Last-gasp penalty gives Man Utd miracle win at PSG

Agencies
March 7, 2019

Paris, Mar 7: Marcus Rashford scored a stoppage-time penalty awarded after a VAR review to give Manchester United a stunning 3-1 win away to Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday as they improbably went through to the Champions League quarter-finals on away goals.

A seriously depleted United looked to have given themselves too much to do after losing 2-0 in the first leg of their last-16 tie last month, yet a Romelu Lukaku brace in the first half at the Parc des Princes gave them hope.

Even so, Juan Bernat had netted in between for PSG, and it looked as though they would stumble on until the drama at the death.

Slovenian referee Damir Skomina awarded a spot-kick after reviewing the images when he had been alerted of a possible handball by PSG defender Presnel Kimpembe in the box.

Rashford duly beat Gianluigi Buffon from 12 yards, as United won a European tie after losing the first leg at home for the first time in their history.

Their improbable victory -- following Ajax's similarly stunning turnaround against holders Real Madrid 24 hours earlier -- takes them through to the last eight for the first time since 2014.

Their remarkable revival under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer continues, with the Norwegian now having overseen nine consecutive away wins, a club record.

While they celebrate, for PSG this defeat will feel like groundhog day.

For the third year running they fail to make the quarter-finals, after their defeat at the hands of Real Madrid a year ago and their humiliating collapse against Barcelona in 2017.

With what came before, this will feel even more painful for them and their Qatari owners.

Electric at Old Trafford in the first leg, Kylian Mbappe was poor here and Neymar was again missing, watching from the stands as he recovers from injury.

United were missing many more players, with Paul Pogba suspended and nine more sidelined due to fitness problems.

Despite that, they pulled off one of their greatest European results, up there with their 3-2 win at Juventus in the 1999 semi-finals, which came after they fell two goals behind early on.

Solskjaer was on the bench that night, and the Norwegian watched from the sideline here -- curiously looking like a substitute with a bib on over his jacket apparently due to a colour clash with PSG's kit -- as his side somehow went in front inside two minutes.

A dreadful back-pass attempt by PSG defender Thilo Kehrer fell into no-man's land, and Lukaku pounced on the loose ball before rounding Gianluigi Buffon and scoring. Surely PSG were not about to blow it again?

They did pull themselves together to equalise in the 12th minute, with Dani Alves releasing Mbappe in the box. As the away defence slept, Mbappe's ball across goal was turned in at the far post by Bernat, the defender scoring his third Champions League goal this season.

Now it looked as though their start to the game would prove to be nothing more than a blip.

The depleted visitors, with Eric Bailly at right-back and Fred, Scott McTominay and Andreas Pereira all in midfield, were incapable of keeping the ball. However, they were gifted another goal half an hour in.

Not closed down 25 yards out, Rashford tried a shot that was powerful but straight at Buffon.

Yet the veteran Italian, still hoping to win the Champions League for the first time aged 41, spilled the ball, and Lukaku followed in to score. It was a sixth goal in three games for the Belgian.

PSG -- so slick in France -- were wobbling again at the business end of the Champions League.

Di Maria had a goal ruled out for offside in the 56th minute and Mbappe then managed to fall when clean through late on, with Bernat sending the loose ball against the post.

It still looked as though they would hang on, but then VAR intervened, and Rashford sent United into ecstasy.

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News Network
February 21,2020

Wellington, Feb 22: shant Sharma's lion-hearted bowling effort met its match in Kane Williamson's elegance as New Zealand ended an attritional second day of the opening Test against India with a slight upper-hand, here on Saturday.

After another lower-order collapse that saw India get bundled out for 165, Ishant, coming straight back from an ankle injury, took three for 31 in 15 overs despite Williamson's effortless 89 in New Zealand's day-end score of 216 for 5.

New Zealand now lead by 51 runs.

Mohammed Shami (1/61 in 17 overs), during his final spell of the day, removed Williamson, who couldn't check an uppish drive. Henry Nicholls' (17 off 62 balls) struggle seemed to have hampered Williamson's rhythm.

During the final hour, Ravichandran Ashwin (1/60 in 21 overs), who also bowled beautifully throughout the day, relieved Nicholls' of his agony with a delivery that had drift and a hint of turn as India skipper Virat Kohli snapped the low catch at second slip.

Williamson looked good as he hit some delightful strokes square off the wicket. The square drive on the rise off Jasprit Bumrah (0/62 in 18.1 overs), followed by a cover drive, showed his class.

In all, the New Zealand skipper hit 11 boundaries off 153 balls.

Bumrah, in particular, was punished by Williamson, who also back-cut him for a boundary and Taylor then punished another half volley through the covers.

There were quite a few loose deliveries on offer from the Indian pacers and in between a few did beat the bat. With the 'Basin' baked in sunshine, batting became lot more easier and Black Caps seized the initiative.

Bumrah, in particular, failed to find his length consistently. Either he bowled too full and drivable length deliveries or too short that even Rishabh Pant failed to gather with the ball going a couple feet over his head.

This is where Ishant came into the picture. While he was lucky to get opener Tom Latham out with a delivery drifting on leg-stump, the other opener Tom Blundell (30) had a typical Ishant dismissal written all over it.

