SPORT | 18

India legend Dhoni

retires from

international

cricket

SPORTWill Messi ever

win another

Champions

League title?

SPORT | 19

SUNDAY 16 AUGUST 2020

CHINTHANA WASALA THE PENINSULA

Popular rider Mohammed Saeed Haidan yesterday won the Big Tour competition following a quick and error-free routine with Miss Chill in the penultimate leg of the Longines Hathab Equestrian Series.

At the Qatar Equestrian Federation's Indoor Arena, Haidan's 12-year-old grey mare completed the winning round in 40.52 seconds, more than three seconds ahead of his closest rival, Hamad Nasser Al Qadi.

Haidan, a regular name in the Medium Tour compe-tition, was elated with joy after the brilliant victory which made him richer by QR9,625.

"This is my first win of the Big Tour this season and I'm very happy with my horse’s performance. I am more focused on the Medium Tour and I will look forward to the grand finale two weeks from now. It was a tight competition and I enjoyed it immensely," Haidan, who received the winner's award from Longines Hathab Organising Committee Member, Badr Al Darwish, said.

Hamad, who finished second, completed the round in 43.70 secs astride SIEC Lonnie.

"I was aiming at a top-three finish because I needed the points for the final ranking, I succeeded in the

mission. I’m not very disap-pointed with the final result. It was a good show," Hamad, who now leads the Big Tour standings, said. Saeed Nasser Al Qadi finished third astride Andreas SPB Z

Earlier, Jaber Rashid Al Amri won the Open cass with a flawless routine (46.30 secs)with Canavaro De Muze (E.T.) to bag QR3,750 in prize money.

Nasser Al Ghazali ( Hurry Up, 51.24) finished second while Maryam Ahmad Al Boinin (Vol De Nuit Tar-donne, 58.32) rounded up the podium.

Safety is our top priority: Al Mannai

THE PENINSULA – DOHA

The Vice-Chairman of the Longines Hathab Series Organising Committee, Omar Al Mannai, yesterday said that their prime focus is on the safety of riders and those who are involved as they look to complete the season.

"Normally our season ends in April but since we had an enforced break due to the COVID-19 situation for over four months, we’ve been working very hard to find safe solutions to complete the season without any harm or risks to our riders and the people who are working around the event," Al Mannai said.

Al Mannai, a key figure behind the success of the popular series, also said that the completion of the season shows the organising committee's commitment towards everyone involved.

"This is a continuation of our commitment to the riders, horse owners, sponsors that the season is com-pleted also in keeping with Qatar Equestrian Federa-tion’s (QEF) collaboration with the Qatar Olympic Com-mittee and as per the protocols and measures set by the Ministry of Public Health (MOPH)."

Al Mannai said that there are no plans yet to bring in the spectators.

"We don’t have a plan as yet to have audiences to be able to watch the events as we are really focused on the riders and the horses to be safe and to finish the season in the best way possible. The final round of Longines Qatar Equestrian Tour Hathab 2019-20 is in two weeks’ time," Al Mannai said.

He also said that the new season will begin in October."We shall have the new season later in October and

maybe by then the opening of phase 4 (by the MOPH and the government) will see the return of fans at eques-trian venues as well.

"The QEF Indoor Arena is comparatively smaller and has a limited space for the audience so it helps to control implement social distancing in comparison to Al Shaqab which is large venue. This venue was the best solution for us for the resumption of the Hathab series," Al Mannai said.

"Also majority of the horses are from the QEF and they are all used to this arena," he added.

"The continuation of the Longines Hathab series helps us achieve our objective of increasing awareness and participation of the horse loving community," Al Mannai said.

