Durant Drops 31 As Nets Thump Wolves
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FFOOTBALLOOTBALL | Page 3 OOLYMPICSLYMPICS | Page 6 Duhail face 100 days to Shorta, seek go: IOC hopes early lift in health plans will tough group sway opinion Thursday, April 15, 2021 CRICKET Ramadan 3, 1442 AH Babar hits 122 as GULF TIMES Pakistan chase mammoth target SPORT Page 4 UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE Man City set up PSG semi with 2-1 win at Dortmund Liverpool rue a host of missed chances as Real Madrid hold out for goalless draw to progress 3-1 on aggregate Agencies Dortmund/Liverpool anchester City scored twice in the second half through Riyad Mahrez and MPhil Foden to beat Borussia Dort- mund 2-1 yesterday and reach the Champions League semi-fi nals for the fi rst time in six years. Foden, who scored City’s win- ner in their 2-1 fi rst-leg victory, fi red in off the post in the 76th minute after Mahrez had con- verted a 55th-minute penalty awarded for a handball by Emre Can to secure a 4-2 aggregate tri- umph. Dortmund had gone ahead when striker Erling Haaland chased down a deep cross, the Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah reacts to a missed opportunity during the ball falling to Jude Bellingham UEFA Champions League quarter-final second leg against Real Madrid and the teenager curling his shot in Liverpool yesterday. (Reuters) into the top corner in the 15th minute for his fi rst Champions a 14th crown as European cham- Klopp went for it on the hour League goal. pions. mark as Milner and Kabak made Premier League leaders City, However, Zinedine Zidane way for the introduction of Thia- eliminated in the quarter-fi nals warned after Saturday’s 2-1 El go and Diogo Jota. of the competition in the previ- Clasico win over Barcelona that Yet, even without three of their ous three years, will face Paris his players were at their “physi- fi rst-choice back four, Madrid Saint-Germain in the semi-fi - cal limit” and the visitors looked were comfortable defending deep nals after the French champions jaded as they were happy to sit on as Firmino, Salah and Jota all had knocked out holders Bayern Mu- their fi rst leg lead. eff orts blocked behind in quick nich on Tuesday. The closest Madrid came to succession. scoring was when Kabak inad- Vinicius Junior’s double in the LIVERPOOL DRAW A BLANK vertently defl ected a Benzema fi rst leg proved to be the diff er- AS REAL MADRID ADVANCE cross off the outside of his own ence between the sides, but the Liverpool were left to rue a host post with Alisson Becker wrong- Brazilian fl uff ed his one big chance of missed chances as Real Madrid Manchester City’s Phil Foden (right) celebrates scoring a goal with teammate Kyle Walker (centre) and manager Pep Guardiola during the UEFA footed. to grab an away goal as Alisson held out for a 0-0 draw at Anfi eld Champions League quarter-final second leg against Borussia Dortmund in Dortmund, Germany, yesterday. (Reuters) Chances continued to come smothered at his feet midway to progress to the semi-fi nals of and go for Liverpool as Salah through the second-half. the Champions League 3-1 on two years ago. out the cauldron of noise that has the path of Salah, but Liver- Milner made his presence felt snatched at another eff ort that Benzema also should have aggregate. Madrid were far from their accompanied famous European pool’s one consistent performer within a minute with a late lunge fl ew high and wide. done better when he mistimed Mohamed Salah and Georginio best, but did not need to be to set nights at Anfi eld in the past. in the fi nal third this season fi red on Karim Benzema and nearly in- Wijnaldum scored twice in the a free header 10 minutes from Wijnaldum were guilty of wast- up a semi-fi nal clash with Chel- Despite the empty stands due straight at Thibaut Courtois. fl icted a diff erent type of damage famous fi ghtback against Barce- time. ing glorious opportunities to get sea as Los Blancos extended their to coronavirus restrictions, Liv- Klopp surprisingly repeated his on Madrid 10 minutes in when lona in 2019. But a blistering fi rst 45 minutes Jurgen Klopp’s men back into unbeaten run in all competitions erpool fl ew out of the traps and decision from the fi rst leg to leave his long range eff ort forced Cour- However, the Dutch interna- in the Spanish capital last week the tie as they failed to replicate to 14 games. should have halved their defi