the times | Thursday April 28 2022 2GM 65
Sport
Conference League semi-final, first legs
Feyenoord v Marseille (8.0); Leicester City v
Roma (8.0).
Women’s Super League: Chelsea v
Tottenham (7.45).
Cricket
All first day of four, 11am, 96 overs min
LV= Insurance County Championship:
Division One Essex v Northamptonshire;
Gloucestershire v Surrey; Hampshire v
Lancashire; Somerset v Warwickshire;
Yorkshire v Kent. Division Two Derbyshire v
Glamorgan; Middlesex v Leicestershire;
Nottinghamshire v Worcestershire; Sussex v
Durham.
Rugby league
Betfred Super League: Wakefield v
Huddersfield (8.0).
Darts
Dublin: Premier League (from 7.0).
Snooker
Sheffield: Betfred World Championship
semi-finals (from 1pm)WTA Mutua Madrid Open
Madrid: qualifying A Bondar (Hun) bt
G Minnen (Bel) 6-4, 6-2; O Dodin (Fr) bt B
Haddad Maia (Br) 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-2; A K
Schmiedlova (Slovakia) bt M Linette (Pol) 6-2,
1-6, 7-6 (7-4); D Yastremska (Ukr) bt H Tan (Fr)
6-2, 7-6 (7-4); K Kanepi (Est) bt M Trevisan (It)
6-2, 7-5; I Begu (Rom) bt K Rakhimova (Russ)
6-1, 6-0; M Bouzkova (Cz) bt D Kovinic
(Montenegro) 7-5, 6-4; P Martic (Cro) bt L
Bronzetti (It) 6-4, 6-1; A Potapova (Russ) bt K
Mladenovic (Fr) 6-2, 6-0; V Gracheva (Russ)
bt H Watson (GB) 6-3, 6-2; E Alexandrova
(Russ) bt C Burel (Fr) 6-1, 6-1; A Petkovic (Ger)
bt K Juvan (Slovenia) 7-6 (7-4), 6-4.Football
Premier League Manchester United v
Chelsea (7.45).
Europa League semi-final, first legs RB
Leipzig v Rangers (8.0); West Ham v
Eintracht Frankfurt (8.0).Fixtures
Snooker
Betfred World Championship
Crucible Theatre, Sheffield: Quarter-finals
R O’Sullivan (Eng) bt S Maguire (Scot) 13-5; M
Wiliams (Wales) bt Yan Bingtao (China) 13-11;
J Trump (Eng) bt S Bingham (Eng) 13-8;
J Higgins (Scot) bt J Lisowski (Eng) 13-12.
Tennis
ATP Millennium Estoril Open
Cascais: round of 16 (4) A Davidovich-Fokina
(Sp) bt B Zapata Miralles (Sp) 6-3, 7-6 (7-5); (5)
F Tiafoe (US) bt N Borges (Por) 7-6 (7-4), 4-6,
6-0; F Verdasco (Sp) bt P Cuevas (Uru) 6-2,
6-3.
ATP BMW Open
Munich: round of 16 (4) N Basilashvili
(Geo) bt I Ivashka (Russ) 3-6, 6-2, 6-4; H
Rune (Den) bt (1) A Zverev (Ger) 6-3, 6-2; A
Tabilo (Chile) bt (5) C Garin (Chile) 6-3, 6-4; (8)
B van de Zandschlup (Neth) bt B Nakashima
(US) 7-6 (7-3), 6-3; (7) M Kecmanovic (Serbia)
bt D Altmaier (Ger) 6-2, 6-4; E Gerasimov
(Russ) bt J Millman (Aus) 4-6, 6-2, 6-2;
E Ruusuvuori (Fin) bt M Cressy (US) 6-3,
6-3.Victorious) 4hr 23min 58sec; 2, R Dennis (Aus,
Jumbo-Visma) at same time; 3, M Hirschi
(Switz, UAE Team Emirates) at 2 sec; 4, A
Vlasov (Russ, Bora-Hansgrohe); 5, Q
Hermans (Bel, Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert
Matériaux) at same time; 6, B O’Connor (Aus,
AG2R Citroen Team) at 4sec; 7, D Caruso (It,
Bahrain Victorious); 8, J Ayuso Pesquera (Sp,
UAE Team Emirates); 9, S Cras (Bel, Lotto
Soudal); 10, M Schmid (Switz, Quick-Step
Alpha Vinyl Team) at same time.
Overall leaders 1, Dennis 4hr 29min 48sec; 2,
F Grossschartner (Aus, Bora-Hansgrohe) at
16sec; 3, G Thomas (GB, Ineos Grenadiers) at
same time; 4, Teuns at 18sec; 5, Schmid at
20sec; 6, Ayuso Pesquera; 7, M Honore (Den,
Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team) at same time;
8, P Bevin (NZ, Israel-Premier Tech) at 22sec;
9, Vlasov at 23 sec; 10, B McNulty (US, UAE
Team Emirates) at same time.
