Categories
football Sports News

MANCHESTER UTD 1-0 FC COPENHAGEN; BRUNO FERNANDES LATE PENALTY SECURES SEMI FINAL SPOT FOR THE DEVILS.

Bruno Fernandes’ extra-time penalty sent Manchester United into the Europa League semi-finals as they fought past FC Copenhagen on a sweltering night in Cologne.

United were frustrated for much of the evening by a combination of the woodwork, disallowed goals and the brilliance of Copenhagen goalkeeper Karl-Johan Johnsson as normal time finished goalless.

In 30-degree-plus heat, an extra half hour was the last thing anyone needed, but Fernandes’ spot-kick eventually earned a 1-0 win to ensure United’s stay in Germany for this novel mini-tournament goes on.

Having rotated for the formality of last week’s last-16 second leg against LASK, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer returned to the bulk of his first-choice XI, making six changes.

They were sluggish out of the blocks, though, and haad some good defending from Eric Bailly to thank for denying Mohamed Daramy the chance to open the scoring, before Harry Maguire blocked from the same player and Paul Pogba also made a crucial intervention.

They did have a penalty briefly awarded for a foul on Anthony Martial in the six-yard box, only for VAR to spot Maguire offside in the build-up and overturn the decision.

Before the half was out they saw a goal chalked off for the same reason, this time Mason Greenwood the man flagged after he’d whipped home a terrific finish via the upright.

The ball was in the net again after the restart, Greenwood once more striking against the upright and this time the ball ricocheting back to Marcus Rashford, who tapped home but well aware that he was clearly offside.

Bruno Fernandes crashed a wicked striker off the far post from range but the Danish side were still a threat on the counter attack, substitute Bryan Oviedo thwarted by Bailly’s latest block after outrageous skill from Rasmus Falk.

Martial must’ve thought he’d won it with a right-footed striker six minutes from the end of normal time but Johnsson produced a stunning one-handed save to set up extra-time.

Martial was again kept out by the Copenhagen ‘keeper at the beginning of extra-time but within moments he was felled by Andreas Bjelland and this time when the referee pointed to the spot there would be no reprieve for the Danes, as the decision stood and Fernandes lashed home a clinical effort.

Categories
football Sports News

LUKAKU SCORES RECORD EUROPA LEAGUE GOAL AS INTER SEE OFF LEVERKUSEN TO PROGRESS TO THE SEMIS.

Romelu Lukaku scored for a record ninth consecutive Europa League game as Inter Milan beat Bayer Leverkusen in Dusseldorf to reach the semi-finals.

Nicolo Barella fired home an excellent 20-yard strike to give Inter the lead.

Lukaku controlled Ashley Young’s pass, turned a defender and slotted home for his 31st goal of the season.

Kai Havertz smashed home from six yards out to give Leverkusen hope but they could not find a leveller to force extra time in the one-off tie.

Antonio Conte’s side will face the winner of Shakhtar Donetsk v Basel in the semi-final on 17 August, also in Dusseldorf.

Lukaku is the first player to ever score in nine Uefa Cup or Europa League matches in a row, although that run includes five games for Everton in 2014-15.

He twice prepared to take a penalty – in the first half and in injury time at the end – but both times the decisions were overturned by the video assistant referee.

The Italian side could have beaten Leverkusen by more with Lukaku forcing Lukas Hradecky into a good save and former Premier League players Christian Eriksen, Alexis Sanchez and Victor Moses going close after coming off the bench.

“We are growing but we have to learn to kill games off when we have the chances to do it, and we didn’t tonight,” said Lukaku. “Now we have time to recover physically and prepare for another great game. We will have to be ready.”

Inter are now only two games away from winning their first trophy since the Coppa Italia in 2011.

Eight managers have failed to lead them to silverware in between Leonardo and Conte, who took charge last summer.

They have already enjoyed their best Serie A season in that time, finishing second, one point behind champions Juventus.

