Sport

UEFA Holds 2020/2021 UCL Draws

By Web News 3034

The group state draws for the 2020/2021 season of UEFA’s flagship competition, the UEFA Champions League will hold today.

The draws take place from 4:00 PM Nigerian time on Thursday 1 October at the RTS studios in Geneva, Switzerland.

The draws will pit last year’s winners, Bayern Munich of Germany against other top teams across all European football leagues who qualified for the group stage either via topping their various leagues or winning their playoff matches.

Teams like winners of last season’s UEFA Europa League, Sevilla FC of Spain, their La Liga counterparts, Real Madrid, champions of England, Liverpool, Juventus of Italy, Paris Saint-Germain of France, Russia’s Zenit St. Petersburg and Portuguese League champions FC Porto will be in Pot 1 for the draws.

While other top teams like Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea FC, all of England, FC Barcelona and Atletico Madrid of Spain, FC Dortmund of Germany and so on will be in pot 2.

Also, winners of various categories of UEFA Awards will be announced at the awards, with both Manuel Neuer and Robert Lewandowski of FC Bayern Munich and Kevin De Bruyne of Manchester City in the running for the top prize.

Maxwell Oyekunle

Sport

Bayern Munich Beat PSG to Win Champions League

By Web News 839

Bayern Munich overcame Paris St-Germain in a tightly contested Champions League final in Lisbon to claim the crown for the sixth time.

Kingsley Coman, who started his career at PSG, settled a tense affair with a 59th-minute header at the far post from Joshua Kimmich’s cross to leave the French giants still searching for that elusive Champions League triumph.

It was a night of joy for Bayern coach Hansi Flick, who added the Champions League to the Bundesliga after initially taking over as interim coach from sacked Niko Kovac in November.

In contrast, it was a night of bitter disappointment for PSG’s two attacking superstars Neymar and Kylian Mbappe, who failed to produce their best and found themselves frustrated by Bayern keeper and man of the match Manuel Neuer when they had the best of the first-half chances.

Mbappe’s pain increased in the second half when he looked to be tripped by Kimmich in the area, but PSG’s penalty claims were ignored – leaving Bayern to celebrate being crowned champions of Europe once more, becoming the first team to win the trophy by winning every game Champions League game in a single campaign.

BBC Sports

Sport

Bayern Munich Set up UCL Final with PSG, Beat Lyon

By Web News 911

Bayern Munich’s relentless march through this season’s Champions League continued as they brushed aside Lyon to book an 11th appearance in the final of the competition and a showdown with Paris St-Germain.

The German champions have barely had a glove laid on them in Europe this season, with this their 10th straight Champions League win – equalling the record for winning streaks in the competition set by Real Madrid in 2015 and Bayern themselves in 2013 – as part of a 28-game unbeaten run stretching back to December.

And Lyon simply did not have ability or approach over the 90 minutes to buck that trend.

The French side will be left to rue two missed opportunities in the opening quarter, though, with Memphis Depay shooting wide after running clear before Karl Toko Ekambi struck the upright from close range after cutting in from the right.

Moments after the latter effort, Serge Gnabry moved infield and fired a stunning opener for Bayern, who never looked back.

Gnabry also scored the second, with a much simpler finish, following up to tap in after Anthony Lopes had blocked Robert Lewandowski’s scuffed effort from point-blank range.

Ekambi could have made matters interesting had he been able to find a way past Manuel Neuer after being set up by Houssem Aouar, but the chance went begging and Lyon’s belief with it.

Philippe Coutinho saw a finish ruled out for offside before Lewandowski had the final word, scoring for the ninth European game on the bounce with a header – his 15th in the competition this season.

Bayern’s win ends their run of having lost the previous four Champions League semi-finals in which they had appeared. It also keeps them on course for a treble of trophies in Hansi Flick’s stellar debut campaign as coach.

Sunday’s final promises to be a thriller, pitting arguably the best side in world football against one of the planet’s finest forward lines.

BBC Sports

Sport

UCL: Bayern Munich Maul Barcelona 8-2

By Web News 805

Bayern Munich sent out an emphatic and ominous message to their Champions League rivals with an absolute demolition of fellow European heavyweights Barcelona in a gloriously chaotic and utterly one-sided quarter-final tie in Lisbon.

The high-pressing, energetic and ruthless German champions were on a different level to their Spanish rivals, as they have been for pretty much every opponent they have faced in Europe this season and in every competition since football restarted in June.

They scored four times in the first half, added another quartet in the second, and could easily have netted more against a shell-shocked and shambolic Barca side whose defensive errors were too numerous to recount and who now have a new and embarrassing record defeat in European competition to their name.

Bayern were not entirely infallible, though, with Barca’s forward players – inevitably led by Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez – regularly finding space in behind to cause problems and test Manuel Neuer.

In a dizzyingly madcap opening 10 minutes, Thomas Muller fired Bayern ahead following a one-two with Robert Lewandowski and David Alaba wildly sliced a Jordi Alba cross into his own net to restore parity, before Suarez was denied by Neuer and Messi hit the post with a curling cross through a packed box.

The following 22 minutes took the game away from Barca, with Ivan Perisic smashing in a deflected second for Bayern before Serge Gnabry finished off a delightful ball over the top from Leon Goretzka, and Muller poked in his second at the near post.

A neat turn and finish from Suarez after the break gave the Spanish side hope, but this was snuffed out by arguably the pick of the goals – a Joshua Kimmich side-foot finish following some stunning skill and speed and excellent delivery from Alphonso Davies.

Robert Lewandowski headed his 14th Champions League goal in just eight games before salt was poured into Barca’s deep wounds as Philippe Coutinho – on loan from the Spanish side – netted a seventh and eighth via close-range finishes after coming off the bench.

Bayern are by far the most decorated side left in the competition, having won the European Cup/Champions League on five occasions, most recently in 2013 and look comfortably the strongest left in this season’s tournament.

They will find out their semi-final opponent on Saturday, when England’s last remaining challenger Manchester City face French side Lyon.

BBC Sports News