PARIS: Vinicius Junior sealed Real Madrid’s progress to the Champions League last 16 on Wednesday with the clincher against Benfica as holders Paris St-Germain edged out 10-man Ligue 1 rivals AS Monaco.

Italian giants Juventus almost pulled off a stunning comeback from their 5-2 first leg deficit against Galatasaray, but extra-time goals from Victor Osimhen and Baris Yilmaz gave the Turks a 7-5 aggregate victory, while Lazar Samardzic’s injury-time spot-kick put Atalanta through 4-3 on aggregate against Borussia Dortmund.

Vinicius scored the winning goal in a 2-1 victory on the night to secure a 3-1 aggregate success for Real in the play-off tie in Madrid.

“(Vini) had a great game,” Real coach Alvaro Arbeloa told Movistar. “Unbala­ncing them, scoring, creating a lot of danger every time he took them on.”

A week on from the racism furore in the first leg in Lisbon, Vinicius provided the perfect riposte as the man he accused of racial abuse, Argentine midfielder Gianluca Prestianni sat out the match with a provisional ban imposed by UEFA.

Benfica coach Jose Mourinho was also suspended for the match against his former employers but his side briefly gave him hope of a shock result.

Rafa Silva gave Benfica a deserved lead on 14 minutes, but two minutes later, Aurelien Tchouameni levelled things up on the night with a crisp finish from Federico Valverde’s cutback.

With strike-partner Kylian Mbappe injured, Vinicius then stole the limelight, breaking clear 11 minutes from time to fire across goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin and into the far corner.

Tchouameni called it “a victory over racism”.

“We didn’t play our best match of the season, that’s for sure. But I think there are things more important than this match, and more important than football,” Tchouameni told reporters.

Meanwhile, PSG overcame a first-half scare to beat Monaco 5-4 on aggregate after a 2-2 draw at the Parc des Princes.

“What we’ve shown this season is our resilience, our ability to solve problems,” PSG coach Luis Enrique said of his team.

With Morocco full-back Achraf Hakimi picked to start despite facing trial for alle­ged rape, PSG made a sluggish opening.

Monaco pulled level on aggregate just before half-time as Maghnes Akliouche finished smartly from Mamadou Coul­ibaly’s clever pass.

But Coulibaly picked up two yellow car­ds in quick succession early in the second half and almost immediately, Desire Doue teed up Marquinhos to finish from close range.

Six minutes later, Hakimi let fly from distance, Monaco goalkeeper Philipp Koehn parried, and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia slammed home the rebound to all but crush the visitors’ hopes before Jordan Teze scored in injury time.

OSIMHEN BREAKS JUVE HEARTS

Ten-man Juventus’s hopes of pulling off a stunning comeback came up short despite beating Galatasaray 3-2 after extra time in Turin.

Captain Manuel Locatelli gave Juve a lifeline with a first-half penalty as the Italians dominated.

But their hopes of progressing took a huge blow when English centre-back Lloyd Kelly was harshly dismissed early in the second half after catching Yilmaz with his studs as he jumped for a header.

Federico Gatti turned home right-back Pierre Kalulu’s wicked cross and US midfielder Weston McKennie levelled up the tie eight minutes from time with a back-post header from barely a yard out to force extra time.

But Osimhen and Yilmaz’s extra period goals sent the Turks through.

“It almost makes me want to cry for how much we believed. I think we gave our hea­rt, and more,” Locatelli told Prime Video.

Juve’s recent form had instilled little confidence they could fight back, with four defeats in a winless run of five games, but they were applauded at fulltime after a heroic effort.

“There was an impressive reaction, the fans also supported us a lot, in extra time we arrived tired,” Gatti said. “We had put the game back on its feet with 10 men, but in the first leg we threw it away.”

But Juve icon Giorgio Chiellini was hoping for more, especially with one of Liverpool or Tottenham Hotspur awaiting Galatasaray in the next round.

“We’re upset and disappointed after the effort put in and what we showed today,” said Chiellini, now a club official. “What we did today should be a starting point for the remainder of the season.”

ATALANTA STUN DORTMUND

Two red cards, a VAR overturn and a decisive converted penalty with the last kick of the game.

All of that happened in the final seconds of a Champions League thriller between Atalanta and Dortmund — and it ultimately ensured there will still be Italian representation in Europe’s top club competition.

Serbian midfielder Samardzic’s last-gasp penalty earned Atalanta a 4-1 victory on the night at home.