The ball was full on the off-stump channel and jagged back enough to find the gap between his bat and pad.

Williamson and Taylor then had a partnership of 93 runs during which New Zealand also got the lead before Ishant, coming back for his third spell, bowled one that reared up from good length and proved to be an easy catch for Cheteshwar Pujara at short-leg.

Once Nicholls came in, Williamson, who was batting fluently, suddenly had a player at the opposite end who scored only 4 off 34 balls.

Looking good for his 22nd Test hundred, Williamson, in his bid to get another boundary, couldn't check a cover drive and the low catch was taken by substitute fielder Ravindra Jadeja.

Earlier, New Zealand's debutant Kyle Jamieson and veteran Tim Southee took four wickets apiece as Indian innings folded in 68.1 overs.

Jamieson (4/49 in 16 overs) and Southee (4/49 in 20.1 overs) took four of the five wickets that fell on the second morning with India adding only 43 runs to their overnight score of 122 for 5.

Rishabh Pant (19) started with a six but then a horrible mix-up with senior partner Ajinkya Rahane (46) resulted in a run-out and the little chance of recovery was gone for good.

It was a poor call from the senior player and Pant had to sacrifice his wicket in the process.

Ashwin then received a beauty from Southee, pretty similar to what Prithvi Shaw got, while Rahane inside edged one while trying to leave it alone.

With India at 132 for 7, Rahane knew that time was running out as he played a square drive off Trent Boult to get him a boundary.

Southee then got rid of Rahane when he tried to shoulder arm a delivery that made a late inward movement. Mohammed Shami's entertaining 21 then enabled the visitors to cross the 150-run mark.

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News Network
March 4,2020

Mar 4: The BCCI has decided to implement strict cost cutting measures with the notable decision being IPL 2020 champions' prize money will be halved as compared to 2019. In a circular sent to all IPL franchises, the BCCI has notified that instead of a whopping Rs 20 crore, the IPL champion team will now receive Rs 10 crore only. "The financial rewards have been reworked as a part of the cost cutting measures. The champions will get Rs 10 crore instead of Rs 20 crore. The runners-up will get Rs 6.25 crore from earlier Rs 12.5 crore," a BCCI notification, in possession of news agency, read.

The two losing qualifiers will now get Rs 4.375 crore each.

"The franchises are all in good health. They also have multiple ways like sponsorships to bolster their income. Hence the decision on prize money taken," a senior BCCI source said.

However, a state association hosting IPL games will get Rs 1 crore each with franchises and BCCI contributing Rs 50 lakh each.

It has also been learnt that mid-level BCCI employees won't be allowed to avail business class flights like earlier times for flying to the Asian countries (Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, UAE) where the flying time is less than eight hours.

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Agencies
January 6,2020

Washington D.C., Jan 6: 'The Irishman,' and 'Two Popes' were shut out from the winners list despite getting multiple nominations, the movies didn't win a single award at the Golden Globes Award held on Sunday (local time). Other movies in the list include 'Bombshell,' 'Dolemite Is My Name,' 'Harriet,' 'Jojo Rabbit,' 'Knives Out' and 'Little Women.'

According to The Hollywood Reporter, 'The Irishman' may have gone into the 2020 Golden Globes with the second-highest number of film nominations, tied with 'Once Upon a Time in Hollywood' with five nods, but Martin Scorsese's highly anticipated mob epic for Netflix was completely shut out at the award ceremony.

Netflix landed the most film nominations of any company with 17 mentions, but it won only one award which is the best-supporting actress for 'Marriage Story's' Laura Dern. Netflix's nominated films 'Dolemite Is My Name' and 'The Two Popes' was tied with 'Joker' with four mentions each and failed to grab any awards.

'Dolemite Is My Name' star Eddie Murphy was expected by a number of pundits to win for best actor in a motion picture, musical or comedy.

'Bombshell', 'Harriet',' Frozen 2', 'Jojo Rabbit', 'Knives Out', 'The Lion King', 'Little Women' and 'Pain and Glory' are among the other films that received multiple nominations but didn't win a single award.

On the TV side, Netflix's 'Unbelievable' tied in the race to most small-screen nominations with 'Chernobyl' and 'The Crown' with four nominations, and 'The Crown' won only one award, for star Olivia Colman.

The three-time nominees 'Barry', 'Big Little Lies', 'The Kominsky Method' and 'The Morning Show' also didn't grab any award. 'Catch-22', 'Killing Eve', 'The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel' and 'The Politician' who were two-time nominees that were also iced out.

'Hustlers' star Jennifer Lopez failed to take home the best-supporting actress award as she was predicted to win the award by a number of pundits. Billy porter also failed to make history with the best drama actor win for his role on 'Pose,' if he would've won the award, he reportedly would have been the first openly gay African-American to win that award.

'Chernobyl' won two of its four nominations. Despite that, star Jared Harris didn't win the best actor in a limited series Globe which was predicted by many prognosticators. The award was bagged by Russell Crowe for his portrayal of Roger Ailes in 'The Loudest Voice.' But the star was absent from the ceremony.

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