Bayern Munich’s Xabi Alonso was sent off on his 100th UEFA Champions League appearance as the German side were held to a scoreless draw by Shakhtar Donetsk in their round-of-16 first-leg clash on Tuesday.
Alonso picked up his second booking after 65 minutes, but Bayern comfortably held on to secure a positive result in a first leg played out in sub-zero temperatures in Lviv.
The Bundesliga champions will be confident they can complete the job in three weeks’ time in Munich, but Pep Guardiola will be relieved that they survived an ill-tempered encounter in Ukraine.
Photo: EPA
Guardiola preferred to keep his own counsel regarding Alonso’s sending off.
“I obviously followed it from the sidelines and the referee decided what he decided,” Guardiola said. “I don’t want to say anything more about it.”
Bayern sporting director Matthias Sammer was more forthcoming than Guardiola, describing the refereeing performance as “strange.”
The former Germany sweeper also agreed with the Spaniard’s suggestion that a scoreless draw away from home is not necessarily positive.
“Nil-nil is always problematic,” Sammer said. “On the face of it, it sounds good, but I’d be of the opinion that it’s a dangerous result.”
Shakhtar Donetsk — who had not played a competitive match since the last group game on Dec. 10 — were forced to host the game more than 1,000km from the club’s Donbass Arena due to ongoing violence in the east of the country, but they successfully stifled the German visitors, who had come into the match brimming with confidence following an 8-0 win over Hamburg SV at the weekend.
Shakhtar’s Romanian coach Mircea Lucescu was delighted that despite their rustiness they had not taken a similar hammering.
“The first plan was not to lose,” Lucescu said. “The second was to keep our chances alive for the second leg. We did that. What I regret is that we didn’t try to play our game when Bayern were down to 10 men.”
Bayern almost got an away goal after only two minutes when Arjen Robben clipped a ball into Bastian Schweinsteiger, who hooked wide from inside the penalty area.
Shakhtar could be forgiven for a slow start since they had played their last competitive game 10 weeks ago in their final group game in the competition and after 11 minutes Robben created another good opportunity when his reverse pass picked out the run of Thomas Mueller inside the area. From a tight angle, Mueller prodded the ball past goalkeeper Andriy Pyatov, but did not find the net.
The hosts dug in after that and rarely looked threatened, despite allowing Bayern 70 percent possession in the opening half an hour.
After 24 minutes, Alonso picked up his first booking and Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer almost fumbled the free-kick that followed into Douglas Costa’s path.
Just past the half hour Bayern created another opening.
Shakhtar coughed up possession cheaply in front of their own penalty area, allowing Franck Ribery and Mueller to combine to good effect.
Mueller slid in to connect with Ribery’s neat cut-back, but the Germany international could not steer his strike from the penalty spot on target.
Shakhtar contained the German league leaders until halftime, and a scrappy second half only came to life when Ribery and Costa were involved in a heated altercation after a foul by Darijo Srna.
Just a couple of minutes later Costa was lucky to escape with only a yellow card after his elbow caught the Bayern midfielder flush in the face.
The complete commitment of both sides was illustrated just past the hour mark when Alonso and Shakhtar’s Luiz Adriano both called for treatment when they collided near the center circle, but Alonso’s luck ran out when he was shown a second yellow card for hauling down Alex Teixeira.
Six other players were booked in a hard-fought game, with Ribery coming in for particularly rough treatment, but Shakhtar never looked like taking advantage of the extra man.
OUT AGAINST INDONESIA: Taiwan reached the semi-finals at the tournament for the first time by defeating Denmark, with Chou Tien-chen beating Viktor Axelsen Taiwan yesterday crashed out of the Thomas Cup team competition in Chengdu, China, but achieved their best result at the top-tier badminton event by reaching the semi-finals. Indonesia were too good in the semis, winning 3-0 to advance to today’s final against China, who eliminated Malaysia 3-1. In the opening singles of the men’s team clash at the Hi-Tech Zone Sports Center Gymnasium 2, Anthony Ginting defeated Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen 21-18, 21-19 in 51 minutes, which put a huge hole in Taiwan’s aspirations to perhaps even make the final. In the men’s doubles, Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Ardianto downed Lee Yang and Wang
Rafael Nadal on Tuesday lost in straight sets to 31st-ranked Jiri Lehecka in the fourth round at the Madrid Open, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced to the semi-finals in the women’s doubles. Nadal said that he was feeling good about his progress following his latest injury layoff. Nadal called it a “positive week” in every way and said his body held up well. “I was able to play four matches, a couple of tough matches,” Nadal said. “So very positive, winning three matches, playing four matches at the high level of tennis. I enjoyed a lot playing at home. I leave here with
A soccer jersey carrying a national map including disputed Western Sahara has become a hot commodity in Morocco after a diplomatic dispute with Algeria. Retailers said RS Berkane jerseys have been flying off the shelves after a Confederation of African Football (CAF) Cup match against Algerian club USM Alger was canceled last month over the jerseys. “We are overwhelmed by the influx of messages and requests,” said Brahim Rabii, representative of the official RS Berkane jersey distributor. Algeria broke off diplomatic relations with Morocco in 2021, partly over the issue of Western Sahara. The former Spanish colony is largely controlled by Morocco, but claimed
When 42-1 underdog James ‘Buster’ Douglas shocked ‘Iron’ Mike Tyson 34 years ago at the Tokyo Dome, the result reverberated worldwide. Spectators at the 45,000-plus seater venue witnessed one of boxing’s biggest upsets as unbeaten heavyweight champion Tyson was knocked out in the 10th round by the unheralded Douglas in February 1990. Boxing returns to the famous venue on Monday for the first time since that unforgettable encounter when Japan’s undisputed super-bantamweight world champion Naoya ‘Monster’ Inoue puts his belts on the line against Mexican Luis Nery. The 31-year-old Inoue (26-0, 23 KOs) is a huge star in Japan and is just