Longines Hathab: Haidan clinches Big Tour glory with Miss Chill in penultimate round

LONGINES HATHAB: ROUND 11

OPEN CLASS (115/125CM)1: Jaber Rashid Al Amri / Canavaro De Muze (E.T.) - 46.30 secs - QR3,7502: Nasser Al Ghazali / Hurry Up - 51.24 - QR3,0003: Maryam Ahmad Al Boinin / Vol De Nuit Tardonne - 58.32 - QR2,250

BIG TOUR (130/145CM) 1: Mohammed Saeed Haidan / Miss Chili - (8) 63.57 secs, (0) 40.52 secs - QR9,6252: Hamad Nasser Al Qadi / S I E C Lonnie - (9) 85.45, (0) 43.70 - QR7,8753: Saeed Nasser Al Qadi / Andreas SPB Z - (0) 65.68, (0) 49.21 - QR5,250

Longines Hathab Organising Committee Member, Badr Al Darwish,

presenting the BIG Tour winner's trophy to Mohammed Saeed Haidan. LEFT: Haidan and Miss Chili in action.

Vice-Chairman of the Longines Hathab Series Organising

Committee, Omar Al Mannai, presenting Open Class winner's trophy to Jaber Rashid Al Amri.

Lyon upset City to reach semi-finalsREUTERS – LISBON

Substitute Moussa Dembele struck twice as Olympique Lyonnais stunned Manchester City with a 3-1 victory yesterday to move into the semi-finals of the Champions League where they will face Bayern Munich.

It is the first time that two French teams will compete in the semi-finals of the competition with Paris St Germain facing RB Leipzig in the other Franco-German game in the last four.

The result also means that it is the first time since 1991 that no team from England, Spain or Italy will compete in the last four of Europe's premier club competition.

For City and their manager Pep Guardiola it is the third season in a row that the team has gone out in the quarter-finals of the Champions League and they remain without a place in the last four under their Spanish coach.

Lyon took the lead in the 24th minute with a fine finish from Maxwel Cornet, who spotted Ederson off his line and beat him with a low drive from the edge of the box.

City drew level through a Kevin De Bruyne side-foot finish in the 69th minute and pushed forward in search of winner but were caught out on the break.

Dembele broke free and Ederson's outstretched leg couldn't keep his shot out of the net as Lyon went 2-1 up in the 79th. City had a golden chance to draw level but Raheem Sterling somehow blasted over from close range with the goal at his mercy.

Lyon responded to that let-off by taking advantage of chaos in the City defence with Ederson pushing out a

low shot from Houssem Aouar and Dembele pouncing for his second to wrap up a famous win for Lyon.

Rudi Garcia's side had only fin-ished seventh in the curtailed French league season but have eliminated Juventus and City to give themselves a shot at the final.

Meanwhile, in Spain, the media showed no mercy to Barcelona after their epic 8-2 defeat by Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-finals, calling for huge changes at the club after a night that will be difficult to erase from their memory.

‘Historic humiliation’, cried the cover of Barcelona-based newspaper Sport, adding: ‘A ridiculous Barca suf-fered its biggest defeat in Europe, ending a lamentable season without a trophy for the first time in 12 years.’ Daily Mundo Deportivo described the defeat on its cover as ‘A shameful end to an era’, also declaring that coach Quique Setien would be immediately sacked as coach and that president Josep Maria Bartomeu would call an election imminently.

National newspaper AS used the

same headline as Sport, adding: ‘The disaster against Bayern opens up a crisis with far-reaching conse-quences at every level of the club.’ Marca used the word ‘shame’ on its cover, adding that Setien, who was hired in January to try and restore some style and flair to the team, had ‘one foot and a half out of the door’.

Sport gave defender Nelson Semedo a rating of one out of 10 after he was tormented by Alphonso Davies in the build-up to the fifth goal scored by Joshua Kimmich. It gave Setien a rating of zero, adding: ‘He cannot spend one more day in Barca’s dugout.’

Olympique Lyonnais players celebrating after defeating Manchester City to reach the Champions League semi-finals.

