World Sports: Manchester City To Meet Real Madrid In UEFA Champions League Quarter-Finals - As It Happened

Hello and welcome to the highlights of all the sports news and events from across the globe for Friday, 15 March 2024. In WPL 2024 Eliminator, Mumbai Indians went down against Royal Challengers Bangalore by 5 runs. Elsewhere, Sri Lanka beat Bangladesh by 3 wickets in the second ODI. In football, the UEFA Champions League, Europa League and Conference League draws were announced. Catch the highlights of the sports world news for 15 March, Friday, here. (Cricket News | Football News)

Earlier today, star player Mohamed Salah scored one goal and set up three others to help Liverpool thrash Sparta Prague 6-1 at Anfield and progress to the Europa League quarter-finals. After winning the opening leg of their last 16 tie 5-1 in Prague, Liverpool scored four times in the first 14 minutes at home to advance on a thumping 11-2 aggregate score.

Late last night, Multan Sultans stormed into their fourth consecutive Pakistan Super League final by beating Peshawar Zalmi by seven wickets in a one-sided qualifier in Karachi. Opening batter Yasir Khan (54) and in-form Usman Khan (36 not out) powered Multan to 147-3 in 18.3 overs, after Peshawar were restricted to a sub-par 146-7. The Babar Azam-led Peshawar will get another opportunity to forge a place in Monday's final when they take on the winner of today's eliminator between Islamabad United and Quetta Gladiators, on Saturday.

South African seamer Lungi Ngidi, who was signed by the Delhi Capitals, has been ruled out of the upcoming Indian Premier League 2024 season due to an injury. The Capitals have roped in Australian all-rounder Jake Fraser-McGurk in place of Ngidi. McGurk, a 21-year-old hard-hitting opener and leg-spinner from Melbourne, made his ODI debut against the West Indies at Sydney last month.

Australian wicketkeeper-batter Matthew Wade has said that he will retire from first-class cricket after the forthcoming Sheffield Shield final, but will remain available for selection in white-ball formats, PTI reports. The Sheffield Shield final between Tasmania and Western Australia, beginning in Hobart on March 21, will be Wade's final red-ball match of a career that started in 2012. After that game, the left-handed batter will join Gujarat Titans for IPL 2024

Tennis legend Mahesh Bhupathi has entered the table tennis fray. The Bhupathi-backed SG Sports and Entertainment Pvt Ltd has become the eighth franchise of the Ultimate Table Tennis and it will represent Ahmedabad in the upcoming edition of the tournament. The team has been christened as Ahmedabad SG Pipers. The Ahmedabad SG Pipers will join Jaipur Patriots, who entered the UTT fray in August last year, and the two teams will make their debut when the league gets underway later this year.

The league-leading Boston Celtics have romped to a 127-112 win over the Phoenix Suns, becoming the first team to clinch an NBA 2023-24 playoff spot. Jaylen Brown scored 37 points and Jayson Tatum added 26 for the Celtics. Al Horford had 24 points with six of Boston’s season high-tying 25 3-pointers as the Celtics defeated Phoenix for the second time in a week to win their fourth straight game.

Tatum and Brown combined for 43 of the Celtics’ 65 first-half points and Boston broke open the game with an 18-6 run in the third quarter for a 97-78 cushion. Devin Booker scored 23 points and Bradley Beal added 22 and seven assists for the Suns, who have lost four of six on the road.

Sri Lanka skipper Kusal Mendis has won the toss and opted to bowl first against Bangladesh in the second ODI of their three-match series being played at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram. After winning the first ODI by six wickets, Bangladesh are looking to seal a series win in the second game.

Bangladesh are going into the second ODI with an unchanged playing XI. As for Sri Lanka, left-arm spin-bowling all-rounder Dunith Wellalage has made the cut ahead of off-spinner Maheesh Theekshana.

Playing XIs

Bangladesh: Litton Das, Soumya Sarkar, Najmul Hossain Shanto(c), Towhid Hridoy, Mahmudullah, Mushfiqur Rahim(w), Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Taijul Islam, Taskin Ahmed, Shoriful Islam, Tanzim Hasan Sakib.

Sri Lanka: Pathum Nissanka, Avishka Fernando, Kusal Mendis(w/c), Sadeera Samarawickrama, Charith Asalanka, Janith Liyanage, Wanindu Hasaranga, Dunith Wellalage, Pramod Madushan, Lahiru Kumara, Dilshan Madushanka.

Sporting legends like Michael Johnson, Martina Navratilova, Ruud Gullit and Nadia Comaneci will be in attendance at the 25th Laureus World Sports Awards to be held in Madrid on April 22, PTI reports. A minimum of 15 Olympic and Paralympic athletes will be attending the event, setting the stage for the upcoming 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.

After a glorious run that saw him beating multiple higher ranked players, India's veteran paddler Achanta Sharath Kamal finally stands vanquished at the Singapore Smash. World number 6 Felix Lebrun defeats the 41-year-old Indian 4-1 (11-9, 11-2, 11-7, 9-11, 11-8) in the men's singles quarter-finals to end his campaign.

We are all set for the start of the draw ceremony of the UEFA Champions League 2023-24 quarter-finals. The event is taking place in Nyon, Switzerland and will decide who faces whom in the last-eight stage of European football's premier competition.

The quarter-final and semi-final line-ups of UEFA Champions League 2023-24 have been revealed. Manchester City will travel to Real Madrid for the first leg of their last-eight clash, among other fixtures. This is how the games stack up:-

Arsenal vs Bayern Munich

Atletico Madrid vs Borussia Dortmund

Real Madrid vs Manchester City

Paris Saint-Germain vs Barcelona

Note: Team 1 in each of the fixtures will host the opening leg.

