Liverpool Through in Champions League, Cristiano Ronaldo Claims New Record

Agencies
December 7, 2017

Dec 7: Philippe Coutinho's hat-trick inspired Liverpool to score seven in their win over Spartak Moscow on Wednesday as they joined Sevilla, Shakhtar Donetsk and Porto in qualifying for the Champions League last 16.

That quartet completed the line-up on the final night of group-stage action that was also notable for another Cristiano Ronaldo goals record in the competition.

The Portuguese superstar scored his ninth in the competition this season in reigning champions Real Madrid's 3-2 win at home to Borussia Dortmund.

In doing so, he became the first player to score in all six Champions League group-stage matches in a season while also equalling his Barcelona rival Lionel Messi's record of 60 group-stage goals in total.

Liverpool have also been prolific this season, and their demolition of Spartak was the second time they had won 7-0 en route to finishing top of Group E -- they beat Maribor 7-0 in October.

Jurgen Klopp's side were 3-0 up inside 19 minutes on a night that saw their 'Fab Four' run riot -- Coutinho got his first hat-trick for the club, Sadio Mane scored twice and there was one each for Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah.

"It's really difficult when we go to the next gear and use the space. It was nice to watch tonight," Klopp told BT Sport after guiding the Reds into the last 16 for the first time in nine years.

As a result, there will be a record five English clubs in next Monday's draw, and they will not be able to face each other.

Spartak's defeat meant Sevilla were through regardless of their 1-1 draw with Maribor in Slovenia.

Maribor captain Marcos Tavares scored the opener, with Paulo Henrique Ganso coming off the bench to equalise for the Spaniards. Spartak go into the Europa League.

Napoli out

Ukrainian giants Shakhtar are through to the last 16 in Group F at the expense of Napoli after beating Pep Guardiola's Manchester City -- who had already won the section -- 2-1 in Kharkiv.

Shakhtar only needed a draw, but took all three points, with Brazilian duo Bernard and Ismaily getting their goals.

Bernard's opener was a beauty, but it was a mistake by City goalkeeper Ederson that allowed Ismaily to make it 2-0.

Sergio Aguero's stoppage-time penalty handed a consolation to City, but this was their first defeat of the season and they have the Manchester derby this weekend.

Napoli had gone in front early on away to already-eliminated Feyenoord through Piotr Zielinski, but Nicolai Jorgensen equalised. Jeremiah St Juste then made it 2-1 at the death for the Dutch champions after they had Tonny Vilhena sent off.

"Now we want to go as far as possible in the Europa League," Napoli captain Marek Hamsik told Mediaset Premium.

Porto also knew a win would take them through in Group G and the two-time European champions ran riot against a hapless Monaco, hammering last season's semi-finalists 5-2.

Vincent Aboubakar scored twice for the Portuguese club, with Yacine Brahimi, Alex Telles and Francisco Soares also netting.

Monaco replied through a Kamil Glik effort and a Radamel Falcao header against his old club, while Porto's Felipe and Rachid Ghezzal for the visitors were sent off after an altercation in the first half.

RB Leipzig were forced to settle for a Europa League spot in their debut European campaign.

They lost 2-1 at home to group winners Besiktas, for whom Talisca scored a last-minute winner after Naby Keita had cancelled out Alvaro Negredo's early penalty opener. Leipzig had Stefan Ilsanker sent off.

Real Madrid were already through before beating Dortmund in a Bernabeu thriller in Group H.

Borja Mayoral put the holders in front and Ronaldo's stunning, record-setting strike came after just 12 minutes.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored a brace to haul Dortmund level, but Lucas Vazquez won it for the hosts as the Germans drop into the Europa League.

"The Champions League is a competition that I love to play and score in, as you can see," Ronaldo told UEFA.com.

Group H winners Tottenham Hotspur eased to a 3-0 win at home to APOEL, with Fernando Llorente, Son Heung-min and Georges-Kevin N'Koudou scoring at Wembley.

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News Network
July 16,2020

Kolkata, Jul 16: BCCI president Sourav Ganguly on Wednesday went into home quarantine after his elder brother and Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) joint secretary Snehasish Ganguly tested positive for Covid-19.

Snehasish, a former Bengal first-class player, has been admitted to the Belle Vue hospital in Kolkata after his COVID report came positive.

