needed on offense, Brown tersely responded, "Passing." Some, including Graham, interpreted it as Brown pointing the finger toward Hurts.

During his weekly radio show Monday, Graham said of Hurts and Brown: "They were friends before this, but things have changed, and I understand that because life happens. But it's the business side that we have to make sure the personal doesn't get in the way of the business."

That set off a media firestorm locally and nationally.

"I think that's what the world did," Brown said. "They perceived what I said about passing and felt like it was an attack on Jalen, and that's what [Graham] did. Me and Jalen's relationship is personal."

Brown added that he highlighted the passing game's shortcomings for a specific reason.

"Because we went to the Super Bowl [during the 2022 season] and lost. We tried again the next year. It was a [10-1] record [in 2023] and there was a landslide," Brown said, referring to the Eagles losing five of their last six regular-season games before bowing out in the wild-card round. "And here we go again. It's something that we can correct right now while we have the opportunity."

The Eagles are 11-2 and currently hold the No. 2 seed in the NFC. Their winning streak coincided with the decision to lean more into their ground attack, led by Saquon Barkley, which has produced very good results. The Eagles are tops in the league with over 190 rushing yards per game, fueling Barkley's MVP bid as well as their winning streak.

The flip side is that Philadelphia is last in the league in passing and has struggled to get into a rhythm -- something the key figures on the team say they're working hard to change.

Coach Nick Sirianni said he spoke with the parties involved and addressed what transpired this week during Wednesday's team meeting.

The hope now is the focus can turn away from all the relationship talk to the formidable Pittsburgh Steelers, whom they will host this week.

"We are moving on," tackle Jordan Mailata said. "It's the Pittsburgh Steelers this week, not the A.J. Brown and Jalen show. It is the Pittsburgh Steelers. That's it."

CINCINNATI -- Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow, in his first public comments since his home was broken into during Monday night's game, spoke Wednesday about the degree to which he felt his privacy was violated.

Before answering questions during his usual midweek news conference, Burrow issued a statement addressing the burglary that occurred at his Cincinnati-area home while the Bengals were on the road to face the Dallas Cowboys.

"I feel like my privacy has been violated in more ways than one, and way more is already out there than I would want out there and that I care to share," said Burrow, who implied he was not going to answer any specific questions about the incident.

But in his limited comments on the situation, Burrow agreed that one of the more frustrating parts was the amount of information that is now part of the public discourse.

According to an incident report obtained by ABC News, the break-in was initially reported by model Olivia Ponton, who contacted police after she saw a shattered bedroom window upon arriving at Burrow's home. A local television station also acquired footage via aerial drones.

Burrow has gone through great lengths during his career to protect his privacy. But the Pro Bowl QB, who is among the league's richest and most popular players, acknowledged that even though he understands the attention is part of the job, it doesn't make things any easier.

"We live a public life," Burrow said. "One of my least favorite parts of that is the lack of privacy, and that has been difficult for me to deal with my entire career."

The break-in, which is being investigated as a felony, is one of many similar incidents involving high-profile athletes. In November, a source told ABC News that the NFL and other leagues were briefed by the FBI about targeted burglaries involving notable names such as the Kansas City Chiefs' Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce.

Burrow declined to comment when asked how he felt about his safety moving forward.

When the Bengals drafted Burrow first in 2020, that's when he said he began to sequester his personal life from his professional life. Burrow acknowledged the break-in has made that more challenging.

"It's definitely been difficult this week, but for the most part, I'm pretty good at it, considering during the season, you don't really have a personal life," Burrow said. "It's kind of all football. Obviously, things come up that you don't expect, and when those come up you try to do your best to handle them quickly and be able to move on from it and focus on ball."

Even though the Bengals (5-8) are staring at a bleak playoff outlook heading into Sunday's road game against the Tennessee Titans (3-10), Burrow is in the midst of a career year. He currently leads the NFL in passing yards (3,706), passing touchdowns (33) and is second in Total QBR (74.1), trailing only Buffalo's Josh Allen.

On top of the home burglary, Burrow is also dealing with a left knee injury he sustained in Monday's 27-20 win at Dallas.

Cincinnati held a walkthrough Wednesday night. Had it been a practice, the team estimated Burrow would have been a limited participant. But after the session wrapped up, he said it wasn't a major concern.

"It's getting better," Burrow said. "I'll be ready to go."

As for preparing to face the Titans and coach Brian Callahan, who was Burrow's offensive coordinator the past five seasons, he said practicing on a short week is a bigger challenge as Cincinnati tries to end the year with wins amid a disappointing season.

"No one win is going to solve anything at this point," Burrow said. "There's not a win out there that can affect a lot of different things right now. So we're just focused on going out and trying to play play well, trying to find a win on Sunday and continue to try and get better."

Former West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez is finalizing a deal to return to the country roads where he experienced his greatest success as a head coach, sources told ESPN on Wednesday.

Rodriguez, the current head coach at Jacksonville State, has emerged as the target to be the Mountaineers' new coach, per sources, and a deal was expected to come together in the near future.

Rodriguez, 61, spent seven seasons at the school (2001 to 2007), which included three straight 10-win campaigns and a Sugar Bowl win over Georgia in 2006. He had West Virginia on the cusp of the Bowl Championship Series title game in his final year before an upset loss to Pittsburgh. After that loss, Rodriguez left for Michigan in a tense split, including a legal battle over his buyout.

Rodriguez is a West Virginia native, which made the bitterness of his departure sting even worse but makes his return home powerful.

As West Virginia's search for a replacement for the fired Neal Brown unfolded, Rodriguez emerged as the favorite. He led Jacksonville State to back-to-back 9-4 seasons and guided the school to the Conference USA title this season with a resounding 52-12 win over Western Kentucky in the title game.

He would take over a school in a vastly different place than when he left nearly two decades ago, as Rodriguez dominated the Big East during his tenure at WVU. Since joining the Big 12 in 2012, West Virginia has had only one 10-win season. The school hasn't been nationally ranked since 2016.

The return of Rodriguez was expected to bring an uptick in support, as West Virginia operated with one of the lower NIL budgets in the Big 12 during Brown's tenure. Though Rodriguez's departure left some divisiveness, it will galvanize a significant segment of fans and donors.

The homecoming also will give West Virginia an adrenaline jolt of relevancy, as Rodriguez's return will be one of the buzziest and most nostalgic stories in college football in 2025. His first marquee game will be against nemesis Pitt on Sept. 13 in Morgantown.

Rodriguez struggled to find the same level of success after West Virginia. His three years at Michigan ended in infamy, as he was 15-22. He then was hired by Arizona but had mixed results in his six years, going 43-35. He led the Wildcats to the Fiesta Bowl in 2014, and Arizona played in the Pac-12 title game that year and upset No. 2 Oregon in Eugene during the regular season.

Cleveland Cavaliers guard Max Strus will make his season debut on Friday against the Washington Wizards, barring setbacks, sources told ESPN on Wednesday.

Strus suffered an ankle sprain in training camp workouts in mid-October.

He started all 70 games he played in last season, averaging career highs in minutes, points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks and totaling the second-highest plus-minus on the Cavaliers. His return provides a major boost for their shooting and wing depth.

Strus has increased his stats across the board in every season of his career. He is entering his sixth NBA season.

The Cavaliers will now be able to deploy their most-used starting lineup from last season, when healthy, with Darius Garland, Donovan Mitchell, Strus, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen. Cleveland had an 18-10 record when those five started together.