Semi-Final Fixtures

Atletico Madrid/Borussia Dortmund vs Paris Saint-Germain/Barcelona

Arsenal/Bayern Munich vs Real Madrid/Manchester City

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced that the stop clock system will be made a permanent feature of all full-member One-Day Internationals and T20 Internationals from the upcoming ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2024, starting June 1.

ICC had introduced the stop clock rule in December 2023, and it is currently on trial. The rule stipulates that the fielding side will have to start a new over within 60 seconds of the completion of the previous over.

Quarterfinals

April 11 - First leg

AC Milan (Italy) vs Roma (Italy)

Liverpool (England) vs Atalanta (Italy)

Bayer Leverkusen (Germany) vs West Ham (England)

Benfica (Portugal) vs Marseille (France)

April 18 - Second leg

Roma (Italy) vs AC Milan (Italy)

Atalanta (Italy) vs Liverpool (England)

West Ham (England) vs Bayer Leverkusen (Germany)

Marseille (France) vs Benfica (Portugal)

Semi-finals

May 2 - First leg

Benfica (Portugal) or Marseille (France) vs Liverpool (England) or Atalanta (Italy)

AC Milan (Italy) or Roma (Italy) vs Bayer Leverkusen (Germany) or West Ham (England)

May 9 - Second leg

Liverpool (England) or Atalanta (Italy) vs Benfica (Portugal) or Marseille (France)

Bayer Leverkusen (Germany) or West Ham (England) vs AC Milan (Italy) or Roma (Italy)

Otto Addo is returning for a second spell as coach of Ghana's men's national soccer team after Borussia Dortmund agreed to release him from his role in talent development at the end of the season, according to AP reports. Addo already coached Ghana on an interim basis for much of 2022, including at the World Cup in Qatar, when Ghana beat South Korea, but was still eliminated in the group stage.

Sarfaraz Khan said on Friday that his father, Naushad, urged him to play domestic matches as if he was playing for the country even when his selection to the Indian team was getting delayed despite scoring tall runs in the national circuit, according to PTI reports. Sarfaraz finally got the opportunity to play for India during the recently-concluded five-match Test series against England where he showcased his prowess by scoring three half-centuries.

The Bihar Cricket Association on Friday signed an agreement with the state government to acquire the Moin-ul-Haq Stadium here on a long-term lease, according to PTI reports. The venue is currently the Bihar cricket team's home ground. Established in 1969, it has hosted nine international fixtures and has a seating capacity of about 25,000.

Despite being mentioned as a possible replacement for Kylian Mbappe at Paris Saint-Germain, Marcus Rashford's future is at Manchester United, manager Erik ten Hag said Friday, according to AP reports. Mbappe will leave PSG at the end of the season when his contract expires and various reports claim the French champions have identified Rashford as a target when the transfer window opens.

Nakula Badanayak slammed a 39-ball 70 as India thrashed Sri Lanka by 90 runs in the fifth and final T20 to clinch the Samarth Championship for Blind Cricket 5-0 in New Delhi on Friday, according to PTI reports. Batting first, India made 227 for 5 with Nakula, Gudadappa and Durga Rao all contributing with the bat. Sri Lanka were then restricted to 137 for 7 as Durga Rao, Nilesh Yadav and Sanjay Kumar Shah picked a wicket each at the Karnail Singh Stadium in New Delhi.

Indian golfers Shiv Kapur and Veer Ahlawat shot 67 and 68 respectively in the second round to emerge as the only two Indians to make the cut at the International Series Macau in Macau on Friday, according to PTI reports. While Kapur was Tied-42 with a two-day total of five-under, Ahlawat (68-68) was in tied-60th place.

Real Madrid has filed a complaint with Spanish state prosecutors asking them to investigate the reported racist chants aimed at forward Vinicius Junior outside the stadiums of Atletico Madrid and Barcelona before Champions League games this week, according to AP reports.

Madrid said Friday that it asked prosecutors to request footage from security cameras outside the two stadiums “in order to identify the perpetrators of the abuse.”

World No. 1 Indian pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty bowed out in the men's doubles pre-quarterfinals of the All England Badminton Championships after a straight-game defeat against Muhammad Shohibul Fikri and Bagas Maulana of Indonesia in Birmingham, according to PTI reports. Satwik and Chirag on Thursday night lost 16-21 15-21 against the Indonesians, who were champions in 2022.

Royal Challengers Bangalore defeated defending champions Mumbai Indians by five runs in the Eliminator on Friday to set up a Women's Premier League title clash against Delhi Capitals. The match witnessed a fine all-round display from Australian Ellyse Perry who scored 66 off 50 balls and also took a wicket. Chasing a total of 135/6, Mumbai faltered in their chase due to some incisive bowling by Perry (1/29) and Shreyanka Patil (2/16) and could only manage to score 130 runs for the loss of six wickets. RCB lost their top three wickets inside the first four overs of Powerplay but managed to put up a fighting total. In reply, Mumbai struggled to gain momentum in their innings and lost it completely after Harmanpreet Kaur was dismissed for 33 in the 18th over.

Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar on Friday urged the BCCI to bring in the recently-launched incentive system for Tests into domestic cricket, saying it would encourage more players to participate and have fewer pull-outs, according to PTI reports. The BCCI announced its incentive policy right after the conclusion of the five-Test series against England while also naming its list of players who have been given contracts for the period of October 2023 to September 2024.

We have our two finalists of the WPL 2024 - Delhi Capitals and Royal Challengers Bangalore. RCB managed a victory of 5 runs against MI in a close game. Sri Lanka have also defeated Bangladesh to level the series at 1-1. We will be taking your leave. It was a busy day with so many announcements and updates. That's all from our side. Goodnight!