Quick Hitters Man United, Chelsea advance in CL; Barcelona made to wait
energized by a change of manager and another opportunistic finish by Cristiano ronaldo, manchester United qualified for the knockout stage of the Champions League with a game to spare on Tuesday.
another newly appointed coach sill has work to do, though, to get barcelona into the last 16.
United was led for the first time by michael Carrick following the weekend firing of ole Gunnar solskjaer and, just like his predecessor, the interim manager was left to be thankful for a goal by the Champions League’s record scorer.
ronaldo produced a sublime lobbed finish to put United ahead against villarreal and a 90th-minute strike by Jadon sancho – his first goal since joining for $100 million in the offseason – sealed a 2-0 win to secure progress as the winner of Group F. ronaldo has scored in all five group games so far, and now has a record-extending 140 Champions League goals in his career.
another english team, defending champion Chelsea, also advanced on the back of a 4-0 win over already-qualified Juventus, which slumped to its heaviest ever loss in the Champions League.
With Liverpool also qualified and manchester City likely to join them, the Premier League will again be well represented in the knockout stage.
barcelona, now coached by former star midfielder Xavi Hernandez, has advanced from its group every season for almost two decades but a 0-0 draw at home to benfica means the spanish club might need to beat bayern munich in the final round of games to advance.
all four teams in Group G are separated by three points and could still qualify heading into their last games after wins for
Lille and sevilla over salzburg and Wolfsburg, respectively.
Iron Bowl quarterbacks have different pedigrees, same goal
bryce young, alabama’s Heisman Trophy-contending quarterback, hasn’t ever started against auburn.
by that measure, if not many others, the Tigers’ new starter
T.J. Finley has an edge entering saturday’s Iron bowl. He started against the third-ranked Crimson Tide for LsU last season in a
55-17 loss, getting benched and ultimately losing his starting job to max Johnson.
young is without a doubt the headliner at quarterback in the state, a leading Heisman contender coming off a record-setting performance on a team that is still in position to play for a southeastern Conference title and make the playoffs.
“I got a chance to watch him play in high school and he was a very good player then and has improved even more,” said auburn coach bryan Harsin, then at boise state. “you can see the growth, maturity he’s made through this season.”
Finley just made his first start for auburn in a loss at south Carolina following the season-ending ankle injury to bo nix. His last start for LsU came against alabama last season, when he went 14 of 28 for 144 yards before being replaced by Johnson.
“I think the difference is, here at auburn it’s an Iron bowl,” Finley said. “at LsU it’s just a rivalry game, but here it’s something much more special. To be a part of it is an unbelievable experience.”