Barcelona cap great season with fifth European Cup soccer win

June 7, 2015

Berlin, Jun 7: Barcelona were crowned kings of Europe for the fifth time after beating Juventus 3-1 in a pulsating Champions League final at the Olympic Stadium on Saturday, capping their magnificent season with a title treble.

UEFA

The Spaniards lived up to their tag as favorites and added the European Cup to their La Liga and King's Cup triumphs as coach Luis Enrique celebrated his first season in memorable fashion.

Goals from Croatian Ivan Rakitic in the fourth minute, Uruguayan Luis Suarez in the 68th and Brazilian Neymar with the last kick of the game sealed Barca's second treble, matching their 2009 feat.

"It's incredible, a dream, something unique," Suarez told reporters. "To win these competitions you have to suffer, if not it's not worth it, and today we had to suffer to win the match."

Barca's South American trio of Suarez, Neymar and Lionel Messi, known collectively as 'MSN', showed spectacular form all season and Saturday's goals took their tally to an amazing 122 in all competitions as the game proved the perfect antidote for the corruption scandal engulfing soccer's governing body FIFA.

Juve, however, became the first team in the history of the competition to get beaten in six finals and the Italian giants have now lost their last four.

"I would like to thank the team for the wonderful season they have had," said Juve coach Massimiliano Allegri who landed the domestic double in his first season in charge.

"We played a great game tonight...unfortunately when you play against great players you think you have things under control but then they get you."

SUBLIME GOAL

Barca shrugged off a nervous start by scoring a sublime fourth-minute goal.

All 10 outfield players touched the ball in a 16-pass move that ended when Neymar fed Andres Iniesta and he picked out Rakitic to slot the fourth fastest goal in a European Cup final.

Juve keeper Gianluigi Buffon, who won the World Cup with Italy at the Olympic Stadium in 2006 but is still waiting to capture his first European Cup crown, denied Barca a second goal in the 13th minute with a superb one-handed save keeping out a Dani Alves shot.

Alvaro Morata twice went close for the Italians but Barca's pressure in the first half was relentless and Suarez twice almost netted.

The 37-year-old Buffon again came to the rescue three minutes after the restart and then Juve struck against the run of play with former Real Madrid striker Morata tapping the ball in after keeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen had saved from Carlos Tevez.

The Italians looked to be taking control of the game but their joy was short-lived. Argentine Messi took matters into his own hands, charging past three defenders and unleashing a low drive that Buffon could only parry to Suarez.

It was the most crucial goal of the 28-year-old Uruguayan's career and it came a year after he was branded a villain for biting Italy's Giorgio Chiellini, who missed Saturday's final through injury, at the World Cup in Brazil.

Neymar had a goal disallowed after his header bounced off his own hand to deceive the diving Buffon, much to the forward's frustration.

Juve, who had an average age of 30 and were the second oldest team to play in a Champions League final, fought bravely but ran out of steam.

Neymar netted deep into stoppage time to provide a fitting farewell for midfielder Xavi who is leaving Barca after collecting 25 trophies in more than two decades with the club he joined at the age of 11.

Along with team mates Iniesta, Messi and Gerard Pique, Xavi also equaled former Netherlands midfielder Clarence Seedorf's record of four Champions League triumphs.

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News Network
July 9,2020

Tokorozawa, Jul 9: Olympic boxing hopeful Arisa Tsubata is used to taking blows in the ring but it is during her work as a nurse that she faces her toughest opponent: coronavirus.

The 27-year-old juggles a brutal training regime in boxing gloves with long, irregular hours in surgical gloves at a hospital near Tokyo.

Tsubata mainly treats cancer patients but she said the virus was a constant threat, with medical experts warning at the peak of the pandemic that Japan's health system was close to collapse.

"We always face the risk of infection at medical facilities," she said.

"My colleagues and I have all worked under the stress of possibly getting infected."

Like most elite athletes, the virus played havoc with Tsubata's training schedules, meaning she welcomed the postponement of this year's Tokyo Olympics until 2021.

"It was a plus for me, giving me more time for training, although I wasn't sure if I should be so happy because the reason for the postponement was the spread of the infectious disease," she said.

Tsubata took up boxing only two years ago as a way to lose weight but quickly rose through the ranks.

"In a few years after becoming a nurse, I gained more than 10 kilos (22 pounds)," she laughed.

"I planned to go to Hawaii with my friends one summer, and I thought I wouldn't have much fun in a body like that. That is how I started boxing."

