With the domestic leagues in Europe all coming to an end, it was all about the UEFA Champions League over the weekend as Spain’s two Madrid sides Real and Atletico went head to head in Lisbon. Having wrapped up their first La Liga title in 18 years a week earlier, Atletico looked like completing a remarkable double when they took a 1-0 lead through Diego Godin – a lead they retained into added time.
Then disaster struck. With two minutes remaining, Sergio Ramos headed home from a corner to level the scores and send the game into extra time. In the 110th minute, Gareth Bale made up for some earlier misses as he gave Real the lead for the first time – a goal quickly followed by a third from Marcelo. And when Ronaldo hammered home a penalty, the 4-1 demolition was complete.
While Atletico was left to rue the closest of misses, Real celebrated their 10th Champions League title as they made amends for their third place finish in the league.
Newly appointed world number one Adam Scott wasted no time in living up to his billing by winning the Colonial in Texas in a play-off with American Jason Dufner. The pressure was on the Australian this week with the very real potential for him to lose the top ranking spot less than a week after stealing it from Tiger Woods, with Sweden’s Henrik Stenson lurking close behind. Scott needed a top 13 finish to hold off Stenson’s challenge but did better than that with a final round 66 putting him into the playoff before he claimed his 11th PGA win on the third playoff hole.
The Formula 1 season headed to Monaco for the most famous grand prix of the year and it certainly lived up to its billing as tensions simmered between Mercedes teammates Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg. A controversial incident in qualifying in which Rosberg spun off in the final minute to deny Hamilton a chance to grab pole clearly angered the Briton, but it didn’t seem to worry Rosberg who went on to score victory and reclaim the lead in the drivers’ championship. Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo also leapt above his teammate Sebastian Vettel with his second consecutive podium finish, just behind Hamilton, with the reigning world champion forced to retire with engine problems.
England’s woes on the cricket field continued overnight as they were bowled out for just 99 by Sri Lanka. The tourists made 256 on the back of Tillakaratne Dilshan’s 88, then dismissed England in just 26.1 overs with only two players reaching double figures.
And the French Open is underway at Roland Garros with no major upsets on Day 1. In the men’s draw, Roger Federer, Tomas Berdych, Milos Raonic and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga all progressed with comfortable wins while in the women’s Serena Williams, Agnieszka Radwanska and Angelique Kerber won their opening round matches.
