Udinese's 2-0 victory over defending champions Zenit St Petersburg gave Italy rare cause to celebrate and Manchester City are set to reach the UEFA Cup quarter-finals following Thursday's action.
Antonio Di Natale scored for Udinese in the seventh minute of injury-time following Fabio Quagliarella's 85th minute opener against Zenit St Petersburg to give Italy some joy as their sole representatives in Europe following their Champions League wipe-out before the quarter-finals for the first time in seven years.
Manchester City put one foot in the last eight with a 2-0 win over Danish side Aalborg at Eastlands. Brazil forward Robinho returned after missing City’s win over Aston Villa last week following a trip home to Brazil for treatment on an ankle injury and on Thursday he was also named in Brazil’s squad for World Cup action.
PHOTO: AFP
Felipe Caicedo and Shaun Wright-Phillips bagged first-half goals for Mark Hughes' side to put them on course for a quarter-final spot in the second-tier European competition for the first time in 30 years. Stephen Ireland admitted Manchester City should have killed off Aalborg.
“We should have finished the game off here,” Ireland told ITV television. “When we go there next, we have to be clever and not concede too early and get on the back foot, but we've done well away from home in Europe this season.”
Asked if it was his best goal in City colors, England international Wright-Phillips said: “I’d just like to think so. It came to me and I cut inside and let loose, but like Stevie said the team performance was magnificent and we have to build on it.”
PHOTO: AP
Wright-Phillips appeared sporting a heavy icepack on his right ankle having come off four minutes from time, but insisted it was nothing to worry about.
“It’s just a bit of a sore ankle, but I’ll just have to get on with it,” he said.
It was an up-and-down night for French clubs with Paris Saint-Germain getting a goalless draw with Portugal's Braga, Saint Etienne losing 1-0 at Werder Bremen, though Marseille had an impressive 2-1 victory over Ajax.
PSG coach Paul Le Guen said he was happy with the outcome.
“I'm rather satisfied with the match, particularly the second half, but I don’t know if it will be enough to go through to the quarter-finals. We’ll see. I saw a lot of tapes of this team and they played similarly to the ones on the screen and I wasn't surprised,” Le Guen said.
Meanwhile at Hamburg, former Tottenham Hotspur coach Martin Jol said after the home 1-1 draw with Turkey’s Galatasaray: “In the first half, we hardly played any football, but after the break we created four or five chances.”
Galatasaray coach Buelent Kormaz said: “If you only end up passing the ball back and forth in your own half, nothing happens up front, but at least the result is OK. I congratulate my team about the result. We have now a small advantage to take back to Turkey. Our biggest advantage is our stadium with our fans. We will use this to our advantage.”
In other matches, CSKA Moscow beat Shakhtar Donetsk and Dynamo Kiev got a victory over Metalist Kharkiv, both 1-0.
The former interpreter for baseball star Shohei Ohtani on Thursday was sentenced to nearly five years in prison for bank and tax fraud after he stole nearly US$17 million from the Los Angeles Dodgers player’s bank account. Ippei Mizuhara, who was supposed to bridge the gap between the Japanese athlete and his English-speaking teammates and fans, was sentenced in federal court in Santa Ana to four years and nine months after pleading guilty last year. He was ordered to pay US$18 million in restitution, with nearly US$17 million going to Ohtani and the remainder to the US Internal Revenue Service. He was
Aaliyah Edwards on Monday pulled off the stunner of the opening round of the Unrivaled one-on-one tournament, beating top-seeded Breanna Stewart 12-0. The tournament to be played over three days featured 23 of the WNBA’s 36 players. A few had other commitments and a couple others were out with injuries. Stewart got the ball first against Edwards and missed a contested layup. Edwards then hit a three-pointer from the corner and a jumper from the elbow to go up 5-0. The player who scores keeps the basketball. Edwards hit two layups and a three-pointer to seal the win. Stewart, a two-time WNBA Most Valuable Player,
SPEEDSKATER: Her bronze medal ended Taiwan’s run at the Asian Winter Games without a medal since the nation first participated in the second iteration in 1990 Speedskater Chen Ying-chu yesterday made history as the first athlete representing Taiwan to secure a medal at the Asian Winter Games. Competing at the HIC Speedskating Oval in Harbin, China, Chen clocked 10.510 seconds in the women’s 100m event, finishing third behind South Koreans Lee Na-hyum and Kim Min-sun, who posted times of 10.501 and 10.505 seconds respectively. Her bronze medal ended Taiwan’s drought at the Asian Winter Games since the nation first participated in the second iteration in 1990. This year’s Games mark Chen’s debut at the event. Previously excelling in roller speedskating, she won six medals at world championships before transitioning
The 40-year-old LeBron James on Thursday became the oldest player to score 40 points in an NBA game, putting up a season-high 42 in the Los Angeles Lakers’ 120-112 victory over the Golden State Warriors. James passed the record held by Michael Jordan, his idol and the only other NBA player to score 40 after his 40th birthday. “I’m old, that’s my take,” James said when asked about his latest achievement. “I need a glass of wine and some sleep, that’s what I think.” Jordan did it for the Washington Wizards just three days after turning 40 in February 2003. James is 38