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE LEADING SCORERS

14: Lewandowski (Bayern Munich)10: Haaland (Dortmund)7: Gnabry (Bayern Munich)

6: Depay (Lyon), Jesus (Man City), Kane (Tottenham), Mertens (Napoli), Sterling (Man City)

5: Benzema (Real Madrid), Icardi (Paris SG), Ilicic (Atalanta),

Martínez (Inter Milan), Mbappe (Paris SG), Son Heung-min (Tottenham), Suarez

(Barcelona)

SEMI-FINALS LINE-UP (All matches in Lisbon; Kick-off 1900GMT)

Tuesday, August 18 At Estadio da LuzRB Leipzig (GER) vs PSG (FRA)

Wednesday, August 19At Estadio Jose AlvaladeLyon (FRA) vs Bayern Munich (GER)

Final on August 23 at Estadio da Luz

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Olympique Lyonnais’ Moussa Dembele celebrating with team-mates after scoring his second goal.

18 SUNDAY 16 AUGUST 2020SPORT

Magical career: 538 matches, 17,266 runs, 16 hundreds, 829 dismissals

AP — SOUTHAMPTON

Rain prevented any ball being bowled on the third day of the second Test between England and Pakistan at the Rose Bowl in Southampton, yesterday.

More bad weather is forecast today. With only two days left, the match is heading for a

likely draw. Pakistan had ended day two on 223-9 in its first innings with Mohammad Rizwan unbeaten on 60 and Naseem Shah 1 not out.

James Anderson and Stuart Broad have both taken three wickets. Chris Woakes and Sam Curran have one victim apiece, with the other wicket being a run out. England lead series 1-0.

The covers are on as the start of play is delayed yesterday.

Washout as second Test in Southampton heads for draw

Top Australia and England players set to miss IPL startAFP — NEW DELHI

Top cricketers including England’s Ben Stokes and Australia fast bowler Pat Cummins risk missing the start of the Indian Premier League because of a series between their countries next month.

Australia tour England from September 4 in a series that ends three days before the start of the world’s richest Twenty20 league in the United Arab Emirates.

The coronavirus pandemic pushed the tournament out of India but players will still have to undergo a week’s isolation and testing before they can join their teams.

Chennai Super Kings chief executive Kasi Viswanathan

said that quarantine rules will see a number of English and Australian players “will miss two or three games”.

“Only after that they will be able to join the team and start training,” he said.

Chennai, led by M.S. Dhoni, has Australian paceman Josh Hazlewood and England’s Sam Curran in their team.

Rajasthan Royals captain Steve Smith, Sunrisers Hyderabad skipper David Warner and Cummins of the Kolkata Knight Riders -- the most expensive foreign player for the 2020 season with a $2.17m fee -- could also be caught by the international series.

Australia’s senior assistant coach Andrew McDonald has

already said he will not join the team in England so that he can be with IPL side Rajasthan Royals, where he is head coach.

“Part of our agreement with him that he would be able to continue as head coach of the Rajasthan Royals -- and we’re really comfortable with that,” said Ben Oliver of Cricket Australia.

The Royals appear to be most affected with England stars Stokes, Jofra Archer, Jos Buttler and Tom Curran in their team, along with Smith and fellow Australian Andrew Tye.

A total of 29 players from England and Australia are part of the eight IPL squads that are scheduled to start arriving in the UAE from next week.

Spanish GP: Hamilton clinches pole position ahead of BottasAFP — BARCELONA

Lewis Hamilton roared to a record-increasing 92nd Formula One pole position of his career yesterday when he outpaced Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas in a sizzling qual-ifying session for the Spanish Grand Prix.

The championship leader and six-time world champion clocked a best lap of one minute and 15.584 seconds to take the prime starting slot ahead of title rival Bottas by 0.059 seconds.

It was Hamilton’s fourth pole of the year and fifth in Spain and brought with it his 150th front row start from a session that may have seen Mercedes enjoying their ‘party’ qualifying engine mode for the final time.

“I couldn’t go quicker on my second lap, which I thought I could, but the first lap was a good job thankfully,” said Hamilton.

“I was here with my guys until 10 O’clock (2000 GMT) last night just looking all the details and how to improve because the Red Bull guys are super fast.”

Bottas said: “I knew it was

going to be close with Lewis -- as always. The start will be my best chance.”

