UEFA Super Cup: Pedro Rodriguez shines as Barcelona beat Sevilla in nine-goal classic

August 12, 2015

Tbilisi, Aug 12: Barcelona added the UEFA Super Cup to their treble win of trophies last season despite blowing a 4-1 lead with a stunning 5-4 win over Sevilla thanks to Pedro Rodriguez`s extra time winner.

UEFA

Two magnificent free-kicks from Lionel Messi plus goals from Rafinha and Luis Suarez looked to have Barca well on course to claim their fourth trophy of the year after Ever Banega had given Sevilla a shock early lead.

However, Jose Antonio Reyes reduced the arrears before a Kevin Gameiro penalty and a debut strike from Yevhen Konoplyanka forced the game into an extra 30 minutes.

Barca weren`t to be denied, though, and, in what could be his last game for the club, Pedro pounced on the rebound after Beto had denied Messi his hat-trick.

Pedro had been controversially left out of the starting line-up despite the absence of Neymar due to the mumps as he appears set for a move to Manchester United after Barca technical secretary Robert Fernandez admitted he has asked to leave the club.

Sevilla made the brighter start and Javier Mascherano was lucky to avoid further punishment after being adjudged to have brought down Reyes on the edge of the area.

The punishment was still to come for the European champions, though, as Banega clinically curled the resulting free-kick past the helpless Marc-Andre Ter Stegen with an effort his international teammate Messi would have been proud of.

Unfortunately, for Unai Emery`s men the lead lasted only four minutes as Suarez was blocked by Grzegorz Krychowiak and Messi delicately chipped the ball over the wall into the top corner.

The four-time World Player of the Year`s next set-piece was even more spectacular as he this time fired a free-kick in off the inside of the post to move level with Cristiano Ronaldo as the all-time leading scorer in European competitions with 80.

Suarez passed up a huge chance for the third when he fired straight at Beto two minutes before half-time but made immediate amends by collecting the rebound to tee up Rafinha to slot home.

Sevilla`s hopes of a comeback appeared to be over when a shocking pass from Benoit Tremoulinas was intercepted by Sergio Busquets and turned home by Suarez.

Yet, they were given a lifeline when Reyes turned home Vitolo`s excellent cross at the far post to reduce the arrears.

Jeremy Mathieu then pulled down Vitolo inside the area and was also lucky only to see a yellow card before Gameiro fired home the spot-kick.

And a remarkable comeback was complete when two substitutes on their debut combined for the equaliser as Konoplyanka tapped home Ciro Immobile`s low cross.

Pedro was finally introduced three minutes into extra time and just as in the Super Cup six years ago against Shakhtar Donetsk he grabbed the winner by firing into the roof of the net after Beto had parried Messi`s follow-up effort from another dangerous free-kick.

Sevilla still had two great chances to force an incredible match into a penalty shootout but both Coke and Adil Rami fired off target as a relieved Barca hung on.

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June 2,2020

Jun 2: Former West Indies captain Daren Sammy has spoken strongly against the killing if George Floyd in USA, and has now urged the ICC & all the other boards in the world to come together and fight the evil.

In a series of tweets Sammy wrote how the blacks have been suffering for a long time.

“For too long black people have suffered. I’m all the way in St Lucia and I’m frustrated If you see me as a teammate then you see #GeorgeFloyd Can you be part of the change by showing your support. #BlackLivesMatter,” Sammy wrote.

He also wrote, “@ICC and all the other boards are you guys not seeing what’s happening to ppl like me? Are you not gonna speak against the social injustice against my kind. This is not only about America. This happens everyday #BlackLivesMatter now is not the time to be silent. I wanna hear u.”

“Right now if the cricket world not standing against the injustice against people of color after seeing that last video of that foot down the next of my brother you are also part of the problem.”

Earlier, West Indies star batsman Chris Gayle has said racism exists in cricket too, saying he gets the 'end of the stick' even within teams.

"Black lives matter just like any other life. Black people matter, p***k all racist people, stop taking black people for fools, even our own black people wise the p***k up and stop bringing down your own! I have travelled the globe and experience racial remarks towards me because I am black, believe me, the list goes on," Gayle wrote in his Instagram story.

