Ronaldo double seals Madrid's place in last eight

March 19, 2014

RonaldoMadrid, Mar 19: Real Madrid stormed into the Champions League quarter-finals with a club record 9-2 aggregate success after Cristiano Ronaldo struck twice in a 3-1 win at home against Schalke 04 on Tuesday.

Real were virtually assured of a place in the last eight after thrashing the Bundesliga side 6-1 in Gelsenkirchen in the first leg and coach Carlo Ancelotti rested a host of regulars for the return at the Bernabeu with an eye on Sunday's La Liga "Clasico" against Barcelona.

Gareth Bale set up Ronaldo for Real's 21st-minute opener and Schalke levelled 10 minutes later when a long-range Tim Hoogland effort deflected off Sergio Ramos and bounced past the stranded Iker Casillas.

Ronaldo took his tally in this edition of Europe's elite club competition to 13 goals with his second of the night in the 74th minute. Alvaro Morata added a third for Real a minute later after a Ronaldo effort came back off the crossbar.

It was Real's biggest aggregate Champions League win after beating APOEL Nicosia 8-2 in 2011-12.

Ronaldo's double meant he surpassed his previous best Champions League haul of 12 from last season and he has 41 in all competitions for Real, the La Liga leaders, this term.

The world's richest club are bidding to reach the semi-finals for a third consecutive season and chase the 10th European crown that has eluded them since they last won the Champions League in 2002.

They are unbeaten in 31 matches in all competitions since a La Liga defeat to Barcelona at the end of October and also meet their arch-rivals in next month's King's Cup final.

Schalke, who are third in the Bundesliga, return to Germany to focus on securing a place in the Champions League next season.

Real can go seven points clear of third-placed Barca with a win on Sunday and Ancelotti used only four of the players who started the first leg at Schalke in Tuesday's starting lineup.

Jese started up front alongside Ronaldo and his Spain Under-21 team mate Alvaro Morata, but Jese was taken off on a stretcher with what appeared to be a serious knee injury and replaced by Bale in the eighth minute.

After a goal apiece for each side, Schalke had some good moments late in the second half, delighting their 4,000-strong travelling support who easily drowned out the home fans inside the giant arena.

Former Real forward Klaas-Jan Huntelaar was played through in the 40th minute by teenage midfielder Max Meyer and his low shot scooted narrowly wide.

Portugal's Ronaldo came close to a third in the 83rd minute with a low drive that struck the post, after earlier hitting the bar. He has struck 32 times in his last 25 Champions League matches and has 63 goals in 99 appearances.

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News Network
April 30,2020

New Delhi, Apr 30: Indian skipper Virat Kohli on Thursday mourned the demise of veteran Bollywood actor Rishi Kapoor, called his death 'unreal and unbelievable' loss.

"This is unreal and unbelievable. Yesterday Irrfan Khan and today Rishi Kapoor ji. It's hard to accept this as a legend passes away today. My condolences to the family and may his soul rest in peace," Kohli tweeted.

Opening batsman Shikhar Dhawan also expressed his heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of the deceased.
"It's shocking to hear about the sudden demise of #RishiKapoor ji. My heartfelt condolences to his family and friends. May his soul rest in peace," Dhawan tweeted.

Earlier today, actor Amitabh Bachchan confirmed the news of the demise of the 67-year-old Rishi Kapoor. Rishi Kapoor was admitted to the Sir HN Reliance Foundation Hospital in Mumbai on Wednesday.

In September 2019, the veteran actor returned to Mumbai after staying in New York for almost a year for cancer treatment.

He was last seen in the 2019 film 'The Body' alongside Emraan Hashmi and Shobita Sobhita Dhulipala.

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News Network
March 25,2020

New Delhi, Mar 25: Former England cricketer Kevin Pietersen appealed to Indian citizens to stay home during the 21-day lockdown, announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to contain coronavirus.

"Namaste India! I have heard that your situation is like ours, PM Modi has announced a nation-wide lockdown for 21 days. I request you to follow this instruction. We will fight coronavirus together and come out to this situation. Please stay at your home and stay safe, " he tweeted in Hindi.
At the end of the message, Pietersen gave credit to his "Hindi teacher" Shreevats Goswami, who is an Indian domestic cricketer.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that the nationwide total lockdown will be in place for three weeks to combat the coronavirus menace.

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News Network
May 2,2020

Melbourne, May 2: After becoming the number one side in Test cricket, Australia's head coach Justin Langer has said that his team has won back the respect of the country.

Australia dethroned India from the top spot in Tests and now the Men in Blue are in the third place.

Langer came in as the coach of Australia after the 2018 ball-tampering scandal and it took him some time to get the side back to winning ways.

Ever since the return of David Warner and Steve Smith, Australia went on to become a commendable side and the results reflect that.

"We have got lots of work to do to become the team we want to be. But over the last couple of years, not only have we performed well on the field, we have performed well off it. We have earned some respect back from other teams around the world but also from Australia," Langer said in an official statement.

"When we started on this journey, there had been a lot of talk about Australia wanting to be No. 1 in the world in all three forms of the game.

We took a different approach. Not once did we talk about being No. 1 ranked in the world. We wanted to be No.1 in our values and process. That is what I am most proud of," he added.

In the latest ICC rankings update, that rates all matches played since May 2019 at 100 per cent and those of the previous two years at 50 per cent, Australia (116) have taken over from India as the top-ranked side in the ICC men's Test team rankings with New Zealand (115) remaining in second place.

India is now third with 114 points. With only two points separating them, this is the second closest the top three teams have been since the Test rankings were launched in 2003.

The closest for the top three teams were in January 2016, when India had led Australia and South Africa by a single point.

Australia has also moved to the top spot in the T20I rankings for the first time in the format.

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