“Don’t check it anymore”: Freiburg VAR vortex

SC Freiburg missed the coup at Juventus Turin. But the quarter-final dream lives on.

The Italian record champions drew 0-1 (0-0) for the Bundesliga side in the first leg of the Europa League round of 16.

Led by the outstanding Ángel Di Maria, Juve flexed their muscles for an hour. But after the Argentinian’s header (53′), the hosts withdrew more and more and thus missed the preliminary decision.

Bitter for Freiburg: Central defender Philipp Lienhart retired after a collision with Bremer with a leg injury (67th).

VAR whirl: “Don’t check it”
In addition, the equalizer from Lucas Höler was previously conceded by VAR due to a handball from Matthias Ginter (64th). “Of course it’s hand, but not intentional. The Juve player in front of me jumps up, touches the ball and I get it from half a meter. The ball goes to the hand. But it is in front of the body and not spread out. I don’t check it anymore,” said Matthias Ginter on RTL.

Immediately after the kick-off, Freiburg was already swimming and lucky. Christian Streich’s team seemed overwhelmed in the first few minutes.

“We didn’t play the ball clean enough. Basically, everything is still there. But we have to do a few things better,” said coach Christian Streich.

“Against an opponent with such quality, you first have to feel things out. I didn’t think they were that vastly superior. We don’t pay 100% attention in the second half and then the ball hangs,” said keeper Mark Flekken.

dí Maria unstoppable
After just two minutes, Philipp Lienhart clarified after keeper Mark Flekken couldn’t get to the cross from Angel dí Maria in dire need.

The Italian record champions dominated in the early stages. Above all, the outstanding Di Maria was unstoppable and presented the Bundesliga with major problems. He initiated almost every attack himself.

The Argentine served Adrien Rabiot superbly as well. This completed, but Flekken parried outstandingly with his foot and the ball rolled towards the goal. Lienhart cleared there (13′).

But the old lady continued to have the best chances.

After half an hour Bremer got the ball from a corner by Di Maria at the second post and headed it over. Flekken dived under the ball.

Spots against Juve in focus
Just before the break, Juan Cuadrado shot again and Flekken saved (44′).

While Juve pressed, Freiburg remained completely harmless on the offensive. At the break, Baden had not fired a shot. Juve, on the other hand, already had eleven degrees.

However: As the game progressed, the Bundesliga side became more and more secure in defense and the Italians’ attack was no longer so dangerous.

Even after the break, the picture did not change.

Juve kept up the pressure and clearly set the tone. Led by Di Maria, one attack after another rolled towards the Freiburg goal.

dí Maria heads in after a Kostic cross
After a cross from former Frankfurt player Filip Kostic, Di Maria then headed under the bar and was rewarded with the goal (53′).

Freiburg remained safe. But then Lucas Höler hit the first chance with a turning shot out of nowhere. Lucky for Juve: Matthias Ginter put the ball in front of his hands and the video assistant conceded the goal (64th).

Suddenly the old lady only managed and Freiburg came into play. The Streich-Elf shifted the action to the Juve half. Vincenzo Grifo shot just over with a free kick (76′).

The guests didn’t create any better opportunities. In the end it was 19:1 shots on goal for Juve.

Berlin threatens to lose the Champions League

For the Berlin Recycling Volleys, the semi-finals of the Champions League are a long way off. The German volleyball series champion lost the quarter-final first leg against the favored Italian representative Sir Safety Perugia on Wednesday 1: 3 (18:25, 15:25, 25:23, 17:25).

In the second leg next Wednesday (8:00 p.m.), coach Cedric Enard’s team needs a 3-1 or 3-0 win in a foreign hall to force a so-called “golden set”. In the deciding set, 15 points would be enough to win.

The second German representative, VfB Friedrichshafen, will fight against the Polish runner-up Jastrzebski Wegiel on Thursday (7:00 p.m.) for a place in the semi-finals. The second leg of the record champions in Poland will also take place next week.

“Very proud”: Schmidt for the first time in the CL quarterfinals

Roger Schmidt beamed. “I’m very proud of my team,” said the German Benfica coach after the impressive 5-1 thrashing of the second leg of the round of 16 against Belgian champions FC Bruges: “We showed that we’re a great team.” Benfica, the sovereign leaders in Portugal, had already won the first leg 2-0.

After two appearances in the round of 16 with Bayer Leverkusen, Schmidt is in the quarter-finals of the premier class for the first time in his career – and is the twelfth German coach to reach the round of eight in the current format of the competition since it was introduced in the 2003/04 season. From no other country did so many different coaches make it into the quarter-finals during this period.

Benfica, who are heading towards their first league title since 2019 under Schmidt, had already reached the last eight last year. There, the two-time national champion lost to eventual finalists Liverpool FC. The draw for this year’s quarterfinals will take place on March 17th.

The goals for the Portuguese record champions against Bruges on Tuesday evening were scored by Rafa Silva (38th), Goncalo Ramos (45th + 2/57th), the strong Joao Mario (71st, penalty kick) and David Neres (78th). Björn Meijer (87th) scored late for Brugge. “We deserved to qualify for the quarter-finals,” said Schmidt.

“Hit both”: Williams throws away after announcing victory

NBA professional Grant Williams fell on his feet with his big words. “I’ll hit them both,” the Boston Celtics basketball player said to opponent Donovan Mitchell in the duel with the Cleveland Cavaliers as he went to the free-throw line at 109-109 with less than a second left on the clock. Williams missed his throws, the Cavs won 118-114 after overtime.

“It’s part of the game,” said Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla, “he didn’t throw them away on purpose. You have to be able to deal with that.” Mitchell, who had converted two free throws to equalize shortly before Williams announced, ended the game as the best shooter of the evening with 40 points. Williams got twelve.

Lakers and Schroeder keep playoff chance

Dennis Schröder and his Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA kept the chance of making the playoffs.

The Lakers won 113-115 against the Golden State Warriors, the point guard contributed eleven points, one rebound and six assists.

In the Western Conference, Los Angeles, which still has to do without the injured NBA top scorer LeBron James, remains eleventh.

Kilde secures the crystal ball

Ski superstar Aleksander Aamodt Kilde secured the small crystal globe in the Downhill World Cup early in Aspen, USA. The Norwegian drove to his sixth win of the season in the Rocky Mountains on Saturday evening and with 720 points he can no longer be caught by Vincent Kriechmayr (514). As the best German, Andreas Sander finished ninth (+1:01 minutes).

“What a feeling, it’s been a really nice season,” said Kilde. Second was Canadian James Crawford (+0.61) ahead of World Champion Marco Odermatt from Switzerland (+0.63). The Austrian Kriechmayr finished fourth (+0.70) on the last descent before the season finale in Soldeau/Andorra.

The Germans, on the other hand, have to wait for their first downhill podium in more than three years. Behind Sander, who surprised as the fastest in training and achieved his best result of the season, Romed Baumann (+1:06) was eleventh, Josef Ferstl (+1:28) was 18th. Dominik Schwaiger (+2.74/52) had no chance at all. ).

Thomas Dreßen crashed shortly before the finish after a courageous ride. Simon Jocher also lost control, the Schongauer even slipped through the safety net. Shortly thereafter he got up again on his own, the race was temporarily interrupted.

The first descent in Aspen was canceled on Friday after 24 starters due to heavy snowfall, all results were cancelled. The Norwegian Adrian Smiseth Sejerstedt, who had been in the lead at the time, had good prospects in the race on Saturday as well, but then missed a goal and thus missed his chance for a podium.

After the Super-G on Sunday, there are still two giant slaloms in Kranjska Gora in Slovenia before the World Cup final in Andorra.

Master Berlin trembles for play-offs

Defending champions Eisbären Berlin need support in the German Ice Hockey League to make the play-offs.

The champions solved the mandatory task at the Augsburg Panthers on Friday with a 4:3 (2:0, 2:1, 0:2), but before the final of the main round they are still two points behind the Löwen Frankfurt in tenth place. This is needed to get into the pre-playoffs.

Frankfurt won 6: 1 (1: 0, 4: 1, 1: 0) at the Nuremberg Ice Tigers and on Sunday (2 p.m. / MagentaSport) at home against Augsburg they have it in their own hands. The lions (77 points) can even overtake the ninth-placed Nuremberg team (79). Berlin (75), on the other hand, must hope for a defeat by the Hessians and beat the Schwenninger Wild Wings.

After the last four defeats in a row, Adler Mannheim made it through to the quarter finals despite a false start with a 6:3 (1:3, 3:0, 2:0) against ERC Ingolstadt. Wolfsburg also booked their ticket for the round of the top eight, the Grizzlies defeated the Düsseldorf EG 3-2 (0-0, 2-2, 1-0).

DEG is sixth with 91 points, but the Kölner Haie (89) can still overtake their Rhenish rivals on Sunday. Cologne came to a 3:2 (2:1, 0:1, 0:0, 1:0) after extra time in Schwenningen on Friday.

Main round winner Red Bull Munich played their last game before the play-offs on Friday and closed after a 5: 4 (0: 1, 3: 2, 1: 1, 0: 0, 1: 0) after a penalty shootout against the Straubing Tigers 122 points down. The Red Bulls will have to wait a bit for their opponents in the quarter-finals, they are up against a participant from the pre-playoffs.

Rape allegation: PSG star Hakimi accused

Moroccan soccer player Achraf Hakimi has been charged with rape by Bayern Munich’s Champions League opponents Paris Saint-Germain.

The Nanterre public prosecutor confirmed this to the AFP news agency on Friday after Hakimi had been interrogated.

The 24-year-old ex-Dortmunder was accused by a woman of the same age of raping her in his house last Saturday. She did not file a complaint, but due to the seriousness of the allegation, the public prosecutor’s office took action. Hakimi’s attorney, Fanny Colin, dismissed the allegations against her client as false.

PSG is still silent on the Hakimi case
Hakimi is now under judicial supervision, he is not allowed to contact the alleged victim, but he is allowed to leave French territory. Hakimi was present at PSG training on Friday morning, next Wednesday (9:00 p.m.) Paris will play the round of 16 second leg in Munich.

The club has not yet commented on the allegations.

“We take note of the indictment,” the woman’s lawyer told AFP. “My client stands by all of these statements. She has chosen to speak only to the judiciary and does not wish to bring the case to the media, particularly to protect her safety.”

Full-back Hakimi has been with PSG since 2021. From 2018 to 2020 he was in the service of BVB. With Morocco he sensationally reached the semi-finals as captain at the World Cup in Qatar.

No Kiel victory at the end

After a 26:26 (12:11) at Elverum Handball, the German record champion THW Kiel finished the preliminary round of the Champions League in fourth place.

If they had won in Norway, the third-placed Bundesliga player would have passed HBC Nantes in third place, and the French also couldn’t get past 28:28 (15:13) at SC Pick Szeged.

The team of coach Filip Jicha failed again and again at the bottom of the table because of the outstanding Elverum goalkeeper Emil Imsgard.

With three goals each, Mykola Bilyk, Rune Dahmke, Niclas Ekberg, Yannick Fraatz and Sander Sagosen were the guests’ most successful throwers. Kiel has to go into the playoffs to get into the quarterfinals.

Problems on the king’s stage: Herrmann loses headsail

Sailor Boris Herrmann and his Malizia crew suffered a setback on the king’s stage of the Ocean Race. The 41-year-old skipper had to accept the loss of a headsail two days after the start off Cape Town. At 7 p.m. local time, the high waves and good wind conditions broke away from the high-tech yacht.

“Now we’re on a different sail,” Herrmann said, “but this problem gave us a good hour’s work and caused us to drift backwards and lose at least 20 nautical miles and a sail.” All members of the five-person team are safe and there is probably no further damage.

According to their own statements, the crew had to react quickly as darkness fell and due to the heavy seas, the sail caught on the boat. Co-skipper Will Harris had to climb onto a foil and cut it free. Herrmann has more headsails at his disposal, but the loss is a disadvantage.

At 12,750 nautical miles, the third stage with the destination Itajai/Brazil is the longest stretch in the 50-year history of the regatta. The route takes Herrmann and Co. for about a month through the Southern Ocean along the ice border past the three famous Capes of Good Hope, Leeuwin and Hoorn. Extreme weather conditions are expected.