Tottenham survived two calamitous errors from stand-in goalkeeper Fraser Forster on Thursday to beat Manchester United 4-3 and set up a League Cup semi-final against Liverpool, staying on track for their first trophy since 2008. The home side were cruising at 3-0 in the 54th minute of a captivating tie in London after two goals from Dominic Solanke and one from Dejan Kulusevski. Ange Postecoglou But Forster’s mistakes allowed substitutes Joshua Zirkzee and Amad Diallo to pull the score back to 3-2 with 20 minutes to go. It was one-way traffic after that, with United totally on top, but Spurs scored a fourth as Son Heung-min found the net from a corner and they held on despite a late Jonny Evans goal. Tottenham will face Premier League leaders Liverpool in the two-legged semi-finals, with Arsenal taking on Newcastle. Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou said his injury-hit team inflicted pain on themselves but gave a passionate defence of his gung-ho approach. “It should have been a lot more comfortable there, but having said that, I still can’t get away from the fact that this group of players have done an unbelievable job at the moment to get us through this,” he said. The Australian added: “I know people will say, ‘Well, don’t take any risks’ and all that sort of stuff, but we wouldn’t be scoring four goals and five goals. It’s the hardest thing in the game to do, score goals, and we’re doing it with bare bones.” Tottenham, 10th in the Premier League, have not won silverware for 16 years, when they lifted the League Cup under Juande Ramos. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
21 December,2024 07:00 AM IST | London | AFPTeenage striker Marc Guiu scored a hat-trick as Chelsea thrashed Shamrock Rovers 5-1 for their sixth straight Europa Conference League win on Thursday, advancing to the last 16 with maximum points. The 18-year-old Guiu took over as the competition’s leading scorer with six goals, two of which came in the win away to Astana last week. The Spaniard headed Chelsea in front after a defensive mix-up but a deflected effort from Markus Poom brought the Irish visitors level. Guiu took advantage of another mistake at the back to restore Chelsea’s lead at Stamford Bridge, with Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall adding another before Guiu completed his treble by heading home in first-half stoppage time. Marc Cucurella fired in a fifth for the Blues around the hour as Chelsea finished the league phase with 26 goals scored — eight more than any other club — and again underlined their status as the title favourites. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
21 December,2024 07:00 AM IST | Paris | AFPTottenham survived two calamitous errors from stand-in goalkeeper Fraser Forster on Thursday to beat Manchester United 4-3 and set up a League Cup semi-final against Liverpool, staying on track for their first trophy since 2008. The home side were cruising at 3-0 in the 54th minute of a captivating tie in London after two goals from Dominic Solanke and one from Dejan Kulusevski. But Forster's mistakes allowed substitutes Joshua Zirkzee and Amad Diallo to pull the score back to 3-2 with 20 minutes to go. It was one-way traffic after that, with United totally on top, but Spurs scored a fourth as Son Heung-min found the net from a corner and they held on despite a late Jonny Evans goal. Tottenham will face Premier League leaders Liverpool in the two-legged semi-finals, with Arsenal taking on Newcastle. Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou said his injury-hit team inflicted pain on themselves but gave a passionate defence of his gung-ho approach. "It should have been a lot more comfortable there, but having said that, I still can't get away from the fact that this group of players have done an unbelievable job at the moment to get us through this," he said. The Australian added: "I know people will say, "Well, don't take any risks' and all that sort of stuff, but we wouldn't be scoring four goals and five goals. "It's the hardest thing in the game to do, score goals, and we're doing it with bare bones." Tottenham, 10th in the Premier League, have not won silverware for 16 years, when they lifted the League Cup under Juande Ramos. But they are now just one stage away from a Wembley final in March, with Postecoglou still on track to deliver on his bold statement that he always wins a trophy in his second season at a club. New United boss Ruben Amorim is back down to earth with a bump after his side's dramatic 2-1 Premier League win at Manchester City on Sunday. Amorim made five changes from the