Champions League semi-finals

The most prestigious competition in club football Champions League has reached the semi-final stage. Four big European clubs remain in the race for the trophy, among them is one club who has surprised a lot of football fans this season. Climbing their way up to the French Ligue-1 just a few years back from now, AS Monaco FC has shown great talent and willpower by reaching the semi-finals this season, already eliminating two big clubs from the competition in the playoffs so far. Manchester City and Borussia Dortmund were no matches for the Monegasques who scored a combined amount of six goals in the first and second legs against both teams. Scoring as many goals as Barcelona this season, Europe`s top scorers Monaco has shown us some very entertaining football throughout the season, and they should be considered as a serious contender for the Champions League title.

Monaco thump City in an epic comeback

The Champions league round of 16 was held in Nyon the 12th December last year. Finishing second in group C, Manchester City was to face one of the group winners. Pep Guardiola was surely very happy about the draw result. The Citizens would face the French club AS Monaco FC avoiding bigger clubs such as Barcelona and Juventus. With his experience of the European competitions, the expectations from Pep leading Manchester City to the Champions league glory this season were quite high. 

Monaco, on the other hand, had lots of ups and downs in the last 15 years from their last appearance in Champions league finals in the 2003-04 season. They got relegated to Ligue 2 six years later. The club's fortune changed when Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev bought the majority of the club in 2011. Just two years later, Monaco earned their promotion back to Ligue 1 with Claudio Ranieri as their new manager. In 2013, Monaco spent roughly £140 million on the transfer market to strengthen their squad (including the transfer of Radamel Falcao from Atletico). However, there were not many high expectations from the team due to their inconsistency and considering the amount of money pumped into Manchester City squad after they were bought by Abu Dhabi United Group in 2008.

Chelsea advance to FA cup semi-finals

The last remaining quarterfinal of the FA cup was played yesterday evening as Jose Mourinho`s Manchester United traveled to London, to face Conte`s Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. Both teams had been in a good form lately, Manchester United had not lost a league game since their last visit to Stamford Bridge on the 23rd October last year when Chelsea won the Red Devils 4-0, and Chelsea had lost just three league games throughout the whole season. 

N`golo Kanté scored the only goal of the match to set Chelsea to the semis ©Getty Images

Sports culture in the Caribbean – The myth buster

West Indies Cricket Team, with the plethora of talent and the great fervour with which they played the game left fans and rivals alike in awe for the best part of two decades in the 20th century. Right from the era when they were given the Test status produced some brilliant cricketers. Even in the first ever Test series against England in 1928, West Indies had the likes of George Challenor, Freddie Martin, Herman Griffith and above all Learie Constantine. The earlier unofficial matches which the team played against the county teams and other unofficial tests from the 1890s certainly helped the game develop in the Caribbean.

While athletics and other sports have its own fan following, cricket holds a special place in hearts of the people.©Sky Sports 

Camp Nou miracle sees Braca in quarters

The first four teams advancing to the Champions League quarter-finals have been confirmed, and the remaining four round of 16-fixtures will be played next week on Tuesday and Wednesday. Arsenal`s Champions League campaign ended once again at this stage of the competition in a humiliating way, as they lost 10-2 on aggregate to their rivals from Germany Bayern Munchen. The second fixture between these clubs looked promising for The Gunners as Theo Walcott scored for the London club in the first half, raising hope for Wenger's squad towards the second half. Only ten minutes in the second half Arsenal`s captain, French center-back Laurent Koscielny tackles Robert Lewandowski in the penalty area and receives a red card. Lewandowski does not waste the opportunity and scores from the penalty shot, tying the game. With the one man advantage on the pitch, Bayern Munchen dominates the second half, scoring five goals behind Arsenals goalkeeper David Ospina. Winning both the first and second leg 5-1, Bayern Munchen proves that they are still one of the best clubs in Europe, and rightfully take the first spot in the top 8 of this year's Champions League. 

Misbah, The Savior - A Fan's view

Misbah has been the savior of Pakistan Cricket Team for years now © Getty Images

He smiled, he half shrugged and started to walk off. Misbah-ul-Haq just thought he was sold the dummy by his partner and was run out. The replays showed that he wasn’t. But it did not matter. Misbah had done his job. Had it not been for Misbah’s knock of 61, Lahore would have battered Islamabad a couple of weeks ago on Saturday and nobody would have complained.

Champions League : Playoffs

The first leg of the Champions League playoffs has been played, and some teams are looking quite comfortable before the second leg that will be played in three of weeks from now.

