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

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. 

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)

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.

Alastair Cook quits as England captain

Cook led England in 59 Test matches © Getty Images 

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.  

Chelsea gun down Gunners in London Derby

It`s Saturday and a big day in London, as the two biggest football clubs of the city meets for the second time this season. Conte`s Chelsea versus Wenger`s Arsenal both teams running for the Premier league title this season. Currently Chelsea is at the top of the table with 56 points, 9 points ahead of rivals Arsenal. A win for the Gunners would make the title race more interesting, but Chelsea has been in a very good form recently, only losing one game of the last 17 matches, while Arsenal managing to win only 5 of their last 10 fixtures.

Two Year Test League likely to be a reality

The new Test league might see teams like Afghanistan and Ireland play Test Cricket
© AFP/Getty Images

New Date for IPL 2017 Player Auction declared

Fans eagerly await the IPL 2017 Player Auction © BCCI

Former Test Umpire Lou Rowan no more

Rowan wanted bouncers to be banned in cricket
Pic by Gerard Walsh

Kevin Pietersen gives IPL 2017 a miss

Pietersen has represented five teams in IPL history © AFP

Frank Lampard retires at 38

English midfielder Frank Lampard 38, has decided to retire from professional football after an illustrious football career that spanned over 21 years. The announcement came from the player on Facebook on Thursday. Lampard, born in Romford, East London started his career in West Ham United and made his debut in January 1996 against Coventry City. He remained with West Ham until Chelsea signed him in June 2001. 

David Miller out of the SL series

Miller suffered a cut on his little finger while fielding against Sri Lanka ©ICC

Chahal gains 92 places in latest T20I rankings

Yuzvendra Chahal, he 26 year old leggie from India improved 92 places after his spell of 6/25 in the series decider against England on Wednesday. He now sits at 86th position while his team mate Jasprit Bumrah who bowled emphatically in the last two T20Is has further improved his rating at second position and is now only 4 rating points away from taking away the pole position from South Africa's Imran Tahir.