Page 6 - Uefa Champions League

Man City knocked out of Champions League 2024; Real Madrid seals SF spot

Real Madrid weathered the storm, silenced the crowd and ultimately ended Manchester City's brief hold on the Champions League. The all-time kings of Europe moved a step closer to a record-extending 15th title in the competition they have dominated after a 4-3 win Wednesday on penalties at Etihad Stadium. But not before being pushed to the limit by defending champion City. I was pretty much dead on my feet at the end, Madrid midfielder Jude Bellingham said. It's so difficult. They are continuously probing with the ball and move you around. Most teams would fall apart when City get on top of you, but we stood up really well. The game had gone to the uncertainty of a shootout after ending 1-1 on the night and 4-4 on aggregate. City dominated the chances after going behind to Rodrygo's goal in the 12th minute, but only had Kevin de Bruyne's leveler in the 76th to show for its superiority, which included 64% of possession and 18 corners to Madrid's one through extra time. That counted

Uefa CL: Mbapp scores twice as PSG beats Barcelona to reverse 1st-leg loss

Playing with an extra man for more than an hour, Paris Saint-Germain rallied against Barcelona to reach the Champions League semifinals. Kylian Mbapp scored twice as PSG reversed its first-leg loss at home with a 4-1 win at Barcelona on Tuesday to advance 6-4 on aggregate and keep alive its hopes of a first European title in what is the France star's final season with the club. Former Barcelona forward Ousmane Dembl and Vitinha also scored for PSG, which took advantage of a 29th-minute red card to Barcelona defender Ronald Araujo after he fouled Bradley Barcola while trying to stop a breakaway. When it was 11 against 11 we were well organized. The sending off changes everything. The match changed completely, said Barcelona coach Xavi Hernndez, who was later sent off himself for complaining. We would have liked to play PSG 11 against 11. That should not have been a red card. Barcelona had gotten off to a good start and opened the scoring with a goal by Raphinha in the 12th, but the

Uefa CL 2023-24: Dortmund digs deep to beat Atltico 5-4 on aggregate

Marcel Sabitzer scored late and set up two goals to send Borussia Dortmund into the Champions League semifinals with a helter-skelter 4-2 win over Atltico Madrid on Tuesday. After losing the first leg of their quarterfinal 2-1 in Madrid, Dortmund had to come from behind twice over two legs to advance 5-4 on aggregate. Julian Brandt opened the scoring to level the tie before Sabitzer set up Ian Maatsen to give Dortmund a 2-0 lead on the night. Atltico coach Diego Simeone responded with three changes at the break and they all paid off. A Mats Hummels own goal and goal from substitute Joaqun Correa put the Spanish side back in front on aggregate. Then Sabitzer set up Niclas Fllkrug in the 71st minute for the Germany forward's first goal after nine scoreless games, and Sabitzer scored himself three minutes later to send Dortmund into the last four. That was a rollercoaster, a really great evening, Dortmund chief executive Hans-Joachim Watzke said. It's not always like that for Borussi

Uefa CL: Real Madrid and Man City draw 3-3 in frantic 1st leg quarterfinals

Three goals in the first 14 minutes. Back-and-forth attacking. Stunning second-half strikes. It was an instant classic between the newest Champions League rivals, with Real Madrid and Manchester City drawing 3-3 in a frantic first leg of the quarterfinals on Tuesday. I imagine the fans enjoyed a game like this, with six goals, City manager Pep Guardiola said. Both teams wanted to attack, doing it in different ways, a bit out of control." Federico Valverde scored a 79th-minute equalizer for Madrid after City had rallied with Phil Foden and Josko Gvardiol scoring goals five minutes apart midway through the second half at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium. Bernardo Silva had put City ahead two minutes into the match, but Madrid rallied with an own-goal by City defender Rben Dias in the 12th and a score by forward Rodrygo in the 14th. We wanted to take at least a small advantage, but in the end we are satisfied because we competed well and gave our best, Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said.

Champions League QFs full schedule, live match time (IST), live streaming

Uefa Champions League 2023-24 quarterfinal draw: The first leg of the ties will be played on April 10 and 11 while the reverse leg will be played on April 17 and 18 respectively, according to IST

Champions League today's match: Atletico vs Inter time, streaming details

Atletico Madrid will take on Inter Milan at Civitas Metropolitan Stadium at 1:30 AM IST on Thursday, March 14, 2024. The match will be telecast live on Sony Sports and can be live-streamed on Sony LIV

UCL today's match: Barcelona vs Napoli live match begins at 1:30 PM IST

Barcelona will take on Napoli at the Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys on March 13, 2024 at 1:30 AM IST. The match will be telecast live on Sony Sports and can also be live-streamed on Sony LIV in India

Champions League today's match: Arsenal vs Porto live match time, streaming

Arsenal will take on Porto at the Emirates Stadium at 1:30 PM IST on Wednesday, March 13, 2024. The match will be telecast live on Sony Sports and can also be live-streamed on Sony LIV in India

