The big news: Messi, Suarez on target

Barcelona beat Atletico Madrid 2-1 at the Vicente Calderon in the first-leg semi-final of the Coap del Rey on Wednesday. Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi scored one goal apiece as the Spanish Giants outclassed their rivals with ease. Antoine Griezmann pulled one back for Atletico to put his team in a slightly better position for the second-leg at Nou Camp next week. Alaves and Celta Vigo are the other semi-finalists, with their first leg on Thursday.

Football:

  • Manchester City demolished West Ham United 4-0 to finally get back to winning ways on Thursday. Goals from Gabriel Jesus, Kevin de Bruyne, David Silva and Yaya Toure ensured an easy win for City at London Stadium.
  • Manchester United were held to goalless draw by Hull City in their Premier League clash on Wednesday. The point keeps United in sixth place, but allowed Hull to move off the bottom of the table.
  • Striker Peter Crouch scored his 100th Premier League goal as Stoke City were held 1-1 by Everton at home. It would have been an easy win for Stoke but, an own goal by Ryan Shawcross resulted in the draw.
  • Chelsea parted ways with defender Branislav Ivanovic, who has joined Russian Premier League side Zenit St Petersburg for an undisclosed fee on a two-and-a-half year deal.
  • Roma captain Francesco Totti scored a 97th-minute penalty to help his side get past Cesena 2-1 to reach the Coppa Italia semi-final. Edin Dzeko put Roma ahead in the second half against the second-tier side. However, Cesena equalised five minutes later through Luca Garritano. 
  • An own goal by Ciaran Clark handed Queens Park Rangers a 2-2 draw against Newcastle United at St James’ Park on Wednesday. Owing to the draw, Newcastle failed to take top spot in the Championship with Brighton a point ahead on 60 with a game in hand.  

Tennis:

  • World No. 2 Novak Djokovic will play his first match since his second-round exit at the Australian Open in the first round of the Davis Cup this week. However, the Serb is the only player in the Top 14 participating in the competition. World No. 1 Andy Murray of Great Britain will not be playing their tie against Canada following his fourth-round exit at the Australian Open. 

Formula One:

  • Former Mercedes technical boss Paddy Lowe is joining Williams and is set to become a shareholder and director. 

Cricket:

  • India beat England by a margin of 75 runs in the third T20I in Bengaluru on Wednesday. With the win, India sealed the series 2-1. Chasing a challenging 202/6, England were bowled out for just 127, losing their last eight wickets for just eight runs. Yuzvendra Chahal became the first Indian bowler to take a five-wicket haul in Twenty20 Internationals as his 6/25 gave India the win.      
  • Gautam Gambhir led from the front with a splendid knock of 61 as Delhi beat Haryana by five wickets in a Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 tournament. Jammu and Kashmir beat Himachal Pradesh by 18 runs, while Punjab beat Services by six runs. Widdhiman Saha starred in Bengal’s 10-wicket thrashing of Assam.
  • India U-19 beat England in the second One-Day International by 129 runs on Wednesday at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai.

Budget 2017

  • The Sports Ministry got a significant budget hike for the year 2017-’18 in the wake of India’s paltry return in the Rio Olympics. Finance minister Arun Jaitley allocated Rs 1,943 crore, which is Rs 351 crore more than the Rs 1,592 crore that it received last year.