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who is second in the overall standing 30 points behind Hamilton, was 0.708sec back in third.

The Dutchman was ahead of the two Racing Points of Sergio Perez, back in action after missing two races with coronavirus, and Lance Stroll. Alex Albon took sixth place in the second Red Bull.

“This is our maximum, but I hope we can do better in the race. Tomorrow is a different day again!” Verstappen said.

Carlos Sainz was seventh ahead of his McLaren team-mate Lando Norris, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Pierre Gasly of Alpha Tauri.

On a hot summer’s day at the Circuit de Catalunya, the air temperature was 30 degrees celsius and the track a swel-tering 50 degrees as Q1 began with the Williams drivers leading the way.

A gusty wind had arrived since the final practice in the morning, adding another factor to the struggle for grip experi-enced by most drivers.

Hamilton topped the initial runs ahead of the two rapid

Racing Points and stayed on top while Raikkonen, for the first time this year, proceeded to Q2 leaving his Alfa Romeo team-mate Antonio Giovinazzi 20th and last.

The Italian was eliminated along with both Williams drivers, Nicholas Latifi and George Russell, Romain Grosjean and his Haas team-mate Kevin Magnussen.

The Q2 segment started with both Mercedes out early on soft tyres, Hamilton pipping Bottas by one-tenth of a second before Verstappen, half a second down, went third and Sainz fourth.

I couldn’t go quicker

on my second lap,

which I thought I

could, but the first

lap was a good job

thankfully: Lewis Hamilton

Mercedes’ British driver Lewis Hamilton steers his car during the qualifying session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona, yesterday.

MotoGP: Vinales takes Austrian pole thanks to ‘incredible bike’

AFP — SPIELBERG

Yamaha’s Maverick Vinales (pictured) clinched pole for this weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix yesterday.

Vinales, who sits second in the overall standings ahead of today’s fourth race of the cam-paign, clocked one minute, 23.450 seconds to finish 0.068sec ahead of Ducati-Pramac’s Jack Miller.

Yamaha-SRT’s champi-onship leader Fabio Quartararo was also less than a second back in third.

Vinales praised the factory outfit after unimpressive free practice earlier in the day where he managed a top-three finish just once.

“I’m really happy because my objective was to be in the front row but suddenly I felt an incredible feeling with the bike from this morning we made a really big improvement so the team has done a really good job,” Spaniard Vinales said.

“We need to try to under-stand for tomorrow’s race which are going to be the best tyres but anyway the bike is working fantastic.

“It was a lot different from Brno (the Czech MotoGP last weekend), so I am very happy and enthusiastic as we know on one lap we are very fast.”

Quartararo, who won the two first races of the season and has a 17-point lead at the top of the standings, was content despite a season-low start of third.

"Honestly I feel really happy because all weekend I was struggling to make the time attack,”

Andrea Dovizioso, who is fourth the overall standings, will start in fourth place in Spielberg.

India legend Dhoni retires from international cricketAFP — NEW DELHI

MS Dhoni (pictured) yesterday retired from India’s national team ending one of the most heralded international cricket careers ever.

The 39-year-old wicketkeeper and batsman is India’s most successful captain having won the World Cup, the inaugural T20 World Cup and the Cham-pions Trophy.

Dubbed ‘Captain Cool’ because of his unflappable style, Dhoni is also one of India’s best loved sports personalities and his fans have been dreading this decision for months.

Dhoni posted a four minute seven second video of his career highlights on Instagram and added in a caption: “Thanks a lot for your love and support throughout. From 1929hrs consider me as retired.”

Dhoni did not say whether this meant all cricket but Chennai Super Kings chief executive Kasi Vishwanathan said that Dhoni would still lead the team in the Indian Premier League starting in the United Arab Emirates next month.

Dhoni arrived in Chennai on Friday to train with the team before they leave for Dubai next week. Dhoni’s Chennai team-mate and fellow World Cup winner, Suresh Raina, also announced his inter-national retirement.

