Benfica vs Newcastle United April 4, 2013

Tweet

Newcastle United face a daunting but glamorous Quarter-Final against Benfica, as they head to Lisbon to contest the first leg of the game.

Typically, both bosses were full of praise and warning for their opposite number's teams, although the Portuguese will be favourites over the tie and certainly in the first leg. Newcastle's task will be made harder by injury problems continuing to plague their squad, whereas their hosts have a full roster to choose from.

Newcastle's last game saw them thrashed by Manchester City, but the Magpies should improve for this tie as they welcome back some players to their side. Nonetheless, with key defenders absent and the quality of Benfica's attack considered, both teams will be strongest on the front foot and should look to attack in what promises to be an entertaining tie.

Benfica injuries and suspensions

None

Newcastle United injuries and suspensions

Out: Cheick Tiote (hamstring), Massadio Haidara (knee), Fabricio Coloccini (back), Hatem Ben Arfa (hamstring), Mathieu Debuchy (ineligible), Yoann Gouffran (ineligible)

Benfica have no injuries or suspensions to any major players and will thus have the luxury of a full-strength squad to field against the Magpies.

Newcastle, on the other hand, have plenty. January signings Mathieu Debuchy and Yoann Gouffran are cup-tied, while first-team players Coloccini, Tiote and Ben Arfa are all also absent. Massadio Haidara is also ruled out. There is some good news however, with other injured players returning: Tim Krul and Davide Santon both return to action.

Match Date\Time: Thusday, 20:05 p.m. local\BST, 15:05 p.m. ET

Venue: Estadio da Luz, Lisbon, Portugal

Tottenham vs Basel April 4, 2013

Tweet

The Swiss outfit have been regulars in continental competition in recent years and last season reached the last 16 of the Champions League having seen off Manchester United in the group phase. Since then the club has lost talented young midfielders Xerdan Shaqiri and Granit Xhaka, while Murat Yakin has taken over as manager, but Basel showed the quality they still possess by knocking out one of the tournament favorites, and conquerors of Liverpool, Zenit St Petersburg, in the last round.

The team has changed and the manager has changed but this is a team that is used to winning trophies and used to playing European football,” Villas-Boas said, according to Tottenham’s official website. “So they are in the same line as teams we’ve faced before, Lyon and Inter Milan, perhaps not with the same European pedigree and trophy cabinet, but a team that is used to winning and that makes them a difficult opponent.”

Chelsea vs Rubin Kazan April 4, 2013

Tweet

Chelsea: Cech; Azpilucueta, Luiz, Terry, Bertrand; Lampard, Ramires; Moses, Mata, Benayoun; Torres.
Subs: Turnbull, Ivanovic, Oscar, Mikel, Hazard, Ferreira, Marin.
Rubin Kazan: Ryzhikov, Cesar Navas, Kuzmin, Kaleshin, Ansaldi, Sharonov, Orbaiz, Roman Eremenko, Karadeniz, Natcho, Dyadyun.
Subs: Arlauskis, Ryazantsev, Kasaev, Kisliak, Marcano, Tore, Rondon.
Referee: Gianluca Rocchi (Italy)

The Russian visitors will be without striker Alexander Ryazantsev and French midfielder Yann M'Vila, who both miss the trip to London through injury.
They also have fitness concerns over midfielder Alan Kasaev, who was ruled out of their weekend league win against Lokomotiv Moscow.
Chelsea boss Rafael Benitez is expected to reshuffle his starting XI as the Blues prepare for their third match in six days.

Real Madrid vs Galatasaray April 3, 2013

Tweet

Stay tuned for Ahram Online's special coverage of the Real Madrid match against Galatasaray SK on Wednesday, in the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinals.

Captain and World cup winner Iker Casillas has been left out of this game despite resuming full trainings. Mourinho thinks that he has to keep working hard in trainings and wait for his chance.

The Merengues manager Jose Mourinho will be up against some familiar opponents in the Turkish team, as he coached Didier Drogba at Chelsea before moving to Inter Milan in 2010 to win the championship with Wesley Sneijder on his team.

Madrid will be heading into the match on a high after eliminating Manchester United in the previous round and two Clasico wins against Barcelona in the Copa del Rey semifinals and the league.


