The big news: Barcelona, Atletico see red in thrilling draw

Barcelona were held to a thrilling 1-1 draw by Atletico Madrid in the return leg of the Copa del Rey semi-finals at Nou Camp on Tuesday. However, the Catalan giants progressed to the final with a 3-2 aggregate win.

Luis Suarez scored the lone goal for Barcelona, but was also sent off following his second yellow card for the evening. In the process, Suarez will miss the final. Barcelona were already down to 10 men as Sergi Roberto and Atletico’s Yannick Carrasco were later sent off as well. Substitute Kevin Gameiro then missed a penalty for Atletico before equalising late on. Antoine Griezmann had a goal wrongly disallowed for offside, while Lionel Messi also hit the bar with a brilliant free-kick in the second half. Barcelona will now meet either Alaves or Celta Vigo in the final.

Football:

  • Paris St-Germain kept the pressure on Monaco at the top of Ligue 1 with a 2-1 win over Lille. 
  • Former Liverpool and France striker Djibril Cisse has retired from football at the age of 35. Cisse will focus on his career as “a DJ, producer and pundit”. 
  • Nicolai Adam officially vacated his position as coach of the U-17 national football team on Tuesday after reports that a few members of the team had accused the German of abusive behaviour.
  • Bayern Munich reached the German Cup quarter-finals by beating Wolfsburg 1-0. Douglas Costa scored the only goal for Bayern.
  • Bayern Munich captain Philipp Lahm will retire at the end of the season. Lahm, who captained Germany to their 2014 World Cup victory, announced his decision after Bayern’s last-16 win over Wolfsburg in the German Cup.  
  • Roma thrashed Fiorentina 4-0 to set a new club record. Edin Dzeko scored twice as Roma registered their 14th win on the trot at home in Serie A, breaking their record which had stood since 1930. 

Cricket:

  • England fast bowler James Anderson backed Joe Root to become their new Test skipper after Alastair Cook decided to step down as captain earlier this week. 
  • Faf du Plessis smashed 185 as South Africa beat Sri Lanka by 40 runs in the fourth one-day game in Cape Town. The Proteas made 367 before Sri Lanka were bowled out for 327.       
  • Keeping transparency in mind, the head of the Lodha Committee, Justice RM Lodha, has called for state associations to make public revenue from ticket sales and ensure that the distribution of complimentary passes for cricket matches is done in a fair manner.
  • Left-arm spinner Kuldeep Yadav was picked as a replacement for the injured Amit Mishra for the one-off Test between India and Bangladesh to be played from February 9 in Hyderabad. 
  • Delhi’s Mohit Ahlawat on Tuesday became the first batsman to score a triple century in a T20 match. 
  • India registered their fifth consecutive win in the Blind World Twenty20 with a comfortable nine-wicket victory over New Zealand in Bhubaneshwar on Tuesday.

Badminton:

  • Sourabh Verma defeated Lakshya Sen 21-13, 21-12 to lift the men’s singles crown at the Senior National Championships in Patna on Tuesday. In the women’s singles final, second seed Rituparna Das beat Reshma Karthik 21-12, 21-14 to clinch the title. 

Formula One:

  • German Jost Capito quit as head of the McLaren Formula One team five months after joining. Capito was appointed as chief executive officer of McLaren Racing by former boss Ron Dennis last year and started work in September.