Real Madrid routs Liverpool; Tiger, Rory talk high-tech golf league
While both Real Madrid and Liverpool are rightly considered Champions League royalty, there can only be one king.
Down by two goals after 14 minutes at Anfield, defending champion Madrid came back to win 5-2 on Tuesday and take a commanding lead into the second leg of the round of 16 matchup.
Vinicius Jr. and Karim Benzema scored two goals each to stun the hosts — Liverpool conceded four goals in a home European match for the first time — and confirm the Spanish giant will take some stopping in its defense of the trophy.
“We played with personality, we produced goals. We want this Champions League again,” Benzema said. “And that produced a match which was lovely to play in and for those who were watching.”
If anything, this Madrid team looks more complete than the one that won last year’s Paris final. Yet this win echoed the memorable comebacks that led to that record-extending 14th Champions League title.
Vinicius, the 22-year-old rising star from Brazil, became the youngest player to score two goals against Liverpool at Anfield since Johan Cruyff for Ajax in 1966 when the Dutch great was 19.
Elsewhere: Victor
Osimhen scored again to help Napoli to a 2-0 win at Eintracht Frankfurt in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie. The Nigeria forward scored his 10th goal in his past eight appearances across all competitions, opening the scoring in the 40th minute after a period of concerted pressure from the visitors. Napoli captain Giovanni Di Lorenzo scored the second goal in the 65th minute. … Major League Soccer is expanding its playoffs to include the nine top finishers from each of its two conferences, 62 percent of the league’s teams. In the previous format, only the top seven teams from each conference made the playoffs.
WOODS, MCILROY BUILDING HIGH-TECH GOLF LEAGUE SITE
Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy put the silverplated shovels into a pile of dirt and left sizable divots. With that, their high-tech golf league got a bit closer to launch.
The ceremonial groundbreaking for the arena that will house the league that’s being called TGL was held Tuesday at Palm Beach State College, with Woods and McIlroy — two of the co-founders of TMRW Sports — there for the first step of actual construction.
TMRW — pronounced “tomorrow” — says TGL play will begin early next year, and the league will be in partnership with the
PGA Tour. Woods and McIlroy, so far, have 11 players committed to the league. Besides them, the league will include world No. 1
Jon Rahm, Justin Thomas, Adam Scott, Collin Morikawa, Matt Fitzpatrick, Max Homa, Billy Horschel, Justin Rose and Xander Schauffele.
“In terms of fan experience, it’s going to be nothing like golf has offered before,” McIlroy said.
The concept is this: six teams of three PGA Tour players, squaring off in match play on a datadriven virtual course that also includes a short-game complex for chipping and putting.
It’ll be played on Monday nights, and will take only two hours, with inarena fans all very close to the action. There will be 15 matches in the regular season, followed by semifinals and a final.
And you can bet on it. Literally, Woods said.
“Wagering is part of our sport, part of our culture,” Woods said, then turned and looked at McIlroy. “We don’t know how to play golf without it.”
TGL players will be mic’d-up, and fans can follow their thought process on shots.
“It’s going to give the viewer at home and also the people in the arena just more of an in-depth of sort of how we do things and how we sort of think through things in our head,” McIlroy said.