Chelsea eliminated Manchester City from the FA Cup in emphatic style, while Bayern Munich continue their charge towards a fifth consecutive crown.
ADVERTISEMENTChelsea eliminated Manchester City from the FA Cup in emphatic style on Sunday.
The Stamford Bridge outfit enjoyed a thrilling victory against a team apparently more focused on the next Champions League fixture.
Chelsea dominated the encounter against an weakened City – who fielded six teenagers as boss Manuel Pellegrini appeared happy enough to sacrifice the tournament ahead of the club’s Champions League last 16 first leg tie against Dynamo Kyiv on Wednesday.
That decision led to a 5-1 romping by the Blues.
Faupala cancelled out Diego Costa’s headed opener but after the break the Londoners went on a goal-scoring frenzy with Willian, Gary Cahill, Edin Hazard and Bertrand Traore all hitting the net to complete the rout and send Chelsea into the quarter-finals where they face Everton.
Bayern Munich on track for title
Bayern Munich entertained promoted Darmstadt looking to continue their charge towards a fifth consecutive crown.
It didn’t begin well as Sandro Wagner gave the visitors the lead against the run of play after 26 minutes.
Thomas Muller brought Bayern level four minutes after the break at which point it was one way traffic.
Muller got his name on the scoresheet twice on the night – his second on 71 minutes was an absolute cracker as he controlled the ball with his chest before a bicycle-kick finish.
Robert Lewandowski sealed the deal with six minutes of the game remaining.
Franck Ribery – making his first appearance since December due to a thigh injury – provided the assist as Lweandowski hit the net for the 22nd time this season.
Bayern are eight points clear of second place Borussia Dortmund with 12 league games left to play.
Up and down
Zlatan Ibrahimovic has enjoyed another succesful week. After scoring against Chelsea in the Champions League last 16 – the Paris Saint Germain striker hit two more goals and added two assists in a league win over Reims.
After a sluggish start to the campaign he is now playing some of his best football.
Also up is Danilo D’Ambrosio who became the first Italian player to score for Inter Milan since December 15, 2014.
The defender scored in his side’s 3-1 win over Sampdoria the weekend for only the club’s second win from their past eight games.
ADVERTISEMENTOn the down is Francesco Totti who was dropped for Sunday night’s Serie A clash with Palermo after he complained about a lack of playing time in a television interview
Coach Luciano Spalletti later said the episode would be forgotten and Totti would be back in training this week.
Also down are Real Madrid, whose title bid suffered another wobble as they were held to a one all draw by Malaga.
Cristiano Ronaldo scored the opener but missed a penalty three minutes later – a costly miss as Real are now nine points behind leaders Barcelona.
Road to Euro
ADVERTISEMENTFrance were crowned Euro 2000 champions. In that team there were very experienced players such as Didier Deschamps, Patrick Viera, mixed with rising stars such as David Trezeguet or Thierry Henry. But one player stood out from the rest. Let’s see who we are talking about in our Road to Euro segment.
Zinédine Zidane led France to their second European success with his vital goals and important assists. ‘Zizou’ masterminded the French revolution from his midfield throne. Although he was named best player of the tournament, he didn’t win the Ballon d’Or that year.
The Euro 2000 was jointly hosted by Belgium and the Netherlands.
France were drafted into Group D along with co-hosts Netherlands. They started their Euro campaign in an emphatic fashion as they thrashed ’92 winners Denmark 3-0.
Blanc, Henry and Wiltord were on target for France as Zidane pulled the strings from midfield and fed the assist that led to Henry’s goal.
ADVERTISEMENTA 1-2 win over Czech Republic and a 2-3 loss against Netherlands meant that France finished second in the group and faced Spain in the quarterfinals.
Zidane broke the deadlock against Spain with an emphatic free-kick as France went on to win that game 2-1.
A controversial penalty awarded to France courtesy of an Abel Xavier handball was successfully converted by Zidane as the French beat Portugal 1-0.
The final against Italy was a memorable game as France scored a last gasp equaliser to send the game into extra time after Marco Delvecchio had scored for the Azzurri.
Wiltord’s equaliser and Zidane’s assist for David Trezeguet’s Golden Goal crowned France as European Champions and became the only nation after West Germany to be crowned Euro winners while being World Champions as well.
ADVERTISEMENTZidane’s excellent performances throughout the tournament prompted the UEFA to name him as Player of the Tournament as he finished with two goals and two assists to his name.
Zidane’s elegant displays at the heart of the French midfield reminded views of the successful 1984 Platini campaign.
We might be wrong
The Champions League Round of 16 continues this week with some of the matches fit for a final.
These are the predictions of our sports team. As always, you can send yours using #TheCornerScores.
ADVERTISEMENTArsenal 1 – 3 Barcelona
Juventus 1 – 2 Bayern Munich
Dinamo Kyiv 0 -2 Manchester City
PSV Eindhoven 1 -1 Atlético Madrid.