The only big surprise so far has been Barcelona`s terrible form in Paris. Cavani, Di Maria, and Draxler were in top form and made breaking up Barcelona`s defensive lines look very easy. Losing 4-0 to Paris Saint-Germain, Barcelona has the worst possible starting point for the second match played on Camp Nou the 8th of March. Even if Barcelona is known to dominate the pitch in their home games, it is hard to believe that PSG would give up four goals against them, especially if they keep pressing Barcelona high like last week in Paris. Discussion about whether or not PSG has what it takes to be a successful club in Europe has been going on for years now, and winning against Barcelona with four goals proves that they are capable of advancing far in this competition, perhaps even all the way to the final. Barcelona has to improve their game a lot for the second leg if they want to fight for the Champions League title this year.

PSG have been the dark horse of this season (Source:Reuters)

UEFA Champions League - The favorites

The most prestigious competition in club football, the UEFA Champions League is down to the last 16 teams, and the playoffs stage starts this evening. The defending title holders and one of the favorites to win the cup, Real Madrid, holds the record of most titles, winning the competition 11 times,  Los Blancos did not play very convincingly in the group stage, winning only three of their six games, but with a squad including Christiano Ronaldo, you can expect this team to advance all the way to the final again if they can knock out their opponent Napoli from the competition. Napoli lost just one game in the group stage, and are well equipped to challenge Real Madrid. Last year's runners-up tea, Atletico Madrid will face Bayer 04 Leverkusen, and should most likely advance to the next stage from this match. Winning five of their six games in the group stage, Atletico should find it easy to get to the quarter-finals.

Real Madrid would be looking to win the title for record twelfth time (AFP)

NHL: Stars of tomorrow

This season NHL has presented some sensational rookies on the ice. Already one year before the 2016 NHL-draft the speculations about who will be selected first overall was heavily pointing towards the young American center Auston Matthews. Due to his date of birth, he was not eligible in the 2015-draft, being two days too young. Ever since he has been topping charts and scout reports, making it no surprise at all that he got picked first overall in the 2016-draft by Toronto Maple Leafs. Matthews became the first U.S.-born player drafted first since Patrick Kane in 2007. Winning two U-18 World Junior Championship gold medals playing for the USA, the expectations for Matthews were high for his first NHL season, and so far he has delivered with his incredible play reading and raw skill. In the first game of the season, Auston Matthews showed everyone he was ready for the big league by scoring all of Toronto's four goals in their 4-3 win against Ottawa Senators, making history by being the only player who has managed to score four goals in his NHL debut match. 

Nylander (L) and Matthews (R) are two of the many brilliant rookie players around (AP)

PSL fixing: Irfan, Babar and Hasan interrogated

The inquiry on Mohammad Irfan will continue by PCB's ACU © AFP

A day after Sharjeel Khan and Khalid Latif were suspended by PCB's Anti-Corruption Unit, 3 more players - Islamabad United left arm seamer Mohammad Irfan, Quetta Gladiators spinner Zulfiqar Babar and Karachi Kings opening batsman Shahzaib Hasan were questioned by Anit-Corruption Unit of Pakistan Cricket Board.

Sharjeel Khan, Khalid Latif suspended on corruption charges

Pakistan openers Sharjeel Khan and Khalid Latif have been suspended by PCB over corruption charges by PCB's Anti-Corruption Code for what PCB describes as “an ongoing investigation into an international syndicate which is believed to be attempting to corrupt the Pakistan Super League”.

Khalid Latif (L) and Sharjeel Khan (R) have represented Pakistan in 18 and 41 matches respectively (AP)

NHL 2016-2017 - The playoffs

The National Hockey League (NHL) is well underway and approaching the playoffs stage which will begin in April. The best 16 teams combined from both the Western, and Eastern - the conference will be matched up and play in best of 7 series all the way through until the winner of the most prestigious trophy in the world of hockey -  The Stanley cup is decided in the final series.

The Western conference is divided into two divisions - the Central and the Pacific division. Eastern conference is also divided into two divisions - the Metropolitan and the Atlantic. The top three teams from all four divisions after the regular season will qualify for the playoff stage making it 12 teams altogether. The remaining four spots will be filled with two teams from each conference, referred to as "Wild Cards". They are the two teams from each conference who have managed to get most points apart from the three best teams in all four divisions.

Azhar Ali quits ODI captaincy

Azhar Ali also quit his role as Vice Captain of the Test Team © Getty Images  

EPL: Approaching the end

The Premier league is past halfway and the battle in the bottom half is just as interesting as the top of the table where Chelsea currently holds the top spot, 9 points ahead of rivals Tottenham who also have had an amazing season so far and are placed second on the points table. Nothing seems to stop the Blues, and it is very unlikely that they would lose on such a big lead considering how well they have played throughout the season. 