Rugby union
Premiership Cup: Semi-final
Gloucester 25 Worcester 39
Gloucester: Tries: Jordan, Morris, Morgan.
Con: Barton 2. Pens: Barton 2. Worcester:
Tries: Howe, Simpson 2, Van der Merwe,
Penalty, Annett. Cons: Smith 2. Pen: Shillcock.Football
Champions League
semi-final, first leg
Liverpool (0) 2 Villarreal (0) 0
Estupiñán (og) 53
Mané 55
51,586Sky Bet Championship
Middlesbrough (1) 2 Cardiff (0) 0
Tavernier 28
McGree 53
19,727P WD LFA GD Pts
Fulham (P).........44 26 9 9 99 39 60 87
Bournemouth...43 22 138 69 39 30 79
Nottm Forest.....43 22 10 11 67 37 30 76
Huddersfield.....44 21 13 10 60 46 14 76
Luton...................44 20 12 12 62 48 14 72
Sheff Utd............44 19 12 13 56 44 12 69
Middlesbrough44 19 10 15 55 45 10 67
Blackburn 44 18 12 14 57 46 11 66
Millwall................44 17 15 12 50 44 6 66
QPR.......................44 18 9 17 58 56 2 63
Coventry.............44 17 12 15 58 56 2 63
Stoke....................44 17 10 17 55 48 7 61
West Brom 44 16 13 15 47 45 2 61
Swansea.............44 16 13 15 57 62 -5 61
Blackpool...........44 16 12 16 54 51 3 60
Preston................44 14 16 14 45 54-9 58
Bristol City.........44 14 10 20 57 75 -18 52
Hull.......................44 14 8 22 40 48-8 50
Cardiff.................44 14 7 23 48 67 -19 49
Birmingham......44 11 13 20 48 72 -24 46
Reading**...........44 13 8 23 54 85 -31 41
Peterboro (R) ... 44 8 10 26 38 84 -46 34
Derby* (R)..........44 13 13 18 43 52-9 31
Barnsley (R)....... 44 6 12 26 32 66 -34 30
*deducted 21pts for breaching financial rules
and for going into administration
**deducted 6pts for breaching financial rules
Cricket
IPL: Gujarat Titans v Sunrisers Hyderabad
Hyderabad 195-6 (A Sharma 65, R Tripathi 56;
Mohammed Shami 3-39). Gujarat 199-5 (W
Saha 68, R Tewatia 40; U Malik 5-25). Gujarat
beat Hyderabad by five wickets.
Cycling
Tour de Romandie: Stage One: La Grande
Beroche-Romont (178.0 km, medium-
mountain stage) 1, D Teuns (Bel, Bahrainother English striker in the “big five”
leagues, and is playing with the spring
in his step that went missing in his
last few months under Thomas Tuchel
at Chelsea.
“It is all about someone believing in
me,” said the 24-year-old, who failed to
include Tuchel on the list of coaches
who have been fully supportive of him.
“Frank Lampard gave me a chance and
believed in me and showed faith in me
and that’s when I was producing.
“The same with José now, he shows
belief in me. As a player, when you haveResults
Brendan Rodgers is hoping to create
history with his Leicester City side in
Europe but finds two familiar faces
standing in the way.
José Mourinho and his star attacker,
Tammy Abraham, return to the King
Power Stadium tonight looking to
prove a point after their Premier
League departures.
Abraham has rediscovered his goal-
scoring form and confidence under
Mourinho, having left Chelsea in the
summer, and the Portuguese head
coach, back after his sacking by
Tottenham Hotspur, is determined to
show that he still has what it takes to
win European trophies — even if this
time he is only talking about the last
four of the new third-tier competition,
the Europa Conference League.
“I see this as my competition right
now. That’s because I’m not in the
Champions League or the Europa
League, I’m in this, and I’m in it to win
it,” said Mourinho, who won the
Champions League with Porto and
Inter Milan, as well as the Europa
League with Manchester United. “It’s
my competition. We need to fight until
the bitter end because we have suffered
for this competition and dropped
league points pursuing it.”
The former Chelsea head coach is
not going to pass up the chance to lift
another European trophy, even if it is
not the one he desperately wants. But
will it prove that he is back at the peak
of his powers?
Rodgers, who
worked under
Mourinho at
Chelsea, said his
former mentor
and colleague is
still one of the
game’s most for-
midable minds.
“He is one of
the great manag-
ers and has nothing
to prove. He is a winner
and will always be a
winner. He will only
want to prove it to him-
self,” Rodgers, 49, said.
“When people asked
me about him, what
he’s like — he just had
the X factor. It wasn’t
one single thing, he
was brilliant in so
many aspects. I
have nothing but
admiration for him.”