cit Thiago Alcantara on the bench tois into another fi ne save. tional was not as clinical against proved to be enough for Zidane a remarkable recovery from 3-0 Klopp admitted before the within two minutes. with James Milner this time tak- Real’s fi ne run has propelled another Spanish giant as he to win a 14th of his 15 Champi- down to beat Barcelona 4-3 on game that his players had to cre- Sadio Mane knocked Ozan ing the place of the Spanish in- them back into contention to de- blasted the best chance of the ons League knockout ties in two aggregate at the semi-fi nal stage ate their own atmosphere with- Kabak’s long ball perfectly into ternational in midfi eld. fend their La Liga title and claim fi rst-half over from close range. spells as Madrid boss. AFC CHAMPIONS LEAGUE Al Sadd fi ght back to hold Foolad in opener AFC in the playoff , was unable to have the 81st minute, but he would not mi’s close-range eff ort with the Riyadh an early infl uence on the pro- miss seven minutes later when he latter then feeding Yohan Boli, ceedings. found the back of the net with his who made a run inside the box Foolad came closest in the 38th strike from inside the box, with before fi ring wide. oualem Khoukhi scored minute when Zobeir Niknafs let Baghdad Bounedjah picking up Al Rayyan dominated pro- in the 89th minute as Al loose a strike from outside the the assist. ceedings with Boli in the thick Sadd fought back to hold box but Al Sadd custodian Me- Al Sadd will take on hosts Al of action once again just after Foolad Khouzestan 1-1 in shaal Barsham tipped the ball Nassr next on Saturday, while the half-hour mark but his eff ort BGroup D of the 2021 AFC Cham- over the bar. Foolad will face Al Wehdat. from outside the area left much pions League at the King Fahd The deadlock continued well to be desired. Stadium yesterday. into the second half but with a FC GOA, AL RAYYAN PLAY FC Goa fi nally got their shoot- It was heartbreak at the end for noticeable change in Foolad’s OUT GOALLESS DRAW ing boots on fi ve minutes before Iran side Foolad, who looked to approach, who were now on the Al Rayyan played out a goalless the interval when Alexander Ro- have sealed a famous win against front foot. draw with India’s FC Goa as they mario’s attempt from distance the Qatar champions. Their aggression paid off in kicked off their AFC Champions was parried away by Al Rayyan Al Sadd started strongly by the 61st minute as Mehran Der- League campaign in a Group E tie custodian Fahad Younis for a pressing Foolad into their own akshan delivered a curling cross at the Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru corner. half, but the Iranian side were into the box which Boualem Stadium yesterday. The hosts then had to endure able to hold their ground as they Khoukhi cleared but a prowling The draw means both the teams some tense moments in the clos- eventually pushed the Qataris Chimba rose high to head home are third in the group, two points ing stages of the half when Dheraj back, setting the stage for an ex- to hand Foolad the lead. behind Iran’s Persepolis, who de- Singh was called into action once citing tie. Al Sadd immediately shifted feated Al Wahda of UAE 1-0 in again to save Hadhrami’s angled The Qatar Stars League cham- gears and came close 10 minutes their match earlier yesterday. long-range eff ort before Ab- pions made multiple inroads later when a string of passes led to Al Rayyan started brightly and delaziz Hatim’s drive from dis- into the fi nal third with Rodrigo substitute Ali Asad on goal but the had their fi rst look at goal on six tance sailed over the crossbar. Tabata testing Foolad goalkeeper midfi elder was caught off side. minutes with captain Yacine Bra- Al Rayyan next face last year’s Mohsen Foroozan with a long Foolad were reminded not to himi pulling his eff ort wide from AFC Champions League run- range strike in the 20th minute. underestimate Al Sadd’s abil- outside the area. ners-up Persepolis, while next Foolad did have their moments ity to make a comeback with Two minutes later, FC Goa on the cards for FC Goa is an- but Brazilian striker Chimba, Khoukhi testing goalkeeper goalkeeper Dheraj Singh came off other stern test against Henk Ten Al Sadd’s Nam Tae-hee (right) vies for the ball with Foolad Khouzestan’s Saleh Hardani Kherad during the who scored twice against Al Ain Foroozan with his free-kick in his line to block Naif al-Hadhra- Cate’s Al Wahda on Saturday.