Dhoni quit Tests in 2014 and has not played for the national side since India’s World Cup semi-final loss against New Zealand in England last year -- his 350th one day international.

He holds the record for most

international matches as captain, 332, and his 195 international stumpings is also the most by any wicket-keeper.

Tributes poured in for the player who led India to the Twenty20 World Cup in 2007, the 50-over event in 2011 and the Champions Trophy in 2013.

He scored 10,773 runs in ODIs and is the only captain to have led a country to victory in all three International Cricket Council trophies.

“The boy from Ranchi, who made his ODI debut in 2004, changed the face of Indian cricket with his calm demeanour, sharp understanding of the game and astute leadership qualities,” the Board of Control for Cricket in India said in a statement confirming Dhoni’s move.

“It is the end of an era,” said Sourav Ganguly, the BCCI President and himself a former national captain.

“His leadership qualities have been something which will be hard to match.”

India skipper Virat Kohli tipped his hat to his former captain in an emotional message.

“Every cricketer has to end his journey one day, but still when someone you’ve gotten to know so closely announces that decision, you feel the emotion much more. What you’ve done for the country will always remain in

everyone’s heart,” Kohli wrote on Twitter.

India batting great Sachin Tendulkar paid tribute to his former team-mate under whom he won the ODI World Cup in Mumbai.

“Your contri-bution to Indian cricket has been immense,” Ten-dulkar wrote on Twitter.

“Winning the 2011 World Cup together has been the best moment of my life.”

Former England capta in Nasser Hussain rated Dhoni as the best ever captain in limited-overs cricket.

“Great capta in . Probably the best white-ball captain there has ever been and also a cool, calm customer under pressure,” the cricketer-turned-com-mentator said on Sky Sports.

“He is a great finisher of a game and until recently he paced the innings per-fectly. He was involved in some of the great moments of Indian cricket and did things his own way.

After his debut, 16 years ago, Dhoni captured the imagination of fans with his swashbuckling batting. He played 90 Tests, scoring 4,876 runs.

Dhoni scored 10,773 runs in ODIs and is the only captain to have led a country to victory in all three International Cricket Council trophies.

19SUNDAY 16 AUGUST 2020 SPORT

Bayern eye European crownREUTERS – LISBON

A year ago Bayern Munich had narrowly emerged as champions in one of the tightest Bundesliga title races, and ended up over-hauling their ageing squad as veterans Franck Ribery, Arjen Robben and Rafinha left.

Fast forward 12 months and a leaner, stronger and faster Bayern are not only German league and Cup winners again but they pro-duced one of the most remarkable displays in European soccer on Friday as they obliterated five-time European champions Bar-celona 8-2 to reach the Cham-pions League semi-finals.

Fluid in their movements and with an indefatigable desire to attack, Hansi Flick’s team looks like it has been forged together over years of training.

Yet many of the elements of their success, including Flick, who took over a struggling Bayern in November, are new.

Following the departure of central defender Mats Hummels and serious early season injuries to defenders Niklas Suele and new signing Lucas Hernandez, defensive plans had to be redrawn.

Leftback David Alaba switched to the centre of the defence while teenager Alphonso Davies took control on the left.

Davies, playing his first full season at Bayern, was a sensation, terrorising attackers while also launching lightning-quick breaks.

One of those helped set up Bayern’s fifth goal as the 19-year-old Canadian befuddled Nelson

Semedo and set up Joshua Kimmich for the goal.

Flick also restored Thomas Mueller back to his favourite position behind striker Robert Lewandowski, plucking the World Cup-winning attacking midfielder from the bench where he had been dropped by predecessor Niko Kovac.

Mueller delivered in style with eight goals and 21 assists in the Bundesliga and he added two more goals in their demolition of Barca on Friday.

Mueller has also been leading the charge for early pressing, as

Flick demanded they win pos-session much earlier than under Kovac.

Instilling confidence was also key in keeping Jerome Boateng at Bayern and maintaining Philippe Coutinho, on loan from Barca, in top form despite playing only a substitute role throughout the season.

