Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo on Tuesday broke the record for the most goals ever scored in a Champions League season or in the tournament’s predecessor, the European Cup, by hitting the net twice in his side’s 4-0 semi-final second-leg victory over Bayern Munich.
Ronaldo picked up his 15th and 16th goals of the campaign to help put the Spanish giants into the Champions League final in Lisbon on May 24 as Carlo Ancelotti’s side humiliated the defending champions from Germany.
The Portuguese forward’s two goals saw him eclipse the previous highest tally of 14 in a season first set by Jose Altafini of AC Milan in the 1962-1963 campaign and equaled by Barcelona’s Lionel Messi in the 2011-2012 tournament.
The FIFA World Player of the Year set the new record in just 10 appearances in the competition this season, with his tally including a hat-trick against Galatasaray in the group stage, as well as braces against Copenhagen, Juventus and in both legs of Real’s last-16 tie against Schalke 04.
Ronaldo has now scored 66 Champions League goals and is closing in on legendary Real striker Raul’s club record for most goals in the competition, 71.
The Portuguese’s goals helped take Los Blancos through to their first Champions League final since they last lifted the trophy in 2002, when France’s Zinedine Zidane inspired his then-club to a 2-1 win over Bayer 04 Leverkusen in Glasgow, Scotland.
BOUNCING BACK: Antetokounmpo had just returned from an eight-game injury absence last month, leading the Milwaukee Bucks to their third win in four games Giannis Antetokounmpo threw down the game-winning dunk with 4.7 seconds remaining to lift the Milwaukee Bucks to a 122-121 victory over the Charlotte Hornets and grab a slice of NBA history on Friday. The Bucks trailed by as many as 16 on their home floor, but Antetokounmpo scored 12 of his 30 points in the final quarter to help seal the win in a frantic finish that saw five lead changes in the final 45.7 seconds. The two-time NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) added 10 rebounds and five assists. It was his 158th regular-season game with at least 30 points, 10 rebounds and
For the first time in almost 36 years, a Parisian derby will be played in French soccer’s top flight when reigning champions Paris Saint-Germain FC take on the nouveau riche Paris Football Club (PFC) today. Not one of the players involved in today’s match — PFC’s 38-year-old third-choice goalkeeper Remy Riou is almost certainly not going to be involved — was born the last time there was a Parisian derby in Ligue 1. That was on Feb. 25, 1990, when Moroccan midfielder Aziz Bouderbala scored a brace as Racing Paris 1 beat PSG 2-1 at the Parc des Princes home that
Stan Wawrinka’s 40-year-old legs did not let him down over three-plus hours in his first singles match of a farewell tour yesterday. Three-time Grand Slam singles champion Wawrinka beat Arthur Rinderknech of France, who is ranked 29th to Wawrinka’s 157th, 5-7, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5). The match went 3 hours, 16 minutes. Wawrinka last month announced that this year would be his last on the ATP tour. “Today was a tough battle ... it’s amazing to come here for the first time, to have so much support,” Wawrinka said yesterday. “Twenty years on tour, you kind of always play in the same place
Manchester City have confirmed defender Josko Gvardiol suffered a broken leg in Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Chelsea at the Etihad Stadium. Gvardiol was one of two City centerbacks who went off injured in the second half, along with Ruben Dias, before Enzo Fernandez scored a stoppage-time equalizer for the visitors. The draw left second-placed City six points behind English Premier League leaders Arsenal. City, announcing Gvardiol sustained a tibial fracture to his right leg, added in a statement issued on Monday: “The defender will have surgery later this week and assessment remains ongoing to ascertain the full extent of the
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