Real Madrid: 41-Diego Lopez; 17-Alvaro Arbeloa, 3-Pepe, 4-Sergio Ramos, 5-Fabio Coentrao; 6-Sami Khedira, 14-Xabi Alonso; 22-Angel Di Maria, 10-Mesut Ozil, 7-Cristiano Ronaldo; 9-Karim Benzema

Galatasaray: 1-Fernando Muslera; 27-Emmanuel Eboue, 26-Semih Kaya, 13-Dany Nounkeu, 11-Albert Riera; 14-Wesley Sneijder, 10-Felipe Melo, 8-Selcuk Inan, 4-Hamit Altintop; 17-Burak Yilmaz, 12-Didier Drogba

New York Knicks vs Miami Heat April 2, 2013

Tweet

The New York Knicks (46-26) are travelling to take on the Miami Heat (58-15) in a highly anticipated contest between two of the best teams in the Eastern Conference.

Anytime these longtime rivals meet on the same floor, you can be sure that a back-and-forth, chippy battle will occur. Things should be no different in the final regular season matchup of the 2012-13 campaign, even if some of the key players for each team could be missing.

Let’s take a look at where you can watch the game, check out the latest injury report, highlight some players to watch, predict the final score and much more in our Knicks vs. Heat preview.



When: Tuesday, April 2 at 8 p.m. ET

Where: AmericanAirlines Arena, Miami, Fla.

Watch: TNT

Live Stream: TNT Overtime



Knicks Injury Report
C Tyson Chandler, Questionable, Neck

F Kurt Thomas, Out, Foot

F Amar’e Stoudemire, Out, Knee

F Rasheed Wallace, Out, Foot



Heat Injury Report
F LeBron James, Questionable, Hamstring

G Dwyane Wade, Questionable, Ankle

G Mario Chalmers, Questionable, Ankle

PSG 2-2 Barcelona Highlights April 2, 2013

Tweet

PSG 2-2 Barcelona Highlights

Paris Saint-Germain and Barcelona have numerous brilliant players worthy of attention in their UEFA Champions League encounter on Tuesday, but the spotlight will be on one above all others. And it's not Lionel Messi.

Though Zlatan Ibrahimović scored 21 goals and won a La Liga title during his lone season at Barcelona, it was the only club at which he did not excel during his career. He was expected to become the centerpiece of the team's attack and the perfect compliment to Messi when he was brought in for Samuel Eto'o, plus €40 million, but he was so unwanted by Pep Guardiola that he was loaned to AC Milan with an option to buy for just €24 million one season later.

Paris Saint-Germain (4-3-2-1): Salvatore Sirigu; Maxwell, Thiago Silva, Alex, Gregory van der Wiel; Marco Verratti, Blaise Matuidi, Clément Chantôme; Javier Pastore, Ezequiel Lavezzi; Zlatan Ibrahimović

FC Barcelona (4-3-3): Victor Valdes; Jordi Alba, Gerard Piqué, Javier Mascherano, Dani Alves; Sergio Busquests, Xavi Hernandez, Andres Iniesta; David Villa, Lionel Messi, Pedro Rodriguez

Bayern Munich 2-0 Juventus April 2, 2013

Tweet

Juventus will enter Tuesday's heavyweight clash with Bayern Munich with smiles on their faces, an 18-match unbeaten record in Europe behind them and no concerns about the Bavarians' nine-goal demolition of Hamburg.

The match kicks off at 20:45 CLT (18:45 GMT)

Probable line-up:

Bayern Munich: 1-Manuel Neuer; 21-Philipp Lahm, 5-Daniel Van Buyten, 4-Dante, 27-David Alaba; 6-Bastian Schweinsteiger; 25-Thomas Mueller, 39-Toni Kroos, 10-Arjen Robben, 7-Franck Ribery; 9-Mario Mandzukic

Juventus: 1-Gianluigi Buffon; 15-Andrea Barzagli, 3-Giorgio Chiellini, 19-Leonardo Bonucci; 21-Andrea Pirlo; 23-Arturo Vidal, 6-Paul Pogba, 8-Claudio Marchisio, 22-Kwadwo Asamoah; 32-Alessandro Matri, 27-Fabio Quagliarella.

WWE Raw - Wrestlemania April 1, 2013

Tweet

With Wrestlemania 29 just a mere six days away, tonight's Monday Night Raw surely won't be pulling any punches (no pun intended) in terms of its action. The three-hour show will be airing live from the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C.
In order for the WWE's grandest stage of them all to be a success, the company's upper card feuds need to generate some serious heat and pops on the WWE's flagship show.

