Sports

Ajax dumped Juventus out of the Champions League as a stunning 2-1 second-leg victory at Allianz Stadium on Tuesday completed a famous 3-2 quarter-final triumph.

Donny van de Beek and Matthijs de Ligt scored either side of half-time to overturn Cristiano Ronaldo s opener and send the Eredivisie side through to the last four of the competition for the first time since 1997.

The Bianconeri appeared on course to progress after Ronaldo, on target in last week s 1-1 draw in Amsterdam, nodded them ahead in contentious circumstances.

But Erik ten Hag s thrilling young side took command thereafter and collected another high-profile scalp having already ended Real Madrid’s reign in the previous round.

Ajax lost Noussair Mazraoui, deputising for suspended le…

As Inter Milan look to extend their buffer at the top of the Serie A table, there are a handful of eye-catching Italian affairs on the cards this week.

With five fixtures from across Serie A and Serie B respectively, we have taken a glance at a pair of intriguing Italian betting tips from Wednesday night.

19:30 Venezia vs Cittadella

While Venezia might have eventually fallen short in their bid to punch a play-off ticket last season, Wednesday’s hosts are sat in the driving seat to book a Serie A return in 2024. Opening up Wednesday’s showdown battling it out in the top-two chase, Paolo Vanoli’s men will be smelling the chance to lay down another marker here.

Last seen over the weekend picking up a dramatic 2-1 win away at Pisa, the Winged Lions h…

Jose Mourinho believes the Premier League table means little so early in the season despite Tottenham s fine start to the campaign.

Tottenham are sixth in the table – two points behind leaders Everton – ahead of hosting Brighton and Hove Albion on Sunday.

Spurs have lost just one of their opening six league games and have netted more goals (16) than anyone else, leading to suggestions they could challenge for the title.

But Tottenham head coach Mourinho said it was too early to make judgments based on the standings.

I believe the table now doesn t mean much. I believe that by February, March, you look to the table and understand the reality of the competition, he said.

A part of that special season with a special Leicester [in 2015-16], a pa…

Cristiano Ronaldo s performance will be decisive when Juventus meet Milan in a huge Serie A clash on Wednesday, says Andrea Pirlo.

The Juve forward has racked up 14 goals in 11 Serie A games this season, netting a double and adding an assist in Sunday s 4-1 thumping of Udinese.

Pirlo will take charge of a match against Milan, with whom he spent a decade as a player and won the Champions League twice, for the first time.

Despite Ronaldo s form, Juve sit 10 points adrift of impressive leaders Milan, albeit the Bianconeri have a game in hand. 

From the beginning we have tried to exploit Cristiano for his characteristics, clarity and incisiveness in the final third, said Juve boss Pirlo ahead of the San Siro battle.

Is he decisive? Of course, as he…

Having spent much of his time as Manchester United manager promising to do so, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer finally unleashed the kids in their Europa League opener against Astana.

Mason Greenwood, Tahith Chong and Angel Gomes were all given their first starts of the season, while Axel Tuanzebe lined up in defence after making only one substitute appearance since returning from a fruitful loan spell.

As a contest, it certainly was not as straightforward as Solskjaer would have hoped, as United made hard work of overcoming the Kazakh champions.

Yet Solskjaer s experimenting was just about vindicated by Greenwood getting the only goal of the game 17 minutes from time the forward bailing out his more experienced team-mates on a frustrating evening at Old Trafford.

N…

Neymar, Harry Kane and Erling Haaland are among the most notable players to have missed out on the top 10 of the Ballon d Or.

The first 20 names from the 30-man shortlist have been announced, with Haaland just failing to break in at 11th, while Neymar is 16th and Harry Kane is down in 23rd.

Chelsea striker Romelu Lukaku, who led Inter to their first Serie A title in 10 years last season, is just behind Haaland in 12th, while Manchester United s Bruno Fernandes did not make the top 20, finishing joint-21st in the voting.

Of players from Europe s top five leagues, only Bayern Munich centre-forward and Ballon d Or favourite Robert Lewandowski scored more goals in all competitions than Haaland s 38, which the Norway forward netted at a rapid rate of one every 87.66…

Ilkay Gundogan spent five years at Borussia Dortmund before joining Manchester City in 2016, making 157 appearances, winning the 2012 league and cup double and reaching the 2013 Champions League final with the German club. Now he must do his best against them, with City protecting a slim 2-1 going into the second leg of their Champions League quarterfinal clash at the Signal Iduna Park tonight (Wednesday).

Meanwhile, City have been heavily linked with Dortmund striker Erling Haaland, and Gundogan had a few words to say about the young Norwegian too.

https://twitter.com/footballdaily/status/1382254607225786369

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Serhou Guirassy scored a second-half goal for Stuttgart to secure a 1-0 victory away to Augsburg, setting a new club record in the process.

Stuttgart have won their 22nd match this term, an incredible feat as they have never secured this number of victories in a single season. What makes this even more remarkable is, this time last year they were playing in a relegation play-off.

Guirassy scored the opening goal of a game for the 11th time this season. He is the only non-German player to do so more often in a season since Bremen s Ailton in 2003-04 (12 times). The forward increased his tally to 26 for the season with his strike just three minutes into the second half.

Seb Hoeness side have scored in 30 of their 33 games only Bayer Leverkusen (31) have scored goal…

Carlo Ancelotti will be the first coach to oversee a team in five Champions League finals after Real Madrid s remarkable comeback against Manchester City.

Ancelotti, who returned to Madrid for a second spell in charge at the end of last season, became the first coach to win all of Europe s top five leagues when Los Blancos wrapped up their 35th LaLiga title on Saturday.

But it appeared a shot at a double would be evading Madrid when Riyad Mahrez struck in the 73rd minute at the Santiago Bernabeu to put City 1-0 up on Wednesday and 5-3 up in the tie.

However, two goals in the space of 91 seconds from Rodrygo restored parity on aggregate to force extra-time and then up stepped Karim Benzema to score from the penalty spot and complete one of the most outrageous come…

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Arsenal debutant Willian matched famous feats from the club s history in the Gunners 3-0 win against sorry Fulham on Saturday.

Following up their FA Cup and Community Shield triumphs, Mikel Arteta s side started their Premier League season in style at Craven Cottage.

Alexandre Lacazette got an eighth-minute opener, before Willian teed up his Brazilian compatriot and fellow new arrival Gabriel to score from a corner.

Willian had a second assist on his debut soon after when he played in Aubameyang, with the former Chelsea midfielder becoming the first Arsenal player to provide two assists on his Premier League bow for the club since Ray Parlour against Liverpool in August 1992.

2 Willian is the first player to assist two goal…