team that beat City while Spurs had six academy players on their bench. Marcus Rashford was left out of United's squad for the second consecutive game but Alejandro Garnacho, also absent on Sunday, was on the bench and came on as a second-half substitute. Also Read: Intercontinental Cup: Real Madrid clinch title Solanke double Tottenham opened the scoring in the 15th minute when Solanke reacted quickest after United goalkeeper Altay Bayindir, in for Andre Onana, parried a shot from distance into his path. Kulusevski doubled Tottenham's lead moments after the restart, finishing unerringly when Lisandro Martinez failed to deal with a James Maddison cut-back, only succeeding in diverting the ball into the Sweden international's path. Spurs were 3-0 up when Solanke ran onto a long ball over the top, drifting inside Martinez and Evans and finishing with confidence. But control turned to chaos just after the hour mark following some incredible goalkeeping errors from Forster, deputising for the injured Guglielmo Vicario. Forster, being closed down by Zirkzee, passed straight to Bruno Fernandes, whose ball found Zirkzee and the Dutchman slotted the ball into an empty net in the 63rd minute. Minutes later United scored again when Forster dithered after receiving a back pass. Diallo closed him down in a flash and slid in as Forster tried to clear, with the ball hitting Diallo and ending up in the net. United had further chances but instead Son gave Tottenham a cushion in the 88th minute. Even then United had time to find another, with Evans heading in from a corner, but they ran out of time. "We were not the best team in all of the game, but most of the parts I think we were the best team," said Amorim. "I think we disconnected for eight minutes. It was really hard to recover from that, but then the lads did a great job." This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
20 December,2024 02:22 PM IST | London | AFPReal Madrid beat Mexican team Pachuca 3-0 in the Intercontinental Cup final on Wednesday, making Carlo Ancelotti the most decorated coach in the club’s history. Ancelotti lifted his 15th title with the Spanish powerhouse, surpassing the 14 trophies that he and Miguel Munoz had won. Kylian Mbappe, Rodrygo and Vinicius Junior scored a goal each. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
20 December,2024 08:11 AM IST | Lusail (Qatar) | AP | PTILiverpool moved into the League Cup semi-finals as the holders won 2-1 against managerless Southampton, while Gabriel Jesus ended his goal drought with a hat-trick in Arsenal’s 3-2 victory over Crystal Palace on Wednesday. Rare goals from Darwin Nunez and Harvey Elliott at St Mary’s sent the 10-time League Cup winners into the last four for a record 20th time. Meanwhile, Sandro Tonali scored twice as Newcastle beat Brentford 3-1 at St James’ Park. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
20 December,2024 08:10 AM IST | London | AFPReal Madrid star Vinicius Junior finally got his hands on a big global player award on Tuesday. Vinicius was named the men’s player of the year at FIFA’s The Best awards, where Barcelona’s Aitana Bonmati won the women’s prize. From sadness to joy Vinicius, 24, was so disappointed to lose out to Manchester City midfielder Rodri for the Ballon d’Or in October that he and his Madrid team snubbed the ceremony in Paris in protest. This time Rodri ended up second to Vinicius by five points. The Brazil forward was at the FIFA ceremony to collect his award having travelled to Doha on Monday with Madrid for the Intercontinental Cup final against Pachuca. “I don’t even know where to begin,” Vinícius said in Portuguese. Spain midfielder Aitana Bonmati “It was so far away that it seemed impossible to get here. I was a kid, who only played football barefoot on the streets of Sao Gonçalo, close to poverty and crime. Getting here is something very important to me. I’m doing it for many children who think that everything is impossible and who think they can’t get here,” added Vinícius, echoing these sentiments in an Instagram post, where he took a veiled dig at presumably the Ballon d’Or voters — journalists from the top 100 countries in the FIFA rankings. “Today I am writing to that boy who saw so many idols lift this trophy. Your time has come. Or rather, my time has come. The time to say ... yes, I am the best player in the world and I fought hard for it. They tried and still try to invalidate me, diminish me. But they are not prepared. No one is going to tell me who I should fight for, how to behave,” wrote Vinicius, who has been subjected to racist abuse in Spain. FIFA stresses on