Sports
Holders Leverkusen stunned by third division Arminia Bielefeld in German Cup semis
Third-tier Arminia Bielefeld stunned holders Bayer Leverkusen 2-1 on Tuesday, coming from a goal down to reach the German Cup final for the first time in the club’s history.
Bielefeld, who have eliminated four Bundesliga teams in consecutive rounds in the competition, became the fourth third-tier side to reach the German Cup final.
“I am so proud of the team,” Bielefeld coach Michel Kniat said. “The whole region is feeling this. No one will be sleeping tonight.
“We defended with a lot of passion and that was the key. We worked extremely hard. It was great to go into the break with the lead and in the second half we kept up the pressure for what was a deserved win,” he added.
Leverkusen, who had never lost a German Cup match under coach Xabi Alonso, were made to work hard before taking the lead in the 17th minute with Jonathan Tah’s tap-in at the far post from a corner.
Their joy only lasted three minutes with Marius Woerl beating keeper Lukas Hradecky with a low drive to draw the hosts level.
Hradecky pulled off a spectacular save in the 26th when he blocked Sarenren Bazee’s point-blank effort but Bielefeld’s comeback was complete on the stroke of halftime with a close-range volley from Maximilian Grosser.
The hosts were relentless, keeping up the pressure and carving out several chances after the break before Leverkusen’s Patrik Schick hit the post with an 81st-minute header.
Leverkusen, who won the league and Cup double without defeat last season, are in second place in the Bundesliga, six points behind leaders Bayern Munich, with seven league games remaining.
“It is hard to say what went wrong so shortly after the game but when we say that Bielefeld deserved to reach the final then that means we did a lot of things wrong,” said Leverkusen midfielder Robert Andrich.
“We were missing all our usual strengths,” he added. “We could not have an impact up front and we made far too many mistakes at the back. It was clearly our worst game this season. We have to accept that we messed it up.”
VfB Stuttgart face RB Leipzig on Wednesday in the other semi-final.
Arsenal draw Brentford as hope of making it to the top continues to dwindle.
Arsenal after a superlative display against Real Madrid could not pull a win against Brentford at Emirates.
Most popular ex-captain and head coach of the Super Eagles, Christian Chukwu, is dead.
He was 74.
The football legend reportedly passed away in the early hours of Saturday though the exact circumstances surrounding the situation remain unclear as of the time of filing this report.
His longtime teammate and friend, Dr. Olusegun Odegbami, confirmed the development.
Odegbami, who won the 1980 Africa Nation Cup with Chukwu, said: ‘I just received the news that between 9:00 and 10:00 this morning, “Chairman” Christian Chukwu, MFR, my bosom friend and teammate, one of the greatest football players in Nigeria’s history, has passed on’.
Born 4 January 1951, Chukwu had an illustrious career with Rangers captaining them to many laurels on the domestic football scene and led the Flying Antelopes to continental glory by winning the now rested African Cup Winners Cup in 1977.
Mikel Arteta had asked the Arsenal fans to arrive early to create an impressive atmosphere inside the stadium, and the team responded by starting the game quickly with a number of dangerous crosses into the Madrid penalty area.
It took until the 20th minute for Madrid to have their first real chance, when Vinicius Jr curled an effort wide.
But Rice took control of the tie for Arsenal in the second half.
Declan Rice stunned Real Madrid with two brilliant free kicks – the first scored in his career – as Arsenal took a commanding 3-0 first leg lead in their Champions League quarter-final.
The Gunners were the better side all evening and took the lead in the 58th minute, when Rice curled the first of two excellent free-kicks round the Real Madrid wall into the corner of the net past Thibaut Courtois.
Rice scored his second of the night with a free-kick of equal quality 12 minutes later, bending another long-range effort into the top right-hand corner to leave Madrid stunned.
Mikel Merino then made sure it was a memorable night for Arsenal when he curled a shot into the bottom corner from inside the area just five minutes later.
Things only got worse for Madrid when Eduardo Camavinga was sent off in stoppage time for picking up a second yellow card.
Arsenal have not reached the semi-finals stage of the Champions League since the 2008-09 season, but they have given themselves a huge chance of progressing to the last four with this result. [BBC]
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