Klitschko downs Sanders, Salah ignites Liverpool
● April 24 1997: Pep Guardiola scores the second goal in a 2-0 victory over Fiorentina in Barcelona’s European Cup Winners’ Cup semifinal second-leg match in Florence.
After a 1-1 draw in the first leg, goals from Fernando Couto and Guardiola sealed a 3-1 aggregate victory that took Barcelona to the final, where they beat holders Paris St Germain 1-0.
Guardiola retired in 2006 and took charge of Barcelona two years later, going on to become his boyhood club’s most successful manager, winning 14 titles in four seasons.
● April 24 2004: Ukraine’s Vitali Klitschko beats SA’s Corrie Sanders in an eighth-round technical knockout that gave him the vacant WBC and The Ring heavyweight titles in Los Angeles. Klitschko had lost the belts after being beaten by Lennox Lewis in 2003. Lewis vacated the titles upon his retirement and Klitschko, the mandatory challenger after his victory against Kirk Johnson, beat Sanders to regain the titles.
A three-time world heavyweight champion, Klitschko retired in 2013 having won 45 of his 47 fights, 41 by knockout.
● April 24 2005: Alexander Vinokourov of Kazakhstan wins the Liege-Bastogne-Liege cycle race in Ans, Belgium.
Vinokourov and Germany’s Jens Voigt broke away from the pack 72km from the finish line and the Kazakh held off the German in the final sprint to win the event for the first time.
Vinokourov, a two-time winner at the Liege-Bastogne-Liege, also won four Tour de France stages and gold in the 2012 London Olympics road race.
● April 24 2005: Renault’s Fernando Alonso holds off Ferrari’s Michael Schumacher to win the San Marino Grand Prix by twotenths of a second at the Imola circuit in Italy.
Schumacher began the race from 13th on the grid but quickly moved up the field and challenged race leader Alonso over the final 12 laps of the circuit.
However, the Spaniard held his nerve to claim his third successive race and first at San Marino.
● April 24 2010: Zlatan Ibrahimovic scores Barcelona’s final goal in a 3-1 win over Xerez in a La Liga match at the Camp Nou stadium, Barcelona.
Goals from Jeffren, Thierry Henry and Ibrahimovic sealed a comfortable victory and ensured Barcelona stayed top of the league, four points ahead of second-placed Real Madrid.
Ibrahimovic finished the campaign with 16 league goals and Barcelona won the title.
● April 24 2011: Celtic fans show their support for manager Neil Lennon during their 0-0 draw with Rangers in a Premier League clash at Ibrox Stadium.
Lennon, his lawyer Paul McBride and Labour politician Trish Godman were sent parcel bombs in the months leading up to the game.
Two packages were intercepted by the Royal Mail and a third delivered before suspicious staff contacted the police. Two men in their 40s were later arrested, found guilty of conspiracy to assault and jailed for five years each for the crime.
● April 24 2018: Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah scores the first of his two goals in a 5-2 win over AS Roma in their Champions League semifinal first-leg clash at Anfield.
Liverpool lost the second leg 4-2 but progressed to the final 7-6 on aggregate. Salah, however, was substituted in the first half of the final after injuring his shoulder and Liverpool lost 3-1 to Real Madrid.
The Egyptian scored 44 goals in all competitions in his first season with Liverpool, who went on to win the Champions League the following year when they defeated Tottenham Hotspur in the final.