Messi strike helps Barca earn draw; Ronaldo hurt

Agencies
May 7, 2018

Barcelona, May 7: Lionel Messi weaved his magic to keep 10-man Barcelona's unbeaten season alive as a 2-2 draw at the Camp Nou on Sunday left Real Madrid sweating over an injury to Cristiano Ronaldo.

Ronaldo was forced off at half-time after appearing to hurt his ankle and Real will be hoping their star striker can now recover in time for the Champions League final against Liverpool on May 26.

The challenge from Gerard Pique had come as Ronaldo cancelled out Luis Suarez's opener before Sergi Roberto was sent off on the stroke of half-time for an altercation with Real defender Marcelo.

Barca, however, took the lead in the second half as Messi scored a brilliant individual goal only for Gareth Bale, who could earlier have been sent off, to have the last word in a thrilling Clasico, his emphatic strike earning Real a deserved draw.

After initially taking treatment, Ronaldo played on for 31 minutes here before Zinedine Zidane decided to substitute him at half-time, which may at least offer Real encouragement.

His injury, however, coupled with Barcelona avoiding defeat, despite playing a man down for the whole of the second half, will mean the Catalans depart the happier side.

Ernesto Valverde's men, already crowned champions, are now three matches away from becoming the first team ever to finish a 38-game La Liga season unbeaten.

Andres Iniesta overcame, or perhaps ignored, a niggling calf problem to play his 38th and final Clasico while Philippe Coutinho was picked to start his first. Iniesta went off to a standing ovation in the second half.

Barca exploded out of the blocks and they were ahead within 10 minutes. Suarez swept the ball out to the right where Sergi drove forward, ignored Messi's run to the near post, and returned the cross deep to Suarez. He finished into the bottom corner.

The lead, however, lasted four minutes. Just as Suarez initiated his goal, so did Ronaldo, a neat backheel freeing Toni Kroos, who found Karim Benzema at the back post. The Frenchman was cool enough to head back into the six-yard box, where Ronaldo bundled home.

Pique's last-ditch attempt had been robust enough to hurt the Portugese, who stayed down as Barca attempted to kick off. Ronaldo took treatment but was able temporarily to continue.

Real dictated the rest of the half and Ronaldo could twice have given them the lead. His first shot was saved by Marc-Andre Ter Stegen, the second fired wide of the far post.

In between, Messi had played in Jordi Alba with a sumptuous ball over the top but even he lost his cool during five mad minutes at the end of the first period.

Suarez felt he had been elbowed by Sergio Ramos, prompting the first round of scuffles, before Messi was booked for flying into the defender on the touchline.

Bale was then lucky not to be sent off for stabbing his studs into Samuel Umtiti's calf and moments later Sergi did see red, as he threw an arm into the face of Marcelo.

The home fans were raging as the half-time whistle blew but, with Marco Asensio on for Ronaldo, they were celebrating eight minutes after the restart.

Suarez's blatant kick on Raphael Varane went unpunished and from there it was all about Messi. He skipped away first from Ramos, and then Casemiro, before firing into the bottom corner.

Even Zidane was smiling on the touchline.

Iniesta went off just before the hour and Messi could have put Barca out of sight soon after. He sped away from Varane but his shot was parried away by Keylor Navas.

Real tried to make the most of their one-man advantage but in truth, they had been far more assertive 11 against 11.

Instead, their goal in the 72nd minute came out of the blue as Bale raced onto Asensio's pass and whipped the ball first-time into the top corner. It was the Welshman's 15th goal in 24 matches this year.

Real should have had a late penalty when Alba cleared out Marcelo but referee Alejandro Jose Hernandez Hernandez somehow decided the challenge was clean. It was the final controversy of a surprisingly heated derby.

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Agencies
February 4,2020

Potchefstroom, Feb 4: Yashasvi Jaiswal and Divyaansh Saxena guided India to a comfortable ten wickets win over Pakistan in the ICC U19 World Cup semifinal at Senwes Park on Tuesday and progressed to the final of the tournament.

Chasing 173, Indian openers Jaiswal and Saxena played cautiously and stitched an unbeaten partnership of 176 runs.

The duo built the highest opening partnership of the tournament's history. Jaiswal, the left-handed batsman, scored his maiden century of the tournament as he amassed unbeaten 105 runs studded with eight fours and four sixes.

Saxena scored 59* off 99 balls including six fours. India chased down the total in 35.2 overs. This is the first time in the history of the U19 World Cup that a team won a knockout match by ten wickets.

Earlier, Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat.

Opener Haider Ali and skipper Rohail Nazir's half-centuries guided the side to a respectable total of 172. Ali played a knock of 56 runs while Nazir accumulated 62 runs including six boundaries.

Pakistan did not have a good start as they lost Mohammad Hurair (4) in the second over. Fahad Munir, came to bat at number three, failed to score a single run and was departed by Ravi Bishnoi on a duck in ninth over.

Apart from Ali and Nazir, Mohammad Haris was the only batsman to score runs in double digits. He played an innings of 21 runs off 15 balls. Indian bowlers showed a spirited performance as they bowled out arch-rival in 43.1 overs.

Pacers Karthik Tyagi and Sushant Mishra bagged two and three wickets respectively. Spinner Ravi Bishnoi clinched two scalps and conceded 46 runs in his ten overs.

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News Network
March 13,2020

Mar 13: The start of the Indian Premier League (IPL), the world's most lucrative cricket competition, has been postponed from March 29 until April 15 over the coronavirus, the Indian cricket board said Friday.

"The Board of Control for Cricket in India has decided to suspend IPL 2020 till 15th April 2020, as a precautionary measure against the ongoing Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) situation," the BCCI said in a statement.

The two-month Twenty20 competition is estimated to generate more than $11 billion for the Indian economy and involves cricket's top international stars.

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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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