Jude Bellingham snatched a stoppage-time winner as Real Madrid twice came from behind to beat Manchester City 3-2 in the first leg of their blockbuster Champions League play-off tie Tuesday, while Paris Saint-Germain took command of an all-French clash with Brest. Erling Haaland’s double — his first goals in five appearances against Madrid — looked to have secured Pep Guardiola’s side a slender advantage, but instead the reigning European champions now go into next week’s return leg in Spain as strong favourites to reach the last 16. “It was a weird one. We played some of our best football of the season and ended up behind,” Bellingham told Amazon Prime. “I don’t care what form City are in they are still an unbelievable team. It’s always tricky to play against
Tag Archives: Soccer
Napoli missed the chance to extend their lead over Inter Milan at the top of Serie A to six points as Antonio Conte’s men were held to a 1-1 draw by Udinese on Sunday. Scott McTominay put the hosts ahead in the first half at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, but Jurgen Ekkelenkamp equalised shortly afterwards and Napoli could not find a winner. Napoli were given the opportunity to stretch their advantage at the top of the table by Inter’s 3-0 loss at Fiorentina in midweek — a game which was originally stopped in December after home midfielder Edoardo Bove suffered a heart attack. Reigning champions Inter could cut the gap back to three points when they host Fiorentina on Monday. Atalanta are also still in the hunt for their
Jan
The new league phase of this season’s expanded Champions League is all set for a frantic conclusion on Wednesday, as 18 matches are played simultaneously across Europe and the likes of Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain battle to avoid an early exit. AFP Sport rounds up what is at stake ahead of the final round of games in the league phase: Top 8 places up for grabs There is a real incentive for finishing in the top eight places of the giant, 36-team standings — those sides will skip the two-legged knockout round play-offs next month, getting some precious rest as they advance straight to the last 16 in March. Liverpool, with seven wins out of seven, and Barcelona are the only two teams to have already guaranteed a place
Jan
Florian Wirtz scored twice as Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen beat Borussia Moenchengladbach 3-1 on Saturday to stay four points behind leaders Bayern Munich. Bayern had gone seven clear with a 3-2 win over Wolfsburg earlier on in the day, throwing down the gauntlet but Leverkusen were dominant and controlled, notching their 11th straight win in all competitions. “We’re right in the middle of a title fight again — you can dream a little bit,” Wirtz told Sky Germany. With 32 minutes gone, Leverkusen enforcer Granit Xhaka won the ball in midfield and fed Wirtz, who beat a defender and slotted calmly home. When Leverkusen won a penalty for handball midway through the second half, the 21-year-old Wirtz stepped up and converted. Patrik Schick latched onto a Wirtz pass to score
Jan
Barcelona hammered rivals Real Madrid 5-2 in a wild Spanish Super Cup Clasico final in Saudi Arabia on Sunday to win the first trophy of the Hansi Flick era. The electric Kylian Mbappe sent Madrid ahead but a dominant Barcelona hit five in response before their goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny was sent off in the second half. Madrid were hoping to avenge their 4-0 defeat by Barcelona in October’s La Liga Clasico but instead were left battered and bruised by their arch-rivals in Jeddah. After Mbappe’s opener, Lamine Yamal levelled and Robert Lewandowski sent Barcelona ahead from the penalty spot, with Raphinha bagging a brace and Alejandro Balde also on target. Rodrygo Goes pulled one back for Madrid with a free-kick but they could not capitalise further on their numerical advantage