Champions League QFs: Mbappe scores twice as PSG beat Real Sociedad

Kylian Mbapp led Paris Saint-Germain back to the Champions League quarterfinals on Tuesday, scoring both goals in a 2-1 win over Real Sociedad that kept alive the French club's hopes of winning the European title in its last season with the France forward. PSG advanced 4-1 on aggregate, with Mbapp also scoring one of the goals in the 2-0 win in the first leg in Paris three weeks ago. Mbapp has already told PSG he will not stay with the club after this season. Despite huge spending to try to win the Champions League for the first time, PSG had been eliminated from the last 16 five times in the last seven seasons, including the last two. It had made it to the semifinals in 2021 and was runner-up in 2020. We knew right away that we couldn't go to sleep, Mbapp said. If they had opened the scoring, they would have pushed on with their fans' backing. We had to dampen their hopes early on. That's what we did, and we're very happy to be back in the quarterfinals. Mbapp was the ...

Champions League 2023-24: Harry Kane steers Bayern Munich into quarters

He's done it again. Harry Kane scored twice to steer Bayern Munich into the quarterfinals of the Champions League with a 3-0 win over Lazio on Tuesday. Kane's 32nd and 33rd goals this season for Bayern ensured the Bavarian powerhouse recovered from losing the first leg of the last 16 tie 1-0 in Rome to win 3-1 on aggregate over two legs. A perfect night for us, said Kane, the man of the match. The win will ease the pressure on Bayern coach Thomas Tuchel, whose premature departure at the end of the season was announced by Bayern after the team's three-game losing run including the defeat in Rome. Bayern's new sporting director Max Eberl said before Tuesday's game that Tuchel would remain in charge afterward even if the team lost, but there had been a feeling defeat would bring forward the coach's exit. Bayern, which is 10 points behind Bayer Leverkusen in the Bundesliga, was facing the prospect of just its second elimination in 12 appearances at this stage of the Champions League

English clubs' financial power is $25bn of European soccer economy: UEFA

The financial power of English soccer was detailed in a UEFA report Thursday analyzing the record 24 billion euros ($25.75 billion) economy of top-tier clubs across Europe. The 20 Premier League clubs' total revenue of 6.5 billion euros ($7 billion) in 2022 was almost equal to the next two richest leagues combined Spain's La Liga and Germany's 18-team Bundesliga each had about 3.3 billion euros ($3.54 billion). Those 20 Premier League clubs combined had as much revenue as all 642 clubs in the 50 countries outside the big five leagues of England, Spain, Germany, Italy and France, UEFA said. Closing the gap on English clubs' spending power had been cited in 2021 as a reason why clubs in Spain and Italy pushed hardest for the breakaway Super League project that failed. UEFA's annual review of club finances suggested the industry has recovered from lingering pandemic impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak that shut down European soccer in 2020. It predicted total revenue topping 26 billion

Champions League: De Bruyne inspires Man City to 3-1 win at Copenhagen

Kevin De Bruyne is so often Manchester City's man for the big occasion. He delivered again at the start of the Champions League's knockout stage. By scoring one goal and having a hand in two others, the Belgium playmaker inspired City to a 3-1 win at FC Copenhagen in the first leg of the round of 16 on Tuesday as the English champions resumed their quest to retain their European crown. It's an English-record nine straight wins in the Champions League for City stretching back to last season, and 10 victories in a row in all competitions over the past two months. It is going to take something special to stop Pep Guardiola's defending champions. Only a careless mistake from goalkeeper Ederson Moraes, which led to Copenhagen's equalizer in the 34th minute, prevented City from taking an even more commanding lead into the second leg in Manchester in three weeks. Still, few will give the Danish champions hope of turning this around. Not with De Bruyne seemingly back in top form already

Champions League knockout stage starts with Man City and Real Madrid games

The Champions League narrative is so often about Manchester City and Real Madrid. The past two champions of Europe were the only teams to sweep through the group stage with six wins. They also are first in action Tuesday when the most prized competition in club soccer resumes in the round of 16. Man City is away to a Copenhagen team playing in the knockout stage for the first time in 13 years and Madrid is at Leipzig for the first leg. The two teams favored to lift the trophy warmed up with comfortable wins Saturday and goals from signature players. Erling Haaland confirmed his return to form after a foot injury with both goals in Man City's 2-0 win over Everton, his first since Nov. 28 when Leipzig was beaten 3-2 in their Champions League group. Haaland has a Premier League-leading 16 goals and Madrid's Jude Bellingham has a La Liga-best 15 after also scoring twice in a 4-0 rout of second-place Girona, which is owned by the same Abu Dhabi group as Man City. But Bellingham has an

Champions League round of 16 draw: City play Copenhagen, Arsenal face Porto

Following a thrilling couple of months of group-stage action, the focus now shifts to the knockout rounds where 16 teams will fight it out to win the ultimate crown