The gifted Brazilian has struggled to earn playing time but was on target twice after coming on against Barca, oozing confidence.

“The way my players played over 90 minutes, the intensity

which they maintained was just top,” Flick said. “This is our men-tality, that is what we stand for.

“Especially the way the players who came on adjusted seam-lessly,” Flick said in a nod to Coutinho.

With Bayern looking nothing like the team that crashed out in the round of 16 last year, they are now favourites to emulate their 2013 treble-winning season at Lis-bon’s Estadio da Luz next week a n d declare their

p r o j e c t ‘ o v e r h a u l ’

completed.

Will Messi ever win another Champions League title?

REUTERS – LISBON

As he watched helplessly while his Barcelona side were ripped to shreds by a blistering Bayern Munich in an 8-2 thrashing, Lionel Messi must have been wondering if he will ever win the Champions League again should he remain at the club.

Messi has experienced some galling exits from Europe’s top com-petition since he last lifted the trophy in 2015, but not even the disastrous defeats to AS Roma or Liverpool in the last two years could compare to this devastating semi-final loss.

At least on those occasions Barca could take solace from the fact they had only fallen short by one goal and won in the first leg of the tie.

In Lisbon, his side were dealt a humiliation on the scale of Brazil’s 7-1 defeat to Germany in the 2014 World Cup, or, closer to home, Barca’s 4-0 hammering in the 1994 Champions League final by AC Milan which proved the beginning of the end for Johan Cruyff’s reign as coach.

This very much felt like the end of an era for a team that dominated world football between 2009 and 2015 and were even more hegemonic in Spain, winning eight of the previous 11 La Liga titles before losing out to Real Madrid this year.

Messi, 33, has been the team’s spiritual leader throughout that time

but the catalogue of failures in Europe has made the previously unthinkable scenario that he could leave Barca, where he has spent most his life, seem ever more plausible.

The Argentine has won Europe’s top prize four times, a feat only bet-tered by Cristiano Ronaldo in the modern era, but that number has begun to feel increasingly small with each failure since Barca’s last Cham-pions League triumph.

The Catalans were knocked out by Atletico Madrid in 2016, out-classed by Juventus in 2017 and then somehow contrived to throw away heavy first-leg leads over Roma and Liverpool in 2018 and 2019 respectively.

This humiliation will surely bring the question of whether to stay or not to the fore, particularly with his con-tract running out next year, meaning he could join a European rival for free.

Barca great Xavi Hernandez said this week that Messi had earned the right to have an automatic renewal clause due to everything he has given the club, but, looking at how his team has declined, will he we want to sign a new deal? The Argentine will be 34 next year and unless Barca make the radical changes a distraught Gerard Pique called for after the Bayern game, it is difficult to see him being reunited with what he has called “that beautiful Cup, which we desire so much”.

Now not the time to focus on own future, says SetienREUTERS – LISBON

Barcelona coach Quique Setien preferred to avoid discussing whether or not he would remain at the club after Friday’s tortuous 8-2 defeat to Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-finals but admitted big changes would have to be made.

“Right now it’s too soon to say whether I will continue or not. It’s not up to me and the club will have to have a deep reflection that corresponds to such a humiliating and painful defeat. This defeat has hurt me a lot. It’s such an overwhelming defeat and I’m not just worried about my future, I’m thinking about what an awful defeat this is for the club and for the fans.”

Predecessor Ernesto Val-verde was sacked in January partly for his role in Barca’s two previous exits from the Cham-pions League and Setien admitted his stock will have fallen after presiding over Barca’s heaviest ever defeat in Europe.

“I know what a defeat of this calibre means but we have to analyse what has happened today from a wider per-spective,” Setien added.

End of an era as Barca humiliation makes revolution the only option

AFP – MADRID

Barcelona’s worst ever defeat in Europe, an 8-2 mauling at the hands of Bayern Munich, will signal the end of Quique Setien as coach but it feels like the end of more than that.

