Gomez’s late goal leads Bayern past Real 2-1

MUNICH: Mario Gomez has scored in the 90th minute to give Bayern Munich a 2-1 win over Real Madrid in the first leg of their Champions League semifinal.

Gomez’s 12th goal of this year’s competition boosted Bayern’s hopes of becoming the first team to play the Champions League final at its own stadium, and earn its fifth title.

Franck Ribery opened the scoring in the 17th minute for Bayern Munich and Mesut Oezil equalized in the 53rd.

The second leg is next week in Madrid.

The other semifinal begins Wednesday when Barcelona is at Chelsea.

Real took its first defeat in the Champions League this season, but the away goal could be decisive for the nine-time champions.

Gomez knocked the ball in after Philipp Lahm broke through on the right and sent in a low cross. Gomez powered through to extend his right leg and prod the ball home from close range.

Ribery put in a shot from inside the penalty area after Real had failed to clear a corner kick by Toni Kroos, with Sergio Ramos practically chesting the ball down for the Frenchman to score the first goal.

The equalizer came with Bayern’s defense looking uncharacteristically in disarray. Goalkeeper Manuel Neuer stopped Cristiano Ronaldo’s effort, but could not hold the ball. Real regained possession, with Oezil passing to Karim Benzema, who found Ronaldo again. The Real star passed across the goal for Oezil to score from 2 yards.(Online news pk)

Australia fired up for top-5 London Olympics finish

LONDON: Australia’s Olympic team chief has said that he was confident of a top-five finish in London despite a renewed threat from the hosts, Japan, Germany and France.

With 100 days to go till the showpiece event, Australia know they face a battle to claim a place among the world’s elite Olympic nations with the country set to send its smallest Games team in 20 years.

Around 400 athletes are expected to make the trip after the "Olyroos" failed to qualify for the football tournament for the first time since 1984. The women’s team also missed out.

But chef-de-mission Nick Green said they will not go down without a fight.

"We know we are in for a tough tussle to claim a revered top-five spot with hosts and long-time rivals Britain, the strong European contingent headed by Germany and France, and the ever-present Japanese," said Green.

"But we know, as Aussies, we will never go down without a fight.

"Our athletes have to continue pushing in these final 100 days to give themselves the best chances of Olympic glory and ensure that we will hear Advance Australia Fair playing throughout the London venues."

Australia collected 14 golds at the last Games in Beijing and 46 medals overall, behind powerhouses China and the United States, as well as Russia and Britain.

In London they will again be relying on their swimmers to bolster the medal tally with swimming head coach Leigh Nugent targeting at least a dozen medals from their 44-strong squad led by 100m freestyle world champion James Magnussen.

But the team is without the experience of Ian Thorpe and Michael Klim, who missed selection, and is undergoing a major transition.

"The gap has closed on us... the US are the big challenge, they have dominated swimming for 100 years," Nugent said after the recent trials.

"There are other players who are making it tougher for us to stay in that number two position. The big movers are China and France."

A shift in power back to Britain at this month’s track cycling world championships could also hurt Australia’s chances of cracking the top five.

Britain won five of the 10 Olympic events at the Melbourne world titles a fortnight ago, while Australia took just three.

"Although the cycling may level itself out, we anticipate we can make some gains in other sports at the same time," said Green.

"Top five, absolutely. We don’t need to re-adjust that. I think top five is the respectful and rightful position for Australia to aspire to."(Onlin news pk)

BCB calls for shorter tour

ISLAMABAD: The Bangladesh cricket Board (BCB) has requested the Pakistan Cricket Board to restrict the cricket series between Pakistan and Bangladesh as short as possible due to security concerns.

According to PCB sources, the BCB asked the host country to restrict the forthcoming series to one T-20 and one ODI match only however the Bangladeshi cricket team is still waiting for final clearance from ICC to visit Pakistan.

The sources said the guest team would arrive in Pakistan on April 28 while the only ODI match would be played at Qadaffi stadium on April 29. The Bangladeshi cricket team would depart for their country after playing one T-20 match on April 30.

The Bangladeshi cricket team coach, Stewart Law has already expressed his concerns over security arrangements in Pakistan.

Although, the government and the PCB assured foolproof security arrangements during the short cricket series but the finial clearness for the tour from ICC is still pending./(online news pk)