Barcelona cap great season with fifth European Cup soccer win

June 7, 2015

Berlin, Jun 7: Barcelona were crowned kings of Europe for the fifth time after beating Juventus 3-1 in a pulsating Champions League final at the Olympic Stadium on Saturday, capping their magnificent season with a title treble.

UEFA

The Spaniards lived up to their tag as favorites and added the European Cup to their La Liga and King's Cup triumphs as coach Luis Enrique celebrated his first season in memorable fashion.

Goals from Croatian Ivan Rakitic in the fourth minute, Uruguayan Luis Suarez in the 68th and Brazilian Neymar with the last kick of the game sealed Barca's second treble, matching their 2009 feat.

"It's incredible, a dream, something unique," Suarez told reporters. "To win these competitions you have to suffer, if not it's not worth it, and today we had to suffer to win the match."

Barca's South American trio of Suarez, Neymar and Lionel Messi, known collectively as 'MSN', showed spectacular form all season and Saturday's goals took their tally to an amazing 122 in all competitions as the game proved the perfect antidote for the corruption scandal engulfing soccer's governing body FIFA.

Juve, however, became the first team in the history of the competition to get beaten in six finals and the Italian giants have now lost their last four.

"I would like to thank the team for the wonderful season they have had," said Juve coach Massimiliano Allegri who landed the domestic double in his first season in charge.

"We played a great game tonight...unfortunately when you play against great players you think you have things under control but then they get you."

SUBLIME GOAL

Barca shrugged off a nervous start by scoring a sublime fourth-minute goal.

All 10 outfield players touched the ball in a 16-pass move that ended when Neymar fed Andres Iniesta and he picked out Rakitic to slot the fourth fastest goal in a European Cup final.

Juve keeper Gianluigi Buffon, who won the World Cup with Italy at the Olympic Stadium in 2006 but is still waiting to capture his first European Cup crown, denied Barca a second goal in the 13th minute with a superb one-handed save keeping out a Dani Alves shot.

Alvaro Morata twice went close for the Italians but Barca's pressure in the first half was relentless and Suarez twice almost netted.

The 37-year-old Buffon again came to the rescue three minutes after the restart and then Juve struck against the run of play with former Real Madrid striker Morata tapping the ball in after keeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen had saved from Carlos Tevez.

The Italians looked to be taking control of the game but their joy was short-lived. Argentine Messi took matters into his own hands, charging past three defenders and unleashing a low drive that Buffon could only parry to Suarez.

It was the most crucial goal of the 28-year-old Uruguayan's career and it came a year after he was branded a villain for biting Italy's Giorgio Chiellini, who missed Saturday's final through injury, at the World Cup in Brazil.

Neymar had a goal disallowed after his header bounced off his own hand to deceive the diving Buffon, much to the forward's frustration.

Juve, who had an average age of 30 and were the second oldest team to play in a Champions League final, fought bravely but ran out of steam.

Neymar netted deep into stoppage time to provide a fitting farewell for midfielder Xavi who is leaving Barca after collecting 25 trophies in more than two decades with the club he joined at the age of 11.

Along with team mates Iniesta, Messi and Gerard Pique, Xavi also equaled former Netherlands midfielder Clarence Seedorf's record of four Champions League triumphs.

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Agencies
March 8,2020

Mumbai, Mar 8: Shikhar Dhawan, Hardik Pandya and Bhuvneshwar Kumar returned to India's ODI squad as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the team for the upcoming South Africa series.

South Africa are scheduled to tour India for a three-match ODI series, starting from March 12.

India's ODI squad: Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Virat Kohli (C ), KL Rahul, Manish Pandey, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Navdeep Saini, Kuldeep Yadav, Shubman Gill.

Cricket South Africa (CSA) have already announced their squad for the series and spinner George Linde was given maiden ODI call-up.

South Africa squad: Quinton de Kock (c, wk), Temba Bavuma, Rassie van der Dussen, Faf du Plessis, Kyle Verreynne, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Jon-Jon Smuts, Andile Phehlukwayo, Lungi Ngidi, Lutho Sipamla, Beuran Hendricks, Anrich Nortje, George Linde, Keshav Maharaj, Janneman Malan.

The first ODI will be played in Dharamsala while the other two matches will be played in Lucknow and Kolkata on March 15 and 18, respectively.

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News Network
June 9,2020

Jun 9: Former West Indies skipper Darren Sammy has released a video, alleging racism within the SunRisers Hyderabad camp. Last week, Sammy had lost his cool after learning the meaning of the word "Kalu", which he alleged was directed at him during his Indian Premier League (IPL) stint with the SunRisers Hyderabad. The T20 World Cup-winning Windies skipper had said that he along with Sri Lanka player Thisara Perera were sometimes called that word when they played for SunRisers Hyderabad. However, Sammy did not specify as to who directed these slurs at him, but now the player has released a video, saying he will message all those who called him that word.

"I have played all over the world and I have been loved by many people, I have embraced all dressing rooms where I have played, so I was listening to Hasan Minhaj as to how some of the people in his culture describe black people," Sammy said in a video posted on his Instagram account.

"This does not apply to all people, so after I found out a meaning of a certain word, I had said I was angry on finding out the meaning and it was degrading, instantly I remembered when I played for SunRisers Hyderabad, I was being called exactly the same word which is degrading to us black people," he added.

Sammy said that at the time when he was being called with the word, he didn''t know the meaning, and his team-mates used to laugh every time after calling him by that name.

"I will be messaging those people, you guys know who you are, I must admit at that time when I was being called as that word I thought the word meant strong stallion or whatever it is, I did not know what it meant, every time I was called with that word, there was laughter at that moment, I thought teammates are laughing so it must be something funny," Sammy said.

"Now, I realise it was degrading, I will be texting you guys and I will ask you as to when you called me with that name, did you all mean it in any bad way or form? I have had great memories in all my dressing rooms, so all those who used to you call me with that word, think about it, let's have a conversation, if it was in a bad way then I would be really disappointed," he added.

The former Windies skipper has been a vocal supporter of the protests that are currently going on in the United States over the death of an African-American man named George Floyd.

Sammy had also made an appeal to the ICC and other cricket boards to support the fight against social injustice and racism.

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Agencies
March 26,2020

Karachi, Mar 26: Pakistan's centrally-contracted cricketers will contribute Rs 5 million to the national government's emergency fund to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman Ehsan Mani on Wednesday said apart from centrally-contracted players contributing Rs 5 million, the employees in the board, up to the senior manager level, will contribute their one day's salary.

Those employed as general managers or on higher posts will give two days' salary to the fund.

"The PCB will collect all these funds and deposit it to the government's coronavirus fund," he said.

Pakistan has recorded more than 1,000 positive cases of the deadly virus, which has claimed more than 19,000 lives all over the world.

"It is the history of the cricket board that we always stand by the government in difficult times," Mani said.

The PCB has already given its high performances centre in Karachi at the national stadium to be used by paramedical staff working at the special coronavirus hospital set up at the expo centre in the in the city.

Mani said though cricket has been disrupted by the virus outbreak but it was far more important for the nation to stand by the government and also take all precautionary steps during the pandemic.

Pakistan's centrally-contracted players are entitled to monthly salaries ranging from Rs 5 to 12 lakh besides match fee and other earnings.

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