BEB Weekend Sports:News!

Madrid derby ends goalless


Real Madrid failed to win for a second straight game and missed the chance to go top of La Liga as they drew with city rivals Atletico Madrid.

Real, beaten by Sevilla in midweek, could have overtaken Barcelona, who drew against Athletic Bilbao earlier.

Welshman Gareth Bale volleyed an effort narrowly wide before being replaced at half-time because of injury.

Atletico's best chance fell to Antoine Griezmann, but the Frenchman's dinked shot was saved by Thibaut Courtois.

The Belgium goalkeeper's former Chelsea team-mate Diego Costa was a peripheral figure and has now gone 16 league games without a goal.

Real were the better side in the second half but did not fully test goalkeeper Jan Oblak, who smothered Marco Asensio's shot and palmed away Dani Carvajal's strike.

As the home supporters got frustrated, chants of "Ronaldo, Ronaldo" were clearly audible in the second half. Portugal forward Cristiano Ronaldo had left the club to join Juventus in the summer.

Germany awarded Euro 2024


Germany will host the 2024 European Championships after beating Turkey by 12 votes to four from UEFA's executive committee.

After a two-horse race for Euro 2024, the German Football Association's (DFB) successful bid means they will host a major international tournament for the first time since the 2006 World Cup.

Germany received 12 votes from the 17-member committee, with four opting for Turkey and one abstention.

The four-time world champions have won the Euros three times - 1972, 1980 and 1996 - and last staged the continental competition as West Germany in 1988.

Former Germany captain and head of the nation's bid, Philipp Lahm, told UEFA : "I'm very proud of everyone who's worked to bring the 2024 European Championships to Germany.

Berlin's Olympic Stadium will host the final of the 24-team tournament, which will feature 51 games over the course of June and July.

The other nine host cities are Cologne, Dortmund, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Gelsenkirchen, Hamburg, Leipzig, Munich and Stuttgart.

Turkey, meanwhile, miss out for a fourth time after failed bids for Euro 2008, 2012 and 2016 - losing out on the latter by one vote to France.

All Blacks win sixth Rugby Championship


New Zealand won the Rugby Championship for the sixth time with a 35-17 win over Argentina in Buenos Aires.

Victory gave the All Blacks an unsurpassable seven-point lead over South Africa with one game to play.

A shock 36-34 win in Wellington this month had given South Africa hope that they could overtake New Zealand and win the competition for the first time.

But they failed to secure a bonus point in a 23-12 win over Australia in Port Elizabeth earlier on Saturday.

That result left the All Blacks needing a win to secure the title, and they outscored Argentina by five tries to two to collect a bonus point as well.

The world champions were missing several regulars in Buenos Aires, particularly in the pack, but it made little difference as they recovered from a shaky first five minutes to dominate a team who have still to record a win against them in 28 games.
"I don't know if we're the finished product yet. They are a young team that were out there for large parts of tonight so it was pretty pleasing," said New Zealand coach Steve Hansen after the match.

Serena Williams to miss China Open in Beijing 


Serena Williams will miss the China Open and may not play again this season after her controversial US Open final defeat by Naomi Osaka.

Her name, along with sister Venus, was not in the draw for the event.

At the US Open, Serena was given a code violation for coaching, incurred a point penalty for racquet smashing and was docked a game for verbal abuse.

It is thought unlikely that the 37-year-old will play again this season.

The American, who was aiming to equal Margaret Court's record of 24 Grand Slam singles titles against Osaka, says she wants to move on from the controversy.

She denies being coached from the stands, despite her coach Patrick Mouratoglou saying he was sending her signals.
"I just don't understand what he was talking about," she said.
After being punished for coaching and racquet abuse, she called umpire Carlos Ramos a "liar" and "thief".

She was later fined $17,000 (£13,100) for the code violations.

from Bola Esho's Blog

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