French side LOSC Lille Metropole moved to within a step of this season’s UEFA Champions League group stage on Tuesday, despite being held to a 1-1 draw by 10-man Grasshoppers of Switzerland in the third qualifying round.
Lille held a 2-0 advantage from the first leg in Zurich and stretched their lead on 19 minutes at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy as Florent Balmont fired in a spectacular long-range strike.
Grasshoppers midfielder Amir Abrashi replied with a fine long-distancce effort of his own just past the half-hour to give the visitors hope, before Kahraba volleyed against the base of the post as the Swiss side mounted a spirited challenge.
Photo: EPA
However, any hopes of the Swiss club mounting a remarkable turnaround were effectively extinguished when Daniel Pavlovic was dismissed with 20 minutes left for a poor challenge on Sebastien Corchia and Lille ultimately advanced 3-1 on aggregate.
Elsewhere on Tuesday, Belgian side Standard Liege knocked out Panathinaikos after a 2-1 win in Greece against the 1971 European Cup finalists, while Israel’s Maccabi Tel Aviv could only draw 2-2 with NK Mariborto to allow the Slovenian side to go through 3-2 on aggregate.
BATE Borisov of Belarus defeated Hungarian side Debreceni VSC 3-1 to also move through to the playoff round, for which the draw will be made at UEFA’s headquarters in Nyon, France, tomorrow.
Photo: AFP
SEESAW CONTEST: The Pistons remain top of the Eastern Conference after battling to a win over the Hawks in a game that saw the lead change 27 times The Phoenix Suns on Monday shrugged off an injury to Devin Booker to end the Los Angeles Lakers’ seven-game winning streak with an emphatic 125-108 victory on the road. Booker exited in the first quarter, but the loss of the star point guard did little to halt the flow of Phoenix points over the remainder of the game. Dillon Brooks led the Phoenix scoring with 33 points, while Collin Gillespie added 28 — including eight three-pointers — as the Suns romped to victory. The Lakers were left ruing a colossal 22 turnovers — at a cost of 32 Suns points — on a
New Zealand yesterday reached 231-9 at stumps on a first day of the first Test against the West Indies shortened by rain after Justin Greaves triggered a middle-order collapse with the wicket of Kane Williamson. New Zealand tumbled from 94-1 to 148-6 on a bowler-friendly wicket after Williamson was dismissed for 52, his 38th Test half-century. Michael Bracewell and Nathan Smith arrested the slide with a 52-run stand for the seventh wicket. Smith eventually fell for 23 and Bracewell for 47. After Matt Henry went for 8, Zak Foulkes and Jacob Duffy were both on 4 when bad light stopped play after 70
Kylian Mbappe on Wednesday scored twice and had an assist as Real Madrid beat Athletic Bilbao 3-0 to end a three-match winless streak in La Liga. Eduardo Camavinga also found the net for Madrid as they moved back within one point of Barcelona, who beat Atletico Madrid 3-1 on Tuesday. Both 19th-round matches were moved forward because Real Madrid, Barcelona, Athletic Club and Atletico Madrid are to play in the Supercopa de Espana semi-finals in Saudi Arabia next month. Real Madrid were coming off league draws against Girona, Elche and Rayo Vallecano. It was their second win in their past six matches in
Robin Smith, the batter who shone for England in a period when it was beaten regularly in Test cricket, has died. He was 62. Smith’s family said in a statement from the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) that he died unexpectedly at his home in Perth, Australia, on Monday. No cause was given. He played 62 Tests for England from 1988 to 1996, scoring 4,236 runs at an average of 43.67 with nine centuries. His signature shot was the square cut. Smith also played in 71 one-day internationals and was part of England’s squad who reached the 1992 ICC World Cup final. His unbeaten
RSS