BERLIN: Bayern Munich stretched their lead at the top of the Bundesliga to nine points on Saturday with an extraordinary 4-3 victory over Holstein Kiel.
Bayern led 4-0 as Harry Kane scored twice, but Finn Porath replied for Kiel before Steven Skrzybski’s stoppage-time double threatened to steal an unlikely point.
The full-time whistle was met with relief around the Allianz Arena.
“None of us are happy that we won 4-3 here,” Jamal Musiala, scorer of Bayern’s first goal, told Sky Sport. “We have to have the mentality to work for 90 minutes and avoid conceding goals.”
Bayern coach Vincent Kompany was also irritated with the manner in which his team ended the game.
“It was a pretty complete game until the 80th minute. But we also played against a team that was fighting for every moment,” Kompany told reporters.
“I thought we started the second half really well, but in terms of how we finished the game, that’s something we’ll have to review with the players.”
With Bayern’s closest title rivals, Bayer Leverkusen, hosting Hoffenheim on Sunday, Kompany’s side took their chance to widen the gap between them and the champions.
The Bavarians went ahead in the 19th minute when Musiala finished a beautiful team goal that involved a quick interchange of passes between Joshua Kimmich, Michael Olize and then Musiala, who steered in his 10th league goal of the season.
Kiel had almost made it to half-time just a goal behind but with less than a minute of stoppage time to go, Bayern struck a killer blow.
Kingsley Coman beat his man on the left and lofted a cross onto the head of Kane, who couldn’t miss from close range. Kane scored another in the first minute of the second half, heading home Raphael Guerreiro’s pinpoint cross.
It was Kane’s 55th league goal in 50 appearances, another Bundesliga goalscoring record for the England captain.
“To have 55 in 50 is obviously a proud feeling but as always with me it’s about the next 50 games and seeing how many more I can get,” said Kane.
Serge Gnabry joined the party with a fine goal, bringing a high ball under his spell with his right foot and volleying in with his left.
Kiel struck back with a beautifully-executed strike by Porath which seemed little more than a consolation, even after the fourth official indicated five additional minutes.
Skrzybski’s late brace nearly embarrassed Bayern but the hosts limped over the line as wounded victors.
Borussia Dortmund picked up a slim 2-1 victory at struggling Heidenheim in their final game before Niko Kovac takes charge, following the recent sacking of coach Nuri Sahin.
Dortmund went in front as Heidenheim couldn’t clear a corner and Serhou Guirassy scored from close range.
It was the Guinean striker’s fifth goal in his last four games and followed a double in the Champions League in midweek against Shakhtar Donetsk.
Heidenheim came into the contest without a win in their previous 14 league games and occupying the relegation play-off position.
The game remained tight until the hour when Ramy Bensebaini drilled a low cross in from the left and substitute Max Beier made a difficult finish look easy.
Dortmund became their own worst enemies, conceding 18 seconds after the restart as Mathias Honsak cut their lead in half.
But Dortmund held firm and weathered some late pressure to pick up a first league win since December 22, snapping a four-game winless streak in the Bundesliga.
Elsewhere on Saturday, Germany international Tim Kleindienst scored a late winner for Borussia Moenchengladbach in a 2-1 victory at Stuttgart.
Gladbach led when Nathan N’Goumou rifled into the roof of the net but a Nico Elvedi own goal soon after the break levelled the contest.
But a slick Gladbach counter-attack saw Lukas Ullrich pick out Kleindienst, who tapped in the winner.
Freiburg picked up a 1-0 win at bottom-placed Bochum, with Kiliann Sildillia nodding in his first Bundesliga goal.
St. Pauli were denied victory when Augsburg teenager Mert Komur struck late to ensure a 1-1 draw.
RB Leipzig moved back into the top four despite being held 0-0 at struggling Union Berlin.
Bayern survive late Kiel fightback to go nine points clear
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Bayern survive late Kiel fightback to go nine points clear
- The full-time whistle was met with relief around the Allianz Arena
- “None of us are happy that we won 4-3 here,” Jamal Musiala, scorer of Bayern’s first goal, told Sky Sport
Al-Ahli crowned SAFF Women’s Cup champions in thriller at Kingdom Arena
- Al-Ahli beat Al-Qadsiah 2-1 to retain women’s cup
- Fans respond to the #SeeOurGlory online campaign
RIYADH: Defending champions Al-Ahli beat Al-Qadsiah 2-1 in the Saudi Arabian Football Federation Women’s Cup final on Wednesday, in a game that lived up to all the pre-match hype.
