Douglas Costa on Wednesday scored a dramatic injury-time winner to send Juventus into the UEFA Champions League knockout stages after a 2-1 win at Lokomotiv Moscow, while Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich joined the Italian champions in the last 16.
Mauro Icardi’s first-half goal was enough for PSG to edge past Club Brugge 1-0 at the Parc des Princes, as Bayern labored to a 2-0 victory over Olympiakos.
Manchester City missed the chance to progress from Group C after a dramatic 1-1 draw at Atalanta BC, which saw rightback Kyle Walker end the game in goal.
Juventus knew three points in Russia would be enough to secure their passage to the knockout rounds and took a fourth-minute lead through Aaron Ramsey.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s free-kick bounced in front of Lokomotiv goalkeeper Guilherme, who inexplicably allowed the ball to squirm through his legs, with Ramsey prodding in from the goal line.
Aleksei Miranchuk quickly leveled for the hosts by tapping in the rebound after his own header had struck the post, with Maurizio Sarri’s Juve then struggling to break their hosts down.
However, Costa came off the bench and netted a magnificent 93rd-minute winner, slipping the ball through the hapless Guilherme’s legs after a mazy run.
PSG reached the last 16 for the eighth straight season, but a nervy display against Brugge will not have boosted hopes of the French champions making the semi-finals for the first time since 1995.
Icardi swept Thomas Tuchel’s men into the lead midway through the first half with his eighth goal since joining on loan from Inter.
However, Belgian outfit Brugge should have grabbed a late equalizer, only for Mbaye Diagne to see his penalty saved by PSG goalkeeper Keylor Navas.
“It is logical we are annoyed after a game where I think we deserved something, but you still end up empty-handed,” Brugge goalkeeper Simon Mignolet said.
Managerless Bayern Munich had earlier become the first side to go through, as late goals from Robert Lewandowski and Ivan Perisic ended Olympiakos’ resistance at the Allianz Arena.
“I’m very happy with the performance, we’re into the last 16 and that’s what counts,” said Hansi Flick, who took over as interim coach after Niko Kovac was dismissed on Sunday.
Bayern Munich lead Tottenham Hotspur at the top of Group B by five points, after last season’s runners-up overpowered Red Star Belgrade 4-0 in Serbia.
Son Heung-min scored twice just three days after being left devastated by his tackle that caused a horrific injury for Everton’s Andre Gomes, with Giovani Lo Celso and Christian Eriksen also finding the net.
Premier League champions Manchester City were made to wait after Atalanta’s second-half fightback at the San Siro.
Raheem Sterling, who scored a hat-trick in City’s 5-1 victory in the reverse fixture two weeks ago, put Pep Guardiola’s men in front after only six minutes, but Gabriel Jesus dragged a dreadful penalty well wide shortly before halftime.
City goalkeeper Ederson was replaced by Claudio Bravo at the break as a precaution ahead of their crucial clash on Sunday at Premier League leaders Liverpool.
Chilean Bravo saw Mario Pasalic’s header fly past him in the 49th minute, but worse was to come when he was sent off with nine minutes remaining for hacking down Josip Ilicic.
Walker was brought on to play as goalkeeper and, despite almost fumbling Ruslan Malinovsky’s effort from the resulting free-kick into his own net, helped City secure a point.
Atletico Madrid also missed out on booking a last-16 place as they slumped to a 2-1 defeat at Bayer 04 Leverkusen.
A bizarre Thomas Partey own-goal and Kevin Volland’s second-half strike kept the German side in contention to finish second behind Juventus in Group D, despite Alvaro Morata’s late consolation.
Shakhtar Donetsk snatched a thrilling 3-3 draw at Dinamo Zagreb thanks to two injury-time goals, including a 98th-minute penalty from Tete.
The two teams remain level on five points in Group C behind Man City, but Shakhtar are second due to having scored more away goals in their head-to-head matches.
Robinson Cano spent 17 seasons playing in the MLB in front of all kinds of baseball fans, but he said there is something special about his stint with the Mexican Baseball League’s Diablos Rojos. He is not alone. The league last week opened its 100th season, aiming to keep an impressive growth in attendance that began after the national team’s surprise run at the 2023 World Baseball Classic, and is already surpassing some first-division soccer clubs. After finishing third in the 2023 tournament, many casual fans, some of them soccer enthusiasts disappointed after Mexico were eliminated in the first round in the 2022
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
Arne Slot has denied that Darwin Nunez was dropped from Liverpool’s win against West Ham because of a training-ground row with a member of his coaching staff. The Liverpool head coach on Sunday last week said that Nunez was absent from the 2-1 victory at Anfield, having felt unwell during training the day before, although the striker sat behind the substitutes throughout the game. Speculation has been rife that the Uruguay international, whom Slot criticized for his work rate against Wolves and Aston Villa in February, was left out for disciplinary reasons. Asked on Friday to clarify the situation, Slot said: “He
CUNNINGHAM CONNECTS: In the Eastern Conference, the Pistons snapped their record 15-game playoff losing streak by beating the Knicks to level their series at 1-1 Kawhi Leonard on Monday scored 39 points on 15-of-19 shooting as the Los Angeles Clippers evened their first-round NBA Playoffs series against the Nuggets with a 105-102 win in Denver. “It feels like he didn’t miss a shot,” James Harden said. “His shot-making ability is elite.” Good thing, too, because his teammates were a combined 26 of 66 for a 39 percent clip. “I made shots tonight,” Leonard said. “I just keep playing, try to stay in the zone no matter if I’m making or missing shots.” The fifth-seeded Clippers needed every bit of his brilliance to snatch the homecourt advantage in the series
RSS