Scott Murray's Blog, page 19
April 30, 2024
Bayern Munich 2-2 Real Madrid: Champions League semi-final, first leg – as it happened
Vinícius Júnior scored twice while Harry Kane notched his 43rd goal of the season as European royalty traded blows in Munich
4 min: Bellingham tries to switch play from right to left with a first-time speculative hoof. Rodrygo can’t latch onto the ball and Kimmich tidies up. A nice open start to this semi-final.
2 min: Real reply to that early concern with a period of nerve-settling possession. They ping it around and eventually Bellingham is caught offside.
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April 27, 2024
Manchester United 1-1 Burnley, Sheffield United relegated after rout – as it happened
It was the end of the road for Sheffield United, but André Onana’s late clanger at Old Trafford boosted Burnley’s survival bid
FULL TIME: West Ham United 2-2 Liverpool. Jacob Steinberg was at the London Stadium this lunchtime, to witness what was surely the end of Liverpool’s title challenge. Here’s his report.
The final round of fixtures in League One are complete. Derby County are promoted as a result of their home victory over Carlisle, while Oxford and Barnsley confirm their spots in the play-offs. Barnsley only just made it through, despite conceding a 96th-minute equaliser, as Lincoln and Blackpool both failed to win. Cheltenham’s defeat at Stevenage condemns them to fourth-tier football next season.
Barnsley 1-1 Northampton Town
Derby County 2-0 Carlisle United
Exeter City 1-2 Oxford United
Fleetwood Town 3-0 Burton Albion
Lincoln City 0-2 Portsmouth
Peterborough United 3-3 Bolton Wanderers
Port Vale 0-0 Cambridge United
Reading 3-2 Blackpool
Shrewsbury Town 1-3 Leyton Orient
Stevenage 2-1 Cheltenham Town
Wigan Athletic 2-0 Bristol Rovers
Wycombe Wanderers 1-0 Charlton Athletic
Continue reading...April 25, 2024
Brighton 0-4 Manchester City: Premier League – as it happened
Kevin De Bruyne and two-goal Phil Foden were the stars as Manchester City closed the gap on leaders Arsenal with a resounding win at the Amex
5 min: Joao Pedro steals the ball in midfield and races into the City half. He’s got options on either side but takes the wrong one, passing to Veltman on his right. Veltman runs into trouble immediately and the counter peters out. “Greetings from Virginia,” begins Eagle Brosi. “The quality of the American league is so poor that I’m usually happy to catch any EPL match but I find Pep without Jack Grealish to be so so boring. There’s something so horribly funny about watching Jack, with his tiny shinpads, run into his opponent, fall down and see the ref just get totally conned. I guess spending the preseason drunk isn’t wise? But I miss the only likeable/watchable thing about this City team. Here’s hoping he gets at least a 15-minute cameo.”
3 min: Gross makes a nuisance of himself down the inside-left channel. The ball breaks to Welbeck, arriving on the overlap. Welbeck lashes a low first-time effort towards the bottom right, but Ederson fields it at full stretch. A bright start by both teams.
Continue reading...April 23, 2024
Arsenal 5-0 Chelsea: Premier League – as it happened
Arsenal moved three clear at the top and made a huge title statement as they registered their biggest-ever win over Chelsea
3 min: Chelsea are making a slightly nervous start. Cucurella heads back to his keeper Petrovic and only just gets enough purchase on the ball. Trossard was hovering.
2 min: … so but for an inch or two, Arsenal could be one up already and Chelsea a man down.
Continue reading...April 21, 2024
Nelly Korda wins 2024 Chevron Championship – as it happened
Henderson’s tee shot into the par-three 7th lands a couple of feet short and snags in greenside rough. Korda makes it on, but having pulled her shot she’s a long way from the flag. Korda putts first, and lags up to three feet; Henderson then gets a bit of a flyer out of the rough and her chip trundles six feet past. You’d think she’s not got much wriggle room in terms of dropping any more shots; big putts coming up.
Another no-nonsense par for Im Jin-hee, still sitting just a couple off the lead on her major-championship debut. Real Ludvig-Åberg-at-the-Masters energy here. But Atthaya Thitikul isn’t bringing her Sunday best at all. Having completed her third round this morning with three bogeys, she’s made another three over the opening stretch of round four. Dropped strokes at 2, 3 and 5, with birdie at 4, and the young Thai sensation – who already has six top-ten finishes at the majors at the age of 21 – currently looks unlikely to better her tie for fourth here last year. Having started the day in the lead, she’s now back in the pack at -6.
