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.
Yu Yao-hsing on Tuesday nabbed Taiwan’s only goal in the final round of qualifiers for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup, as they fell 3-1 to Sri Lanka at Taipei Municipal Stadium. Early goals from Sri Lanka in the first half left Taiwan struggling to get on the board, and Christopher Tiao’s own goal at 53 minutes sealed the team’s fate in the third round of qualifiers. While acknowledging that the defeat, Taiwan’s sixth in Group D, was disappointing, head coach Matt Ross said he saw reasons to stay positive about the team’s development. “There were lots of positive signs in terms of the
INDIGESTION: Italy failed to qualify for the World Cup for a third consecutive time after a 4-1 defeat to Bosnia on penalties in a loss Gattuso said was ‘difficult to digest’ Coach Graham Arnold on Tuesday challenged his players to “shock the world” after Iraq became the 48th and final team to qualify for the FIFA World Cup with a nerve-shredding 2-1 win over Bolivia in an intercontinental playoff in Mexico, as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Turkey, the Czech Republic, Sweden and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) also secured their places at the finals. Iraq, whose preparations were disrupted by the war in the Middle East, sealed their first appearance at the finals in 40 years and are to play in Group I against France, Senegal and Norway. Goals from Ali al-Hamadi
“I don’t remember the moment, but ever since I was a kid, that’s the first thing I loved,” two-time NBA All-Star Isaiah Thomas said of his lifelong romance with basketball. However, that journey unfolded against the limitations of his size in a game where height often dictates opportunity — a reality he confronted throughout his career. At 175cm, Thomas is less than 2cm taller than the average Taiwanese adult male, while NBA players during his career stood at about 200cm on average. Compared with the NBA’s average career length of less than five years, Thomas’ 13-season career stands out as
Dakar and Rabat have longstanding ties, but relations have been strained since the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) final, which Senegal won in mid-January before being stripped of the title, which was transferred to Morocco. Now, the AFCON trophy is something of a thorn in the two countries’ sides. On Rue Mohamed V, the street where Moroccan vendors are based in the Senegalese capital, a police van is parked. “The police have been on high alert since the Confederation of African Football [CAF] decided to award the title to Morocco, but there have been no incidents,” a local resident said.
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