Sports
Chelsea held to draw in UCL by RB Salzburg
Graham Potter began his Chelsea reign with a draw against RB Salzburg, leaving his side with an uphill task to qualify for the Champions League knockout stages.
The former Brighton boss picked Raheem Sterling as an advanced wing-back but saw the gamble pay off when the forward curled into the bottom corner shortly after the break.
It was a much-improved performance from Chelsea’s defeat by Dinamo Zagreb in their opening Group E game last week, which spelled the end for former manager Thomas Tuchel.
But Matthias Jaissle’s well-drilled Austrian side got an equaliser on 75 minutes when Thiago Silva missed a tackle, allowing Noah Okafor to clip in Junior Adamu’s low cross.
That goal highlighted the risks involved in Potter’s positive approach, with Sterling and Marc Cucurella caught out of position. But the hosts could have earned victory when Reece James fired over from a free-kick and substitute Hakim Ziyech almost headed in at the back post.
Following AC Milan’s earlier 3-1 win over Zagreb, Chelsea sit bottom of Group E after two games with the Serie A champions up next at Stamford Bridge on 5 October.
Potter was appointed six days ago, and following a week which he called a “whirlwind” got his first taste of Champions League football, having never seen the competition before in the flesh.
There have been questions about his credentials, having managed for only three years in the Premier League with Brighton. And although it was a positive display from his side and they wasted several good chances late on with Armando Broja also firing over, he will now realise he has to quickly turn things around in Europe after Chelsea’s poor start to the season.
The 47-year-old, who watched in a black suit as Stamford Bridge observed impeccably a minute’s silence to mark the passing of Queen Elizabeth II, quickly established his own stamp on the team by dropping Wesley Fofana, Kalidou Koulibaly and Ben Chilwell from the side that lost at Dinamo Zagreb last week.
That saw Silva and Cucurella make up a back three with Cesar Azpilicueta, but the biggest surprise was seeing Sterling at left wing-back in a 3-4-3 formation.
That may have been too simplistic, though, as the forward was stationed way up the pitch for the most part and twice wasted good chances at the back post in the first half.
The closest the two teams came to opening the scoring before the break came within a minute of each other. Mason Mount sliced a shot inches wide of the post after another deep run and cross from Cucurella, before Benjamin Sesko had a curling effort tipped around the post by Kepa Arrizabalaga after Sterling gave the ball away.
But the England international made up for that mistake and showed why he was positioned so far up the pitch three minutes after the break.
James started the move on the right flank with a powerful run and fed Mount, whose low cross was miscontrolled by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. Fortunately, Sterling took a measured touch before finding the inside of the post for his fourth of the season.
At that stage Chelsea began to control the game and looked like they would add to their lead.
However, the desire to play in Salzburg’s half backfired when both Sterling and Cucurella were dispossessed near the halfway line, leading to the equaliser.
Once the ball was played wide of Silva, he seemed as if he would close down Adamu and avert danger.
But the normally reliable Brazilian missed the tackle, with Okafor adding to the goal he scored against AC Milan in Salzburg’s draw last week.
There were plenty of chances for Chelsea to take the lead again as Potter made five substitutes in search of a goal.
But the Austrian champions held on after Ziyech and Broja were wasteful.
-BBC Sport
Sports
UCL: Füllkrug gives Dortmund 1-0 first-leg win over PSG
UCL: Füllkrug gives Dortmund 1-0 first-leg win over PSG
Jadon Sancho put in a performance of a lifetime as Borussia Dortmund’s Niclas Füllkrug fired in a first-half goal to seal a 1-0 victory over visitors Paris St Germain in a compelling Champions League semi-final first leg on Wednesday.
Nico Schlotterbeck floated a pass into Füllkrug’s path and the Germany forward controlled the ball with a perfect first touch before drilling a low shot past keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma in the 36th minute.
PSG, fresh from being crowned Ligue 1 champions and desperate to win their first-ever Champions League trophy, found it hard going against a disciplined German defence, especially in the first half with forward Kylian Mbappe largely neutralised.
With the return leg in Paris next Tuesday, the winner of the tie will face either Bayern Munich or Real Madrid, who drew 2-2 in their first leg in Germany, in the final at Wembley on June 1.
“It was a well-deserved win, a good team performance,” said Dortmund coach Edin Terzic. “We could have scored more goals, but so could they.”
“That’s why the result is OK from my point of view. We ran a lot, but that’s necessary in a game like this.”
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“You have to earn your way to Wembley. All we need now is a draw in the second leg, but we also want to win next week.”
