Saturday, May 13, 2017

Saturday Sport: Aussie Rules, Iuventus, and Novak Djokovic's in briefs

From: Speed o Rex
Gigi and CR7
 In International Soccer
Competition completed this week determined next month's Champions League Final, to take place at Millenium Stadium, in Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom,  on June 3.  To reach the finals, Turin Iuventus, led by captain Gianluigi "Gigi" Buffon, bested Monaco, and Real Madrid, led by Cristiano Ronaldo bested Atletico de Madrid, in the same playoff for four years in a row.  Real Madrid repeats their appearance in the finals, and are the defending champions.  They last played Iuventus for the overall title in 1998.   In the Champions League no team has successfully defended a title from one year to the next, but these teams are equally matched.  Madrid have a better attack.  Juventus, who knocked them out in 2015, have a better defense, and several top level players on the attack.   The buildup to this game will include challenging games for both teams.  Iuventus faces Lazio for the Coppa Italia this coming week.  Real Madrid are currently in second place in La Liga standings and hoping for a miracle, in the next to the last weekend of league play. 


Novak Djokovic
 In Spain
International Tennis
Rafael Nadal will aim to keep his unbeaten start to the clay season going when he meets Novak Djokovic for a 50th time in the Madrid Masters semi-finals on Saturday.  Nadal is now 13-0 on clay this year as he swept aside Belgian ninth seed David Goffin 7-6 (7/3), 6-2 much to the delight a boisterous home crowd under the roof on the Manolo Santana center court.  Nadal eased past Goffin in their only previous meeting on his way to winning the Monte Carlo Masters 6-3, 6-1 last month before also lifting a 10th Barcelona Open.  Djokovic has a slight lead in the head to head match up of these two tennis stars. 


Geelong Cats
 In Aussie Rules Football
It is losers, and winners and losers night...  The Essendon Bombers takes on the Geelong Cats this evening, and the Adelaide Crows take on the Melbourne Demons.  The Cats have dominated Essendon in recent seasons, winning their last six meetings, but Geelong will enter this contest smarting following back-to-back losses to Collingwood and Gold Coast, two teams the Cats were expected to overcome after winning their first five games of the season. The Cats were well below their best against the Suns last weekend but come up against an out of sorts Essendon line-up, which has lost four of its past five games. The Cats are expected to win. 


Adelaide is also a strong favorite in their game this evening against Melbourne at the Adelaide Oval.  Both clubs will be desperate to make amends for disappointing losses last weekend. The Crows – unbeaten after the first six rounds – unbelievably conceded 10 unanswered goals in the first quarter to North Melbourne at Hobart. Meanwhile, the Demons dropped a game many expected them to win in a three-point defeat to a struggling Hawthorn side. The Crows are hard to beat at the Adelaide Oval. However, the Kangaroos may have unveiled the blueprint to slowing down the Crows that all other teams will now aim to replicate. The Demons will need to follow their lead and restrict the Crows' ball movement and keep their dangerous forwards under control.  The match may be more of a challenged than either side expected.  

In Italy
The Giro d'Italia continues with Stage 8.  More Tomorrow

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