fairness FIFA said the award winners were decided by an “equally weighted voting system” by fans, the current captains and coaches of all national teams, and media representatives. There was an 11-player shortlist for both awards, with the contenders selected based on performances from August 21 last year to August 10, 2024. Vinicius had the best season of his career, scoring 24 goals in 39 appearances for Madrid and helping the Spanish team to a record-extending 15th European Cup — and his second Champions League trophy. He also netted in the final, becoming the youngest player to score in two Champions League finals. Spain’s Bonmati, 26, has won the Ballon d’Or for two straight years. She won the Spanish League, Cup and Champions League with Barcelona in 2024. “I’m grateful to all who helped me, from the club to my teammates,” she said. Other Winners . Best goalkeeper (women): Alyssa Naeher . Best goalkeeper (men): Emiliano Martínez . Best coach (women): Emma Hayes . Best coach (men): Carlo Ancelotti . Marta Award (best women’s goal): Marta . The Puskas Award (best men’s goal): Alejandro Garnacho This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
19 December,2024 06:22 AM IST | Doha | AP | PTIEast Bengal SC mounted a stunning comeback victory, scoring four goals in 22 minutes in the second half to come from a two-goal deficit and secure a 4-2 victory against Punjab FC in the Indian Super League (ISL) 2024-25 season which was played here at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan. Asmir Suljic and Pulga Vidal’s goals gave Punjab a comfortable position after the end of the first half but goals from Hijazi Maher, P.V. Vishnu, David Hmar, and an own goal from Suresh Meitei completed the comeback for the home side. Punjab remain in fifth position with 18 points from 11 matches while East Bengal have 10 points from the same number of matches and are in 11th position in the table. Ravi Kumar returned in goal for The Shers as Panagiotis Dilmperis made three changes to the starting eleven. Khaimingthang Lhungdim returned in the right-back position in place of Leon Augustine while Asmir Suljic started in midfield in place of the injured Filip Mrzljak. Oscar Bruzon with limited options in midfield started with Anwar Ali to protect the defense of Hector Yuste and Hijazi Maher. David Lalhlansanga led the attack line with Cleiton Silva, Naorem Mahesh Singh, and Nandhakumar Sekar starting alongside him. Also Read: Records with which Ravichandran Ashwin bid adieu to international cricket Both sides took their time to settle into the game and once the game opened up, it was Punjab who pinned East Bengal by dominating the middle of the pitch. Punjab used the long passes to good effect with Luka Majcen and Asmir Suljic always willing to run behind the high line of the Red and Gold Brigade defence. On the other end, David Hmar found the net with a neat finish from a free kick but was ruled out for offside. The Shers took the lead in the 21st minute from a well-worked goal. Pulga Vidal obliged to the run of Asmir into the box and expertly found the Hungarian who took it on the volley and finished past Prabhsukhan Gill for his third goal of the season. Punjab grew in confidence as the game went on as they opened up the East Bengal defence with ease. They could have doubled the advantage as Luka found himself in a one-on-one situation with the goalkeeper but Prabhsukhan denied the Slovenian with an outstretched leg. The rebound fell on the path of Nihal but his attempt was blocked by Lalchungnunga. On the other end, Cleiton Silva created space for himself on the edge of the box, but the attempt was weak. Pulga Vidal doubled the away side’s advantage with a splendid finish. He received the ball from a simple throw in and he completely floored Anwar Ali with a drop of a shoulder and in one turn drilled the ball past the goalkeeper into the far corner of the goal. East Bengal mounted a stunning comeback and scored three goals within 22 minutes from the start of the second half. Hijazi Maher rose the highest to a Cleiton Silva free kick and planted his header in the goal past the outstretched hands of Ravi Kumar. The second-half substitute then equalised within seven minutes. Suresh Meitei’s headed clearance fell on the path of Vishnu and the winger finished it past the on-rushing Ravi Kumar and Suresh on the line. East Bengal took the lead through an own goal six minutes later. Nandhakumar’s low cross from the right wing was deflected into his own goal by Suresh who got his feet tangled. Things got worse for The Shers when Khaimingthing Lhungdim was sent off for his second