Setien may not even survive the weekend but the fact a second sacking in eight months would be the least of Barca’s worries says it all.

“It’s too soon to say if I will continue or not and it doesn’t depend on me,” said Setien.

“The club needs changes,” said Gerard Pique. “Nobody is untouchable, least of all me. Fresh blood is needed to change this. We’ve hit rock bottom.”

Lionel Messi was supposed to win it alone, the Argentinian charged with somehow masking the failings of an entire club against the most formidable team in Europe.

It was a desperate hope, swiftly dashed by a ruthless Bayern side, whose demolition exposed Barcelona’s ageing team for what Messi has been saying all along: they are simply not good enough.

He said it in February and again in July, when a rant in the aftermath of handing Real Madrid the title turned into a brutal, but honest, assessment of their season.

Messi saw the fall coming but it was too late to do anything about it and the question now is whether he wants to be part of the process of recovery and renewal.

Most have assumed it would take something cata-clysmic for Messi to leave but at an elite football club, what could be worse than this? This was more painful than the capitulations against Roma and Liverpool, when carelessness and fragility deprived Barcelona of a genuine chance to lift the Champions League trophy.

But they were shocks because Barca were con-tenders. This time, nobody expected them to beat Bayern. Many expected a thrashing but few could have predicted the severity of it.

The humiliations started in the fourth minute and kept coming until the 89th. They began even before kick-off when the starting line-ups were announced, with three Barca signings bought for more than €100m

each all sitting on the bench. One of them, Philippe Coutinho, was on Bayern’s bench and he came on

to score twice against his parent club, the first even seemingly with reluctance.

Messi, at 33, knows his end is near but he will choose when it comes. Others may not be so lucky, with Pique and Luis Suarez also 33 and Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba 31. All of them have played a part in Barca’s golden era but that era feels a long time ago now and if this team is to regenerate, brave decisions will have to be made.

Frenkie de Jong, Ansu Fati and Riqui Puig are the future, smothered this season by the

failures of those ahead of them and perhaps ready to be trusted to lead.

If it’s the end of an era for Barcelona, it is for Spain too. The national team may have long been

overtaken but Messi kept Barca challenging while the Champions League became the kingdom of Real Madrid.

Not anymore, this the first year since 2007 that the semi-finals will be without a Spanish club, and the first since 2005 without either Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo.

Who will lead the Barca revolution remains to be seen, with Xavi Hernandez, Mauricio Pochettino and Ronald Koeman all sufficiently put off that they rejected the chance in January. Will they be any keener now? Barcelona will not have the money to make big addi-tions, meaning they may have to look within.

But that would be a long-term project, which the club cannot guarantee either given their presidential elections are due in 2021. A new regime could well bring a new coach too.

A year might even feel like a long time for the current president Josep Maria Bartomeu, who would not rule out the elections being brought forward on Friday. Since 2014, his board have stumbled from blunder to blunder, all the while alienating the dressing room and driving this period of chaos and decline.

It began with Neymar leaving and never being replaced, the frantic attempts to bring him back then failing because the funds had been squandered elsewhere.

And it ended with a public humiliation that Messi saw coming. It had been coming for a long time.

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Halep sets up Mertens final at Prague OpenREUTERS – PRAGUE

Romanian top seed Simona Halep beat compatriot Irina-Camelia Begu in straight sets in the semi-finals of the Prague Open yesterday to set up a final with third seed Elise Mertens of Belgium.

Halep was broken three times in the first set but managed to win the tiebreak before Begu, who finished her quarter-final match earlier in the day, ran out of steam as the reigning Wimbledon champion won 7-6(2), 6-3.

Begu’s quarter-final was suspended on Friday when she was leading Spaniard Sara Sorribes Tormo 6-2 0-1 and the match went the distance on Saturday with the Romanian winning 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 after a total of two hours and 40

minutes.Begu had spent more

than seven hours on court at the

tournament and the fatigue was starting to show with the 29-year-old taking a medical time out in the opening set which allowed Halep to refocus.