Rodgers and Mouri-
nho, whose mutual
respect was obvious as
they each spoke before
the game, share a reli-
ance on their leading
centre forward.
Abraham is back
and ready to
make an impact,
having revitalised
himself at Roma
under Mourinho.
He has 26 goals in
all competitions this
season, more than anyAbraham has been in fine goalscoring form for Roma this season
and Mourinho, left, has his eyes set on winning yet another prizeLeicester v Roma(possible 3-4-2-1)
RomaLeicester
(possible 4-1-4-1)Europa Conference League semi-final, 1st leg
Kick-off 8pm TV BT Sport 3Ref: C del Cerro Grande (Sp)K SchmeichelR PatrícioR Pereira W Fofana J Evans T CastagneJ Maddison H BarnesM Albrighton K Dewsbury-HallN ZalewskiS OliveiraB CristanteR KarsdorpH Mkhitaryan L PellegriniJ VardyY TielemansR Ibañez C Smalling G ManciniT AbrahamBoro still
alive in hunt
for play-offs
It may yet prove to be too little, too late
but for the time being Middlesbrough
remain in the hunt for a top-six finish
after a timely return to form.
A first win in six games pushed the
Teesside club up to seventh, two points
behind Chris Wilder’s former club
Sheffield United, with two games
remaining, at home to Stoke City and
away to Preston North End. Anything
less than victory in both is likely to
mean they fall short.
“We understood the job in front of us
and we got it done,” Wilder, the Mid-
dlesbrough manager, said. “We were
decent in both boxes and the main
thing was to leave nothing out there
and to get the result. We’re 44 games in
and we’re still in the play-off picture.”
The hosts strolled to a routine victory
against a mid-table Cardiff City side
who have long since donned the
flip-flops to head for the beach. Marcus
Tavernier put them ahead just before
the half hour with a powerful shot into
the bottom corner from long range at
the culmination of a five-man move,
the midfielder connecting sweetly with
an inviting knock-back from the
Arsenal loanee Folarin Balogun.
The outcome was put beyond doubt
eight minutes after the restart when
Riley McGree latched on to a Jonny
Howson pass to send an angled drive
past Dillon Phillips, courtesy of a de-
flection off the defender Curtis Nelson.
The Teesside-born forward Jordan
Hugill fired wastefully over and
Max Watters saw a miscued cross
glance against the crossbar for Cardiff,
who have failed to score in their past
three matches.
After a fifth defeat in six games, the
Cardiff manager, Steve Morison, said:
“It’s frustrating and I asked the
players afterwards, does it hurt them
enough when they lose? Middles-
brough didn’t have to work hard
enough for their goals.”Sky Bet Championship
Jason MellorMiddlesbrough
Tavernier 28, McGree 53Cardiff City
2
0
Middlesbrough (3-5-2): L Daniels — A Dijksteel,
S Bamba, P McNair — I Jones, J Howson,
M Tavernier, M Bola, R McGree — D Watmore 6
(A Connolly 76min), F Balogun 6 (A Sporar 60, 6).
Booked Jones, Howson.
Cardiff City (4-3-1-2): D Phillips 3 — C Drameh 4, O
Denham 4, C Nelson 3, P Ng 4 — Doyle 3,
R Wintle 3, W Vaulks 3 — R Colwill 4 — M Watters
5 (M Harris 63, 5), J Hugill 3 (J Collins 79). Booked
Nelson, Denham, Wintle, Vaulks.
Referee M Donohue. Attendance 19,727.belief from the manager [it] makes you
want to do the best you can, it’s just a
confidence thing.”
The inclusion of Jamie Vardy in the
squad for tonight’s game has given the
Leicester team a boost as they look to
book a place in their first European
final. “Clearly he’s a top player and I
think everyone sees it in the game
he has, that streetwise element. It’s a
big plus for us,” Rodgers said of the
35-year-old.
Vardy has started only one game this
calendar year, and Rodgers admitted
that the striker will be unable to play the
full 90 minutes, but the feeling in the
dressing room is that his return should
lift spirits.
“It’s very good. Everyone knows he’s
quality,” Ricardo Pereira, the
Portuguese right back, said. “We want
to have every player fit and it’s another
who’s come back and, for sure, we’ll be
stronger with him.”
When Rodgers was asked about his
side’s participation in this competition
when they were knocked out of the Eu-
ropa League in December, he admitted
that he did not even know what it was.
Four months later he and his squad
know that it is their best way of
salvaging what has been a disappoint-
ing season domestically.
The problem for Rodgers is that the
same can be said for Mourinho and
Roma. With both clubs’ league
campaigns all but over, it all comes
down to this two-legged semi-final.
The master against his former
apprentice: who will come out on top?Familiar foes return to prove a
point and ruin Leicester’s dream
Charlotte Duncker
XINHUA/SHUTTERSTOCK