The win also confirmed Germany will get a fifth qualifying spot for next season’s Champions League, with Dortmund being the main beneficiaries at the moment, sitting in fifth place in the Bundesliga with three games left to play.
Dortmund went close just before halftime with Marcel Sabitzer but Donnaruma blocked his shot. The French side improved after the break and went agonisingly close to an equaliser in the 52nd minute with Mbappe curling a shot onto the far post and then Achraf Hakimi also hitting the woodwork on the rebound.
Four minutes later Fabian Ruiz saw his stooping header sail wide after being left completely unmarked in the box before Dortmund keeper Gregor Kobel kept out Ousmane Dembele’s close range effort in the 71st.
Dortmund, winners in 1997 and looking to reach their first final since 2013, soaked up the pressure as PSG’s Vitinha narrowly missed the target 10 minutes later.
The German team defeated Spanish opposition, Atletico Madrid 5-4 on aggregate to reach the semis and would hope to do so to get pass PSG in Paris.
UCL: Füllkrug gives Dortmund 1-0 first-leg win over PSG
Sports
UCL: Vinicius scores double as Real Madrid hold Bayern Munich in semi-final showdown
UCL: Vinicius scores double as Real Madrid hold Bayern Munich in semi-final showdown
In Tuesday’s Champions League semi-final first leg, Real Madrid forward Vinicius Junior scored double, including an 83rd-minute equalizing penalty, to secure a 2-2 draw at Bayern Munich.
Vinicius gave Real the lead after 24 minutes, but Bayern took control of the game in four second-half minutes, with Leroy Sane scoring and Harry Kane converting a penalty.
Kim Min-jae practices judo. shoved Rodrygo in the box with eight minutes remaining, and Vinicius stepped up, drowning out a chorus of shouts and whistles to blast home.
The draw puts Madrid in the driving seat ahead of next week’s return leg at the Santiago Bernabeu. Bayern, who dominated large parts of the match, will still have hopes of making it to Wembley’s final in June.
Before the match, the Bayern fans unveiled a giant banner depicting Franz Beckenbauer which spanned all the way from the grass to the rafters. It was a fitting tribute on a night featuring the most-played fixture in European Cup history.
Famed for their composure on the biggest of stages in this competition, the 14-time winners struggled early, Bayern dominating possession and field position while spurred on by a ferocious home crowd.
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Sane had a chance after just 40 seconds and another minutes later, while Kane chipped a shot from halfway just over the bar as the leggy visitors struggled to cope.
Madrid’s continued success in this competition, including in their quarter-final win over Manchester City, has been built on absorbing pressure before striking.
The visitors repeated the trick for the opener, breaking Bayern’s dominance in ruthlessly simple fashion while showing the hosts how easy scoring goals can be.
Toni Kroos collected the ball from a corner and drilled a defence-splitting pass along the ground which found Vinicius galloping in acres of space on the penalty arc.
Without a Bayern player in range, Vinicius calmly slotted the opener past a helpless Manuel Neuer, changing the complexion of the match completely.
Bayern, who have six European Cups of their own, were not awed and continued to push but could not break through; their best chance of the remainder of the half came through a free kick, with Kane finding a huge gap in the wall but blasting wide.
With Real seemingly in cruise control, Bayern grabbed hold of the match early in the second-half, scoring twice in four minutes.
Eric Dier found Sane down the right flank. The Germany winger, who had missed several chances in the first half, dribbled into the box before unleashing an unstoppable rocket at the near post, his first goal for Bayern in any competition since October.
The hosts’ next attack came down the left, with the ever dangerous Jamal Musiala felled by Lucas Vazquez in the box. Referee Clement Turpin pointed straight to the spot and Kane had no hesitation either, sending Andriy Lunin the wrong way to take the lead.
With Bayern in control, Real went on the counter and it was Kim’s turn to give away a clumsy penalty, with Vinicius confidently slotting in the equaliser.
UCL: Vinicius scores double as Real Madrid hold Bayern Munich in semi-final showdown
(AFP)
Sports
Finidi George appointed Super Eagles head coach
Finidi George appointed Super Eagles head coach
The Nigeria Football Federation has appointed Finidi George as the new head coach of the Super Eagles.
Finidi’s appointment was announced on Monday as obtained via the official website of the NFF.
George had served as assistant to former coach Jose Peseiro for 20 months before assuming interim leadership of the senior national team in March this year.
The statement read in part, “The Board of Nigeria Football Federation on Monday approved the recommendation of its Technical and Development Committee to appoint former ace winger Finidi George as Head Coach of the Senior Men National Football Team, Super Eagles.”
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