"He was suffering from fever for the last few days and his test report came positive today. He's been admitted to Belle Vue Hospital," a CAB official said.

"The reports arrived late in the evening. As per health protocols, even Sourav will have to be in home quarantine for a stipulated period," a source close to the BCCI President added.

Snehasish had shifted to their ancestral house, where Sourav is based, in Behala after his wife and in-laws at his Mominpur residence tested positive for the dreaded virus.

The former India captain was, however, unavailable for a comment on the development.

Recently, during an interview to India Today, Sourav had spoken about how life around him has changed, making people more vulnerable.

"My brother visits our factories everyday and he is more at risk," the former batting star had said

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News Network
January 28,2020

Gibraltar, Jan 28: Young Indian Grand Master R Praggnanandhaa pulled off a huge upset, beating former world champion Veselin Topalov in the sixth round of the 18th Gibraltar chess festival to record his fifth straight win here.

The 14-year-old Chennai lad needed just 33 moves to put it across the Bulgarian. He had started with a loss against compatriot P V Nandhidhaa but since then he has been on a winning spree.

Praggnanandhaa, who recently won the world under-18 title, said: "It was very tough to prepare against him."

He is in second spot on five points with six other players and will take on Chinese GM Wang Hao in the seventh round.

Seventeen-year-old Russian GM Andrey Esipenko jumped to sole lead with 5.5 points with a win over Georgia's Ivan Cheparinov

The Russian player would be unpaired in the seventh round as he decided to take a bye.

A bunch of players including Indians — B Adhiban, K Sasikiran, Shardul Gagare, Karthikeyan Murali, SL Narayanan — are in joint third place with 4.5 points.

Adhiban beat Gabriel Flom, while D Gukesh, the world's second youngest Grand Master ever, defeated Martin Percivaldi to move to four points.

Also winning were Karthikeyan Murali against Qi B Chen and Gagare over France's Maxime Lagarde.

Top-seed Shakhriyar Mamedyarov's moderate run continued as he was held to a draw by GM Aryan Chopra.

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News Network
February 14,2020

Los Angeles, Feb 14: Tributes to the late Kobe Bryant, the Los Angeles Lakers legend who died last month in a helicopter crash, will play a major role in Sunday's 69th NBA All-Star Game.

This year's annual showcase of league talent will be played in Chicago and feature numerous nods to Bryant, a five-time NBA champion who also matched a league record with four NBA All-Star Game Most Valuable Player awards.

Bryant, an 18-time NBA All-Star, died at age 41 on January 26 in a crash near Los Angeles that also took the life of his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and seven others.

All-Star teams guided by LeBron James of the Lakers and Greek star Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks will compete to win each of the first three quarters, which will all start 0-0 and last 12 minutes.

At the start of the fourth quarter, the clock will be turned off and a final target score will be established by taking the leading club's cumulative score through the first three quarters and adding 24 points -- the number representing the jersey number worn by Bryant for the final 10 seasons of his NBA career.

The first team to reach the cumulative target score will win the NBA All-Star Game.

All-Star Game jerseys will also honor Bryant and his daughter.

Team Giannis players will wear jersey number 24 in tribute to Kobe while Team LeBron players will wear jersey number two, the number his daughter wore when playing youth basketball.

Both teams will wear jersey patches displaying nine stars, representing the nine people who were killed in the crash.

Academy Award-winning actress and Grammy Award-winning singer Jennifer Hudson, a Chicago native, will perform a special tribute to Bryant, his daughter and the others who were killed in the crash. Her performance will begin the night ahead of the player introductions.

James and Antetokounmpo each chose their squads from available starters and reserves voted and selected to the All-Star contest.

Team LeBron starters will include James, his Lakers teammate Anthony Davis, NBA scoring leader James Harden of Houston, Kawhi Leonard of the Los Angeles Clippers and Slovenian guard Luka Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks.

Team Giannis starters include the Greek big man, Cameroon stars Joel Embiid of Philadelphia and Pascal Siakam of Toronto and guards Kemba Walker of Boston and Trae Young of Atlanta.

A record eight All-Star Game players from outside the United States also include Frenchman Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz on Team Giannis and Team LeBron reserves Ben Simmons of Australia and the Philadelphia 76ers, Lithuanian Domantas Sabonis of Indiana and Serbian Nikola Jokic of Denver.

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