Categories
football Sports News

Man city sign world cup winner

United States midfielder and 2019 World Cup winner Sam Mewis says joining Manchester City “is like winning the lottery”.

Mewis has played 67 times for her country and featured regularly during last year’s World Cup, starting the 2-0 final win over the Netherlands in Lyon.

The 27-year-old has joined the former Women’s Super League champions from North Carolina Courage.

“I feel so lucky to have the opportunity,” Mewis told BBC Sport.

“A couple of months ago my agent came to me with it and my eyes just kind of opened wide because obviously Manchester City is such a great club and is so well known.

“We [North Carolina Courage] played them last year in the ICC [International Champions Cup] tournament and I just remember thinking how good they were and how every player was so comfortable on the ball.

“I thought it would be cool to play overseas one day and for a club like Manchester City. I feel really lucky and really fortunate to have this opportunity.”

The midfielder is City’s second summer signing after England striker Chloe Kelly joined from Everton.

They narrowly missed out on their second WSL title last season – they were top of the table when the campaign was suspended in March because of the coronavirus pandemic, but dropped to second spot when final positions were decided on a points-per-game basis.

Under new boss Gareth Taylor, they will start the 2020-21 season with an away game at newly-promoted Aston Villa during the weekend of 5-6 September.

Categories
football Sports News Transfer News

Hojberg set to join Spurs

Southampton midfielder Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg will have a medical at Tottenham on Monday.

The clubs agreed a deal last week, with the 25-year-old Denmark international choosing Spurs ahead of Everton.

Meanwhile, Tottenham’s English defender Kyle Walker-Peters, 23, is set to sign for the Saints, after a loan spell at St Mary’s last season.

The fees are undisclosed but BBC Sport understands Spurs will pay Southampton at least £3m more for Hojbjerg.

Hojbjerg joined the Saints from Bayern Munich in 2016 but was set to enter the final year of his contract at St Mary’s.

Categories
football Sports News

Phil Jones out of the Europa League

Manchester United defender Phil Jones has not travelled to the Europa League final eight tournament in Germany because of a knee injury.

The 28-year-old’s last match was an FA Cup tie at Tranmere on 26 January.

“Phil has been following an individualised training programme during the post-lockdown period to optimise recovery from a knee problem,” said United boss Old Gunnar Solskjaer.

United play Copenhagen on Monday in their quarter-final.

The ties in the closing stages of the competition will be single-leg games and held at venues across Germany, including Dusseldorf, Gelsenkirchen, Duisburg and Cologne.

After the last-eight games on 10-11 August, the semi-finals take place on 16-17 August, with the final four nights later.

Jones has played just eight times this season. Solskjaer said he would continue to work with a fitness coach while the squad was in Germany.

Defenders Axel Tuanzebe and Luke Shaw had already been ruled out of the trip because of injury

Categories
football Sports News

Lyon win record ninth French cup

England internationals Lucy Bronze, Nikita Parris and Jodie Taylor helped Lyon win a ninth French Cup as they beat Paris St-Germain 4-3 on penalties.

With the score 0-0 after normal time, Bronze scored in the shootout to put Lyon ahead, before Sarah Bouhaddi saved Lea Khelifi’s effort.

Taylor made her Lyon debut as she replaced Parris in the 90th minute.

The game was stopped for 10 minutes in the first-half as the floodlights failed.

A crowd of 5,000 people watched the game in Auxerre due to Covid-19 restrictions.

European champions Lyon were crowned French champions in May after the league was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Categories
F1 Sports News

Red Bull wins 70th Anniversary Grad prix

A warm summer’s day, at one of the sport’s most demanding circuits, and some softer tyres was all it took to knock the Mercedes juggernaut off course at the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix.

The two black cars that had looked unbeatable in the first four races of the season suddenly did not look so special. Their high performance became their Achilles’ Heel and they tore their tyres to shreds around the high-speed sweeps of Silverstone.

