Bayern cruises into Champions quarters
BAYERN MUNICH 2, PSG 0
Eric Maxim Choupo-moting’s goal lifted Bayern Munich past Paris Saint- Germain and into the quarterfinals of the Champions League on Wednesday.
After former PSG forward Kingsley Coman scored in the first leg, Choupo-moting — another former PSG player — extended Bayern’s lead in the second leg in a 2-0 victory Wednesday in Munich to complete a 3-0 win on aggregate in the round of 16.
Shortly after having a goal ruled out for offside and inadvertently blocking a teammate’s shot, Choupo-moting scored in the 61st minute to put Bayern on course for the quarterfinals and send Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappé and PSG heading toward its earliest Champions League exit since 2018-19.
Leon Goretzka and Thomas Müller teamed up to take the ball off Marco Verratti, and Goretzka squared the ball for Choupo-moting to apply a simple finish with goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma stranded.
Two substitutes then linked up to make sure of the win on the counter in the 89th, with João Cancelo surging down the right flank before playing in Serge Gnabry to score.
PSG had dominated the first half of the game and was denied the lead only by a goal-line clearance from Bayern’s Matthijs de Ligt. . . .
AC Milan advanced to the quarterfinals of the Champions League after holding 10-man Tottenham to a goalless draw in London.
Brahim Diaz’s strike in the first leg of the round-of-16 matchup was enough to separate the teams.
Seven-time European champion Milan cruised through the game at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, which saw Cristian Romero sent off in the second half.
Harry Kane’s 94th-minute header was the closest the home team came to leveling the score on aggregate — before Milan substitute Divock Origi hit the post in a frantic finish.
• CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE: Iván Moreno scored in the 55th minute to give Mexican side León a 1-0 victory over host Tauro FC in a round-of-16 first-leg match in Panama City. . . .
Jorge Benguche scored a pair of second-half goals to lead host Olimpia to a 4-1 victory over Mexican club Atlas FC in a round-of-16 first-leg match in Pedro Sula, Honduras.
Women’s Gold Cup coming
The first Concacaf W Gold Cup, a women’s edition of the long-running men’s tournament, will be played in the United States early next year.
The governing body for soccer in North and Central America and the Caribbean announced Wednesday that qualification for teams that have not already earned berths will start in September. The host cities for the event will be announced later.
The tournament opens Feb. 17. After a six-team preliminary round, 12 teams will play in a group stage, including eight teams from Concacaf and four teams from Conmebol, the South American region. The top teams advance to a knockout round ahead of the final March 10, 2024.
The Gold Cup tournament will be played when the annual Shebelieves Cup is normally held. As a result, U.S. Soccer said it is looking at different dates for the domestic tournament next year.
• BELGIUM: Scott Parker was fired by Club Brugge after less than three months in charge of the Belgian champion in the wake of Tuesday’s 5-1 loss at Benfica that eliminated it from the Champions League.
In 12 matches with Brugge, Parker managed just two wins.
• NETHERLANDS: A soccer hooligan who ran onto the field during PSV Eindhoven’s Europa League match against Sevilla and punched the Spanish club’s goalkeeper in the face was sentenced to two months in prison.
The 20-year-old, who was identified as Dylano K. in line with Dutch privacy guidelines, was convicted of assaulting goalkeeper Marko Dmitrovic and breaching a stadium ban imposed by the Dutch soccer federation, the KNVB. Local authorities also banned him from the area around PSV’S stadium.