Euro 2012: Germany beat Portugal(1-0)

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Mario Gomez's second-half header ensured Germany made a winning start to Euro 2012 after Portugal had threatened to frustrate Joachim Loew's side.

Germany dominated possession but struggled to create many chances until Gomez broke the deadlock from Sami Khedira's cross in the 72nd minute.
Portugal were disappointing and only came to life after Germany scored.
Pepe hit the bar with a rare first-half chance while Nani was also denied by the woodwork late on.
Germany face Netherlands, who lost 1-0 to Denmark in their opening game, in their next game on 13 June while Portugal will attempt to bounce back against the Danes on the same day.
The match was billed as one of the most eagerly-awaited contests of the group stages.

However, three-time world champions Germany and Euro 2004 runners-up Portugal struggled to entertain despite the wealth of talent on display.

The Germans included seven Bayern Munich players in their starting line-up and, judging by their first-half performance, they appeared to be suffering a hangover from their Champions League defeat to Chelsea last month.
Portugal were unadventurous and clearly determined not to lose as they stifled Germany's attacking threat to such an extent that Loew's side only once seriously tested keeper Rui Patricio in the opening 45 minutes.
That came in the second minute when Gomez forced Patricio into a diving save after connecting with a cross by former Manchester City defender Jerome Boateng, playing despite Loew's threat to start Lars Bender at right-back after Boateng was pictured with a model in the early hours of last weekend.
New Arsenal recruit Lukas Podolski spurned a rare chance in the 31st minute when he blazed over from 15 yards after good work by Khedira, but it was Portugal, despite their defensive tactics, who went closest to breaking the deadlock before the interval.

With his club manager Jose Mourinho watching from the stand, Real Madrid's Pepe rattled the underside of the bar, after the German defence failed to deal with a corner, the ball bouncing on the line before being cleared.

Pepe thought he had scored but television replays showed the officials had made the right decision.
Nani struggled to make an impact, although his former Manchester United team-mate Cristiano Ronaldo produced flashes of the form which saw him end the season with 62 goals for Real Madrid and Portugal.
Ronaldo summed up Portugal's performance in the space of a minute early in the second half.
Having cut in off the left wing to force a save from Manuel Neuer, he delivered a dangerous cross which was headed behind by Mats Hummels. However, the resulting corner came to nothing.
With the game drifting towards a draw, Boateng produced a goal-saving challenge to deny Ronaldo in the 64th minute before Gomez struck eight minutes later.
Gomez was seconds away from being replaced by for Miroslav Klose when he headed home his 23rd international goal after Khedira's cross from the right.
Portugal produced a late rally - Nani hitting the woodwork with a cross-shot before Neuer came to Germany's rescue with a fine save to deny substitute Silvestre Varela - but it proved too little too late.
Germany : Neuer, Boateng, Hummels, Badstuber, Lahm, Khedira, Schweinsteiger, Muller (Bender 90), Ozil (Kroos 87), Podolski, Gomez (Klose 80).
Subs Not Used : Wiese, Gundogan, Schmelzer, Howedes, Schurrle, Mertesacker, Gotze, Reus, Zieler.
Booked : Badstuber, Boateng.
Goals : Gomez 72.
Portugal : Rui Patricio, Joao Pereira, Bruno Alves, Pepe, Fabio Coentrao, Meireles (Varela 80), Veloso, Joao Moutinho, Nani, Postiga (Nelson Oliveira 70), Ronaldo.
Subs Not Used : Eduardo, Custodio, Almeida, Quaresma, Ricardo Costa, Rolando, Ruben Micael, Miguel Lopes, Hugo Viana, Beto.
Booked : Postiga, Fabio Coentrao.
Attendance : 33,951
Referee : Stephane Lannoy (France).

