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MUNICH: Holders Bayern Munich cruised through to the Champions League quarter-finals for the ninth time in the last 10 seasons after beating Lazio 2-1 at the Allianz Arena on Wednesday to secure a 6-2 aggregate victory. Leading 4-1 from the first leg in Rome, Robert Lewandowski opened the scoring for Bayern from the penalty spot in the 33rd minute, his 39th goal of the season in all competitions, to virtually end Lazio's hopes. The German champions took their foot off the gas before

LONDON: Chelsea beat Atletico Madrid 2-0 on Wednesday to reach the Champions League quarter-finals for the first time since 2014 as Hakim Ziyech and Emerson Palmieri were on target to give coach Thomas Tuchel's rejuvenated team a 3-0 aggregate win. Ziyech squeezed the ball under Atletico goalkeeper Jan Oblak in the 34th minute of the last-16 second leg as he connected with a cross from Timo Werner who had raced down the left after being fed by fellow German Kai Havertz. The three

LONDON: Badminton world No 1 Kento Momota made a winning return to international action at the COVID-19-affected All England Open on Wednesday (Mar 17), while Indonesia's team were forced to withdraw after a passenger on their flight to Britain tested positive for the coronavirus. The 26-year-old from Japan defeated India's Kashyap Parupalli 21-13, 22-20 in a first-round match played without fans in Birmingham. Momota, who made a successful return to domestic Badminton by winning the All-Japan Championship in December, was playing his first

LONDON: Rafa Nadal will skip the Miami Open that begins later this month in a bid to recover from a back injury in time for the clay court swing, the Spaniard said on Tuesday. Nadal had not played since his quarter-final exit at the Australian Open last month and also skipped the ATP 500 event in Dubai. The 34-year-old has since dropped down one place in the rankings to third after Russian Daniil Medvedev leapfrogged him. "Sad to announce that I won't be

JOHANNESBURG: New Confederation of African Football (CAF) president Patrice Motsepe raised the bar Tuesday (Mar 16) for national teams in the continent by insisting one of them must win the World Cup soon. "An African team must win the World Cup in the near future," said the 59-year-old South African billionaire at a press conference in Johannesburg. Motsepe was elected unopposed last Friday to lead trouble-torn CAF after a two-year ban over "governance issues" prevented Malagasy Ahmad Ahmad seeking re-election for a second

MADRID: Luis Suarez, despite his Champions League goal drought, and Joao Felix, whose future is in question, will start together as Atletico Madrid try to fight back in their second leg at Chelsea, coach Diego Simeone said on Tuesday (Mar 16). "Only one objective: Victory," said Simeone, whose team face a 1-0 deficit in the last-16 tie after losing their 'home' game in Bucharest. "I must find the necessary tools to achieve this." Despite COVID-19 restrictions, Wednesday's game will be played at Chelsea's

MADRID: Real Madrid easily overcame Atalanta 3-1 at home in their Champions League last-16 second leg on Wednesday (Mar 16) to stroll into the quarter-finals 4-1 on aggregate. Karim Benzema scored a sixth goal in five games to put the 13-times European champions in charge after 34 minutes following a poor kick out by Atalanta goalkeeper Marco Sportiello which was intercepted by Luka Modric. Captain Sergio Ramos put Real further at ease when he converted a penalty on the hour, although the Italian

BUDAPEST: Manchester City marched into the quarter-finals of the Champions League for the fourth straight season after a 2-0 win over Borussia Moenchengladbach on Tuesday (Mar 16) to complete a 4-0 aggregate victory. First-half goals from Kevin De Bruyne and Ilkay Gundogan secured a comfortable victory in another impressive display from Pep Guardiola's side in the home leg, played in the Hungarian capital due to COVID-19 travel restrictions. De Bruyne blasted City ahead in the 13th minute with an unstoppable left-footed drive into

LOS ANGELES: Tiger Woods said on Tuesday (Mar 16) he has left hospital and is recovering at home after being seriously injured in a car crash in Los Angeles last month. In a statement released on social media, the golf superstar thanked hospital staff who cared for him following his single vehicle car accident on Feb 23. "Happy to report that I am back home and continuing my recovery," Woods said. "I am so grateful for the outpouring of support and encouragement that