Al-Ahli produced a remarkable comeback to secure a second consecutive cup victory at Kingdom Arena.
Goals from Congo international Naomie KabaKaba and Moroccan captain Ibtissam Jraidi saw the Jeddah club edge past Al-Qadsiah in an end-to-end contest.
The 2025 final comes during a historic season of growth for women’s football in Saudi Arabia.
Fans had also responded positively to the SAFF’s #SeeOurGlory campaign tying into the showpiece match.
In a fast start to the match, Al-Qadsiah goalkeeper Lindsey Harris was forced into action early with several fine saves, denying KabaKaba from close range.
Harris’ early stops provided Al-Qadsiah the platform to grow into the final, as Saudi Arabia star Rahaf Al-Mansouri opened the score midway through the first half from a corner.
The 2024 cup winners would tie the score just before the break with a deflected strike from KabaKaba.
An early second half header from captain Jraidi saw the Jeddah club take and hold onto the lead, sealing a second cup in successive seasons for Manar Fraij’s side.
Jraidi said: “We’re delighted to secure this cup and for me to win the top scorer award. Honestly, it’s a stunning stadium with an incredible atmosphere. We truly appreciate SAFF for its outstanding organization of this event.”
Fraij was proud of her team’s comeback in a tense final. “An incredible achievement for the team. We worked on the mentality of the players, and we believed in the players’ unwavering determination.
“Regardless of scoring first or conceding first, we remained focused and consistent until the final whistle. The players deserve this,” said Fraij.
‘Great time’: In Pakistani capital, padel pops up as new favorite Ramadan sport
- Padel is one of the fastest growing sports in the world and Islamabad residents are bewitched by global craze this Ramadan season
- Padel games provide fun-filled pastime, opportunity to socialize and means to enjoy exercising without hard strain during fasting month
ISLAMABAD: On a recent Ramadan night, Mamoon Sabri, 27, slipped into a tracksuit an hour after the iftar meal and headed to his new favorite getaway: a padel court.
Racket in hand, he walked onto the artificial turf at The Pad, Islamabad’s first padel club, as a group of his friends also arrived. Soon they began hitting forehands and backhands across the net, slamming the ball off the back wall, scooping it over the net and teasing each other with shots close to the wall — and so went on an hour-and-a-half long game of padel.
The racket sport, a mix of tennis and squash that is the fastest-growing sport in the world, is also gaining traction in Pakistan, especially in Ramadan, with its culture of sports and physical activities in parks, streets, and sports grounds after iftar and until the pre-dawn suhoor meal, fostering a sense of community and promoting health at the same time.
At The Pad and other padel courts in the Pakistani capital, padel games are offering people both a fun-filled pastime and an opportunity to socialize and exercise in the hours between iftar and suhoor. A Ramadan tournament is taking place at The Pad currently, with more than 50 teams participating in all-girls, mixed doubles and advanced team categories.
As of 2024, there are approximately 30 million amateur padel players worldwide, with the sport, founded in Mexico in the 1960s, now played in over 130 countries, according to the International Padel Federation.
“Padel is a great time and Ramadan is always a great time for sports in Islamabad anyway because everyone wants to play, everyone wants to stay awake till sehri [suhoor] one way or the other,” Sabri, a sports broadcaster and consultant, told Arab News shortly after winning a men’s doubles game.
Mustafa Mirza, a co-founder of The Pad, said the club was fostering an atmosphere of camaraderie in Ramadan.
“Padel is a social hub and it is linked more with the lifestyle,” Mirza said. “We have an excellent response in Ramadan. We feel that the people who were not familiar with padel, because they ventured out in Ramadan and they found this sport to be so challenging and rigorous, and then they have taken part in it.”
