MADRID: Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice as Real Madrid came from behind to stun Paris Saint-Germain 3-1 in the first leg of their heavyweight Champions League last-16 tie on Wednesday.
Ronaldo scored his 100th Champions League goal for title-holders Real from the penalty spot late in the first half to cancel out Adrien Rabiot’s opener for the French side at the Santiago Bernabeu, set up by Neymar.
The Portuguese star then turned the ball home from close range with seven minutes left before Marcelo secured what could turn out to be a decisive first-leg lead ahead of the return in Paris on March 6 and sent nearly 80,000 home fans into raptures.
“These days are to be remembered, and what better way to do it than with the character we showed,” Real skipper Sergio Ramos told Spanish television.
“We need to keep playing like that, with the desire to defend the Champions League. You can never consider Real Madrid to be dead and buried.”
Rabiot said PSG were plagued by familiar problems
“We always say the same things and we always get caught out in the same way,” Rabiot told beIN Sports.
“The problem is it’s easy to score eight against Dijon, or four goals in league games. It is in these matches that you need to be decisive.” “
The late collapse for PSG brings back echoes of the way they fell apart to lose 6-1 in Barcelona on their way to a humiliating exit at the same stage of the competition last season.
Neymar, in Barcelona’s ranks then, could not make the difference for PSG, who now have a huge job on their hands to turn the tie around.
Having looked set to come away with a precious draw, the defeat piles the pressure on coach Unai Emery, but for Real the outcome is an enormous boost for their boss Zinedine Zidane.
Under pressure himself with Real flagging domestically, he needed this win, and will earn praise for his substitutions, with Marco Asensio coming off the bench to set up each of the two late goals.
That was after Zidane had taken a risk by leaving out Gareth Bale, a key element in the side that has won three of the last four Champions Leagues. The Welshman’s place in the line-up was taken by Isco.
Emery went even further, dropping his captain Thiago Silva to make way for 22-year-old Presnel Kimpembe in the center of the PSG defense.
Real supporters chose an image of a famous fan in Rafael Nadal to adorn a display unfurled at the south end of the ground as the sides came out, hoping their team could draw inspiration from someone who has conquered Paris 10 times as French Open champion.
The hosts started well too, while Neymar struggled, slipping when one pass was aimed toward him, complaining as a Luka Modric challenge sent him to the floor and picking up a yellow card for a foul on Nacho.
Ronaldo, meanwhile, saw Alphonse Areola make a fine save from his net-bound shot after he had been released by Marcelo, and not long after that, in the 33rd minute, PSG scored.
Neymar could claim an assist, although it didn’t look like the Brazilian meant to help Kylian Mbappe’s low ball across the box from the right into the path of Rabiot, who swept home unmarked.
PSG had a precious away goal, but they could not hold their lead until the break as Giovani Lo Celso gave away a penalty for a foul on Toni Kroos.
Areola, having just made a superb save from Karim Benzema, could do nothing to keep out Ronaldo’s spot-kick.
The visitors had chances to go ahead again in the second half, Keylor Navas saving well from Mbappe and Sergio Ramos blocking bravely from Rabiot.
Emery then surprisingly took off Edinson Cavani and replaced him with Thomas Meunier, a right-back. But it was Zidane’s decision to send on Asensio that proved crucial.
In the space of three late minutes, Asensio saw one cross palmed out by Areola and then rebound into the net off Ronaldo’s thigh, before another assist was finished off by Marcelo, potentially finishing the tie in the process.
Ronaldo scores twice as Real Madrid take control against PSG
Ronaldo scores twice as Real Madrid take control against PSG
Juventus ‘not for sale’ say Agnellis, rejecting crypto giant Tether’s bid
- Tether bid values Turin club at €1.1 billion
- Buying Juventus could burnish crypto firm’s image in Europe
- Juve struggling amid financial and sporting challenges
- Juventus ‘not for sale’ say Agnellis, rejecting crypto giant Tether’s bid
MILAN: Italy’s Agnelli family has no intention of selling Juventus to crypto group Tether or anyone else, the CEO of their holding company said on Saturday, rejecting Tether’s shock offer for Italy’s most successful football club.
“Juventus, our history and our values are not for sale,” said Exor CEO John Elkann, who wore a team hoodie in a rare video address posted on the Turin-based Serie A club’s website.
Tether, headquartered in El Salvador and run by Italian Paolo Ardoino, a Juventus supporter, said on Friday it had submitted an all-cash proposal to buy Exor’s stake in the club.
Tether said it would make a public tender offer for the remaining Juventus shares at the same price and it planned to invest one billion euros to support the club known in Italy as Juve if the deal goes ahead.
The crypto company is offering Exor €2.66 per share, a source familiar with the matter said, valuing Juventus at just over one billion euros ($1.17 billion) and offering a 21 percent premium over Juventus’ closing share price of €2.19.
Amsterdam-listed Exor said in a statement its board had unanimously rejected the offer and had “no intention of selling any of its shares in Juventus to a third party.”
Juventus has not made an annual net profit for almost a decade, and its shares are down 27 percent so far this year.
Tether stablecoin pegged to dollar
Tether, the issuer of a US dollar-referenced stablecoin dubbed USDT, has already built a stake of more than 10 percent in Juventus this year, becoming its second-largest shareholder.
By acquiring a European soccer club, Tether — whose business faces mounting EU regulatory scrutiny — could hope to gain credibility with the continent’s establishment, while boosting its wider popularity.
Tether said it is proposing to buy Exor’s 65.4 percent of the total Juventus share capital, without officially disclosing a price.
Exor, the largest shareholder in automaker Stellantis and which controls sports car-maker Ferrari , has been streamlining its Italian portfolio.
This year it agreed the sale of truck maker Iveco to India’s Tata Motors, and said on Monday it was in talks with Greek media group Antenna to sell its news operations, including two major newspapers and three popular radio stations.
A sale of Juventus would likely be seen as the clearest sign yet of the family’s gradual disengagement from their home country. The family’s ties with the club date back to 1923 when Edoardo Agnelli became chair, and Elkann said in November that the family had no intention of selling shares.
Investors, led by Exor, have poured around a billion euros of fresh cash into Juventus in the past seven years.
Juventus has sruggles in last five years
Juventus has won the Italian championship 36 times, more than any other team, but has struggled since a ninth consecutive title in 2020. It currently sits in seventh place in Serie A.
Once home to stars such as Michel Platini, Roberto Baggio, Alessandro Del Piero and Cristiano Ronaldo, Juventus has helped the Agnellis build consensus and popularity in Italy.
Its support has weathered match-fixing and financial scandals, the most recent in 2023, when a false accounting case linked to player trading led to a 10-point deduction in Serie A.
Juventus was also a driving force behind the failed attempt to launch a breakaway European Super League with a dozen other top clubs in 2021, challenging the authority of European soccer’s governing body UEFA.
Like other leading Serie A teams, it has had a hard time remaining competitive financially amid the growing dominance of England’s Premier League and European powerhouses such as Real Madrid, Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain.
Tether’s USDT accounts for more than half the market of stablecoins pegged to the dollar, the Bank of Italy says.
It had a market capitalization of around $186 billion as of Friday. The token is backed by US Treasuries and dollars, and Tether is one of the 20 largest holders of US government debt.
Stablecoins are digital tokens that aim to maintain a stable value through a one-to-one peg to a traditional currency. They are backed by reserves, government bonds or deposits.
