UEFA Champions League
FERNANDES BAGS BRACE AS MANCHESTER UNITED SINK BASAKSEHIR
Manchester United avenged their humbling Champions League defeat against Istanbul Basaksehir as Bruno Fernandes scored twice in a 4-1 rout of the Turkish champions on Tuesday (Nov 24).
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side crashed to a shock 2-1 loss at the hands of the Group H outsiders in Istanbul earlier in November.
But there was never any chance of another upset as United ran Basaksehir ragged at Old Trafford.
Fernandes was the catalyst with a stunning long-range opener early in the first half.
He doubled the lead before passing up a hat-trick chance when he allowed Marcus Rashford to convert the penalty that brought United’s third goal before half-time.
Basaksehir’s Deniz Turuc netted a fine free-kick but, after a late United wobble, Daniel James struck in the final moments to seal the points.
United’s third win from four group matches means one point from their last two games against Paris Saint-Germain and RB Leipzig would secure their place in the last 16.
United’s loss in Istanbul had raised serious questions about Solskjaer’s ability to hold onto his job.
But successive Premier League wins against Everton and West Brom, followed by this emphatic success, have eased the pressure on Solskjaer a little.
Solskjaer named Uruguay striker Edinson Cavani in the starting line-up for the first time since his signing in October.
With Paul Pogba still sidelined by a swollen ankle, there was a rare start for Dutch midfielder Donny van de Beek.
Both Cavani, who has scored once in seven appearances for United, and van de Beek did their chances of a more regular action no harm with solid displays, but it was Fernandes and Rashford who stole the show.
Rampant United
Rashford nearly gave United the perfect start in the second minute when he slalomed through the Basaksehir defence with a superb run, but couldn’t find the power in his shot to beat Istanbul keeper Mert Gunok.
United had torn into their overwhelmed visitors and they deservedly took the lead in the seventh minute.
When Alex Telles’ corner was only cleared to the edge of the area, Fernandes let it bounce before unleashing a thunderous strike that flashed into the roof of the net.
It was the Portugal midfielder’s eighth goal of the season and his second in successive games.
Rampant United doubled their lead in the 19th minute with a gift from Gunok.
Telles’ cross should have been easy for Gunok, but he seemed distracted by Cavani’s half-hearted attempt to reach it and dropped the ball to Fernandes, who had the simple task of slotting into the empty net.
Fernandes’ impact on United has been huge since he arriving from Sporting Lisbon in January, the 26-year-old now directly involved in 34 goals in 35 games in all competitions for United.
United were in total control and the third goal came courtesy of Rashford’s electric pace in the 36th minute.
Sprinting onto Victor Lindelof’s long pass, Rashford surged into the Basaksehir area before being barged over by Boli Bolingoli-Mbombo.
Fernandes was on a hat-trick and had scored a penalty against West Brom on Saturday.
He let Rashford take the penalty instead this time and the England forward sent Gunok the wrong way for his fifth Champions League goal in four games this season.
Gunok raced off his line to deny Fernandes his treble just before the break.
After United lost Lindelof to injury at half-time, it was no surprise Solskjaer took off Fernandes and Rashford to protect his stars with half an hour left.
United’s energy dipped as a result of those changes and Basaksehir got one back in the 75th minute when Turuc’s superb free-kick went over the line despite De Gea’s attempt to claw it out.
James finished off Mason Greenwood’s pass in stoppage-time for his first United goal since March.
-AFP
Spain’s LaLiga will be represented by at least five teams in the Champions League next season after Italy’s Lazio were eliminated from the Europa League on Thursday while Athletic Bilbao progressed to the semi-finals.
LaLiga earned the second of two European Performance Spots handed out by UEFA, which go to associations “with the best collective performance by their clubs” in UEFA competitions.
England’s Premier League was the first to secure an extra berth in Europe’s top competition, on top of the four granted to the top four teams in the domestic table.
Villarreal are fifth in the LaLiga standings, with 51 points from 30 matches.
They are three points ahead of sixth-placed Real Betis and eight in front of Celta Vigo and Mallorca, with all three clubs having played one more game than Villarreal.
-Reuters
Real Madrid’s record-breaking manager Carlo Ancelotti had no complaints after his side’s Champions League reign was ended in emphatic fashion by Arsenal in the quarter-finals on Wednesday.
Italian Ancelotti won a record-extending fifth Champions League trophy last season as Real beat Borussia Dortmund at Wembley, but his side went down 2-1 at home to Arsenal for a crushing 5-1 aggregate defeat.
“There are two sides to football, the happy part that has happened to us many times and the sad part we have to handle in the same way. It has happened to us fewer times than to other teams, but we have to manage it because it allows us to be better in the next games.”
When Real keeper Thibaut Courtois saved Bukayo Saka’s early penalty and minutes later Real were awarded a spot kick for a push by Declan Rice on Kylian Mbappe, it seemed that the great escape might still be a possibility.
But Real’s penalty was overturned after a lengthy VAR check, and in truth, they never looked remotely threatening as their bid for a 16th European Cup crown ended in feeble fashion.
