Manchester City on Wednesday beat Paris Saint-Germain 2-1, but both clubs qualified for the last 16 of the Champions League, along with Real Madrid, Inter Milan and Sporting Lisbon.
Gabriel Jesus tapped in from Bernardo Silva’s deft knockdown on 76 minutes to settle an absorbing match at the Etihad after Raheem Sterling had canceled out Kylian Mbappe’s goal.
Before Jesus sent the crowd wild in Manchester, Neymar shot wide to blow a golden chance to put the Parisians ahead.
Photo: AP
Lionel Messi had a low-key game and Sergio Ramos, named among the substitutes, was not called on to make his PSG debut.
Pep Guardiola’s City, the beaten finalists last season, are guaranteed of winning Group A, while PSG qualified in second place despite the defeat because RB Leipzig thrashed Club Brugge 5-0 in Belgium.
PSG coach Mauricio Pochettino, in the city where he is being linked with the vacant Manchester United job, insisted his expensively assembled side were showing improvement.
“We have to improve,” Pochettino said. “I am happy in the process. Things are better than one month ago and much better than two months ago. Little by little the team is going to improve.”
About United rumors, the former Tottenham Hotspur coach said: “We are living in a business that rumors are there, sometimes positive, sometimes negative.”
Karim Benzema scored just hours after being found guilty by a French court in a blackmail case as Real Madrid eased past Sheriff Tiraspol 3-0 to reach the knockout stage.
The French striker notched his team’s third goal of a confident display in Transnistria after David Alaba’s free-kick and Toni Kroos’ strike as Real took revenge for their shock 2-1 loss to Sheriff in Madrid earlier this season.
Real coach Carlo Ancelotti said the court verdict, and the one-year suspended jail sentence Benzema received for his part in blackmailing former France teammate Mathieu Valbuena with a sex tape, had not affected the striker.
“We have not talked about it, he is calm, it is a subject concerning him that we have been talking about for a long time,” Ancelotti said.
The victory sent the Spanish giants back to the top of Group D, two points clear of second-placed Inter Milan, who also qualified for the last 16 after beating Shakhtar Donetsk 2-0 thanks to two Edin Dzeko goals.
Sporting Lisbon reached the knockout phase for the first time since the 2008-2009 season, as they beat Borussia Dortmund 3-1 in the Portuguese capital.
Pedro Goncalves netted twice as Sporting earned the two-goal winning margin they needed to end the Germans’ hopes of advancing to the knock-out stages.
Dortmund’s campaign has been derailed by the continued absence of Erling Haaland with a hip injury and they would have to settle for a place in the Europa League.
Liverpool were already qualified for the last 16 going into their tie against Porto at Anfield and Thiago Alcantara’s superb low shot and Mohamed Salah’s sixth goal of this season’s group phase wrapped up a comfortable 2-0 win.
Hong Kong-based cricket team Hung See this weekend found success in their matches in Taiwan, even if none of the results went their way. Hung See played the Chairman’s XI on Saturday morning, the Daredevils that afternoon and PCCT yesterday, with all three home teams winning. The team for Chinese players at the Happy Valley-based Craigengower Cricket Club sends teams on tour to “spread the game of cricket.” This weekend was Hung See’s second trip to Taiwan after visiting Tainan in 2016. “The club has been traveling to all parts of the world since 1982 and the annual tradition continues [with the Taiwan
The San Francisco Giants signed 18-year-old Taiwanese pitcher Yang Nien-hsi (陽念希) to a contract worth a total of US$500,000 (NT $16.39 million). At a press event in Taipei on Wednesday, Jan. 22, the Giants’ Pacific Rim Area scout Evan Hsueh (薛奕煌) presented Yang with a Giants jersey to celebrate the signing. The deal consisted of a contract worth US$450,000 plus a US$50,000 scholarship bonus. Yang, who stands at 188 centimeters tall and weighs 85 kilograms, is of Indigenous Amis descent. With his fastest pitch clocking in at 150 kilometers per hour, Yang had been on Hsueh’s radar since playing in the HuaNan Cup
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and partner Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia yesterday advanced to the women’s doubles final at the Australian Open after defeating New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe and Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada 7-6 (7/3), 3-6, 6-3 in their semi-final. Hsieh has won nine Grand Slam doubles titles and has a shot at a 10th tomorrow, when the Latvian-Taiwanese duo are to play Taylor Townsend of the US and Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic in the championship match at the A$96.5 million (US$61 million) outdoor hard court tournament at Melbourne Park. Townsend and Siniakova eliminated Russian pair Diana Shnaider and Mirra Andreeva 6-7
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Coco Gauff’s dreams of a first women’s singles title in Melbourne were crushed in the quarter-finals by Paula Badosa. World No. 2 Alexander Zverev was ruffled by a stray feather in his men’s singles quarter-final, but he refocused to beat 12th seed Tommy Paul and reach the semi-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia defeated Elena-Gabriela Ruse of Romania and Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine 6-2, 5-7, 7-5 in 2 hours, 20 minutes to advance the semi-finals. Hsieh and Ostapenko converted eight of 14 break
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