Algerian centre-back Ramy Bensebaini gave away the penalty deep into time added on after catching Nikola Krstovic in the face with a high boot.

It earned him a second yellow card on a nightmare evening in which he inadvertently contributed to Atalanta’s first two goals as well.

The Italians had wiped out their 2-0 first leg deficit by half-time thanks to goals by striker Gianluca Scamacca and veteran wing-back Davide Zappacosta, both aided by Bensebaini deviations.

Croatian midfielder Mario Pasalic hea­ded home from inside the six-yard box to give the Italians the aggregate lead but Ka­rim Adeyemi’s brilliant individual goal had looked set to send the game into extra time.

“Everyone had written us off,” said Zappacosta. “But … we always believe and we never give up.”

Italy’s record of having at least one team in the round-of-16 since that stage was reintroduced to the Champions League in 2003-04 was under threat after Serie A champion Napoli didn’t even make the playoffs after finishing in 30th place in the 36-team league phase and Inter Milan was eliminated by tiny Norwegian team Bodø/Glimt in the playoffs on Tuesday.

“It’s an unforgettable night,” Atalanta coach Raffaele Palladino said, “a dream come true.”

Published in Dawn, February 27th, 2026

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DUBAI: Daniil Medvedev produced a clinical 6-2, 6-1 performance against Jenson Brooksby on Thursday to advance to his third Dubai semi-final and book a showdown with Felix Auger-Aliassime.

The former world number one boasts 22 career titles but has never won the same tournament twice. He is trying to change that this week in Dubai, where he lifted the trophy in 2023.

“I felt great. I know that maybe he had some issues, shoulder or elbow, I’m not sure, but his first serve was not going as probably he can usually do,” said Medvedev, who is seeking a second title of the season to go with the one he won in Brisbane.

“But you still need to play, you still need to put the returns in. He’s a big fighter…

“I’m happy with the way I’m playing here and I’m looking forward to the semis.”

In what was his second career meeting with Brooksby, two breaks of serve helped Medvedev scoop the opening set in just 28 minutes.

Third seed Russian kept up his momentum in the second, breaking early and cruising towards victory in just 57 minutes.

Medvedev advanced to the 53rd hard-court semi-final of his career, trailing just Novak Djokovic among active players.

The 30-year-old former US Open champion will next take on top-seeded Auger-Aliassime, who defeated Czech eighth seed Jiri Lehecka 6-3, 7-6 (7/2).

Auger-Aliassime, 25, punched his ticket to a second straight Dubai semi-final with a one hour, 52-minute victory over Lehecka.

The Canadian world number eight has made the quarter-finals or better at 10 of his last 11 tournaments, and has won 11 of the 12 matches he has contested this month — a stretch that includes a title run in Montpellier and a runner-up showing in Rotterdam.

“I think the serve was great. Because we played in two different conditions from the first set to the second,” said Auger-Aliassime, who hit 16 aces on Thursday.

“It was tough to get breaking chances and every time he came up with aces.”

Later om Thursday, Russia’s And­rey Rublev outplayed Arthur Rinde­rknech of France 6-2, 6-4.

Published in Dawn, February 27th, 2026

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LONDON: Richard Pybus said he had no issues with moving to Afghanistan to take over as head coach of the national cricket team following Jonathan Trott’s departure last week at the end of their Twenty20 World Cup campaign.

Cricket has yet to resume in Afghanistan due to the political situation and the national side play their home fixtures in the United Arab Emirates.

Previous foreign coaches were based outside the country and typically joined the squad during training camps in the UAE or India before international tournaments.

However, Afghanistan’s board (ACB) chief Naseeb Khan told cricket news website Cricbuzz last week that they wanted the new coach and support staff to be based in the country to work more closely with domestic players.

“I’ve lived in lots of different parts of the world and so I am fine with it,” England-born Pybus, 61, told Cricbuzz. “I’m looking forward to getting out into the provinces and being able to scout players and work with the selectors and get busy on the development of the players…

“The side’s really developed over a period of time so, as we would have seen at the last couple of World Cups, they’re a really serious cricket team now and so yeah, very excited.”

Pybus, who previously had coaching stints with West Indies, Pakistan and Bangladesh, will begin his role by preparing the team for a limited-overs series against Sri Lanka in March.

The teams will play three Twenty20s in Sharjah and three One-day Internationals in Dubai.

Published in Dawn, February 27th, 2026

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