Raheem Sterling on Wednesday sealed a dramatic 3-2 UEFA Champions League win for 10-man Manchester City at Schalke 04 as the English champions scored twice in the final five minutes.
Sterling tucked away the winner at the Veltins-Arena in the 90th minute just after substitute Leroy Sane fired home a stunning free-kick for the Premier League leaders against his former club in the last-16 first leg.
“I waited for my chance and wanted to shoot from there, as I had previously scored from that position and it restored our confidence,” a delighted Sane told broadcaster DAZN.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Schalke led 2-1 at halftime as the video assistant referee (VAR) twice intervened to award penalties, both converted by Nabil Bentaleb, canceling out Sergio Aguero’s opener in Gelsenkirchen.
City were in real trouble with 22 minutes left when Nicolas Otamendi, who gave away the controversial first penalty, was sent off for a second yellow card before Sane’s moment of brilliance and Sterling’s winner.
“We will not go far in this competition unless we improve,” City manager Pep Guardiola said. “At the end, the quality of Sane and Sterling made the difference.”
However, City still have some work to do in the return leg on March 12, with Fernandinho, who was booked when conceding the second spot-kick, and Otamendi both suspended.
Schalke are just above the Bundesliga’s relegation places and winless in their past four league games, yet they gave Premier League leaders Manchester City an almighty scare.
The hosts initially struggled to get out of their half as City dominated the opening 30 minutes, until the match swung dramatically Schalke’s way with the two penalty decisions.
Schalke shot themselves in the foot for City’s opening goal on 18 minutes, when a lazy pass from goalkeeper Ralf Faehrmann to Salif Sane was snapped up by David Silva.
The Spaniard drew Faehrmann and selflessly served up a simple tap-in for Aguero to claim his 10th goal in his past seven City appearances.
However, falling behind sparked life into Schalke.
Striker Mark Uth fired wide, then former Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Bentaleb got the better of Ilkay Gundogan in midfield.
Likewise, a cheer went up when US international Weston McKennie nicked the ball off Kevin de Bruyne.
Schalke drew level after Daniel Caligiuri fired in a speculative shot, which clipped Otamendi’s arm.
There was a delay of nearly three minutes for a VAR review, which Sky reported was caused by a technical problem, as referee Carlos del Cerro Grande could not view the replay.
Despite City’s furious protests, the spot-kick was duly awarded, which Bentaleb tucked away to the delight of the home crowd on 38 minutes and they would be celebrating again soon after.
The German side took the lead when Fernandinho pushed Senegal defender Salif Sane when a free-kick flew into the box, and VAR again intervened and another penalty went Schalke’s way.
Bentaleb stepped up to smash the spot-kick past Ederson and put Schalke ahead.
The second half was a much more even affair, with Schalke no longer intimidated to be playing star-studded City.
In turn, the visitors’ problems were compounded on 68 minutes when Otamendi clattered Schalke’s replacement forward Guido Burgstaller and was dismissed.
Guardiola reacted by swapping midfielder Silva for veteran centerback Vincent Kompany to settle the defense.
In a bid to turn the match with 13 minutes left, Sane came on for Aguero and the Germany international produced the goods against the club he left in 2016.
Then Sterling latched onto goalkeeper Ederson’s long clearance as the home defense hesitated and slotted in.
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