Lineup, Bookings (4) & Substitutions (5)

Germany

• 01 Neuer
• 05 Hummels
• 14 Badstuber Booked
• 16 Lahm
• 20 Boateng Booked
• 06 Khedira
• 07 Schweinsteiger
• 08 Ozil (Kroos - 87' )
• 13 Mueller (Bender - 90' )
• 10 Podolski
• 23 Gomez (Klose - 80' )

Substitutes

• 12 Wiese
• 22 Zieler
• 03 Schmelzer
• 04 Howedes
• 17 Mertesacker
• 02 Gundogan
• 09 Schurrle
• 15 Bender
• 18 Kroos
• 19 Gotze
• 21 Reus
• 11 Klose

Portugal

• 12 Rui Patricio
• 02 Alves
• 03 Pepe
• 05 Coentrao Booked
• 21 Joao Pereira
• 04 Veloso
• 08 Joao Moutinho
• 16 Meireles (Varela - 80' )
• 17 Nani
• 07 Ronaldo
• 23 Postiga Booked (Oliveira - 70' )

Substitutes

• 01 Eduardo
• 22 Beto
• 13 Costa
• 14 Rolando
• 19 Miguel Lopes
• 06 Custodio
• 15 Ruben Micael
• 20 Viana
• 09 Almeida
• 10 Quaresma
• 11 Oliveira
• 18 Varela

Ref: S Lannoy

Att: 33,951

Match Stats

Shots

12 11

On target

6 7

Corners

2 11

Fouls

15

Euro2012: Denmark beat Holland(1-0)

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Denmark produced the first major surprise of Euro 2012 as Morten Olsen's side secured a 1-0 win over World Cup finalists Netherlands in Kharkiv.

Famed for their Total Football approach, the Dutch were left totally frustrated by a Danish side that was never fazed by the star-studded reputation of Bert van Marwijk's team.

Billed as Group B's rank outsiders, Denmark had to ride their luck against a Dutch team that dominated possession for long periods of this game in Kharkiv's Metalist Stadium.

Amid those lucky breaks though Simon Kjaer and Daniel Agger in central defence showed plenty of steel and when the Danes did get hold of the ball they produced some intricate passing moves.

Danish goalkeeper Stephan Andersen was also outstanding, notably when he thwarted Dutch substitute Klaas-Jan Huntelaar after the Schalke forward was sent clear by Wesley Sneijder's wonderful pass with the outside of his right foot.

That Huntelaar. who scored 48 goals in all competitions last season for the German Bundesliga club, was left on the bench by Van Marwijk was the first surprise of Saturday's game.

And before he was introduced in the second half, Huntelaar could only watch as Robin van Persie's nose for a goal went missing.

A frustrating evening for the Dutch striker, who has scored 30 goals in the English Premier League for Arsenal this season, was encapsulated when he completely miskicked the ball early in the second half.

Van Persie should have scored early on in the game but put his shot wide and later on in the first half the Arsenal striker was thwarted by Danish goalkeeper Stephan Andersen.

Completely against the run of play, Michael Krohn-Dehli gave Denmark a shock lead after he gathered Simon Poulsen's deflected cross and drilled a shot through the legs of Dutch goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg.

Arjen Robben then curled a left-footed shot against the post as Denmark's goal continued to lead a charmed life.

The second half mirrored the first with the Dutch pinning the Danes in their own half, but the Danes refused to be cowed and after surviving a late handball appeal against Lars Jacobsen, Olsen's team secured a memorable victory.

French Open: Maria Sharapova beats Petra Kvitova to reach final

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Maria Sharapova booked a place in her first French Open final and moved up to world number one by overcoming Petra Kvitova in straight sets in Paris.

Second seed Sharapova produced the more assured play to steer herself to a 6-3 6-3 victory over the fourth seed.
The result also keeps the Russian on course to achieve the career Grand Slam by winning the one major tournament which has eluded her.

