BEB Weekend Sports: Juicy News!

Brazil's Alves Ruled Out Of World Cup

Brazil right-back Dani Alves will miss this summer's World Cup with a knee injury.

The 35-year-old damaged the cruciate ligament in his right knee in PSG's French Cup final win this week.

It was hoped he would recover in time for the tournament in Russia but the Brazilian federation said on Friday that it was "impossible."

The former Barcelona and Juventus defender has won 106 caps and played in the 2010 and 2014 World Cups.

Five-time winners Brazil will face Switzerland, Costa Rica and Serbia in Group E.

Hamburg Relegated For First Time

Hamburg were relegated from the Bundesliga for the first time as fans delayed the end of the match against Borussia Monchengladbach by throwing flares on to the pitch.

Despite winning their final game of the season 2-1, Hamburg were sent down by Wolfsburg's 4-1 home win over Cologne.

When relegation was confirmed, fans set off flares and police and security staff came on to the pitch.

The match was completed after a 10-minute delay at the Volksparkstadion.

Hamburg, who needed to win and for Wolfsburg to lose, had been the only team to play every season in the Bundesliga since its 1963 formation.

Aaron Hunt put them ahead with a penalty awarded by the video assistant referee for handball, before Josip Drmic equalised.

Lewis Holtby scored Hamburg's winner from 16 yards, while Bobby Wood was sent off.

Hamburg, who narrowly stayed up for the past four seasons, enjoyed a revival towards the end of the season under caretaker boss Christian Titz, winning four of his eight games.

They join Cologne in being relegated to the second tier, while Wolfsburg play Holstein Kiel in the promotion-relegation play-off.

Hamilton On Pole, Vettel Third

Lewis Hamilton will start the Spanish GP on pole after edging out Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas in a closely-fought qualifying, with Ferrari rival Sebastian Vettel third.

Hamilton, the championship leader after his somewhat fortunate win at the last race in Baku, posted a track record 1:16.173, but was only four hundredths of a second faster than Bottas as Mercedes sealed their first front-row lockout of the season.

And Hamilton also ended Vettel's streak, with the German having started on pole at the three previous grands prix.

Thiem Ends Nadal's Unbeaten Run On Clay

Rafael Nadal's 21-match unbeaten run on clay ended as he was knocked out of the Madrid Open in the quarter-finals by Dominic Thiem.

Spaniard Nadal, who had not lost a set and was unbeaten on the surface since defeat by Austrian Thiem in May 2017, lost losing 7-5 6-3.

Nadal, 31, set a record of 50 consecutive sets won on one surface on Thursday.

His defeat means Swiss Roger Federer will replace Nadal as world number one.

Federer has not played since 24 March and sat out the clay-court season, but Nadal will lose the ranking points from his win in Madrid last year when the list is updated on Monday.

from Bola Esho's Blog