“I didn’t play my best tennis but she was also tired... it was a good match,” Halep said. “I’m really happy

that I could win it. It’s always tough to play against her, she’s a great

player.“She was playing really well

at that point and she was kind of dominating the match. Sometimes it’s good, some-

times it’s bad to play long

matches because sometimes you get the rhythm, and sometimes you get tired.”

Earlier in the day, Mertens got the better of Kristyna Pliskova to win 7-5, 7-6(4), saving seven of eight break points to advance.

“It was a really close match, just a couple of points of difference,” Mertens said.

“In the end, it was just one break dif-ference in the first set and I think I managed it well at the end. In the second

set, we were both winning our serve and although I made a

couple of errors in the tie-break, I stayed mentally tough."

PRAGUE WTA RESULTS

QUARTER-FINALS

Irina-Camelia Begu (ROM) bt Sara Sorribes Tormo (ESP) 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 SEMI-FINALS

Simona Halep (ROM x1) bt Irina-Camelia Begu (ROM) 7-6 (7/2), 6-3Elise Mertens (BEL x3) bt Kristyna Pliskova (CZE) 7-5, 7-6 (7/4)

compatriot Irina-Camelia Begu in straight sets in the semi-finals of the Prague Open yesterday to set up a final with third seed Elise Mertens of Belgium.

Halep was broken three times in the first set but managed to win the tiebreak before Begu, who finished her quarter final Begu who finished her quarter-finalmatch earlier in the day, ran out of steam as the reigning Wimbledon champion won 7-6(2), 6-3.

Begu’s quarter-final was suspended on Friday when she was leading Spaniard Sara Sorribes Tormo 6-2 0-1 and the match went the distance on Saturday with the Romanian winning 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 after a total of two hours and 40

minutes.Begu had spent more

than seven hours on court at the

allowed Halep to refocus.“I didn’t play my best tennis but

she was also tired... it was a goodmatch,” Halep said. “I’m really happy

that I could win it. It’s always tough to play against her, she’s a great

player.player“She was playing really well

at that point and she was kind of dominating the match. Sometimes it’s good, some-

times it’s bad to plpppppppp ay long

matches becaurhythm, and so

Earlier in thof Kristyna Pliskseven of eight b

“It was a reaof points of diff

“In the endference in tmammmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm naged it w

set, weserve

cob

Irina-Camelia BTormo (ESP) 6- SEMI-FINALS

Simona Halep (R(ROM) 7-6 (7/2)Elise Mertens (B(CZE) 7-5, 7-6 (7

Bayern Munich’s Thomas Mueller and Serge Gnabry celebrating during the UEFA Champions League quarter-final match against Barcelona, in Lisbon, on Friday.

Lionel Messi reacting after Barcelona lost the Champions League quarter-final against Bayern Munich, on Friday.

Teichmann beats Rogers to enter Lexington finalAP – LEXINGTON

Jil Teichmann reached the third final of her career by beating Shelby Rogers 6-3, 6-2 yesterday at the Top Seed Open, the first tennis tour-nament in the US since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

The 116th-ranked Rogers, who is from South Carolina, was coming off a quarter-final upset of Serena Williams on Friday.

It is the first hard-court final for Teichmann, a 23-year-old left-hander from Swit-zerland who won two titles on clay in 2019.

In today’s final, she will face 16-year-old Coco Gauff or Jen-nifer Brady.

Teichmann has yet to drop

a set in the tuneup tournament for the US Open, which starts August 31 in New York.

As for her 2-0 record in past WTA finals, Teichmann said: “That doesn’t mean any-thing, (but) for sure, I’m going to the final confident.”

She broke Rogers to open the second set yesterday and then faced one key moment while serving up 3-2. Teichmann was down love-40, but erased each of those three break points, held serve and didn’t drop another game.

WTA LEXINGTON RESULTS

SEMI-FINALS

Jil Teichmann (SUI) bRogers (USA) 6-3, 6-2Jen Brady (USA) bt Coco Gauff (USA) 6-2, 6-4