The top three matches on the Wrestlemania 29 card are as follows:
The Rock vs. John Cena - WWE title
Undertaker vs. CM Punk - Wrestlemania Undefeated streak
Triple H vs. Brock Lesnar - Triple H's Career On The Line

While the Wrestlemania rematch between The People's Champ and Cena for the WWE Heavyweight title is surely one of its top matches, The Undertaker against CM Punk is arguably the most must-see match on the card. The Deadman will go into the WWE's most popular event with a historical 20-0 winning streak.
Since the self proclaimed "Best In The World" is definitely one of the company's top guys, and now a Vince McMahon favorite, many people do believe that there is indeed a possibility that he'll be the one to snap the streak.
However, many wrestling fans had assumed that Taker would pass the torch in the past and be defeated, but the respective outcome hasn't happened yet.

Kevin Ware | Injury

Tweet

University of Louisville basketball player Kevin Ware suffered a horrific broken right leg during Sunday’s NCAA Midwest Regional final that left his teammates and coach in tears.
Ware, a 6-foot-2 sophomore guard, was contesting an outside shot right in front of his own team’s bench when he landed awkwardly and his leg buckled, bending almost at a right angle.
Ware, 20, was taken to Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis to repair his leg. School officials said the leg, broken in two places, was reset and a rod inserted into his right tibia. ESPN reported Ware will remain in Indianapolis until at least Tuesday.

Louisville head coach Rick Pitino said Ware immediately thought about his team the moments after sustaining the injury. Ware told the team that he would be fine and to win the game, according to Pitino.
“The bone’s 6 inches out of his leg and all he’s yelling is, ‘Win the game, win the game,’” Pitino said after the game. “I’ve not seen that in my life. … Pretty special young man.”
Pitino said Ware will need a year to recover from the injury before returning to basketball.
Louisville drew inspiration from Ware’s message and rolled over Duke, 85-63, in the Midwest Regional at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. The Cardinals will play Wichita State in the Final Four next Saturday.
The injury was so gruesome that CBS decided to halt replays of the injury after showing it two times.
The brutal mishap occurred after Ware jumped to contest a 3-pointer by Tyler Thornton. Ware’s leg buckled when he landed. Nearly six seconds ran off the clock before the officials, at Pitino’s urging, stopped the game with 6:33 left in the first half.
Former Washington Redskins quarterback Joe Theisman famously sustained a broken leg on “Monday Night Football” in a game against the New York Giants in 1985 when he was tackled by Lawrence Taylor. Theisman tweeted, “Watching Duke/ Louisville my heart goes out to Kevin Ware.”
The training staff quickly placed towels over the Ware’s leg. A few feet away, many of Ware’s teammates dropped to the court and cried as they looked on.
“The bone was literally out. I saw white, it was literally out,” said Louisville’s Chane Behanan, who collapsed to his hands and feet at the sight.
The rest of the team eventually huddled at the free throw line with their arms wrapped around each other.
After a lengthy delay, Ware was taken off the court on a stretcher to a rousing ovation from the crowd.
Behanan said he spoke to Ware at halftime.
“He said ‘Don’t worry about me, I’m good, I’ll have my surgery tonight,’” Behanan said. “Go win it for me.”
The Louisville Cardinals celebrated at the end of the game hoisting the Midwest Regional trophy and Ware’s #5 jersey. Overnight, many of Ware’s friends and teammates tweeted a photo of him in his hospital bed with the trophy nestled under his arm.

Chelsea vs Manchester United April 1, 2013

Tweet

Two days after Manchester United and Chelsea played Premier League matches, the pair will take to the pitch yet again, this time in a FA Cup replay. It's a task made even worse for the Red Devils, who got off to a flying start in the first leg and figured they were through to the semifinals without this replay.

United will rue the fact that they are even in this replay after blowing a 2-0 lead at Old Trafford in the first leg. Goals by Wayne Rooney and Javier Hernandez put them in front after just 11 minutes and they played Chelsea off the pitch in the first half, but the Blues stormed back in the second and netted a pair of goals through Eden Hazard and Ramirez to force another match, this time at Stamford Bridge.

It's a tough turnaround for both teams and Sir Alex Ferguson and Rafa Benitez both had this fixture congestion in mind over the weekend when they made several chances to their teams. They had to keep players fresh, but some are going to have to make t two matches in 48 hours, and that could lead to a match-changing mistake that sends one team to Wembley for the semifinals.

Chelsea made seven changes in Saturday's 2-1 loss to Southampton, while United rested Rooney, Hernandez, Rio Ferdinand and Ryan Giggs in their Saturday morning victory.

The winner of this match will face a tough semifinal against Manchester City, after the draw split the power clubs and the hopefuls for the penultimate round. Millwall and Wigan are in the other semifinal.

Match date/time: Monday, April 1, 7:30 a.m. ET