Champions League: Real edge past City to set up all-Madrid final

May 5, 2016

Madrid, May 5: Real Madrid will face Atletico Madrid in the Champions League final for the second time in three years after overcoming Manchester City 1-0 in their semi-final second leg on Wednesday.

Champions

Brazilian midfielder Fernando deflected Gareth Bale's cross into his own net after 20 minutes at the Santiago Bernabeu for the only goal of the tie after the first leg ended goalless.

Fernandinho came closest to taking City to their first ever Champions League final when his shot clipped the outside of the post a minute before half-time.

Real beat Atletico 4-1 after extra time in Lisbon two years ago to win the competition for a 10th time and will be hoping for a repeat when they face Diego Simeone's men in Milan on May 28.

"It is another final. It has been very difficult to get there," Madrid defender Sergio Ramos -- whose 93rd-minute header sent the previous final against Atletico into extra time -- told BeIN Sports Spain.

"We have shown we know how to win a final and we are going to try and do it again."

City's performance over the two legs left much to be desired, but goalkeeper Joe Hart claimed the difference between the sides had been the luck Real enjoyed in the only goal of the game.

"We could easily be in the final but they managed the game well," he told BT Sport.

"They've beaten us with a very lucky goal but it is what it is."

City manager Manuel Pellegrini's time at the club will come to an end without European glory as he will be replaced at the end of the season by Pep Guardiola.

And the Chilean lamented his side's lack of creativity to cause Madrid problems over the two legs.

"We worked very well the whole game and that is why Real Madrid couldn't create chances, but after that you need creativity and players who can make the difference in the last third and we lacked that."

Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane now has the chance to repeat his Champions League success as a player with Real in 2002 in his first season in charge as a coach.

"In a semi-final you always have to suffer, but we've achieved our place in the final," said Zidane.

Real were given a huge boost before kick-off as Cristiano Ronaldo made his return after a three-game absence due to a thigh injury.

By contrast, City were dealt a massive injury blow inside 10 minutes when captain Vincent Kompany was forced off once more with a muscle problem in an injury-disrupted campaign.

Ronaldo was looking to equal his own record of 17 Champions League goals in a season, but sent his first chance well over the bar with a header from Dani Carvajal's cross.

However, Madrid got the luck they needed to swing the tie in their favour with their next attack as Bale was played in on the right of the City box and his intended cross spooned up off Fernando and into the far corner to leave Hart helpless.

The difference in European pedigree between the clubs couldn't have been starker as Madrid were playing in their 27th semi-final, whilst City were in the last four for the first time.

That inexperience looked to be taking hold as City enjoyed decent spells of first-half possession without troubling the Real defence.

However, they came within inches of finding the crucial away goal just before the break when Kevin De Bruyne picked out Fernandinho and the Brazilian midfielder's low driven shot clipped the outside of the post.

The goalmouth action was all in City's box early in the second period as Hart denied Luka Modric and Ronaldo twice before Bale's looping header came back off the bar.

Yet, out of nothing City nearly snatched the goal they needed a minute from time when top scorer Sergio Aguero's first serious effort of the tie dipped onto the roof of the net.

Despite a frantic finale, though, Madrid continued their record of not conceding a goal at home in the Champions League this season to progress to their 14th European Cup final.

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News Network
May 14,2020

New Delhi, May 14: Mahendra Singh Dhoni is an unconventional and unique leader, whose biggest strength is his incredible gut feeling, says his Chennai Super Kings teammate Faf du Plessis.

The former South Africa skipper has spent considerable time with Dhoni after joining the Indian Premier League (IPL) side in 2011 and has been an integral part of its successful journey.

"He reads the others player really well and he uses that to make instinctive decisions on the field. He's got an incredible gut feeling on the game and I think that's his biggest strength," du Plessis said in a Facebook live session with Bangladesh ODI skipper Tamim Iqbal.

The 35-year-old said Dhoni changed his perception of how a captain should be.

"It was amazing for me to see how different M S was as a captain. I used to think a captain must speak all the time in team meetings etc but M S was completely different.