“To change the dynamic, we needed something positive, like the penalty he whistled and then took off. We needed something to have more confidence, but we were not able to change the dynamic of the first leg,” Ancelotti said.
Despite the defeat, Ancelotti said Real’s season still has plenty of possibilities, not least trying to bridge a four-point gap to La Liga leaders Barcelona.
“Now we are in the fight for La Liga. We have a disadvantage, but we have the Barcelona game, we have the Copa del Rey final, the Club World Cup, and we have to manage this part, which is another part of football that we are not used to,” he said.
“It’s time to hold our heads high and learn from our mistakes. It’s sad today, but I have absolutely no worries about how my players will respond. We’ll fight on, we’ll learn from the experience, and we’ll try to be better for the next match.”
-Reuters
Join the Sports Village Square channel on WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Vaz7mEIGk1FxU8YIXb0H
Arsenal snuffed out any chance of a famous Real Madrid comeback to reach the Champions League semi-finals after a 2-1 victory in the Bernabeu Stadium completed a 5-1 aggregate win on Wednesday.
Holders and 15-time winners Real never looked like clawing back a 3-0 deficit from last week’s quarter-final first leg, and when Bukayo Saka scored for the visitors in the 65th minute, their fate was effectively sealed.
Vinicius Junior seized on a rare defensive slip a couple of minutes later to rouse the home crowd, but it proved too little too late as Carlo Ancelotti’s side exited feebly.
Arsenal’s superiority over the two legs was underlined in stoppage time as Gabriel Martinelli burst through to score.
They will face Paris St Germain in their first Champions League semi-final since 2009.
“I think it’s such a special night for this club, it’s a historic night for this club,” said Arsenal’s Declan Rice, whose two sublime free kicks put his side in control last week.
“There was a lot of talk coming in about them coming back from the dead, they’ve done it so many times before. But we had so much belief and confidence from that first leg that we had enough to come here and win the game.”
A cacophony of noise greeted kickoff with the home fans fuelled by the hope of witnessing what would have been one of the greatest Champions League comebacks.
But Real’s knack of extricating themselves from difficult positions in a competition they won six times in the previous 11 seasons deserted them as they were comprehensively outplayed.
“Did we fall short of what we wanted in pure football terms? Perhaps,” Real captain Lucas Vazquez said. “They really are terrifically organised defensively.”
PENALTY MISS
Real needed a storming start, and Mbappe had the ball in the Arsenal net in the opening minutes but was offside when chesting in a Vinicius cross.
Arsenal were in no mood to simply sit and protect their lead, though, and Saka forced a great save from Courtois. They were handed the chance to kill off the tie when Raul Asencio needlessly hauled down Mikel Merino from a corner, and referee Francois Letexier eventually awarded a penalty after checking a pitch-side VAR monitor.
Saka opted for a Panenka-style chipped penalty, and Courtois clawed away the ball.
It looked like a potentially pivotal moment, and when Letexier pointed to the penalty spot at the other end after Kylian Mbappe tumbled under minimal contact from Rice, Arsenal’s night looked like taking a turn for the worse.
After five painstaking minutes, however, Letexier was again invited by VAR to view the monitor and to a chorus of whistles from the home fans, overturned his original decision.
That scare aside, Arsenal coped easily with Real Madrid’s famed frontline who were given little to work with.
Arsenal keeper David Raya was not required to make a save before halftime as Real’s predilection for hopeful crosses into the area proved easy pickings for the visiting defence.
Real’s Mbappe barely had a sniff of a chance as Arsenal showed great control and Saka made up for his first-half miss with a clinical finish after being sent clear by Merino.
William Saliba gifted Real a lifeline when he was caught in possession on the edge of his area, allowing Vinicius to score, but there was never any sense of panic in the visiting ranks.
Martinelli put the icing on the cake in added time, again from a Merino assist, to send Arsenal’s fans into raptures.
-Reuters
Join the Sports Village Square channel on WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Vaz7mEIGk1FxU8YIXb0H
The league title will be icing on Soname’s birthday cake on Sunday
As major global sporting events beckon, Morocco’s monarch launches the Kenitra-Marrakech High-Speed rail project
Nigeria Premier League attains a crescendo this weekend
- WOMEN'S FOOTBALL1 week ago
Naira rain falls on Nigeria’s Flamingos after a 4-0 defeat of Algeria
- OBITUARY4 days ago
NFF mourns the demise of former FIFA referee, Bosede Momoh
- Nigerian Football2 days ago
Financial rainfall awaits Nigeria’s Flamingos for every goal scored in Algeria
- U-17 AFCON1 week ago
Morocco crowned CAF U-17 AFCON champions after dramatic penalty shootout win over Mali
- U-20 FOOTBALL7 days ago
Nigeria begin CAF Under-20 Africa Cup of Nations title chase with Tunisian clash
- Nigerian Football6 days ago
Remo Stars maintain ‘7Up’ lead over Rivers United
- feature4 days ago
Ghana’s Cardinal, Appiah Turkson, listed as a possible Pope
- Nigerian Football3 days ago
Former WAFU President, Ogufere mourns Christian Chukwu