Real Madrid beats Liverpool to reach Champions League QF

By TALES AZZONI AP Sports Writer

MADRID (AP) — There was no historic comeback for Liverpool. Real Madrid’s title defence in the Champions League rolls into the quarterfinals.

Liverpool never really came close to overcoming its three-goal deficit from the first leg against the titleholders at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium yesterday, losing 1-0 to end its hopes of another run to the final.

Karim Benzema scored late and Madrid advanced to the last eight for the third straight season with a 6-2 aggregate score following a 5-2 win from the first leg in England, when it rallied from two goals down early in the first half. Liverpool was trying to pull off something never done before in the Champions League — erase a three-goal loss as a visitor. Only five times the team that lost at home rallied in the second leg in Europe’s top club competition.

“You needed a special performance and we didn’t show a special performance,” Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp said.

“In moments, it was a good performance, but Real Madrid was the team in control the whole game. Madrid was the better team and deserved to advance.”

The only time Madrid failed to advance in the Champions League after winning the first leg on the road was in 2019, when it was eliminated by Ajax in the round of 16. It had won six of its last seven matches against Liverpool in the tournament, drawing another.

“It was the type of match we wanted,” Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said. “It was difficult for them to press up front. The team played well, it was focused from the start.”

Napoli defeated Eintracht Frankfurt 3-0 in the other round-of-16 match yesterday to join Madrid, AC Milan, Bayern Munich,

By TENAJH SWEETING tsweeting@tribunemedia.net

THE Bahamas men’s beach volleyball team, consisting of primarily Jon Issacs and Eugene Stuart, are seeking financial sponsorship for their upcoming international beach volleyball season.

The North, Central America and Caribbean Volleyball Confederation (NORCECA) tour has nine senior stops for the 2023 season. The NORCECA tour stops will include places such as Mexico, Cuba, the Cayman Islands, and the Dominican Republic, which are some of the usual major stops along the tour.

With Jon Issacs recently getting back into beach volleyball since starting the journey in 2018, he has now been joined by his teammate Eugene Stuart, who plays the position of middle blocker. The pair will look to accomplish great feats on the 2023 NORCECA Tour but will need to reach their sponsorship goal of $30,000 to represent the country internationally.

Jon Issacs, member of the Bahamas Beach Volleyball

SEE PAGE 17

New ticket lottery launches for Paris 2024 Olympics

PARIS (AP) — Paris Olympics organisers kicked off the individual ticketing programme yesterday for next year’s Games, after an initial round of package sales left many buyers feeling frustrated at high costs.

Would-be spectators can sign up now through April 20 for a lottery for millions of tickets for Olympic events, which run July 26 to August 8, 2024. Those chosen for the draw will be contacted in May to log on and purchase individual tickets.

An initial ticketing lottery in February and March allowed buyers to get packages of tickets, but few people were able to access lower-cost tickets. Buyers were also required to buy packages for multiple sports, to encourage people to attend less-popular events.

Paris 2024 organisers announced last year that there will be one million tickets at 24 euros ($26) and more than four million for less than 50 euros ($53).

In all, 10 million tickets for the Olympics and 3.4 million for the Paralympics will be made available on the online platform. A final ticketing phase will run later this year.

Ticket sales are expected to cover about a third of the overall cost of hosting the Games.

French President Emmanuel Macron launched the 500-day countdown to the 2024 Paris Olympics and Paralympics on Tuesday.