yellow card offence. East Bengal took good use of the man advantage and scored a fourth through David Hmar. Vishnu P.V. was once again the provider as his curling cross was met by a diving David Hmar whose header found the bottom corner to send the Salt Lake Stadium into a frenzy. The 10 men of Punjab FC tried to muster something in the remaining quarter of the match but could not create much as East Bengal managed the game well. Pulga Vidal missed a couple of chances to score one back but Prabhsukhan Gill closed the gap well and kept the score intact to secure their third win in four matches. Punjab FC will face Mohun Bagan Super Giant in their next fixture on Boxing Day (December 26) at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
18 December,2024 01:42 PM IST | Kolkata | IANSA spirited Mumbai went down fighting to Pune in the final of the Western India Football Association-organised Maharashtra State Inter-District Junior Girls Football Championship at Shiv Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Sports Complex in Jalgaon recently. The Mumbai girls lost 0-1 with the tournament-winning goal coming from Pune’s Ishita Debnath. Thane district won third place, beating Kolhapur 1-0. The Mumbai girls however, impressed with their dominant play throughout the competition. The girls had a great start to the five-day (December 8-12) tournament, routing Amravati 9-0 in the first round. They followed that up with another big 5-0 win over Raigad in the second round. In the quarter-finals Mumbai got the better of Nashik 5-4 and then beat Thane 1-0 in a keenly contested semi-final. Mumbai’s Preesha Viral was adjudged best forward of the tournament while the best goalkeeper’s prize went to Kolhapur’s Ashawari Patil and the best defender was Thane’s Nyasa Bondre. Pune’s Sharvari Mane was named best player of the tournament.
18 December,2024 08:49 AM IST | Mumbai | Ashwin FerroFollowing a 5-0 home defeat to Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday, Southampton sacked their manager Russell Martin, with the side currently bottom of the Premier League table. Also Read: Chelsea forward Mudryk confirms failed dope test Liverpool head coach Arne Slot labelled the sacking of Martin as a pity ahead of his side’s Carabao Cup quarter-final against the Saints at St Mary’s Stadium on Wednesday. “In my opinion, it is a pity. These things happen. Russell Martin has done so well last season for Southampton. This season again, his side played good football. We experienced this when we had such a tough day over there. We only beat them 3-2. “So, you always feel sorry if managers don’t get the chance to continue. Especially in these two situations, because for me they were managers who had a good idea of how they wanted to play with their team. Unfortunately, they weren’t able to get enough points — then managers get sacked,” said Slot in a press conference. The 38-year-old took charge of Southampton in July 2023, helping them earn promotion through playoffs to the Premier League. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
18 December,2024 07:33 AM IST | Liverpool | IANSMykhailo Mudryk said he was in “complete shock” on Tuesday after the results of a doping test contained a banned substance. Also Read: Abhigyan is fastest, Shourya shines too! The Chelsea forward, who cost $108 million when signed from Shakhtar Donetsk in 2023, said: “I can confirm that a sample I provided to The FA contained a banned substance,” Mudryk wrote on Instagram. “I know that I have not done anything wrong.” This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
18 December,2024 07:31 AM IST | London | AP | PTIBarcelona forward Lamine Yamal is expected to be sidelined for three to four weeks because of an ankle injury, the club said Monday. Barcelona said the 17-year-old Yamal has a grade-one injury to his right ankle. He sustained the injury in the team's 1-0 loss to Leganes at home in the Spanish league on Sunday, when he had to be replaced in the 75th minute. Also Read: Yamal wants to be a Barca legend He is set to miss Barcelona's match against Atletico Madrid in the Spanish league on Saturday and against fourth-division club Barbastro in the Copa del Rey in January. He is also unlikely to be fit for team's game against Athletic Bilbao in the Spanish Super Cup in Saudi Arabia, also in January. Yamal has already missed time because of a right-ankle injury earlier this season, an ailment that also kept him from playing some matches with Spain's national team. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
17 December,2024 10:15 AM IST | Barcelona | AP | PTIADVERTISEMENT
