Sports
UCL: Real, Dortmund In Semi-Final
It was late drama in Turkey and Germany as Spanish giants, Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund made it to the semi final stage of this year’s UEFA Champions League.
After coming into the second leg of the Champions League quarter Final against Turkish champions, Galatasaray with a comfortable 3-0 first leg victory, Cristiano Ronaldo got Real off to a perfect start with seventh minute goal to all but kill the tie as a contest.
But a second half fight back by Galatasaray occasioned a frenetic finish to an otherwise comfortable night for Jose Mourinho and his men. Emmanuel Eboue kicks started the rennauisance when he scored in the 58th minute.
Former Mourinho wards, Wesley Sneijder and Didier Drogba put Galatasaray 3-1 up in the 70 and 72 minute and 3-4 on aggregate to put Real on the edge.
But Ronaldo struck again in their minute of added time to seal Real’s passage to the semi final with a 5-3 aggregate victory.
In Germany, it was another late dramatic finish as homers, Borussia Dortmund, starring defeat in the face at the end of regulation time scored twice withion stoppage time to break Malaga’s heart and send their fans to delirium.
The first leg had ended goalless in Spain last week, but when Malaga took the lead twice, first through Joaquin in the 23rd minute and Eliseu in the 82nd, Malaga looked home and dry with the semi final ticket.
However, Reus and Felipe Santana’s added time goals added to Lewandowski’s 40th minute effort to complete an unlikely turn-around for Dortmund to progress and promise likely all Spanish and German semi finals with Barcelona and Bayern favourities to join the party from the remaining quarter final matches.
Real Madrid survived a second-half onslaught from Galatasaray in their Champions League quarter-final to reach the last four for a record 24th time.
Cristiano Ronaldo silenced the Turkish crowd with an early volley and Galatasaray rarely threatened until Emmanuel Eboue’s thumping strike.
Wesley Sneijder steered in and Didier Drogba’s backheel left Real rocking, before Ronaldo killed their hopes.
Real substitute Alvaro Arbeloa was sent off following two late bookings
The Spanish champions’ comfortable 3-0 victory in the Bernabeu left Jose Mourinho’s team within touching distance of the semi-finals and many expected the second leg to be a formality for the nine-time European champions.
For the opening hour it was exactly that, as Real played with a measure of confidence and assurance from the first whistle.
But Eboue’s spectacular goal sparked a dramatic turnaround and set up a grandstand finish in Istanbul.
Mourinho, bidding to become the first man to win the Champions League with three different clubs, will be relieved that his team regained their composure in the final 10 minutes to put the tie to bed.
Ronaldo finally put the tie beyond the Turkish champions as he drilled past Fernando Muslera in injury-time – almost 90 minutes after seemingly ending their hopes with the opener.
But Real quickly found their rhythm and already had Galatasaray on the back foot before Ronaldo swept in Sami Khedira’s low right-wing cross.
If Galatasaray’s task was not difficult enough already, the away goal left the hosts needing to score five goals to advance.
However Real continued to control possession and were only denied a second goal in the first half by Uruguay international Muslera.
Ronaldo was the architect of a flowing move, flicking into the path of Angel Di Maria whose fierce shot was instinctively pushed over the crossbar by Muslera.
Galatasaray barely threatened in the opening 45 minutes, with Sneijder forcing Real goalkeeper Diego Lopez into his first save with a low 20-yard shot shortly before the half-time break.
Real continued to stroke the ball around in the early stages of the second half as they looked to further subdue their already-deflated opponents.
However, Borussia Dortmund scored twice in injury time to snatch a dramatic Champions League victory over Malaga and secure a place in the semi-finals.
Marco Reus and then Felipe Santana struck for the German side, although the winning goal – poked home from a matter of inches – looked offside.
After a goalless first leg in Spain, Joaquin scored from 20 yards for Malaga before Robert Lewandowski equalised.
Substitute Eliseu looked to have scored Malaga’s winner before the late goals.
Dortmund boss Jurgen Klopp had talked before the match about his desire to see his team’s “wonderful story” continue but it looked as though they would pay for wasting several good chances during the first leg.
Eliseu had finished from close range eight minutes from time – another goal allowed to stand despite a strong hint of offside – to leave Dortmund needing to score twice.
But the vociferous home crowd were sent into raptures as first Reus slotted home into an empty net from eight yards after the ball ran fortuitously into his path and then Santana pounced after a huge scramble inside the penalty box.
Several Dortmund players looked to be offside as the initial ball was played into the Malaga area and, seconds later, Santana was also in an offside position when he scored the winner, touching home a goal-bound effort from substitute Julian Schieber.
