Man utd exit champions League as racism row interrupts PSG game
Paris, France (AFP) — Manchester United were knocked out of the Champions League after a 3-2 defeat by rb Leipzig yesterday, while Paris saint-germain’s qualification for the last 16 was overshadowed by a racism row involving a match official that caused their game against istanbul Basaksehir to be suspended for 24 hours.
Cristiano Ronaldo scored two penalties as Juventus blew away Lionel Messi’s struggling Barcelona 3-0 to wrest first place in Group G away from the Spanish giants.
Lazio also secured a spot in the knockout rounds for the first time in two decades following a tense 2-2 draw at home to Club Brugge in the pouring rain in Rome.
Requiring just a point to advance, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side fell behind to an Angelino goal inside two minutes in Germany. Amadou Haidara soon added a second and United were trailing 3-0 heading into the final quarter after a Justin Kluivert strike.
Bruno Fernandes’s penalty and a deflected Paul Pogba header gave United a lifeline but Leipzig, who reached the semi-finals last term, held on to move top of Group H on 12 points.
They must wait until today to find out whether they finish first or second in the section, after the contest between last season’s runners-up PSG and Turkish champions Basaksehir was interrupted at 0-0 in the 14th minute.
Players walked off in Paris amid allegations of racism by one of the fourth official, in an unprecedented incident in European football’s elite club competition.
The row erupted after Basaksehir assistant coach Pierre Webo, the former Cameroon international, was shown a red card during a fierce row on the touchline with staff from the Turkish club appearing to accuse the official of using a racist term.
Television microphones picked up a furious Webo repeatedly asking why a racist term had been used to describe him.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he “strongly” condemned the incident, while UEFA announced it would open a “thorough investigation”.
In a statement, UEFA confirmed the game would, “on an exceptional basis”, restart from where it was stopped on Wednesday at 1755 GMT, “with a new team of match officials”.
PSG, who advanced following United’s loss, will claim top spot with victory.
Moukoko enters record books
Andrea Pirlo’s Juventus avenged a 2-0 home loss to Barcelona in October when Ronaldo was sidelined with COVID-19, heaping more pressure on Barca coach Ronald Koeman.
Weston Mckennie scored in between Ronaldo’s two spot-kicks at the Camp Nou as Barca, off to their worst La Liga start in 33 years, were denied a sixth win from six in Europe.
Denys Popov’s header earned Dynamo Kiev a 1-0 victory over their former star Serhiy Rebrov and Ferencvaros in the group’s other game, offering them a place in the Europa League.
Borussia Dortmund striker Youssoufa Moukoko, aged 16 years and 18 days, became the youngest player in Champions League history as he came off the bench in a 2-1 victory away to Zenit Saint Petersburg.
Cameroon-born Moukoko, who made his European debut as a 58th-minute substitute in Russia, broke the previous record of Celestine Babayaro, who was 16 years and 87 days when he played for Anderlecht in November 1994.
Dortmund, who had already qualified for the last 16, equalised within minutes of Moukoko’s introduction, with Lukasz Piszczek cancelling out Sebastian Driussi’s first-half goal before Axel Witsel scored the winner.
Jorginho spared Chelsea’s blushes as his penalty rescued a 1-1 draw against Krasnodar in Group E following Remy Cabella’s opener in London.
Frank Lampard’s side were already assured of finishing top, while goals from Jules Kounde and two Youssef Ennesyri eased Sevilla to a 3-1 victory at Rennes.
breadth of the island would widen the net to get more physically challenged persons who could qualify to play a particular sport but were located outside of Kingston. “I have charged each parish president to have a national draft every two years in the parish where they look for and unearth talent,” he said.
“And our coaches will come each time there is a draft and help select particular talents and so by Paris 2024 (Paralympic Games) we can have on our menu at least 10 competitive sports represented in Paris.
“We can only do that by going islandwide and looking for the talent and ensuring that we are able to nurture these talents to transition them to the Paralympic stage,” Samuda noted.