She quickly discovered a knack for the ring, winning the Japan national championship and a place on the national team.

But juggling her medical and sporting career has not always been easy and the first time she fought a foreign boxer came only in January, at an intensive training camp in Kazakhstan.

"That made me realise how inexperienced I am in my short boxing career. I was scared," she admitted.

Japanese boxing authorities decided she was not experienced enough to send her to the final qualifying tournament in Paris, which would have shattered her Tokyo 2020 dreams -- if coronavirus had not given her an extra year.

Now she is determined to gain the experience needed to qualify for the rescheduled Games, which will open on July 23, 2021.

"I want to train much more and convince the federation that I could fight in the final qualifiers," she said.

Her coach Masataka Kuroki told AFP she is a subtle boxer and a quick learner, as he put her through her paces at a training session.

She now needs to add more defensive technique and better core strength to her fighting spirit and attacking flair, said Kuroki.

"Defence! She needs more technique for defence. She needs to have a more agile, stronger lower body to fend off punches from below," he said.

Her father Joji raised Arisa and her three siblings single-handedly after separating from his Tahitian wife and encouraged his daughter into nursing to learn life-long skills.

He never expected his daughter to be fighting for a place in the Olympics but proudly keeps all her clippings from media coverage.

"She tried not to see us family directly after the coronavirus broke out," the 58-year-old told AFP. "She was worried."

Tsubata now want to compete in the Games for all her colleagues who have supported her and the patients that have cheered her on in her Olympic ambitions.

"I want to be the sort of boxer who keeps coming back no matter how many punches I take," she said.

"I want to show the people who cheer for me that I can work hard and compete in the Olympics, because of them."

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News Network
June 9,2020

Bengaluru, Jun 9: Former India skipper Rahul Dravid has said that Virat Kohli understands that the real respect for him as a cricketer will come through success in the longest format of the game.

Dravid, popularly known as 'The Wall', also said that Test batsmanship has become exciting to watch now as batters play aggressive shots more often.

"I actually believe Test batsmanship has become more exciting than before, the aggressive element of Test batsmanship is going forward, players are playing shots and it is good to see, a good thing for India is Virat Kohli really values Test cricket, he understands that the real respect for him as a cricketer will come from his success in Test cricket," Dravid told Sanjay Manjrekar in a videocast hosted by ESPNCricinfo.

He also said that defensive batting in cricket is not irrelevant, but added that players can have successful careers without having a good defensive technique.

"I don't think it is becoming irrelevant, maybe the value of defensive batting is not the same as it was a generation ago, it can never become irrelevant, I think you still need to defend your wicket if you want to score suns, I feel now you can survive without a good defensive technique in cricket," Dravid said.

"Today, you do not need to have a good Test career to have a successful career, look at the best players in the world today, a lot of them have a good defensive technique and they can play out difficult periods of the game," he added.

The 47-year-old Dravid also said that all young players want to represent their country in all three formats during their initial days, but eventually, they become realistic as time passes by.

"I would say in my interaction with the younger players, everyone's hero is someone who has succeeded in all formats of the game. I think all players start off wanting to play all formats, but then guys get a little realistic about their careers, superstars of the game will still want to play to all formats of the game," Dravid said.

Dravid is the only player in the history of cricket to be involved in two 300-plus ODI partnerships.

He played 164 Tests, 344 ODIs and one T20I for India. Dravid had announced his retirement from international cricket in March 2012.

He finished his career with 48 international centuries.

He has also coached the Indian junior sides (India U-19 and India A) and he is now the head of the National Cricket Academy (NCA).

Dravid has also led the side during his playing days and under his leadership, the side had managed to register their first Test series win in England.

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Agencies
April 25,2020

London, Apr 25: Former Australian cricketer Graeme Watson who was fighting cancer, has died at the age of 75.

Primarily a middle-order batsman and a medium-pace bowler, he featured in five Tests from 1967 to 1972 and two ODIs in 1972, ESPNcricinfo reported.

The all-rounder earned the national call during the 1966-67 tour of Rhodesia and South Africa. Watson slammed a half-century in the first innings of the second Test of the series.

However, the medium-pace bowler was ruled of the next test after suffering an ankle injury. He returned for the fourth Test in Johannesburg where scalped his career-best 2 for 67 but failed to leave a mark with the bat as Kangaroos lost the series.

In 1971-72 he moved to Western Australia and played a major role in their Sheffield-Shield win in 1971-72, 1972-73, and 1974-75 seasons.

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