If anyone was going to benefit from a situation like this, it was always going to be Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, and the Dutchman turned in one of those days when he looks irresistible.

Give Verstappen a sniff and he locks onto it like a pit bull. Early in the race, his team were warning him to be careful of his tyres as he homed in on the Mercedes in front of him.

“Mate,” he replied to his engineer Giampiero Lambiase, “this is the only chance. I’m not backing off and driving like a grandma.”

He kept pushing, of course, and the race surrendered to him, as Mercedes’ tyres fell apart. And the result was one of the most unexpected victories for some time.

Whether this turns out to be Red Bull’s only chance to beat Mercedes remains to be seen, but it’s certainly the case that a perfect storm of circumstance emerged to make a team that had been threatening to win every race this season suddenly look vulnerable.

“I enjoy the situation,” said Mercedes F1 boss Toto Wolff, “because everyone said it would be a walk in the park for Mercedes and it wasn’t a walk in the park. We didn’t have the quickest car and maybe not even the second quickest car.”

Categories
football Sports News Transfer News

Liverpool go for Olympiacos Left back

Liverpool could turn their attention to Olympiakos left-back Kostas Tsimikas after their initial attempt to sign Norwich’s Jamal Lewis failed.

The Reds had a £10m bid for 22-year-old Lewis, which included a substantial sell-on clause, rejected.

It is understood they were prepared to go to £12m but the Canaries wanted significantly more.

Liverpool, seeking cover for Scotland captain Andy Robertson, have also been monitoring Tsimikas, 24.

The Greece international played for Olympiakos in a 1-0 defeat by Wolves in the second leg of their last-16 Europa League tie this week as his side went out 2-1 on aggregate.

He also played for them in their six Champions League group games earlier on in the campaign as they finished third behind Bayern Munich and Tottenham.

After Olympiakos dropped down into the Europa League, he put in an impressive performance as his side won 2-1 at Arsenal and knocked the Gunners out of the competition at the last-32 stage.

Real Madrid left-back Sergio Reguilon, 23, was also an option looked at by Liverpool.

Categories
football Sports News

Atletico Madrid have two cases of corona Virus

Atletico Madrid say two individuals have tested positive for coronavirus before Thursday’s Champions League quarter-final against RB Leipzig in Lisbon.

The Spanish club said the unnamed individuals are isolating at home.

The positive cases were discovered after first-team players and club staff travelling to Lisbon were tested in Madrid on Saturday.

They will now be retested along with close contacts of the positive cases.

“This motivates changes in the training schedules, in the structure and development of the trip and the accommodation in the Portuguese capital,” Atletico said in a statement.

“The club will coordinate the new schedules with Uefa and as soon as there is a new plan it will be made public. It also calls for maximum respect for the identity of the two positive cases.”

Because of the coronavirus pandemic, the Champions League is concluding with a ‘final eight’ tournament in Lisbon, with single-leg games held behind closed doors.

Categories
Golf Sports News

Dannielle Kang wins Championship

England’s Jodi Ewart Shadoff finished joint second at the Marathon Classic alongside Lydia Ko, whose dramatic late collapse allowed Danielle Kang to win the title by one shot.

New Zealand’s Ko, 23, had a five-shot lead with six holes to play at Highland Meadows in Ohio.

But she hit two bogeys and a double-bogey on the last to post a two-over-par 73 to finish on 14 under overall.

American Kang’s three-under 68 saw her win the title on 15 under.

“My caddie looked at me and said, ‘You’re right in it,'” said Kang, 27, who also won the Drive On Championship last week, the first LPGA Tour event since the coronavirus shutdown.

“I looked at him and said, ‘I’m five down with six holes to go’ but I kind of liked that mentality, made some good birdies coming in and kept it together.”

Ewart Shadoff, 32, hit a four-under 67 to join Ko, who had led by four shots overnight, in second place.