Real Madrid followed Barcelona out of the Champions League on Wednesday, as they lost their return leg in the round of 16 at Bayern Munich 2-1.
The eventful defeat -- in which Mark Von Bommel and Mahamadou Diarra were sent off -- saw Real being knocked out on the away goals rule as they won 3-2 in Madrid two weeks ago.
Also advancing to the quarter-finals on Wednesday were PSV Eindhoven, who held Arsenal to a 1-1 draw in London to advance 2-1 on aggregate and Manchester United, who beat Lille 1-0 for a 2-0 aggregate victory.
The final team to advance to the next round was AC Milan, who needed extra time to beat Celtic 1-0 and advance 1-0 on aggregate after the 90 minutes had ended goalless, as had the first match in Glasgow.
Brazilian striker Kaka scored the only goal of the game three minutes after the start of extra time with a little bit of brilliance as he covered virtually half the field before pushing the ball past Celtic goalkeeper Artur Boruc.
In Munich the first goal was put away by Roy Makaay after just 10.02 seconds, creating a new record in the tournament.
Real kicked off in the packed Allianz Arena but veteran Roberto Carlos clumsily gave the ball away to Hasan Salihamidzic, who centered for Makaay to score with a deft low shot.
It was the first time that Bayern Munich had managed to advance to the next round of the Champions League after losing the first leg of a tie.
In Manchester, the home side struggled to find their way through a compact Lille defense and it took a 72nd Henrik Larsson header from a Cristiano Ronaldo cross to see United through to the quarter-finals 2-0 on aggregate.
In London, PSV Eindhoven's Brazilian striker Alex turned from villain to hero as he first scored an own goal for Arsenal in the 58th minute, but then scored with a header at the right end seven minutes from time to see his club through 2-1 on aggregate.
The game between AC Milan and Celtic finished goalless after 90 minutes and went into extra time.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set