Titleholders Bayern Munich are to face nine-time winners Real Madrid in a dramatic UEFA Champions League semi-final, which was drawn yesterday.
Surprise packages Atletico Madrid must take on 2011-2012 winners Chelsea in the second semi-final which could create a showdown over goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, who plays for Atletico, but is owned by the English club.
Bayern, who knocked out Manchester United on Wednesday, are aiming to become the first club to successfully defend the 22-season-old Champions League title.
Pep Guardiola’s German champions met Real in the semi-finals in 2011-2012. They won that match on penalties in Madrid, before losing to Chelsea in the final.
While Bayern, seeking their sixth European trophy, are trying to reach their fourth final in five years, Atletico are aiming to make it to their first.
The Spanish league leaders’ reward for their victory over Barcelona is a match up against Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea.
Mourinho is trying to win the coveted title for a third time with three different clubs after Porto and Inter.
Before the draw, UEFA made a veiled warning to Chelsea that they must not stop Atletico using goalkeeper Courtois.
European soccer’s governing body said any provision in Courtois’ loan agreement preventing his participation is against the competition’s rules.
“Both the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Disciplinary Regulations contain clear provisions which strictly forbid any club to exert, or attempt to exert, any influence whatsoever over the players that another club may (or may not) field in a match,” UEFA said in a statement. “It follows that any provision in a private contract between clubs which might function in such a way as to influence who a club fields in a match is null, void and unenforceable so far as UEFA is concerned.”
Courtois has been a key player in Atletico’s spectacular season.
Atletico president Enrique Cerezo told Spanish radio station Onda Cero that his side would have to pay “a lot of money” for the Belgium international to play due to a provision in his contract.
Spanish media reports estimated the fee to be 3 million euros (US$4.17 million) per match.
Courtois has faced Chelsea once as an Atletico player in the European Super Cup last season when the Spaniards won 4-1.
The Champions League first legs are on April 22 and 23, with the return legs on April 29 and 30. The final is in Lisbon on May 24.
The Europea League semi-final draw pitted Spanish duo Sevilla and Valencia against each other, while SL Benfica of Portugal play Juventus of Italy, with the ties to be played on April 24 and May 1.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but