UEFA Champions League
LIVE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE: MANCHESTER CITY 1-3 LYON
It’s Lyon for the semi finals. They have sent Man City out!
Lyon substitution
90+3 mins
Post update
Man City 1-3 Lyon
Moussa Dembele has now scored four goals in three appearances against Manchester City in the Champions League.
He’s had two shots on target in the 18 minutes he’s now played.
90+1min: Into five added minutes as Lyon send on Jeff Reine-Adelaide for Karl Ekambi
Manchester City 1-3 Lyon
GOOALLL!!!!!
Gooooal!
Dembélé (Lyon) scores!
86min: WHAT A MISS! Gabriel Jesus squares for Sterling to apply a simple tap-in but he somehow scoops it over the bar. That will haunt him if City go out here. Complete horror show.
Manchester City substitution
84min: David Silva is on for City as he replaces Rodri.
VAR check in progress79’Gooooal!
Dembélé (Lyon) scores
Lyon substitution
71min: As Maxwel Cornet goes down under such minimal contact from Kyle Walker, with the referee not buying the penalty appeals, the French side make a change with Thiago Mendes replacing Bruno Guimaraes.
GOAL! MANCHESTER CITY 1-1 Lyon
67 mins:Manchester City 0-1 Lyon
Kevin de Bruyne
64min: Another free-kick for City, this time it is about 23 yards just to the right after Marcelo is booked for bringing down Gabriel Jesus.
57 mins
SUBSTITUTION
Man City 0-1 Lyon
The Lyon centre-backs have barely made a mistake. Rocks.
City have another corner but they make a change before the kick…
Riyad Mahrez comes on for Fernandinho, who was on a booking.
Manchester City 0-1 Lyon
54min: Fernandinho is on a yellow card, and Lyon certainly know it. Everytime he makes a challenge now, no matter how innocuous it is, a Lyon player milks it for all it is worth.
Pep has seen enough by the way. Riyad Mahrez is getting ready to come on.
Man City 0-1 Lyon
At the moment, the semi-finals looks like:
- Two German teams
- Two French teams
- Three German managers of which none are Jurgen Klopp
2nd Half resumes
Half time; Man city 0-1 Lyon
+2 Added time
Post update
Man City 0-1 Lyon
Four minutes until half-time and Pep Guardiola’s side don’t look like scoring.
They have possession again though.
Manchester City 0-1 Lyon
30min: Already signs of frustration from City following Cornet’s goal as Fernandinho is booked for bringing down Aouar. Here is the probably case of City’s frustration again:
GOAL! Manchester City 0-1 LYON
24min: The VAR check for offside is good and City are behind! Karl Ekambi beats the offside trap for a ball over the top and despite being caught by Eric Garcia, he plays the ball behind him blindly where from 23 yards Maxwel Cornet curls a cool finish past the advanced Ederson.
GOAL! Manchester City 0-1 LYON
GOAL – Man City 0-1 Lyon
Maxwel Cornet
He’s only gone and done it again!
VAR check
Match Update
· Garcia in for Foden City’s only change
· Aouar fit after scare; Lyon unchanged
· Winners face Bayern in semis
Manchester City 0-0 Lyon
18min: Not many chances at all so far. Defences well on top.
Sterling had the best moment early on when he poked the ball past Anthony Lopes (below) but there was no team-mate to apply the finish.
Manchester City 0-0 Lyon
15min: Bit scrappy right now as Kevin de Bruyne escapes a booking after tripping Houssem Aouar. Was not much in it to be fair, and the referee agrees as he keeps his card in his pocket.
YELLOW CARD
Man City 0-0 Lyon
Leo Dubois picks up the first booking because of a late tackle on Joao Cancelo. Ref Danny Makkelie had made up his mind before the Lyon man had time to perfect his aggrieved look.
10min: Good effort from Marcal, who drills a powerful low 23-yard drive towards goal, but Ederson does well to dive down low and collect.
6 mins
Post update
Man City 0-0 Lyon
Lyon are trying to play quite a high line, but that plays into the hands of someone like Raheem Sterling who will just find the space to run into.
Kick off: City get this Champions League encounter underway
The last slot for the semi-final paring of the UEFA Champions League will be determined tonight as Premiership side, Manchester United face Ligue 1 team, Lyon. Last night, an exceptional goal feast was witnessed.
What will be the situation tonight in what has already been a wild week of last-eight action the teams are vying to take on Bayern Munich in the semi-finals who stunned Barcelona with 8-2.
City are favourites to progress to only their second ever Champions League semi-final but will have to guard against complacency when they take on a Lyon outfit who have already dumped Juventus out of the competition.
· Manchester City starting XI: Ederson, Walker, Eric Garcia, Laporte, Joao Cancelo, Fernandinho, Gundogan, Rodri, De Bruyne, Gabriel Jesus, Sterling
· Lyon starting XI: Lopes, Denayer, Marcelo, Marcal, Dubois, Caqueret, Bruno Guimaraes, Aouar, Cornet, Depay, Toko Ekambi.
Sports Village Square will be offering reports on the proceedings of the match.
UEFA Champions League
Nigeria’s Victor Olatunji becomes third African scoring debutant in Uefa Champions League
Nigeria’s Victor Olatunji was not just the hero for his side, Sparta Prague, in Wednesday’s 3-0 defeat of Salzburg in their opening game of the UEFA Champions League, he has edged himself into the competition’s record books.
According to Opta, Olatunji’s goal made him the third African player to score and assist on Champions League debut.
Before him were Gabon’s Daniel Cousin in 2007 (for Rangers in the match with Lyon) and Cote d’Ivoire’s Serge Aurier in 2015 (for PSG in the duel with Shakhtar Donetsk).