"He doesn't believe a lot in team meetings. He's a very instinctive captain he's got such a good cricket brain that he relies on it to make the right decisions on the field," du Plessis said of former India skipper.

Dhoni last played for India in World Cup semifinal last year and was expected to be back to playing competitive cricket at now-postponed IPL.

Calling Dhoni the best finisher he has played with, Du Plessis said no one can emulate what the dasher from Ranchi can do with the bat.

"He's extremely calm. I haven't played with someone who is a better finisher than him. It's just remarkable to watch him from the side of the field."

"If someone else tries to do it like him they won't be able to. He's just so unique like he times the ball so late he's got an incredible calmness. He knows his game and he picks a bowler and goes for it."

Du Plessis said that playing for CSK alongside Dhoni and under the guidance head coach Stephen Fleming has taught him a lot about leadership.

"I'm lucky to have started my journey there at CSK because I have really learned a lot from a leadership point of view. I tried to learn as much as possible from Dhoni and Stephen Fleming because both are great captains."

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News Network
March 23,2020

Colombo, Mar 23: Sri Lankan batting great Kumar Sangakkara has said he is currently in self-quarantine, following his government's guidelines for those recently returning from Europe, which has now become the epicentre of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The authorities are concerned over people returning from the most-affected COVID-19 countries in Europe not registering with the police and practising isolation.

"I have no symptoms or anything like that, but I'm following government guidelines," Sangakkara told News First.

"I arrived from London over a week ago and the first thing was there was a news bulletin saying that anyone who had travelled from within March 1 to 15 should register themselves with the police and undergo self-quarantine. I registered myself with the police."

The former captain said this even as the government confirmed there have been at least three cases of recent returnees attempting to hide the novel coronavirus symptoms from authorities.

Both Sangakkara and his former teammate Mahela Jayawardene have been active on social media, urging Sri Lankans to avoid panic and to exercise proper social distancing, as the country went into curfew on Friday evening.

Sri Lanka has so far reported more than 80 active COVID-19 positive cases in the country.

Across the world, the number of infected has crossed three lakh besides a death toll of more than 14,000 people.

Meanwhile, former Australia pacer Jason Gillespie has also gone into a two-week isolation after returning from the United Kingdom.

Gillespie, who is the head coach at Sussex, had been in Cape Town with the team for a pre-season tour, which was cut short as a result of the coronavirus outbreak.

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Agencies
August 3,2020

New Delhi, Aug 2: The finals of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 will be played on November 20, the sources within the BCCI confirmed on Sunday.

The IPL's governing council met earlier today, and it has also been decided that the evening matches will start at 7:30 pm, half an hour earlier than usual.

Jay Shah, the secretary of BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) and Arun Dhumal, treasurer of BCCI did not attend the IPL's governing council meeting.

"The tournament will run for 51 days, usually the IPL should go on for 49 days as per the constitution, however in the meeting it has been decided that we will go to Supreme Court for conducting the IPL in 51 days," sources within the BCCI said.

"As the tournament is running for 51 days, we will get the chance to play fewer doubleheaders, there would be just 10 double headers, evening matches will start at 7:30 and the afternoon matches will start at 3:30. 

The matches will be played across three venues at Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Sharjah as travelling here by road is easier and bio-secure environment can be maintained," he added.

The IPL's governing council also confirmed that Women's IPL will also go on and four teams would be participating in it.

"When it comes to women's IPL, there would be four teams and the matches would be played at the time of playoffs for men's IPL," the source said.

The source within the BCCI also said that the governing council would be meeting again to discuss the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for all the franchises that need to be followed in the IPL.

The governing council meeting discussed the quarantine measures along with the standard operating procedures (SOP), bio bubble training facilities, stay and travel of the players.

Issues related to the broadcaster, shifting, and scheduling of the tournament, and DXB app to be downloaded for players and other officials were also discussed as well.

A few days earlier, the IPL Governing Council chairman Brijesh Patel had confirmed that the 13th edition of the mega event will commence on September 19 in the UAE.

This year's IPL was slated to commence from March 29 but the tournament was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) had also confirmed receiving the official Letter of Intent from the BCCI to host the 2020 edition of the IPL.

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