English Premier League giants Liverpool are on the brink of going out of the Champions League after drawing 1-1 with Lyon on Wednesday.
The draw put Lyon through to the knockout stages and they were joined by Sevilla, who were held 1-1 by VfB Stuttgart but were assured of a top-two finish in their group when Rangers drew 1-1 with Unirea Urziceni.
Barcelona’s hold on the trophy which they won in such style last season loosened ever so slightly when they were held 0-0 by Russian champions Rubin Kazan.
Indeed, Inter’s late comeback to gain a 2-1 victory over Dynamo Kiev in Ukraine sees the Italian side go top of the tightest group. Should Barcelona and Kazan finish tied for second place on points, it would be the Russian outfit who progress by virtue of their head-to-head record.
Liverpool had bossed the first half against seven-time French champions Lyon, with Fernando Torres, Dirk Kuyt and Andriy Voronin all going close.
They looked set to come away with all three points when Ryan Babel struck a stunning opener late on, but Lyon broke their hearts when Lisandro Lopez struck with minutes remaining.
Fiorentina’s 5-2 romp at home to Debrecen — begun by Adrian Mutu’s early goal — has really turned the heat up on Liverpool.
Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez, who has come under increasing pressure and who has now seen his side win just one of their last eight games, believed that things had not gone fairly for his injury-racked team.
“We deserved to win and to concede a goal in the last minute is really unlucky, but the team showed character given our problems and they were really positive,” the Spaniard said. “Can we pull off a great escape? Yes, we will.”
Lyon’s highly-rated coach Claude Puel was relieved and delighted to have reached the knockout stage from one of the tougher groups.
“We have mastered the art of writing particular screenplays throughout the season,” the former Monaco and Lille tactician said. “We were very courageous until the end in order to equalize and to qualify this evening.”
Barcelona coach Josep Guardiola said he never thought it would be easy in Russia against Rubin Kazan, especially in temperatures that reached as low as minus 5ºC, but accepted that his side had to get maximum points from their final two matches.
“We looked better in the first half, but later in the match Kazan played creative football and could have won,” said Guardiola, who guided Barcelona to an unprecedented treble last term. “The draw is a good result after such a match, but now we need to win both of the remaining matches.”
His counterpart Kurban Berdyev was more than satisfied.
“We hoped to repeat our performance at Camp Nou [where they won 2-1] and in general we were successful,” Berdyev said. “We also created some chances against the world’s best club, but unfortunately missed them.”
Inter’s charismatic coach Jose Mourinho was immensely proud of his runaway Serie A leaders against Dynamo Kiev, especially as they have failed to translate their domestic form on the Champions League stage over the past few seasons.
“It was a fantastic performance, with heart, emotion, desire and unity,” Mourinho said. “I’ve done some quick calculations and I think that nine points will be enough [to qualify for the last 16]. We have six, we need three more.”
Arsenal are all but through after a 4-1 victory over Dutch champions AZ Alkmaar.
Gunners manager Arsene Wenger was full of praise for his side and singled out Russia playmaker Andrey Arshavin.
“It was a brilliant performance. We dominated technically, tactically and were never under threat. We played with confidence and overall I’m very happy,” Wenger said. “Arshavin was outstanding. He gave the ball every time at the fraction of the second you wanted to give it. That is top, top quality. I believe this season we are getting stronger from game to game. It is important to keep that attitude to progress and improve.”
In the night’s other match, Standard Liege defeated Olympiakos 2-0.
Also See: Hines’ late strike downs Villa
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB