Favorites Bayern Munich went perilously close to crashing out of the UEFA Cup on Thursday with only eleventh hour heroics from Luca Toni saving the day against 10-man Getafe.
The Italian World Cup winner’s late extra time double in this quarter-final second leg left Bayern and Getafe all square at 4-4 on aggregate with the German giants going through on away goals.
Ottmar Hitzfeld’s men will face Zenit St Petersburg in the last four after the Russians overcame Bayer Leverkusen 4-2 on aggregate, despite a 1-0 second leg reverse.
PHOTO: EPA
In Portugal Scottish heavyweights Rangers stunned Sporting Lisbon with a 2-0 victory to earn a last four match up against Fiorentina, who beat PSV Eindhoven 2-0 for a 3-1 aggregate success.
French striker Jean-Claude Darcheville put Rangers ahead against the run of play in the 60th minute and in injury time substitute Steven Whittaker scored a brilliant second to clinch the historic victory.
Rangers have never reached this stage in the competition before but their success came at a price.
Captain Barry Ferguson will sit out the first leg of the semi final after receiving his second yellow of the competition. And Kevin Thomson will also miss out after he too picked up another caution for a late challenge.
But at the end of the match Rangers manager Walter Smith was in no mood for negative thoughts.
“Obviously we’re delighted to be in the semi-finals. We worked very hard and played really well right from the off, Smith said. “I always thought we looked as we could get that killer pass which could gives us a goal but we never quite got there.”
“Thankfully eventually we did get one to get the goal and then it was a terrific run by Steven for the second goal,” he said.
In Madrid Getafe took Bayern Munich to the wire despite losing the aptly named Ruben de la Red to a red card in the sixth minute.
Cosmin Contra’s late away goal for Getafe for a 1-1 first leg tie in Germany last week gave the Spaniards hope of adding Bayern to a list of victims this season that includes Anderlecht, AEK Athens and Tottenham.
Contra it was who put Getafe 1-0 up on the night in the 44th minute, with Bayern’s France international Franck Ribery securing an 89th minute equalizer to force extra time.
Getafe stunned Bayern when play resumed with midfielder Casquero and striker Braulio scoring in the 91st and 93rd minutes.
Toni though was to have the last word, or two as it turned out, as he first pounced on a mistake by Pato and then headed Jose Ernesto Sosa’s cross past the Getafe keeper.
Zenit’s 4-1 first leg stroll rendered academic the only goal scored by Leverkusen’s Russian star Dimitri Bulykin on 18 minutes.
Leverkusen keeper Rene Adler saved a late spotkick from the hosts’ Anatoli Timostschuk to give the Germans the win on the night but it was not enough to make up for their home hammering as Dutch coach Dick Advocaat steered Zenit through.
Major League Baseball (MLB) star Shohei Ohtani wants his former interpreter to hand over hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of baseball cards he says were fraudulently bought using his money. The Los Angeles Dodgers star is also requesting Ippei Mizuhara, who previously pleaded guilty to bank and tax fraud for stealing nearly US$17 million from the unsuspecting athlete, return signed collectible baseball cards depicting Ohtani that were in Mizuhara’s “unauthorized and wrongful possession,” court documents filed on Tuesday said. The legal filing alleges Mizuhara accessed Ohtani’s bank account beginning in about November 2021, changing his security protocols so that he
US skier Mikaela Shiffrin said she sustained an abrasion on her left hip and that something “stabbed” her when she crashed during her second run of an Audi FIS Ski World Cup giant slalom race on Saturday, doing a flip and sliding into the protective fencing. Shiffrin stayed down on the edge of the course for quite some time as the ski patrol attended to her. She was taken off the hill on a sled and waved to the cheering crowd before going to a clinic for evaluation. “Not really too much cause for concern at this point, I just
CLASH OF MANAGERS: Brighton’s Fabian Hurzeler and Russell Martin of Southampton accused each other of disrespect, while both were booked Southampton on Friday were denied a priceless victory by a controversial decision as they drew with hosts Brighton & Hove Albion 1-1 in the Premier League. Kaoru Mitoma spectacularly headed Brighton into a first-half lead and Flynn Downes hammered home an equalizer an hour in. Minutes later teammate Cameron Archer converted a cross from Saints substitute Ryan Fraser. A video assistant referee check of more than four minutes eventually decided that Archer was onside, but then penalized Adam Armstrong, who was offside, but did not touch the ball, for interfering with goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen. “I find it hard to accept,” Southampton manager Russell Martin
Mary McGee, a female racing pioneer and subject profiled in an Oscar-contending documentary, Motorcycle Mary, has died, her family said. She was 87. “McGee’s unparalleled achievements in off-road racing and motorcycle racing have inspired generations of athletes that followed in her footsteps,” her family said in a statement. The family said McGee died of complications from a stroke at her home in Gardnerville, Nevada, on Wednesday, the day before the release of the short documentary Motorcycle Mary, on ESPN’s YouTube channel. Seven-time Formula 1 champion Lewis Hamilton was an executive producer on the film, which became available globally on Thursday. Its premiere
RSS