AAO KHELEIN

Liverpool: Bayern Munich needed all their Champions League experience to achieve a goal-less draw against Liverpool here as both teams failed to score in the first leg of their last 16 match. The two-legged play-offs in the Round of 16 tied the English and German clubs on Tuesday at the Anfield stadium, and leaves everything open for the second leg, albeit with an advantage for Bayern, when they reconvene at their home ground in Munich's Allianz Arena on March 13, reports Efe news. Juergen Klopp didn't lose at home and Niko Kovac managed not to go down against the stronger team of the day in Anfield. Bayern coach Kovac warned in his pre-match interview that he was most anxious to avoid a 'Red' roll in the first 20 minutes and his team responded by starting to set the pace of the match. Despite problems with the ball, Liverpool began to take advantage of the ineffectiveness of the Bavarian attack and after a while they found themselves more in front of Manuel Neuer...

Manchester United beat Chelsea 2-0 at Stamford Bridge in their FA Cup fifth round tie and moved into the quarter-final. United will face Wolves at Molineux in the quarters. The visitors went ahead through Ander Herrera's header from Pogba's superb left-wing cross in the 31st minute. Pogba, then doubled the lead with a powerful header from Marcus Rashford's beauty of a delivery from the right in the 45th minute. Throughout the second half, hosts Chelsea were kept at bay through a gritty and professional display by United, who had suffered their first defeat under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer last week at the Champions League to PSG. Under-pressure Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri's evening couldn't have been any worse as his second-half substitutions were criticised by home fans as they sang "You're getting sacked in the morning." What happens next for the Chelsea manager remains to be seen but the night at Stamford Bridge belonged to Pogba and United. Under...

Star Indian striker Sunil Chhetri was awarded the first-ever ‘Football Ratna’ by Football Delhi, the State Association governing the sport in the national capital. Delhi Football president of Shaji Prabhakaran presented the honour at a function which was held at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. Chhetri, who was recently named as the 6th Indian Footballer in the elite Padma Shri list expressed delight after receiving the award and assured all kind of support from his side for development of football in the capital city. “I am honoured by the kind gesture of Football Delhi for recognising me with the Football Ratna award,” AIFF quoted Chhetri, as saying. “My support will always be there for the development of football in Delhi. I am sure the current management is working hard to develop football and make Delhi a model football state in India. My best wishes to everyone associated with the sport in Delhi,” he added. Chhetri who stays second in the list of goal scorers among active play...

Star Indian striker Sunil Chhetri was awarded the first-ever ‘Football Ratna’ by Football Delhi, the State Association governing the sport in the national capital. Delhi Football president of Shaji Prabhakaran presented the honour at a function which was held at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. Chhetri, who was recently named as the 6th Indian Footballer in the elite Padma Shri list expressed delight after receiving the award and assured all kind of support from his side for development of football in the capital city. “I am honoured by the kind gesture of Football Delhi for recognising me with the Football Ratna award,” AIFF quoted Chhetri, as saying. “My support will always be there for the development of football in Delhi. I am sure the current management is working hard to develop football and make Delhi a model football state in India. My best wishes to everyone associated with the sport in Delhi,” he added. Chhetri who stays second in the list of goal scorers among active play...

Girona stunned Real Madrid with two second-half goals that gave it a 2-1 victory, ending the Catalan team's 10-match winless streak in La Liga, at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium on Sunday. Madrid captain and Spain center-back Sergio Ramos was booked twice during the match, once for handling the ball inside the penalty area and then for a reckless foul that saw him being sent off the pitch. The win enabled Girona to climb to the 15th spot in the standings with 27 points, while Madrid dropped to third with 45 points, nine points behind leader Barcelona, and two behind second-placed Atletico, reports Efe news. Ramos will now not play in Madrid's upcoming league match against Levante after having accumulated two yellow cards. It all started well for Madrid when Brazil midfielder Casemiro opened the scoring half-way through the first half. But then Uruguay striker Christian Stuani and Spanish midfielder Cristian Portugues Manzanera secured Girona's win with two goals in the...

Madrid: Superstar forward Antoine Griezmann led Atletico Madrid to a 1-0 victory over Rayo Vallecano, a result that gets the club back on track in the La Liga. Atletico came out eager for a win here on Saturday after having lost their last two Spanish-league games against Real Betis and Real Madrid, but instead it was the home side that created the best two scoring chances of the first half, reports Efe news. Winger Adrian Embarba posed the threat both times, but goalkeeper Jan Oblak caught the first shot in the 26th minute before clearing away the second for a corner at the 35-minute mark. Atletico was out of sorts at that stage of the contest, with midfielders Vitolo and Rodri giving the ball away on multiple occasions and the visitors lacking intensity as a unit. The best scoring chance for Diego Simeone's men in the first half came with six minutes to go before stoppage time, when Brazilian left back Filipe Luis sent a cross into the area. But even though Rayo goalkeeper...