Champions League 2023-24: England flop, Spain surge; Copenhagen surprises

So much for the English taking over European soccer. The final Champions League group stage in its current format ended with representation from the supposedly all-powerful Premier League cut in half as Manchester United and Newcastle United failed to advance to the knockout stage and were even knocked out of European competition altogether. Instead, there was a Spanish resurgence, a decent showing from the German contingent, and a couple of nice surprises making their way into the round of 16 in the form of Copenhagen and PSV Eindhoven. This was the last year of the 32-team, eight-pool group stage, with the Union of European Football Associations pivoting next season to a single 36-team league that will see clubs play eight games up from the current six. The top eight teams will advance automatically to the round of 16 knockout bracket and Nos. 9 to 24 in the standings go into a playoff round to decide the other eight qualifiers. So, what have we learned ahead of the round of 1

Man United has to beat the odds and Bayern Munich to avoid CL elimination

The odds are against Manchester United as the three-time European Cup winners battle to avoid early elimination from the Champions League. United faces Bayern Munich at Old Trafford on Tuesday and needs to end the German giants' record 39-game unbeaten run in the group stages to have any chance of advancing to the knockout rounds. But even that might not be enough, with Erik ten Hag's team sitting bottom of Group A and also relying on a draw between Copenhagen and Galatasaray in the group's other game. What I know is I never think of a negative scenario, we think positive, we know what to do, we have to win to stay in Europe, it's about that, the United manager said Monday. We will prepare the team with that feeling, with that belief, we have shown in the last weeks when we are at our best we can do it. Consistency has been the biggest issue for Ten Hag this season. That was perfectly illustrated last week when United produced one of its best performances of the campaign to beat ...

Champions League: Guardiola walks off smiling as City stays perfect

On a night of unconvincing performances from Paris Saint-Germain and AC Milan, Pep Guardiola walked off smiling following a comeback victory for Manchester City in the Champions League. Phil Foden inspired a second-half comeback as City beat Leipzig 3-2 on Tuesday to take first place in Group G and extend its perfect record to five wins in five matches. It's the seventh straight season that City has won its group. The defending champions trailed 2-0 at halftime but Foden scored one goal and helped to create two more to turn the match around and Guardiola had a smirk on his face when he shook hands with Leipzig counterpart Marco Rose after the final whistle. We had to be relaxed as possible and we reacted really well," Guardiola said. "We are first in the group and I am very satisfied for the reaction at the end. The team runs and fights and has spirit." Kylian Mbapp's penalty deep into stoppage time salvaged a point for PSG in a 1-1 draw with an injury-depleted but tenacious Newca

Sevilla held by Lens 1-1 at home in group stage of Champions League

Sevilla couldn't manage more than a 1-1 draw with Lens in their opening match of Group B in the Champions League. Lucas Ocampos put the hosts ahead with a header in the ninth minute on Wednesday. Angelo Fulgini equalized for the French club with a powerful free-kick strike in the 24th at the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan Stadium. "We played better than they did," Ocampos said. "But these games are difficult. There's a reason they are in the Champions League, they are a great team." Sevilla was coming off its first win of the season in a match against Las Palmas in the Spanish league on Sunday. Lens was winless in its last five matches, with four losses and a draw. "My goal did us a lot of good because I think if we didn't equalize so soon we would have struggled," Fulgini said. "The goal came at a good time. The free kick came off for me and we can be pleased today." Former Spain and Real Madrid defender Sergio Ramos made his 138th Champions League appearance, the first with Sevilla. S

UCL: Stoppage-time drama again as Bayern Munich beats Manchester United 4-3

Mathys Tel's stoppage-time goal proved enough for Bayern Munich to beat Manchester United 4-3 in their Champions League opening game. Tel scored with a spectacular finish in the second minute of injury time on Wednesday, restoring Bayern's two-goal lead just when United threatened to pull off another remarkable comeback after Casemiro scored in the 88th. Casemiro did score again in the fifth minute of stoppages with a header to Bruno Fernandes' free kick, but this time there was no fairy-tale ending for United, which beat Bayern with two late goals to win the 1999 Champions League final. United had forced the initiative early as the old rivals met again in the group stage, but Harry Kane's penalty in the 53rd for 3-1 seemed to be the final blow for an injury-hit team low on confidence after starting the Premier League with three defeats in five games. United was without the injured Luke Shaw, Harry Maguire, Tyrell Malacia, Mason Mount and Aaron Wan-Bissaka, and coach Erik ten Hag w

Arsenal makes winning return to Champions League, beats PSV Eindhoven 4-0

Arsenal made a stylish return to the Champions League by sweeping aside PSV Eindhoven 4-0 at Emirates Stadium after a six-year absence from the competition. Arsenal seemed determined to make up for lost time and jumped out to a 3-0 lead by the 38th minute on Wednesday with PSV goalkeeper Walter Benitez having made a couple of good saves by then to prevent an even bigger scoreline. In a game played in driving rain throughout, Bukayo Saka, Leandro Trossard and Gabriel Jesus all scored in the first half, before Martin Odegaard added the fourth with a long-range strike in the 70th. Arsenal qualified for the Champions League for 19 straight years under Arsene Wenger but had not played in the competition since 2016-17. PSV last played in it five years ago, and the two teams met in the group stage of the second-tier Europa League last season. Arsenal beat PSV 1-0 at home that time, but this was a far more one-sided affair. Saka opened the scoring in the eighth minute by slipping away fr