CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
Former England manager Steve McClaren saw his debut as a manager in the Champions League brought to an end on Tuesday in the cruelest fashion as Sporting Lisbon scored an injury-time goal to go through on the away goal rule with the tie with FC Twente finishing 1-1 on aggregate.
To make matters even harder to take for McClaren — who guided unfashionable Middlesbrough to the UEFA Cup final in 2006 where they lost to Sevilla — it was an own goal by Peter Wisgerhof, who deflected Sporting’s goalkeeper Rui Patricio’s header from a last ditch corner, which saw the visitors progress.
PHOTO: AP
Twente had held the lead virtually from the off with Brazilian defender Douglas giving them the lead in the second minute.
Kazakh side Aktobe were another side to suffer after taking the lead early on, but in their case they only had themselves to blame as they went 3-0 up after just 15 minutes away at Israeli outfit Maccabi Haifa.
Maccabi had reduced the deficit to 3-2 at half-time and then two second-half goals by Georgian international Vladimir Dvalishvili — who only arrived in the summer — saw the hosts to a remarkable 4-3 victory which was also the aggregate score.
Austrian side Salzburg also enjoyed a successful night away from home as they beat Croatian giants Dinamo Zagreb 2-1 to go through 3-2 on aggregate, while Greek heavyweights Panathinaikos overcame a 3-1 deficit from the first leg to beat Sparta Prague of the Czech Republic 3-0 and go through 4-3 on aggregate.
For Sparta it was a case of nightmares revisited as the same side had ousted them at the same stage of the competition last year and the writing was on the wall when Kostas Katsouranis made it 2-0 nine minutes into the second-half as it put the Greeks ahead on away goals.
However, they were only able to wrap up their place in the next round when Dimitris Salpingidis scored with a minute of the match remaining to give Dutch coach Henk ten Cate — a former Ajax manager and assistant manager at Chelsea — an important victory.
Yesterday’s action included the possibility of two of the better known clubs going out at what would be a disastrously early stage for them both.
Scottish giants Celtic were to try to overcome a 1-0 deficit in Moscow against Dynamo Moscow.
The former European Cup winners have never before overturned a first-leg deficit in European competition, but new manager Tony Mowbray is banking on them doing so as he said last week they need to progress in the competition if he is to have funds for new players.
Ukraine’s Shakhtar Donetsk — their country’s first ever European trophy winners when they won the last ever UEFA Cup last season — also faced a tough task as they headed to unheralded Romanian side Timisoara with the hosts holding what could be an invaluable two away goals under their belt after a 2-2 draw in the first leg.
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
Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli yesterday vowed to “keep raising the bar” after winning the Japanese Grand Prix to become the youngest driver in Formula One history to lead the championship standings. The 19-year-old Italian took advantage of a mid-race safety car to jump into the lead after a dreadful start from pole position, crossing the line ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. Antonelli’s Suzuka victory came two weeks after the first grand prix win of his career in China, and sent him top of the championship standings after three races, nine points ahead of team-mate George Russell. Mercedes are struggling to
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
Teng Kai-wei, the only Taiwanese player on an opening-day roster in this year’s Major League Baseball (MLB) season, took his first win of the year with the Houston Astros in his season debut. Teng entered in relief in the top of the fifth inning against the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday, with the Astros trailing 5-0. He pitched 2-1/3 scoreless innings with two strikeouts, as Houston scored 11 runs during his outing to snatch an 11-9 comeback victory. The win is the Astros’ first of the season and the third of Teng’s MLB career. “It’s my first time pitching for the Astros, so
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