20 teams fighting for one coveted trophy (Photo: PA Wire)

Mohit Ahlawat: First triple centurion of T20 cricket

There has been a lot of talk about cricket having become a batsmen friendly game and how there is very little room for bowlers to make an error especially in T20 cricket however despite the game being heavily dominated by the batsmen not many would have thought they would live to see a day when a batsman would score a triple century in T20.

A 21 year old player named Mohit Ahlawat became the first player in all levels of T20 cricket to score a triple century in the format. His innings was recorded at a club tournament in New Delhi, India where the wicket keeper batsman hit 300 runs off just 72 balls which included mindboggling 39 sixes and 14 fours. He came close to doing a Yuvraj Singh when he hit 5 consecutive sixes in last over of the innings reaching the 300 run mark also remaining unbeaten in the process.

Mohit's extraordinary innings helped his side Maavi XI to finish at whopping 416 runs at the end of the allotted 20 overs against Friends XI club.

Mohit who plays for the same club that India discard opener Gautam Gambhir used to play for has represented Delhi in 3 first class matches in October 2015 before being overlooked due to poor performances.

Associate Cricket's big talent drain

For a country like Bermuda, losing a young player of Rawlins' calibre is nothing short of a disaster  © ICC

In recent times, we have seen a good number of players from South Africa sign on to play as Kolpak players in English county cricket, either for financial security or due to uncertainty over their roles in the national side as a result of South Africa's transformation policy which requires a minimum of six colored players in a playing XI. Among those that have signed such deals in the recent past include Kyle Abbott, Simon Harmer, Colin Ingram, Rilee Rossouw, Dane Vilas, David Wiese, Stiaan van Zyl and Hardus Viljoen. This move has effectively ended their international careers for South Africa, or risked a lengthy delay between their previous international appearance and their next if they were to have a change of heart in the future.

However, despite their losses, South Africa remain a very powerful unit in all formats of the international game as a result of having many talented players to pick from among those that have chosen to stay behind and represent their country. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for associate nations such as Bermuda or Namibia, who only have a handful of talented players to pick from, which makes losing such players to another country nothing short of a disaster.

Alastair Cook quits as England captain

Cook led England in 59 Test matches © Getty Images 

Australia's key to success in India

As published on Cricket World

Australia just lost their seventh consecutive ODI match away from home but there is something to be worrying them more than that. When you look at the next fixture for Australia, one cannot blame them. Australia are scheduled to play four test matches in India between Feb 23-Mar 29 It was one thing to play India away and another to lock horns with them in their own homeground.

A lot of talk has been done well before the start of the big series and even the mind games have began. Australia's recent record in the subcontinent has been underwhelming as well.Just three victories from 20 Tests played since 2005(including two of those in Bangladesh more than a decade ago) and only two batsmen in the current squad with a Test average above 40 in Asian conditions [Skipper Steve Smith (41.57 from 7 matches) and Shaun Marsh (78.6 from 3 matches)]. While captain Smith has made himself sound positive and asked his in form David Warner to attack the Indian bowlers, the latter's record in Asia is not so encouraging with just one century in 9 Test matches averaging 33.17. 

Is it time for Wenger at Arsenal?

When you think of Arsenal, you think of Arsene Wenger. The 67-year old frenchman has been the manager of Gunners for 20 seasons now, making it a club record. Sir Alex Ferguson still holds the record of  9704 days as a manager for Manchester united from 1986-2013, still 2000 days longer than Wenger's reign in Arsenal so far.

Before signing with Arsenal, Wenger had coached in the French Ligue-1 leading AS. Monaco to victory in the Coupe de France, and two seasons in Japan as manager for the J.league team Nagoya Grampus Eight. When Wenger first arrived in London 22 September 1996 he wasn´t well known to the English football world and many supporters and even players were asking "Arsene who?". Wenger's first major move after joining the club was to make dietary changes for the players such as forbidding them to drink beer on their days off, preferring white meat over red meat, and suggesting that pasta would be the new pre-match dish. Wenger was also given control over the clubs players contracts, training sessions and transfers for the club, unlike any of his predecessors.

NZ thumps Australia to win Chappell-Hadlee Trophy

On the back of Ross Taylor's record equaling 16th ODI hundred for NZ followed by Trent Boult's career best figures of 6/33 saw a depleted Australia lost the three match series and with that the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy 2-0 after NZ batted first like the first match of the series. The difference though was that this time the home team had won the toss.

They showed that it was the correct decision as the veteran Ross Taylor scored a century equaling the record for most centuries ODIs by a New Zealand player along side Nathan Astle to help the hosts post a challenging score of 281. Taylor also equaled AB de Villiers' record for most ODI centuries (14) batting at #4.