Indeed, from dedicated sports clubs to pop-up facilities in upscale neighborhoods, there is a surge in courts and players this Ramadan, with families, friends, and even corporate groups gathering late into the night and enjoying the sport’s social nature. Many players said they would cap off their matches with post-game hangouts at nearby cafés and restaurants where they could enjoy suhoor in groups.
Mahnoor Khan, a 27-year-old employee at a telecom company, said she had come to the courts for the first time with her husband and a group of friends, describing padel as a “very good sport for family and friends.”
“In Islamabad you don’t have a lot of options other than dining out, so this is the very first time that they have introduced something that is other than dining out for socializing,” she told Arab News. “You have a good game, and you go out after iftar or whenever … I think the concept is now spreading really fast.”
Zainab Ameen, who manages The Pad club with her husband, another co-founder Ameen-ud-Din Hafeez, said though the club had only launched a few months ago, the response was “tremendous.”
“We never thought that we will get this kind of response. We just started with two courts and when we got a very good response, we opened two more. And now, we are going to open a futsol [arena],” she told Arab News.
What makes padel particularly appealing during Ramadan is that as a low-impact sport, padel lets one enjoy exercising without any hard strain on the muscles, thus serving as an effective means of staying fit without feeling exceedingly overwhelmed in Ramadan.
“It’s a very low skill floor for the game to play. So, anyone who is starting off will have a good time because they are going to feel like, ‘Wow, what a shot, I am a machine’,” Sabri said.
“But then there is also a very good skill ceiling … It’s a very interesting mixture in a way most racket sports are.”
Luka Doncic scores 31 after a big first quarter, and the Lakers rout the depleted Nuggets 120-108
- The Lakers scored a season-high 46 points in the first quarter led by Luka Doncic
- Doncic was afire from the opening tip, scoring nine points in less than three minutes and 20 points in about eight minutes
LOS ANGELES: Luka Doncic had 31 points, nine rebounds and seven assists in just three quarters of work, and the Los Angeles Lakers routed the Denver Nuggets 120-108 on Wednesday night in a matchup of injury-depleted Western Conference contenders.
Nikola Jokic (elbow) and Jamal Murray (ankle) missed their second straight games for Denver, while LeBron James (hamstring) and Rui Hachimura (knee) continued their longer-term absences for Los Angeles.
Austin Reaves had 22 points and eight assists for the Lakers, who have won nine consecutive home games and three straight since finishing their 0-4 road trip last Friday with a loss at Denver.
Aaron Gordon scored 26 points for the Nuggets.
The Lakers scored a season-high 46 points in the first quarter led by Doncic, who scorched Denver for 21 points in his highest-scoring quarter of the season. He missed the Lakers’ 131-126 loss to Denver last Friday, when the Lakers nearly won without him and James.
Los Angeles led by 28 after three quarters, allowing Doncic to get extra rest amid five home games in seven days.
Bronny James played the final 3:58.
Takeaways
Nuggets: Even without Jokic and Murray, offense wasn’t the problem. Los Angeles made 60 percent of its shots in the first three quarters.
Lakers: Doncic dominated early, but they’re thriving with balance. Six Lakers scored in double figures, and big men Jaxson Hayes and Christian Koloko played solid defense.
Key moment
Doncic was afire from the opening tip, scoring nine points in less than three minutes and 20 points in about eight minutes. He led an 18-2 run midway through the first quarter with three 3-pointers and three assists before cooling off.
Key stat
Doncic scored 30 points for the 200th time in his NBA career. He’s done it eight times in 16 games with LA.
Up next
The Nuggets visit the Trail Blazers on Friday. The Lakers host the Bucks on Thursday.
Pakistan football team to travel to Saudi Arabia for AFC Asian Cup qualifier camp
- Pakistan will face Syria in AFC Asian Cup qualifier fixture on Mar. 25 in Saudi Arabia's Al-Ahsa
- Green shirts to resume training camp in Saudi Arabia under Head Coach Stephen Constantine
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s national football team will be in Saudi Arabia on Thursday, where they will resume training for the upcoming AFC Asian Cup qualifier fixture against Syria, the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) said in a statement.
Pakistan will kick off their AFC Asian Cup 2027 qualification campaign against Syria on Mar. 25 at the Prince Abdullah bin Jalawi Stadium in Al-Ahsa, Saudi Arabia.