After a long hiatus caused by the coronavirus pandemic, organised sports action resumed with golfers teeing off at Prestige Golfshire here on Thursday. Around 45 golfers savoured the picturesque Nandi Hills backdrop while hitting their drives and putts, marking among the first scenes of sports in the country since the lockdown came into effect. Adequate precautionary measures were followed to ensure safety. Golfers — comprising mostly of club members — wore masks and maintained social distancing. Every golfer was given a cart for

Zlatan Ibrahimovic is back in international soccer after nearly five years away — and he announced it to the world in his own inimitable way on Tuesday. “The return of the God,” the charismatic striker said to his tens of millions of followers across social media after being picked by Sweden at the age of 39 for the team’s upcoming World Cup qualifiers. Ibrahimovic, Sweden’s record scorer with 62 goals in 112 games, retired from international duty after the 2016 European Championship but

For his 767th match, Messi was honored by Barcelona with a large image behind one of the goals showing him embracing Xavi as the players looked forward and pointed upward. The banner included the words "767 matches" and “touching the sky. Lionel Messi scored twice as he tied Xavi Hernández's record of most appearances for Barcelona on Monday, putting them within four points of the Spanish league lead after beating last-placed Huesca 4-1. For his 767th match, Messi was honored by Barcelona with

Paris St Germain will once again be without Neymar when they face Lille in the French Cup last-16 on Wednesday but manager Mauricio Pochettino hopes to have Angel Di Maria and Marquinhos available after their homes were robbed last weekend. Brazilian forward Neymar has not yet fully recovered from an adductor muscle injury he picked up in the previous round against Caen on Feb 10. The French champions initially said he would be out for action for "up to four weeks" but Pochettino

Justin Thomas climbed to No. 2 in the official world golf rankings following his victory at The Players Championship on Sunday.The win vaulted Thomas past Jon Rahm despite the Spaniard's tie for ninth place at TPC Sawgrass. Thomas also moved up three spots in the United States Ryder Cup team standings and he is now behind only Dustin Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau, who finished two shots behind Thomas on Sunday.Johnson retained a healthy cushion at No. 1 in the world rankings despite settling

South African qualifier Lloyd Harris stunned US Open champion Dominic Thiem 6-3, 6-4 in the Austrian’s opening match at the Dubai Championships on Tuesday. Harris hit nine aces and didn’t allow fourth-ranked Thiem a single break point as he booked a third-round match against Filip Krajinovic. The 81st-ranked Harris needed just 72 minutes to dispatch the top-seeded Thiem. “Obviously, I’m super happy with that win, by far the highest-ranked player I’ve beaten. I look up to Domi a lot, so for me it’s a special

South Africa Legends entered the semifinals of the Road Safety World Series T20 by beating Bangladesh Legends by 10 wickets here. Openers Andrew Puttick (84 not out off 54 balls; 9×4, 1×6) and Morne van Wyk (69 not out off 62 balls; 9×4) slammed unbeaten half centuries as South Africa Legends chased down the 161-run target in 19.2 overs late on Monday. The win helped the South Africans finish third with 16 points after India (20 points) and Sri Lanka (20 points). Earlier,

The upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) will begin on April 9, and the final is scheduled for May 30. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has announced online brokerage firm Upstox as its official partner for Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021. This will be a multi-year partnership, according to a statement released on the IPL official website. The upcoming season of the tournament is slated to begin on April 9, and the final is scheduled for May 30. Upstox, backed

A regular feature of Kohli's batting in his career has been the number of times he has remained unbeaten. In fact, in 81 T20I innings, the India captain has remained not out 22 times, which proves just how good he is. After a long time, Virat Kohli, the master of the chase was on display, batting in full throttle and guiding India home in the second T20I against England on Sunday. Kohli did what he does best – shepherd a chase in a

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola played down Oleksandr Zinchenko's comment that the team could win all four trophies this season. Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola moved quickly to quash talk of a historic quadruple on Monday -- after one of his own players said they were capable of a clean sweep of trophies. City face Borussia Moenchengladbach in the second leg of their Champions League last-16 tie in Budapest on Tuesday, well placed to progress after winning the first leg 2-0. The match was switched

In today's QNB Stars League Round 21 match against Al Wakrah, Al Gharafa will be aiming for all three points as the Cheetahs battle for a spot in next year's AFC Champions League. The Week-21 match, which was originally scheduled for April 6, was moved up due to Al Gharafa's play-off with FC AGMK of Uzbekistan in Doha on April 7 place in the AFC Champions League group stage this year. The match at Al Gharafa Stadium is scheduled to begin at 5:00