Match stats

Kvitova		Sharapova
0	Aces	3
62%	1st serves	79%
2	Double faults	3
10	Winners	15
20	Errors	17
56%	1st serve win %	75%
40%	2nd serve win %	33%
34%	Receiving pts won	50%
1/5	Break points	4/6

Sharapova will play Italian 21st seed Sara Errani in Saturday's final.

The new number one, who will displace Victoria Azarenka on Monday, will be a huge favourite to beat surprise finalist Errani, especially considering the manner of her victory against left hander Kvitova.
Sharapova was contesting her third French Open semi-final and had high hopes of victory at Roland Garros having come into the tournament on the back of clay court wins in Stuttgart and Rome.
The Russian had beaten Kvitova on the way to victory in Stuttgart and, after saving break points in both her opening service games, Sharapova grew in confidence and consistency to break her rival in the fifth game.
Kvitova's power and precision had helped her beat her opponent to claim the Wimbledon title last year but Sharapova had the answer to anything the Czech could throw at her.

“It's the third time I've been in a semi-final here, I've dreamed of reaching the final and finally I have that opportunity"”

Maria Sharapova French finalist

The blustery conditions on court Philippe Chatrier were an issue but the Russian dealt with them better.

Some heavy blows were being traded and Sharapova regularly came out on top before going on to win the first set.
Kvitova exerted more pressure on Sharapova early in the second set, although like the opener she failed to take a break point and lost her own serve in the following game to go 3-1 down.
This time around, however, the number four seed broke back to level, although any hopes of a comeback were quickly extinguished.
Sharapova was controlled and concentrated and again broke her more wayward rival before a second serve ace secured victory.

Lewis Hamilton heads Sebastian Vettel in Canada

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McLaren's Lewis Hamilton headed Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel and Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg in first practice at the Canadian Grand Prix.

Hamilton, searching for his first win of the season in the seventh race, was 0.118 seconds quicker than Vettel, with Rosberg only 0.1secs further adrift.
Ferrari's Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest, and the second Red Bull of Mark Webber was fifth.
McLaren's Jenson Button was only 10th after reliability problems.
Button had a trying session - he was out late, set his time, and then was called back into the garage when the team noticed some excessive clutch slip.
They took off the gearbox and discovered there an was oil leak, leading to the 2009 world champion completing about half the number of laps of his rivals.
That will not help him as he attempts to get on top of the troubles that have seen him score only two points in the past three races.
The top 11 cars were covered by a second, with Force India's Nico Hulkenberg sixth on super-soft tyres, ahead of the Saubers of Kamui Kobayashi and Sergio Perez, and Michael Schumacher's Mercedes.
The second Force India of Scot Paul di Resta was 11th.
Hamilton, in contrast to his team-mate, had a largely untroubled session, apart from a brief off-track moment at the first corner, and looked impressive throughout, setting the pace whenever he was out on the track.

The fastest times of Hamilton, Rosberg and Alonso were set on the 'soft' tyre, the harder of the two options in Montreal, while Vettel leapfrogged from fourth to second when he fitted the softer 'super-soft' tyre at the end of the session.

Rosberg's pace confirmed the potential that most expected of the Mercedes at this race, while Ferrari spent the session comparing a new rear bodywork design with the previous one.
The team have introduced a design similar to McLaren's, where the exhaust is channelled down towards the inside of the rear tyre in an attempt to increase downforce.
Alonso started the session with the older bodywork and team-mate Felipe Massa with the new design, with which the Brazilian went 0.318secs faster than the Spaniard.
Alonso, the world championship leader, then leapt up to third - before being demoted by Vettel - once his car had been fitted with the newer design, and Massa's revered to the older one.
BBC F1 technical analyst Gary Anderson said: "It's an A-B, B-A swap. It's good to do these comparisons sometimes because it's hard to get a definitive answer from the drivers when the time difference is only going to be in the region of 0.1-0.2secs.
"From what I've seen so far, the developments look good - there are also some new front brake ducts on Massa's car that look effective. It will be interesting to see what parts are on which car in the second session."
The session was stopped after 40 minutes following a crash by Caterham's Heikki Kovalainen at the exit of Turn 9.
The Finn said: "I haven't had a shunt for a long time, it was bound to happen one day.
"I was carrying a bit too much speed into that corner. I thought I'd got away with it, but the rear end snapped away and that was it. It was just a small error but it happens sometimes.
"We have got good mechanics. I don't think the chassis was damaged. It's just about replacing the two corners and we go again in the second session."
An incident involving Vettel and Williams driver Bruno Senna is to be investigated by stewards after the session.
Senna was seen to be waving his arm at Vettel as the two cars approached the final chicane, with Senna on the outside, apparently accusing the world champion of holding him up.
There appeared to be a second, less significant, incident later on, when Senna may have held up Vettel in retaliation.

