Former European Cup winners Ajax on Tuesday eased into the UEFA Champions League group stage after a 0-0 draw at Dynamo Kiev after an eventful second leg of their playoff gave the Dutch side a 3-1 aggregate win.
Ajax were joined by Young Boys, who stunned Dinamo Zagreb 2-1 away for a 3-2 aggregate win, and AEK Athens, who scraped together a 1-1 home draw with Vidi after a 2-1 win in the first leg in Hungary.
Dynamo Kiev piled on the pressure in the opening 10 minutes at the Olympic stadium in Kiev as Benjamin Verbic forced a good save from Ajax goalkeeper Andre Onana, but the hosts soon fizzled out as the visitors displayed superior skill.
Dynomo Kiev goalkeeper Denys Boyko pulled off a string of superb stops after Dusan Tadic hit the post with a 14th-minute penalty and Ajax rattled the woodwork again shortly after the break as Hakim Ziyech’s free-kick cannoned off the crossbar.
Boyko produced another fine save to deny Klaas Jan Huntelaar in the closing stages, but Dynamo Kiev lacked any bite up front and never came close to overhauling the overall two-goal deficit.
Young Boys reached the money-spinning group stage of Europe’s elite club competition for the first time after 34-year-old striker Guillaume Hoarau scored twice in two minutes midway through the second half to silence a packed Stadion Maksimir.
Dinamo Zagreb seemed to be in the driver’s seat after Bosnia winger Izet Hajrovic fired them ahead in the seventh minute, sweeping home a rebound after the visitors failed to clear a fizzing low cross by Daniel Olmo.
Former Paris Saint-Germain hitman Hoarau leveled with a 64th-minute penalty and with the home side rattled, he turned the tie on its head when he prodded the ball home from close range after a corner was headed into his path.
AEK, who last played in the group stage in the 2006-2007 season, had a seemingly simple task after their win in Hungary, but were forced to hang on in a dramatic finish of the return leg in Athens.
Petros Mantalos gave AEK a 48th-minute lead with a penalty, but the Greek side skated on thin ice after Loic Nego equalized on the night with a delightful lob and the home side’s Helder Lopes was sent off in the 81st minute.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite