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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The Olympic bronze medalist Dimitrij Ovtcharov rowed back after the escalated dispute with the Table Tennis Bundesliga (TTBL).
The national player “fully retracted” his allegations against Borussia Düsseldorf manager Andreas Preuss after a peace summit on Monday, as the German Table Tennis Association (DTTB) announced.
“It was wrong of me to accuse Andreas in his position as Chairman of the TTBL Supervisory Board of achieving personal benefits. I’m sorry,” said Ovtcharov.
Ovtcharov (34) and his club TTC Neu-Ulm, which has not applied for a license for the coming season of the table tennis Bundesliga, had previously accused Preuss of conflicts of interest and influence. The successful manager is also a member of the supervisory board of the league.
Prussia pays tribute to Ovtcharov Preuss paid tribute to Ovtcharov after his apology: “Dima has shown greatness, shown himself to be a sportsman with his clarification and thus managed the matter correctly.”
DTTB President Claudia Herweg was also present when Ovtcharov’s allegations were processed on Monday.
In 2022, the TTC Neu-Ulm signed four world-class players in one fell swoop, including Ovtcharov. The clear goal is to win the Champions League, but in the league the stars are hardly used or not used at all.
In a dispute over bans due to assignments for other clubs abroad, the TTC announced its withdrawal, it wants to relegate voluntarily. Ovtcharov had nevertheless announced his whereabouts in Neu-Ulm.
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