■CHILE
Fluminense, Liga in semis
Fluminense striker Fred scored the lone goal to give the Brazilian side a 1-0 win over Universidad de Chile and a semi-finals berth in the Copa Sudamericana on Thursday. Ecuadorean club Liga de Quito also advanced to the final four with a 2-1 win at home over Velez Sarsfield of Argentina in the day’s other quarter-final. Fluminense will face Cerro Porteno of Paraguay and Liga will play Uruguayan club River Plate. Fluminense secured the win when Fred rose above his marker to head home Maicon’s cross in the 60th minute. At Quito, reigning Argentine league champions Velez Sarsfield took the lead over Liga through a Hernan Lopez goal in the 43rd minute. Liga came back strongly in the second period. Enrique Vera flicked a free-kick in off the post to equalize in the 69th minute and Carlos Espinola scored the winner in the 76th minute.
■SCOTLAND
Rangers charged by UEFA
Glasgow Rangers were on Thursday charged with the improper conduct of their supporters following disturbances during Wednesday’s Champions League match against Unirea Urziceni in Bucharest. The UEFA charge follows scuffles that occurred at halftime of the match which ended 1-1, with supporters shown on TV destroying seats while police used tear gas to quell the trouble. UEFA’s control and disciplinary body will deal with the case on Thursday. “As far as we can establish at the moment, it seems there were a number of Rangers supporters who came late into the stadium and we need to find out why,” a UEFA spokesman told the BBC. “Then there was an issue about where they were going to sit, as apparently there were banners already placed there, which resulted in the request to remove some banners, which seems to have ended in a clash between stewards and some supporters.”
■SPAIN
Ronaldo out for two weeks
Real Madrid’s Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo will be out of action for at least another two weeks, the club said on Thursday after a doctor in Amsterdam examined his injured ankle. It said new tests by his former doctor, Cornelius Nicolas van Dijk, “confirmed the diagnosis given by the medical team of Real Madrid obtained after MRI and CT scans” on Tuesday. Ronaldo will be unavailable to play for Portugal in their World Cup qualifying matches against Bosnia.
■URUGUAY
Lodeiro gets the call
Nacional’s exciting young midfielder Nicolas Lodeiro was named on Thursday in a 26-man Uruguay squad for the World Cup playoff against Costa Rica. The uncapped 20-year-old, who has helped Nacional to the top of the Uruguayan Apertura championship, is among six home-based players coach Oscar Washington Tabarez have added to the list of exiles he named last week. Tabarez has dropped three of those exiles, defender Carlos Valdez, midfielder Jorge Martinez and forward Edinson Cavani, for the two-legged playoff in San Jose next Saturday and in Montevideo four days later.
■SLOVENIA
Kek sticks to same squad
Slovenia coach Matjaz Kek decided to stick with an unchanged squad on Thursday for the World Cup playoff against Russia. Kek’s 21-man squad contained no surprises, with backup goalkeeper Aleksander Seliga the only addition from the previous qualifiers. Slovenia finished second in qualifying Group 3 and are trying to reach their second World Cup.
SS Lazio on Monday fired the far-right sympathizer who handles their eagle mascot after he posted online a series of videos and pictures of his erect penis. Falconer Juan Bernabe, who has been present at Lazio home matches with Olimpia the eagle since the 2010-2011 season, posted the footage on social media after having surgery on Saturday to implant a penile prosthesis to improve his sexual performance. Lazio said that they had “terminated, with immediate effect” their relationship with Bernabe “due to the seriousness of his conduct,” adding that they were “shocked” by the images. The Serie A club added that Bernabe’s dismissal
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Dubbed a “motorway for cyclists” where avid amateurs can chase Tadej Pogacar up mountains teeming with the highest concentration of professional cyclists per square kilometer in the world, Spain’s Costa Blanca has forged a new reputation for itself in the past few years. Long known as the ideal summer destination for those in search of sun, sea and sand, the stretch of coast between Valencia and Alicante now has a winter vocation too. During the season break in December and January, the region experiences an invasion of cyclists. Star names such as three-time Tour de France winner Pogacar, Remco Evenepoel and Julian Alaphilippe
AGING WELL: Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen, 22, was sent packing after being dispatched by world No. 97, Laura Siegemund, the second-oldest player in the draw at 36 Novak Djokovic yesterday created a slice of Grand Slam history on his way into the Australian Open third round, but last year’s women’s finalist Zheng Qinwen was knocked out in the biggest shock so far. Defending champion Aryna Sabalenka, in-form Coco Gauff, two-time Melbourne winner Naomi Osaka and a rampant Carlos Alcaraz were all victors on a rainy day four. Play was suspended on the outside courts for a couple of hours in the early evening because of the wet weather. That led to the rescheduling of a women’s doubles match between wild-cards Tsao Chia-yi of Taiwan and Thailand’s Peangtarn Plipuech and 11th
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