Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo on Tuesday broke the record for the most goals ever scored in a Champions League season or in the tournament’s predecessor, the European Cup, by hitting the net twice in his side’s 4-0 semi-final second-leg victory over Bayern Munich.
Ronaldo picked up his 15th and 16th goals of the campaign to help put the Spanish giants into the Champions League final in Lisbon on May 24 as Carlo Ancelotti’s side humiliated the defending champions from Germany.
The Portuguese forward’s two goals saw him eclipse the previous highest tally of 14 in a season first set by Jose Altafini of AC Milan in the 1962-1963 campaign and equaled by Barcelona’s Lionel Messi in the 2011-2012 tournament.
The FIFA World Player of the Year set the new record in just 10 appearances in the competition this season, with his tally including a hat-trick against Galatasaray in the group stage, as well as braces against Copenhagen, Juventus and in both legs of Real’s last-16 tie against Schalke 04.
Ronaldo has now scored 66 Champions League goals and is closing in on legendary Real striker Raul’s club record for most goals in the competition, 71.
The Portuguese’s goals helped take Los Blancos through to their first Champions League final since they last lifted the trophy in 2002, when France’s Zinedine Zidane inspired his then-club to a 2-1 win over Bayer 04 Leverkusen in Glasgow, Scotland.
Taiwanese badminton player Lin Chun-yi had to settle for silver in the men’s singles at the Orleans Masters in France on Sunday after losing in the final to his French opponent. The 25-year-old Lin, ranked world No. 14, lost to Alex Lanier 13-21, 18-21 in a match that lasted 42 minutes at the Palais des Sports arena. It was the first time that the two players were facing each other in their professional careers. In the opener, Lin was slow to warm up, which gave the 20-year-old Lanier an opportunity to take an early lead with seven consecutive points. Despite
Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday held their nerve to beat Liverpool 4-1 on penalties and reach the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals after their tie finished one-apiece on aggregate, while Bayern Munich saw off Bayer 04 Leverkusen to complete a 5-0 win over both legs. Lamine Yamal and Raphinha fired Barcelona into the next round as the Catalans bested SL Benfica 3-1, and Inter booked a last-eight meeting with Bayern by seeing off Feyenoord 2-1. At Anfield, Ousmane Dembele netted the only goal of the night as PSG bounced back from Liverpool’s late winner last week to force the tie to extra-time and penalties. Maligned
Taiwan’s Lin Chun-yi on Wednesday inflicted a first-round defeat on former badminton world No. 1 Viktor Axelsen at the All England Open. Lin came out of top after a back-and-forth first game before Axelsen dominated the second, but the Dane was not able to keep that form in the decider as Lin reeled off six points in a row on the way to a 21-19, 13-21, 21-11 victory. “If I don’t play my best, everyone can win against me,” said Axelsen, the world No. 4. “Today’s opponent played a fantastic game; it was disappointing, but that is how it is.” “I just tried
Two-time Indian Wells champion Iga Swiatek on Thursday avenged her shock Paris Olympics loss to Zheng Qinwen with a 6-3, 6-3 win over the Chinese eighth seed, setting up a semi-final against 17-year-old Russian Mirra Andreeva in the California desert. In the men’s singles, Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz put on a show with his acrobatic shotmaking under the lights to close out the day’s action, overcoming a 4-1 second-set deficit to defeat Francisco Cerundolo 6-3, 7-6 (7/4), while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei crashed out of the women’s doubles. Swiatek, one of the gold medal favorites when she lost to eventual champion Zheng in the
RSS