Continue reading...April 20, 2024
Manchester City 1-0 Chelsea: FA Cup semi-final – as it happened
The Blues wasted a host of chances at Wembley and were made to pay late on as City reached the final
3 min: Palmer, who has a leg strapped up already, isn’t moving freely, having been clipped accidentally by Stones. Hopefully for Chelsea he’ll be able to run the impact off.
2 min: … but now they nearly go ahead, Cucurella playing a careless backpass that nearly lets Alvarez in. Silva slides across to avert disaster.
Continue reading...April 17, 2024
Bayern Munich 1-0 Arsenal (agg: 3-2): Champions League quarter-final, second leg – as it happened
Joshua Kimmich’s power header decided a tight tie as Arsenal’s wait for a first semi-final appearance since 2009 goes on
5 min: That early attack has got the Bayern fans hollering again. So much for Arsenal’s opening stadium-shushing gambit, then.
3 min: Sane probes down the right. He makes it into the box and attempts to work space to shoot, but then pings Kimmich in on the overlap. Kimmich dinks across to Kane, who tries to steer a shot into the bottom right. The ball bobbles wide. That was a dangerous move.
Continue reading...April 16, 2024
Barcelona 1-4 PSG (4-6 agg): Champions League quarter-final, second leg – as it happened
Ronald Araújo’s first-half sending off turned the tide, as Kylian Mbappé, Vitinha and former Barça player Ousmane Dembélé scored the goals that sent Xavi’s side crashing out
2 min: Mbappé runs at young Cubarsí but comes off second best, sprawling on the turf. He wants a foul, but play is waved on, correctly so. Great challenge by the 17-year-old defender. “In the First World War, the Turkish troops fought their own division in a thick fog while trying to progress in Russia,” writes Krishna Moorthy. “I always thought this was an exaggeration but after FCB fans attacking their own bus, I tend to believe it could actually have happened.”
PSG get the ball rolling. Peter Oh isn’t finished, meanwhile. “Throwing stuff at your own team’s bus?! Mes Que Un Flub.”
Continue reading...April 14, 2024
The Masters 2024: final round at Augusta – as it happened
Tommy Fleetwood sends his wedge into 1 before giving it a contented twirl. His ball lands safely in the heart of the green. Then he rakes in a 25-footer for an opening birdie. The perfect start for the Evertonian, who will perhaps benefit from a little extra spring in the step in the wake of one of this afternoon’s football results. He’s -2. Also heading in the right way: Matt Fitzpatrick with birdie at 3. He’s level par.
The young Korean couldn’t get home unscathed. He went over the back of 17 and that’s never a good place to be, especially with the pin tucked on the narrowest section of the putting surface. He failed to hold the green with his chip back, though he did well to get up and down from the front for bogey. Par at the last, and that’s an excellent 66. He ends the week at +5, and for what it’s worth, he’s the new clubhouse leader. That particular crown is currently worth the square root of bugger all, of course, but it could be worth something later on should somebody further up the leader board make a break from the pack, and the greens harden in the late-afternoon sun as heartbeats begin to race.
Continue reading...April 13, 2024
The Masters: day three at Augusta – as it happened
If there’s one player out there who’s overdue a major championship, it’s Xander Schauffele. The 30-year-old Californian tied second here in 2019 and third in 2021; he’s also got a tied-second on his Open CV, plus eight other top-ten finishes in the majors. An Olympic gold in his back pocket, mind, but still. Anyway, Schauffele did well to grind out 72s in both of his rounds so far, without bringing his best stuff, but there were signs he was beginning to hit his straps towards the end of yesterday. That’s been borne out by his start today: a birdie at 3 brings him up to -1, the first player to break into the top ten of the leader board today.
-6: Homa, DeChambeau, Scheffler
-4: Hojgaard
-3: Davis, Morikawa
-2: Aberg
-1: Schauffele (3), Pavon, Young, Fleetwood, Willett, Fox, An, Smith
E: Straka (2), Fitzpatrick (2), Schenk (1), Kitayama (1), Glover (1)
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