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April 2,2020

New Delhi, Apr 2: It was on April 2, 2011, when the Men in Blue went on to win their second 50-over World Cup title.

India won its first World Cup in 1983 and then had to wait for 28 years to again lift the title.
Going into the 2011 tournament, India went in as the clear favourites as the competition was to be played in the sub-continent.

Under MS Dhoni's leadership, India lost just one match in the competition against South Africa.
India had defeated arch-rivals Pakistan in the semi-final to set up a summit clash with Sri Lanka.

In the finals, Sri Lanka won the toss and opted to bat first. Mahela Jayawardene top-scored for Sri Lanka as he struck a century to take the team's score to 274/6.

India in their chase got off to a bad start as the side lost Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag with just 31 runs on the board.

But Gautam Gambhir and MS Dhoni stepped up and stitched a match-winning 109-run partnership.

Gambhir perished after playing a knock of 97 runs, but in the end, Dhoni and Yuvraj took the team over the line by six wickets.

The winning six struck by Dhoni is still viewed as one of the most exciting moments in India's sporting history. 

As the winning six was hit, Ravi Shastri was doing commentary then, and he famously remarked, "Dhoni, finishes it off in style, India lifts the World Cup after 28 years".
As soon as the match-winning shot was hit, Tendulkar erupted with joy and had tears to see his dream finally being fulfilled.

Earlier this year, former Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar's famous lap around the Wankhede Stadium after the 2011 World Cup win, titled 'Carried On the Shoulders Of A Nation', was voted the greatest Laureus Sporting Moment of the last twenty years.

The lap after the World Cup is still edged into everyone's hearts.

Playing in his last mega 50-over tournament, it was the last chance for Tendulkar to lift the coveted trophy.

Before the 2011 World Cup, Tendulkar had played five tournaments (1992,1996,1999,2003 and 2007), and he fell short every time.

The closest he came to winning the trophy was in 2003 as India made the finals under the leadership of Sourav Ganguly.

But the Men in Blue fell short in the finals against Australia.

Then in 2007, the biggest setback was in store for the legend has India bowed out of the tournament in the group stages.

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March 29,2020

Sydney, Mar 29: Steve Smith's two-year leadership ban ended quietly Sunday, leaving him eligible again to captain Australia at a time of uncertainty over when international cricket will resume.

Smith was stripped of the captaincy and banned from leading Australia for two years over his involvement in the 2018 ball tampering scandal in South Africa. His sentence ended Sunday and he can again captain Australia if called upon.

Australian players were due this week to conclude a series of matches in New Zealand and, for some, to join the Indian Premier League. But it wasn't clear Sunday if the IPL will take place this year and when international matches will resume. Australia's scheduled mid-year tours to England and Bangladesh are in doubt.

Smith told Channel Nine television's Sports Sunday he is doing his best to stay mentally and physically fit, training in his home gym, going on 10 kilometer (6 mile) runs and practising the guitar.

"It's obviously not looking likely (the IPL will go ahead) at the moment," Smith said. "I think there might be some meetings over the next few days to discuss what the go is with it all.

"I'm just trying to stay physically and mentally fit and fresh and, if it goes ahead at some point, then great. And if not, there's plenty going on in the world at the moment. So just play it day by day."

It seems unlikely Smith will return to the captaincy when cricket resumes. Tim Paine is firmly established as Australia's test captain and at 35 is not immediately considering retirement. Aaron Finch has captained Australia successfully in white ball cricket.

The conclusion of Smith's ban ends the period of upheaval in Australian cricket that followed the ball tampering incident in the second test at Cape Town in 2018 when Cameron Bancroft, with the knowledge of Smith and his vice-captain David Warner, used sandpaper to change the condition of the ball.

Smith and Warner received one-year bans from international and most domestic cricket and Bancroft was banned for nine months. The scandal also resulted in the resignation of coach Darren Lehmann and the departure of Cricket Australia's chief executive, James Sutherland.

Warner remains under a career-long leadership ban.

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