Dortmund’s obvious joy was in stark contrast to the emotions of the defeated Malaga players, with a cruel end especially harsh on coach Manuel Pellegrini, who had only arrived in Dortmund on Tuesday after flying back from his native Chile, where he had attended the funeral of his father on Monday.
The campaign was Malaga’s first in the Champions League and there will be no possibility of a repeat next season as a series of off-the-field financial problems means they are banned from European competition during the next campaign when they are eligible to compete.
Dortmund remain the only undefeated team in the competition – but after a disjointed performance that required an ending reminiscent of Manchester United’s victory over Bayern Munich in the 1999 Champions League final to seal their progress.
Sports
SWAN Rivers Set-up Five Functional Committees
The Sports Writers Association of Nigeria ( SWAN) Rivers State Chapter has set up five standing working committees on Tuesday, in its general congress.
Sports
‘NTF Will Build On Davis Cup Success For Brighter Future’
At the playoff held at the Lagos Lawn Tennis Club, Onikan, the team of Canice Abua, Michael Emmanuel, Daniel Adeleye, and Abubakar Yusuf was majestic as they restored Nigeria’s hope in a sport that once gave the country so much joy.
Speaking after the final game, Nigeria Tennis Federation (NTF) President, Victor Ochei, said the Davis Cup feat is the stepping stone to better days in the sport, adding that the federation has set up programmes that will help the budding talents across the country play at the same level as their counterparts in other tennis-developed countries.
Ochei said: “The whole aim of having this new board is to lift the sport to the level we used to be. I tell you, tennis is taking a new shape in Nigeria. We are putting everything and anything to make that work happen.”
Ochei said that the NTF has looked at sponsorships and how to get the emerging players compete at the same level with their peers elsewhere, adding that the federation is working on organising local competitions and helping the players to compete in international championships.
“We believe that with what we are doing now, sponsors will come to us to organise new competitions. But beyond that, there’s a strategic growth development plan, a 10-year development plan, which the board is working on.
“The programme will ensure that we catch them young. This is because we believe that to create champions, we must start grooming them early. The champions you are seeing today were those groomed yesterday.”
“The process of building new champions will include building the coaches, the players, the infrastructure and sensitising the parents so that we can start catching them as young as age five to six.
“By the time that we groom them through 10 years of training, at age 15, 16, you will see fantastic professional players.”
To achieve the federation’s plans, Ochei admits that the NTF needs a lot of investment, adding that the board is working at realising the funds quietly and tenaciously.
The NTF president acknowledged the contributions of former international stars like Nduka Odizor and Sadiq Abdullahi to the bid to rejuvenate Nigerian tennis, adding that NTF is open to collaborating with former players who know what it takes to play at the highest level of the sport.
He said, “Nduka Odizor is around as one of our VIP personalities. He has been psyching up the boys in the battle with Uzbekistan. He will not enter the court to play, but his mere presence is enough motivation to the boys, who will want to be like him in the future.
“You see, the type of support the Odizors, the Imonities and the Abdullahis got in their time is no longer there, but we are revamping it with the support of our stakeholders in the Diaspora.
“It will appear to take us some time, but I can tell you that the Diaspora support is massive.”
Sports
NSC Disburses N200m Training Grants To 26 Athletes
In its bid to get good results in this year’s Commonwealth Games, the National Sports Commission (NSC) has disbursed N200 million as training grants to 26 athletes.
The 2026 Commonwealth Games will be held in Glasgow, Scotland.
The NSC stated that the grants were disbursed through its Elite and Podium Board, noting that N200 million was allocated to select top-performing athletes.
The beneficiaries are both foreign-based and home-based, the NSC said, adding that it will cater for their training and preparation expenses.
According to the NSC, the recipients span several sports, including athletics, wrestling, weightlifting, and para-sports, in line with the Commission’s mandate to prioritise athletes’ welfare and high-performance development.
The Commission added that the disbursement follows the establishment of the Elite and Podium Board, created to implement a scientific and institutionalised support system aimed at sustaining peak performances by Nigerian athletes at major international competitions.
NSC Director General, Bukola Olopade, said the Commission, under the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, was established to restore confidence and provide renewed hope for Nigerian sportsmen and women by placing strong emphasis on athlete welfare.
“The training grants disbursed to 26 athletes across different sports followed a careful and professional selection process by the Yusuf Ali-led Elite and Podium Board. This is our way of reassuring our athletes that their welfare remains our utmost priority,” he said.
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