Liverpool halfway to CL final
Mohamed Salah produced two world-class finishes and set up goals for Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino to lead host Liverpool to a 5-2 win over former club Roma yesterday, leaving the English team in sight of the Champions League final.
Salah’s display was as exquisite as Roma’s defending was naive, with Liverpool scoring all of its goals in a breathtaking 33-minute spell either side of halftime amid a cauldron of noise at Anfield.
The Italian side came back from a 4-1 first-leg loss to Barcelona in the quarterfinals, and consolation goals in the final nine minutes from Edin Dzeko and Diego Perotti has given them a similar deficit to overcome.
In the latest virtuoso performance of his stunning first season at Liverpool, Salah curled a shot into the top corner in the 36th minute and doubled the lead in the 45th with a dinked finish that is fast becoming his trademark. He is now on 43 goals for the season in all competitions with potentially five games left.
“Outstanding, pretty much undefendable,” Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp said of Salah. “He is playing a season that is not normal.” . . .
The Zimbabwe Football Association said one of its referees reported being offered a bribe of $10,000 to fix a CAF Confederation Cup game in Equatorial Guinea. It’s the second time in two weeks that a match official has claimed to have been approached to fix in Africa’s second-biggest club tournament.
Gladmore Mzambi, vice chairman of the Zimbabwe association’s referees committee, told The Associated Press that referee Norman Matemera reported being offered the bribe by representatives of Equatorial Guinea’s Deportivo Niefang club. They wanted the ref to influence the second leg of their knockout tie against Ivory Coast’s Williamsville AC on April 18 so they could overturn a 2-0 first-leg deficit.
Heels add transfer
North Carolina will add Ohio State transfer Antonio Williams to its backfield.
The school announced the running back is transferring with two years of eligibility remaining after he sits out this fall due to NCAA rules. He played in 12 games last year for the Buckeyes and 13 for his career, rushing 63 times for 318 yards and three touchdowns during his time there . . . .
The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee is losing its three top men’s basketball players after coach Pat Baldwin’s first year.
The leading scorers this season, junior guards Brock Stull and Jeremiah Bell and sophomore forward Bryce Nze, have received releases in order to transfer and play elsewhere.
Five scholarship players have left the team in less than a month. Sophomore guards August Haas and Jeremy Johnson left the program in March.
Goffin nets a win
David Goffin saved a match point to defeat Marcel Granollers of Spain 4-6, 7-6 (2), 6-2 in the second round of the Barcelona Open.
Goffin was down 5-1 in the second set before recovering to reach the third round for the second consecutive year in Barcelona.
The fourth-seeded Belgian will play either Leonardo Mayer of Argentina or Karen Khachanov of Russia.
Ecuador Open champion Roberto Carballes Baena of Spain defeated Andreas Haider-Maurer of Austria 6-2, 6-4 to set up a secondround encounter with 10-time champion Rafael Nadal.
Sixth-seeded Novak Djokovic will play his second-round match against Slovak Martin Klizan, who defeated Argentine Federico Delbonis 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-4 . . . .
Adonis Stevenson of Canada will defend his WBC light heavyweight title against Badou Jack of Sweden in Toronto on May 19.
The bout at Air Canada Centre will be the ninth title defense for Stevenson, who is from Quebec. His promoter had hoped to have the fight in Montreal, although his manager wanted it in Toronto.
Stevenson (29-1) is a 40-year-old power puncher eyeing a 25th career knockout. He made a title defense in Toronto in 2015 against unheralded Tommy Karpency at Ricoh Coliseum.