PSG target Man City revenge, Atleti out to spoil San Siro clash – Champions League in Opta numbers

Hansi Flick has confirmed Robert Lewandowski is fit to continue his goalscoring record pursuit for Bayern Munich when they play Freiburg on Saturday.

Lewandowski has scored a remarkable 39 Bundesliga goals in 27 matches this season, putting him just one behind the record held by Gerd Muller, who netted 40 times in the league during the 1971-72 campaign.

There were fears Lewandowski – who recently returned from a month out with a knee injury suffered while on international duty with Poland could miss the clash with Freiburg after he made an early exit from a session at the club s training camp on Thursday.

But Flick revealed the striker is ready to go after playing a part in Friday s session and said helping him to the milestone is one of his last remaining t…

As Jurgen Klopp waits for Liverpool s 2019-20 Premier League coronation, he might look back fondly on this day in 2012 when he was nudging ever closer to glory with Borussia Dortmund.

BVB were also involved in a major news story exactly five years later, when their players were stunned by a bomb attack on their team bus before a Champions League game.

Phil Mickelson landed his first major golf title at the Masters in 2004, and a South African cricket great s downfall came on this day in 2000.

Here we look back here at standout sporting moments to have occurred on April 11 through the years.

2000 Disgraced Cronje loses South Africa captaincy

Hansie Cronje was one of South Africa s greatest cricketers, and one of the country s most popula…

Barcelona great Xavi believes Raheem Sterling is on course to emerge as the world s best player when Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo leave centre stage.

Manchester City star Sterling has started the new season in scintillating fashion, scoring eight times for club and country.

His goal return and overall effectiveness has markedly improved with Pep Guardiola s guidance and the 24-year-old is now one of the first players chosen for the Premier League champions.

Sterling won Europe s Golden Boy award in 2014 given to the continent s brightest young talent and Xavi thinks the England international is on course to replace Messi and Ronaldo at the front of the queue for further honours.

Xavi told The Mirror: Messi is the best ever for me, and even though th…

Carlos Soler scored a hat-trick of penalties as Valencia ended a four-match winless run in LaLiga with a 4-1 rout of Real Madrid at Mestalla.

Soler s penalties – the first of which had to be re-taken due to an infringement by Yunus Musah – were added to by Raphael Varane s own goal as Valencia came from behind in a frantic encounter.

Karim Benzema, who has now scored more LaLiga goals than any other player since the resumption in June, opened the scoring with a thunderous strike – his fifth goal in his last four top-flight meetings with Valencia.

But Benzema s brilliance was not enough to inspire Zinedine Zidane s defensively suspect side, whose misery was compounded when Sergio Ramos handled to concede a third spot-kick, which Soler duly converted to con…

Prediction: Borussia Dortmund to win 2-0

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Borussia Dortmund and Borussia Monchengladbach will face each other in the opening weekend of the 2020-21 Bundesliga game.The match at Signal Iduna Park is scheduled to kick off at 5:30pm UK time on Saturday. It promises to be a hugely exiting game and should be an entertaining affair for the onlookers.

Borussia Dortmund

Borussia Dortmund will be looking to have a better season than they had during the 2019-20 campaign. Dortmund have established themselves as serious and consistent challengers to Bayern Munich for the Bundesliga title, but things were far from ideal in 2019-20. Although Lucien Favre’s side ended up second in the standings, they finished as many as 13 points behind event…

According to a recent report from Corriere dello Sport, Napoli’s club president Aurelio De Laurentiis is contemplating a move for Fabio Quagliarella. The 36 year old veteran put in a marvellous season with 26 goals in Serie A, confirming his status as perhaps one of the most underrated forwards in world football today. He spent one season with Napoli back in 2009-10, but now, it seems like Napoli are fully invested in the idea of giving him a new home for what would likely be the final big transfer of his career. Napoli are coming off the back of a season in which they were unable to really push Juventus in the race for the title like they did last year, but at the very least, it’s good to know they’re already in the process of planning for the future.

Is there a certain …

Milan president Paolo Scaroni insisted the Rossoneri are committed to a long-term project as they attempt to follow a blueprint similar to that of Liverpool.

The Serie A outfit are readying themselves for their first Champions League appearance since March 2014 on Wednesday against Jurgen Klopp s men, who have lost just one of their last 12 group-stage clashes at Anfield.

Head coach Stefano Pioli s preparations have been perfect so far, winning all three Serie A games to sit joint-top with Roma and Napoli, but Scaroni says Milan s focus is just on achieving Champions League qualification once more.

The priority is to be back in the Champions League, Milan must always be there, Scaroni told Radio Anch Io.

If we can do better, we will be happy. The goal i…

Georginio Wijnaldum admitted he is not completely happy with a lack of playing time at Paris Saint-Germain but has vowed to fight for his place in the side.

The 30-year-old joined the Ligue 1 giants on a free transfer in June after failing to agree a new deal with Liverpool, where he had been a regular for the past five seasons.

Having started five of PSG s first seven games this term, Wijnaldum was named in the starting line-up just once in their five matches prior to the international break.

He has played a part in all but one of the French side s 12 fixtures in all competitions, but the midfielder is not pleased to be playing back-up to Marco Verratti, Idrissa Gueye and Ander Herrera.

I can t say I m completely happy, he said at a pre-match news confe…

Pep Guardiola is incredibly proud to reach the Champions League final but quickly turned his focus to the other Manchester City players who have served him well over the past five years.

City won 2-0 at home to Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday with a brace from Riyad Mahrez to clinch a 4-1 aggregate success in the semi-final.

Premier League leaders City will appear in the final for the first time in their history, taking on Chelsea or Real Madrid.

The defeat of PSG ends a long wait including repeated heartbreaks in the knockout stages of the competition, prompting Guardiola to believe the only difference this season was the fortune on City s side.

That meant he reflected again on past pain and how unfair it is for some notable City names to miss out.

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Gareth Southgate has warned that Marcus Rashford and Jack Grealish face a battle from England’s up-and-coming talent to make his European Championship squad.

Among the favourites to lift the trophy in Germany, the Euro 2020 runners-up continue preparations with March friendlies against Brazil and Belgium.

This summer’s tournament sees squads go from 26 back to 23-strong selections, meaning some high-profile players are in danger of missing the cut in well-stocked areas.

Grealish faces a fight to feature while Rashford, who has gone to England’s last four tournaments, is the same having under-performed for Manchester United in a season when his Belfast escapades in January made headlines.

Southgate said: “Well, (Rashford) has a battle on his hands …