Sevilla sneaked into the last 32 of the Europa League on Wednesday with a 2-2 draw at home to Borussia Dortmund as the German side failed to translate their devastating domestic form into European success.
The Spanish side joined PAOK Salonika and Napoli, who left it late to score the goal they needed, in securing three of the remaining berths in the knockout round ahead of yesterday’s final day of group matches.
Dortmund, who have a massive 11-point lead at the top of the Bundesliga and needed a win in Spain to progress, had looked on course for the next round when they took a fourth-minute lead through Japanese midfielder Shinji Kagawa.
PHOTO: EPA
Two goals in four minutes just after the half hour put the hosts ahead thanks to Ndri Romaric and Frederic Kanoute. Dortmund leveled through Neven Subotic’s header on 49 minutes. Sevilla were runners-up to Paris Saint-Germain in Group J.
Napoli waited until the third minute of stoppage time for the goal they needed to beat Steaua Bucharest 1-0 and qualify at the expense of the Romanians in Group K, won by Liverpool.
Edinson Cavani nodded in at the near post to make sure there would be one Italian representative in the next round.
In another game where both teams were chasing a qualifying berth, PAOK Salonika won 1-0 at Dinamo Zagreb to take the second Group D spot behind Villarreal thanks to Dimitris Salpingidis’ strike on the hour.
Dynamo Kiev and BATE Borisov had already qualified, but top spot in their Group E was still up for grabs. A 0-0 draw at home to Sheriff Tiraspol handed that honor to the Ukrainians after BATE were thrashed 3-0 at eliminated Dutch side AZ Alkmaar.
Group F winners CSKA Moscow’s perfect record came to an end after they drew 1-1 away to Sparta Prague, who had also already -qualified. The top two places in Group L had also already been decided for Porto and Besiktas respectively.
Groups A through C and G through I were to play yesterday with already qualified Manchester City traveling to eliminated Juventus seeking to top their group and divert some attention away from the drama surrounding want-away captain Carlos Tevez’s future.
Holders Atletico Madrid are in danger of not making it through as they went into their final Group B game at Bayer Leverkusen needing Aris Thessaloniki to slip up at home to Rosenborg if they were to advance.
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