Turin (Italy): Juventus added to their already formidable lead atop Serie A with a 3-0 victory against 19th-place Frosinone. With 66 points from 24 matches, the Bianconeri have an advantage of 14 points over Napoli, though the southern club have a game in hand, Efe news reported. Juve, still undefeated this season in Serie A, might have been expected to see Friday's contest against Frosinone as an opportunity to rest key players ahead of next week's Champions League clash with Atletico Madrid. But coach Massimiliano Allegri left only two regular starters out of the line-up, Miralem Pjanic and Blaise Matuidi, evidently with the idea of securing the three points early so he could afford to take some of his stars off the pitch in the second half. The plan worked to perfection. Paulo Dybala put Juve up 1-0 in the sixth minute with a blast from 20 yards out after taking a pass from Cristiano Ronaldo. Frosinone, who came into the match at Turin's Allianz stadium after two...

Barysaw (Belarus): Belarusian club BATE Borisov stunned English Premier League side Arsenal 1-0 in the first-leg, round-of-32 action in the Europa League, while Sevilla and Inter Milan both scored away victories by that same score. Arsenal, who enjoyed a 22-match unbeaten stretch across all competitions between mid-August and mid-December, have been shaky since that streak was snapped in a loss to Southampton on December 16 and on Thursday suffered one of their worst defeats of the season at Borisov Arena, reports Efe. The Belarusian side notched up the lone goal of the match toward the end of the first half when Stanislaw Drahun headed home a cross by Ihar Stasevich in a set piece. Arsenal's attack was stymied throughout the match and the situation became more dire when French striker Alexandre Lacazette was sent off for throwing an elbow at Aleksandar Filipovic in the 85th minute. Arsenal are still alive in the Europa League, Europe's secondary club competition, but now...

Amsterdam: Real Madrid, chasing a fourth consecutive Champions League title, needed a goal in the final minutes to pull out a 2-1 win against Ajax Amsterdam in the first leg of their round-of-16 tie. Real also got help from the Video Assistant Referee (VAR), which made its first significant intervention in Europe's elite club competition with the era sure of an Ajax goal in the first half here on Wednesday, Efe news reported. Buoyed by the 54,000-plus fans thrilled to see the return of Champions League knockout-stage football to Johan Cruyff Arena after more than a decade, the hosts were electric in the first half. Real Madrid struggled to play out from the back and the handful of opportunities they got on the counter came to nothing. Ajax goalkeeper Andre Onana, who has been struggling in the domestic league, was never seriously troubled in the first half. Defensive lapses by the visitors set the tone, often forcing Gareth Bale and Vinicius Junior to drop back and help. And ...

The Indian women's football team has been drawn with Myanmar, Indonesia, Nepal in Group A for Round 2 of the 2020 AFC Olympic Qualifying event to be held between April 1 and April 9, 2019 in Myanmar. The team has already faced Indonesia in two friendlies in Jakarta, before the ongoing Hero Gold Cup in Bhubaneswar, where it has taken on all the other teams. The Indians had a disappointing outing at the Gold Cup, losing 1-2 to Nepal and going down 0-2 against Myanmar on Wednesday. The two defeats thus ended India's campaign at the four-nation tournament. India were also clubbed with Nepal and Myanmar in Round 1 of the Olympic qualifiers, with Bangladesh being the fourth team on that occasion. India had drawn Nepal 1-1, beat Bangladesh 7-1 and had lost 1-2 to Myanmar in Round 1, but the 4 points were enough for them to progress to Round 2. Myanmar, Uzbekistan and Palestine were already selected as hosts for the respective groups, even before the draw was made. The three gro...

Undefeated in their last 11 matches, Manchester United were seen as the favourites at Old Trafford against injury-depleted Paris Saint-Germain in the first leg of the Champions League knockout stage tie, but the visitors prevailed 2-0. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer - officially the interim coach, has been hailed by the United faithful as a saviour after guiding the squad to 10 victories and a draw in his time at the helm, enough to vault the Red Devils into the Premier League top four. PSG can also look forward to the March 6 second leg in Paris knowing that Paul Pogba will not be in the lineup for United, as the French international was sent off in the dying seconds after picking up a second yellow card, reports Efe news. The French squad went into Tuesday's contest without top strikers Neymar and Edinson Cavani, while United has been firing on all cylinders since Ole Gunnar Solskjaer replaced Jose Mourinho as coach. PSG broke the deadlock, as defender Presnel Kimpembe chipped in from...

England football great, goalkeeper Gordon Banks, whose safe pair of hands helped the Three Lions to their only World Cup final victory in 1966, has died at the age of 81, his family said on Tuesday. One of the all-time-great keepers alongside the likes of Russia's Lev Yashin, Banks' split-second, acrobatic block to deny Pele's rocketing header in the 1970 World Cup in Mexico by scooping the bouncing ball over the crossbar is still widely regarded as one of the best saves ever made. "Gordon Banks, the goalkeeper who made the save of the century against Pele, has died," mourned Spain's sports newspaper As, reports Efe news. In an interview following the game, which Brazil went on to win 1-0, Banks said Brazil's famous number 10 approached him and said: "I thought that was a goal," to which he replied: "You and me both." He said he could be seen laughing as he took his position for the ensuing corner as fellow England great, and capta...