Olatunji scored one and produced a master-piece assist that led to the third goal for Sparta Prague on Wednesday night.
Reigning Czech Republic champions Sparta Prague kicked off their UEFA Champions League campaign with a game against Salzburg at the Epet Arena in Prague.
Olatunji, who has been the main man for Sparta Prague since last season, got a starting shirt in the striker position- his debut in the Champions League.
The Czech side had a dream start as they took the lead just a minute into the game courtesy of Kaan Kairinen. After conceding, Salzburg started to dominate the game, but they failed to make any clear-cut opportunity.
Sparta Prague were better coordinated and held their lines better. They eventually got their second, and it was courtesy of Nigeria striker Olatunji. A long ball was played from Sparta Prague’s defence, Olatunji got to it, and he took a one-time shot to send the ball into the bottom left corner of the goal.
Then, in the second half, Olatunji supplied the assist for Qazim Laci for Sparta Prague’s third. In his 58 minutes of action, the 25-year-old striker registered two goal attempts, 14 touches, and won four of his seven duels. The game eventually ended 3-0 in Sparta Prague’s favour.
In the other matches of the night, Manchester City were held to a goalless draw by Inter Milan while PSG managed a lone goal win over Girona in Paris and Club Brugge lost 0-3 at home to last year’s losing finalist, Borussia Dortmund.
Celtic FC had a goal feast at home with a 5-1 demolition of visiting Slovan Bratislava and Bologna and Shakhtar Donestsk settled for a goalles draw. Action resumes tonight with FC Bacerlona and Arsenal away in Monaco and Atalanta respectively.
RESULTS
- Bologna 0-0 Shakhtar
- Sparta 3-0 Salzburg
- Celtic 5-1 Brastilava
- Brugge 0-3 Dortmund
- Man City 0-0 Inter
- PSG 1-0 Girona
THURSDAY’S FIXTURES
- Feyenoord Vs Leverkusen
- Zvezda Vs Benfica
- Atalanta Vs Arsenal
- Brest Vs Graz
- Atletico Vs Leipzig
- Monaco Vs Barca
UEFA Champions League
Kane scores four goals as record-breaking Bayern crush Dinamo Zagreb 9-2
Bayern Munich striker Harry Kane scored four goals to lead his side to a 9-2 demolition of visitors Dinamo Zagreb on Tuesday and a record for the most goals by one team in a Champions League match after a scintillating performance.
Bayern struck three times in the first half with Kane converting a 19th minute penalty before becoming the highest scoring English player in European Cup history with 33 goals, breaking Wayne Rooney’s mark of 30.
Kane, who scored three goals against Holstein Kiel in the Bundesliga on Saturday, also became the first player to score a hat-trick of penalties in a European Cup match.
The game had the second-biggest winning margin in Champions League history, with Liverpool and Real Madrid holding the record with 8-0 wins.
Borussia Dortmund’s 8-4 win over Legia Warsaw in 2016 is the record for most goals overall in a Champions League match.
“It’s the first time I’ve ever had three penalties in one game,” said Kane. “It was a different feeling for me, but to score four goals is fantastic.”
“To help the team in any way possible is important. Whether they’re penalties or normal finishes I’ll take them all. It was a great night for us.”
DETERMINED BAYERN
Bayern are eager to bounce back after failing to win any domestic or international silverware last season.
“Everyone has a point to prove here and we’ve started the season that way,” Kane said. “The way the coach wants us to press and be intense with and without the ball is important. We know we can dominate teams with the quality we have.”
With Zagreb completely boxed in, Raphael Guerreiro, who had earlier put the ball in the net only to be ruled offside, drilled home from a superb Jamal Musiala assist in the 33rd and Michael Olise added another five minutes later.
The Croats briefly recovered by making the most of some sloppy defending with goals from Bruno Petkovic in the 49th and Takuya Ogiwara a minute later to give themselves some hope.
It was, however, short-lived with Bayern, who hope to reach this season’s final to be played in Munich, upping the tempo instantly and scoring two more in a four-minute span through Kane and Olise to restore order.
In coach Vincent Kompany’s Champions League debut on the bench, England captain Kane bagged his third and fourth goals with penalties in the 73rd and 78th.
Thomas Mueller also set a record with his 152nd Champions League appearance for Bayern, breaking Xavi’s mark at Barcelona for the most matches in the competition with one club.
Substitutes Leroy Sane and Leon Goretzka also got on the scoresheet with late goals as Bayern opened their Champions League campaign in devastating fashion.
-Reuters
UEFA Champions League
Real Madrid to play Liverpool, Milan and Dortmund in revamped Champions League
Reigning champions Real Madrid will play Borussia Dortmund in the league phase of the Champions League in what will be a repeat of last season’s final after the draw for the new-look 36-team tournament was held on Thursday.
Clubs will no longer playing three teams home and away in the group phase, but will face eight different teams with four games at home and four away which were picked with the help of a computer.
With clubs facing two teams each from the four pots, the draw threw up plenty of mouth-watering fixtures with Real also set to play former champions Liverpool and AC Milan in the league phase.
Premier League champions Manchester City will face Inter Milan — a repeat of the 2023 final — Paris St Germain and Juventus while Bayern Munich are up against PSG and Barcelona among others.
Apart from Real, Liverpool also take on RB Leipzig, Bayer Leverkusen and AC Milan.
New Barcelona boss Hansi Flick has his hands full with the Spanish team set to face the two German giants — his former club Bayern Munich and Dortmund.
The draw was conducted with the help of the competition’s all-time top scorer Cristiano Ronaldo and former goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon, who were both given special awards by UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin.
-Reuters
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