The green shirts concluded their training session in the eastern city of Lahore on Wednesday night, the PFF said.
"The team is set to depart for Saudi Arabia tomorrow night, where they will continue their training under the guidance of Head Coach Stephen Constantine," the PFF said.
Earlier this month, Pakistan reappointed Constantine, who previously served as the country's head coach from late 2023 until mid-2024, as head coach for the Syria fixture.
Pakistan's inclusion in the qualifier was made possible after the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) lifted its international suspension against the country earlier this month.
FIFA hit Pakistan on Feb. 6 with a third international suspension in less than eight years after the federation rejected its electoral reforms. Following the suspension, the PFF unanimously approved FIFA's proposed constitutional amendments in an extraordinary meeting in Lahore this month.
Pakistan are placed in Group E of the AFC Asian Cup qualifiers alongside Syria, Afghanistan and Myanmar.
PAKISTAN PROBABLES
Goalkeepers: Yousuf Butt, Saqib Hanif, Abdul Basit and Adam Khan
Defenders: Abdullah Iqbal, Easah Suliman, Haseeb Khan, Junaid Shah, Mamoon Moosa, Mohammad Fazal, Abdul Rehman and Waqar Ihtisam
Midfielders: Alamgir Ghazi, Ali Uzair, Ali Zafar, Muhammad Umar Hayat, Rahis Nabi, Toqeer ul Hassan, Umair Ali and Moin Ahmed
Forwards: Fareedullah, Harun Hamid, Imran Kayani, Mckeal Abdullah, Abdul Samad, Shayak Dost and Muhammad Adeel Younas
Saudi midfielder Mohammed Kanno to miss World Cup qualifier against China through injury
- The Green Falcons, who sit in 4th place in their group on 6 points with 4 games to play, face China on Thursday and Japan on Tuesday
- ‘We expect to perform well … Qualification is in our hands and we want to win,’ says national team coach Herve Renard
RIYADH: Midfielder Mohammed Kanno will miss the Saudi national team’s 2026 World Cup qualifier against China on Thursday but could be available for the match against Japan on Tuesday, coach Herve Renard revealed on Wednesday.
“Kanno will not be ready for tomorrow’s match, just as he wasn’t for the Australia game, but we hope he can travel with us to Japan,” the Frenchman said. Kanno picked up an injury playing for his club, Al-Hilal, against Al-Taawoun on Saturday.
The Saudis are one of four teams on six points in Group C after six games of the final stage of the Asian qualifiers. With four games left to play, Australia are in second place on seven points and Japan top the group on 16 points. The top two teams from each of the three groups will qualify for the World Cup, while the teams in third and fourth place progress to the play-off phase.
“We expect to perform well,” Renard said of the upcoming double-header. “There is no pressure on us after the Gulf Cup, and we are still fortunate to have a direct qualification opportunity after our previous matches. Qualification is in our hands and we want to win.”
He attributed recent improved performances by China to their Croatian coach, Branko Ivankovic, adding: “Matches against him were tough when he coached Oman, and tomorrow’s match will be no different. China is a well-organized team that excels in attacking transitions and we must be ready for that.”
Renard thanked the Saudi fans for ensuring Thursday’s clash at Al-Awwal Park in Riyadh is a sell-out, and highlighted the important role they play in supporting the players.
“We can’t do it alone,” he said. “We need the fans, they are the foundation of our qualification. We need everyone and we must show our desire and determination to win.”
Ivankovic acknowledged Saudi Arabia’s superiority ahead of the clash but expressed confidence in his players’ ability to get a result.
“Saudi Arabia is one of Asia’s top teams,” he said. “They played against Argentina and defeated them in the World Cup. They have the advantage but we believe in our chances and capabilities and want to complete our mission with a positive result.
“We have prepared well for Thursday’s match. We have 15 new players, bringing fresh energy and experience. We know (the Saudis) well — they are an excellent team.”
Recalling his previous encounter with Renard, Ivankovic added: “We faced him when I was with Oman. He is not just a good coach but an outstanding one.”
He also had high praise for the injured Kanno, describing him as “the best Saudi midfielder,” but added: “It doesn’t matter whether he plays or not. We prepare for our opponent with their full squad. That’s our approach.”