London: Colombian centre-back Davinson Sanchez scored his first goal with Tottenham Hotspur to lead his team to a 3-1 win over Leicester City at Wembley Stadium, earning a fourth consecutive English Premier League (EPL) win. Since losing 0-1 to Manchester United on January 13, Tottenham has beaten Fulham, Watford and Newcastle, but the squad lost to Chelsea in the second leg of the League Cup semi-final on a penalty shootout and Crystal Palace 2-0 in the FA Cup fourth round, reports Efe news. Sunday's league match was no different as Tottenham's record signee Sanchez opened the scoring on a flying header in the 33rd minute, connecting on a cross by Danish midfielder Christian Eriksen amid protests by Leicester players, who claimed there was an offside. Sanchez joined Tottenham in 2017 for a club-record fee of $54.39 million from Ajax, where he spent a season. At the one hour mark, Leicester had a chance to draw level when it was awarded a penalty kick after midfielder Jam...

Manchester: Manchester City reclaimed the English Premier League's top spot with its 6-0 rout of Chelsea in a matchday 26 contest held at Etihad stadium. Argentine striker Sergio Aguero on Sunday scored a hat-trick for the City, while England winger Raheem Sterling netted a brace and German midfielder Ilkay Gundogan scored once in the defending champion's win, reports Efe news. With the victory, Man City regained the EPL lead with 65 points, ahead of Liverpool, who has game in hand, on goal differential, while Chelsea fell to the sixth place in the table with 50 points, just behind Arsenal on goal differential also. Sterling opened the scoring for Manchester City with a close-range right-footed finish just four minutes into the play following a cross by teammate Bernardo Silva who was unmarked inside the area. Aguero then fired a remarkable long-range shot for his first personal goal, making it 2-0 for the City in minute 13, assisted by Ukrainian midfielder Oleksandr Zinc...

Rome: Juventus blanked Sassuolo 3-0 with Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo scoring one of the goals, contributing an assist and leading the team to victory here. Cristiano has now scored 18 goals so far this season and leads the table of strikers with a Juventus that is getting its house in order to go up against Atletico Madrid on February 20 at Metropolitano Stadium in the Champions League quarterfinals, reports Efe news. Juventus was eliminated in the Italian Cup competition with its stunning quarterfinals loss to Atlanta and only managed a 3-3 draw with Parma in its earlier league contest. The team has been waiting for both Giorgio Chiellini and Leonardo Bonucci to return to full form, but it appears that they will ready for next week's clash, although coach Massimiliano Allegri had fallen back on Daniele Rugani and Uruguay's Martín Caceres in recent outings with good results. Although on Sunday Sassuolo came out with a fiery intensity, with Serbia's Filip Djuricic...

London: The body recovered from the wreckage of a crashed plane has been identified as that of the missing Argentine footballer and Cardiff City player, Emiliano Sala, UK police has confirmed. Sala, 28, was travelling to Cardiff in a plane piloted by David Ibbotson, which went missing over the English channel on January 21, reports the BBC. The Argentine's body was recovered late on Wednesday after the wreckage was found on Sunday morning. Dorset Police confirmed the identification on Thursday night. "The body brought to Portland Port today (Thursday) has been formally identified as that of professional footballer Emiliano Sala. "The families of Sala and the pilot David Ibbotson have been updated with this news...," the force said in a statement. The Air Accidents Investigations Branch (AAIB) said the search and rescue operation had been carried out "as dignified a way as possible" and the men's families were kept updated throughout. The Geo Oc...

London: The United Kingdom's government agency investigating civil aircraft accidents on Monday announced that the wreckage of a plane identified as the one in which Argentine footballer Emiliano Sala was travelling has been discovered in the English channel, with at least one corpse found among the debris. The Piper PA-46 Malibu light aircraft carrying Sala and British pilot David Ibbotson lost contact with air traffic controllers on January 21 after taking off from the French city of Nantes on its way to the Welsh capital, Cardiff, where Sala was to join the local team after a club record-breaking winter transfer, reports Efe news. Specialist water recovery vessels commissioned to conduct a privately funded search for the plane had identified an object of interest on the seabed using its side-scan sonar equipment on Sunday, the UK's Air Accidents Investigation Branch said in an official statement released on Monday. An underwater remotely-operated vehicle (ROV) then surv...

Indian senior women’s football team will face Iran in their opening match of the Hero Gold Cup at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, beginning on February 9. The four-nation tournament, the first such competition in India for the senior women’s team is being organised by the All India Football Federation (AIFF) in association with Odisha government. Along with India and Iran, the tournament will also feature Myanmar and Nepal. AIFF general secretary Kushal Das said the primary objective of the tournament is to provide the best of exposure to the women’s team as they prepare for the second round of the Olympic Qualifiers in April. "The Hero Gold Cup is meant to provide additional opportunity for the Indian Women’s National Team to face other powerful teams in a competitive format," Das said. "While our team has been playing in Friendlies overseas, we feel hosting such a competition will boost the growing popularity of girls’ football in India. Football followers in I...