Man City thrash Bayern 3-0 as Haaland reaches another milestone

Rodri struck a wonder goal and Erling Haaland set another scoring record as Manchester City beat Bayern Munich 3-0 on Tuesday (April 11) to continue their quest for a first-ever Champions League title in their quarter-final first leg.
Manchester City's Erling Braut Haaland celebrates scoring their third goal - Champions League - Quarter Final - First Leg - Manchester City v Bayern Munich - Etihad Stadium, Manchester, the UK - April 11, 2023. (Photo: Reuters)
Manchester City's Erling Braut Haaland celebrates scoring their third goal - Champions League - Quarter Final - First Leg - Manchester City v Bayern Munich - Etihad Stadium, Manchester, the UK - April 11, 2023. (Photo: Reuters)

Haaland, who scored City's third goal of the night in the 76th minute, has 45 goals in all competitions, a single-season record for a Premier League player, moving ahead of Mo Salah and Ruud van Nistelrooy. Bayern's new manager Thomas Tuchel threw up his hands in disgust en route to his team's biggest defeat in the Champions League since a 3-0 loss to Paris St Germain in 2017.

* Inter Milan struck in the second half through Nicolo Barella and Romelu Lukaku for a 2-0 win at Benfica in their Champions League quarter-final, first leg on Tuesday which put them on course for a first last-four appearance since they won the trophy in 2010. The two goals hand Inter a major advantage for the return leg at San Siro next Wednesday, where they will be heavily fancied to progress to an all-Italian semi-final against either neighbours AC Milan or Napoli who meet this Wednesday.

* Novak Djokovic briefly ran into a spot of bother as he fought his way into the third round of the Monte Carlo Masters with a 7-6(5) 6-2 victory against Russian qualifier Ivan Gakhov on Tuesday. German Alexander Zverev, who suffered a serious ankle injury in his French Open semi-final clash against Rafael Nadal, was back on the claycourts with a 3-6 6-2 6-4 first-round win against Kazakhstan's Alexander Bublik. Later on Tuesday, second seed Stefanos Tstitsipas barely broke sweat to reach the third round against Frenchman Benjamin Bonzi, who abandoned with a wrist injury while trailing 4-1 in the first set.

* Goals from Sam Kerr and Charlotte Grant earned Australia a 2-0 win over England at a rainy Brentford Community Stadium on Tuesday to end a 30-match unbeaten run for Sarina Wiegman's team. Australia play France in a friendly on July 14, before their World Cup opener against Ireland six days later. England kick off their World Cup campaign against Group D opponents Haiti on July 22.

* The rematch of an Indonesian football game that ended in one of the world's worst stadium stampedes last year was played on Tuesday with no spectators present. Fierce rivals Persebaya and Arema FC last met in October 2022 when the match ended in a crush in which 135 people were killed. Persebaya, who are seventh in the top-flight Liga 1 standings, won 1-0 after Muhammad Iqbal scored in the 79th minute.

* Nottingham Forest Sporting Director Filippo Giraldi has been relieved of his duties with immediate effect, after just six months in the role, the struggling Premier League side said on Tuesday. Giraldi, hired in October, joined the promoted club after they had made more than 20 signings in the close season upon their return to the top flight. He left the team in the relegation zone and winless in their last nine games.

* A Spanish court has given AS Monaco striker Wissam Ben Yedder a six-month suspended prison sentence and fined him €133,799 (US$145,961) for tax offences during his time as a Sevilla player. French national Ben Yedder, who played for Sevilla between 2016 and 2019, failed to pay his taxes on time in 2017, according to the court document dated Mar 9 and disclosed on Tuesday.

* Chelsea are looking forward to the challenge of being underdogs at Real Madrid in their Champions League quarter-final, first leg on Wednesday, interim manager Frank Lampard said. Lampard got off to a losing start on his return to the hot seat at the club in a caretaker capacity on Saturday, with the Blues beaten 1-0 at Wolverhampton Wanderers. Last term they also faced Real Madrid in the quarter-finals and won the return leg at the Santiago Bernabeu 3-2 but were knocked out on aggregate due to a 3-1 loss at home.

* AC Milan can expect a different approach from Napoli in their Champions League quarter-final, first leg on Wednesday after thrashing them 4-0 away in Serie A earlier this month, manager Stefano Pioli said, adding that concentration will be key. Fourth-placed Milan earned a superb victory over league leaders Napoli on April 2 but were well below par on Friday when they were held to a 0-0 stalemate by visitors Empoli. Runaway leaders Napoli are 16 points clear in Serie A, having only dropped points five times in 29 league games this season, and have enjoyed a stellar Champions League campaign.

* Lionel Messi belongs at Barcelona, striker Robert Lewandowski said as he held out hope on Tuesday that Argentina's World Cup winning captain would return to the LaLiga club. Lewandowski, who attended a presentation of the 18th edition of the Sport Solidarity Stories book, a fundraising event for the Lovaas Foundation, said he wanted to link up in attack with Messi, currently at Paris St Germain, next season.

* Leaders Arsenal's home game against Chelsea has been postponed to May 2 due to policing issues, the Premier League said on Tuesday. The game was scheduled to be played on Saturday, April 29 at the Emirates Stadium.

* Honda's Marc Marquez will miss MotoGP's Grand Prix of the Americas in Austin this weekend as he continues to recover from a hand injury. The Spaniard, an eight times world champion with six titles in the top category, underwent surgery to his right hand after a collision in the season-opening race in Portugal last month.

* The United States will host a pre-season tournament featuring six Premier League clubs from July 22-30, the English top-flight league said on Tuesday. The six clubs involved in the tournament are Aston Villa, Brentford, Brighton & Hove Albion, Chelsea, Fulham and Newcastle United. The teams will compete in nine matches across five cities.

* Real Madrid head coach Carlo Ancelotti backed Frank Lampard to do well as manager of his former side Chelsea and ruled himself out of a return to the Premier League club ahead of the two teams' Champions League quarter-final first leg on Wednesday. Ancelotti, who guided Chelsea to the Premier League and FA Cup double in 2009-10, will come up against his former player Frank Lampard at the Santiago Bernabeu in the midweek clash, after the Englishman was appointed Chelsea's interim manager.

* Asian champions Al Hilal Coach Ramon Diaz said his team will fight to defend their Saudi Pro League title after a disappointing 2-2 draw against Al Tai on Monday that left them 10 points behind league leaders Al Ittihad. Argentine coach Diaz is also looking to defend his team's AFC Champions League title when they host Urawa Red Diamonds of Japan in the first leg on April 29. The second leg will be away at Saitama Stadium on May 6.

* Al-Duhail's Argentine coach Hernan Crespo said his side will target a domestic treble by clinching the Qatar Stars League, after their surprise loss on Monday to Al-Sailiya in the Emir of Qatar Cup quarter-finals. Al-Duhail beat arch rivals Al-Sadd 2-0 last Thursday to win the Qatar Cup, after winning the Qatar Stars League Cup on March 28 with a 1-0 victory over Umm Salal.

* Reading sacked Paul Ince as manager on Tuesday with the club 22nd in the Championship and in danger of relegation to the third tier of English soccer after being docked six points last week. Noel Hunt, manager of the under-21 side, will take over for the remaining five games of the season, the club said in a statement.

REUTERS