Alessandro del Piero final Juventus appearance

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There was no happy ending for Alessandro del Piero as the 37-year-old forward brought the curtain down on an illustrious career at Juventus as they lost the Coppa Italia final.

They went down 2-0 to Napoli at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome.
Del Piero was making his final appearance for the club - almost 19 years after his September 1993 debut.

He went on to make 705 appearances for the club, winning 19 trophies including the World Cup with Italy in 2006.

Del Piero was withdrawn after 68 minutes of the final, to a standing ovation, as fans paid their tributes.
He scored the first of his 289 goals for the club in his second appearance before bagging a hat-trick on his first start back in 1993.
The Italian was also a regular for his country since 1995, making 91 appearances, scoring 27 goals.
Speculation has been mounting over the future of the Conegliano-born striker, since Juventus announced they would not be offering him a new contract.

Del Piero's trophy cabinet

• 6 Serie A titles (not including the two which were withdrawn in 2005 and 2006)
• 1 Coppa Italia
• 4 Supercoppa Italiana
• 1 Uefa Champions League
• 1 Uefa Super Cup
• 1 Intercontinental Cup
• 1 Uefa Intertoto Cup
• 1 Serie B title
• 2 Uefa Under-21 European Championships
• 1 World Cup

Will Ferrari Drop Felipe Massa?

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ferrari demand improvement from Felipe Massa

Ferrari have increased the pressure on Felipe Massa by saying they expect his form to improve immediately.

Massa has scored only two points this season, while team-mate Fernando Alonso is level on 61 points with championship leader Sebastian Vettel.

The Brazilian was 15th in the Spanish Grand Prix and was lapped by Alonso, who was second to Pastor Maldonado.

In a statement, Ferrari said: "Everyone is expecting a change of gear starting right away with the Monaco Grand Prix."

The statement, released on Monday, emphasised that Massa had been "very unlucky, both in the race and in qualifying" in Spain - he suffered traffic in qualifying, ending up 16th on the grid, and was given a drive-through penalty for a caution flag infringement.

The upturn in form was desired by Massa "more than anyone", the statement added.

But it also detailed his drop-off in form since 2010, comparing the points he has scored at this stage of the last three seasons with those of Alonso.
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Pastor Maldonado

Highlights - Spanish Grand Prix

While Alonso has scored 67, 51 and now 61 points after five races in 2010, 2011 and 2012, Massa, Ferrari said, had scored 49, 24 and now two.

Ferrari have always been publicly supportive of Massa, emphasising that they will help him through a difficult time in his career and pointing out that their 2012 car is difficult to drive.

But the statement comes in the wake of increasing rumours that the 32-year-old will be replaced sooner rather than later.

Drivers linked with his seat include Force India's Paul di Resta and Sauber's Sergio Perez, who is a member of the Ferrari driver academy.

It also comes after the team wrote on their Twitter account  following qualifying in Spain that they were "disappointed" with Massa.

A spokesman later clarified that statement, telling the Sunday Times: "It was a poor choice of grammar. We are disappointed in the outcome of Felipe but not with Felipe himself."

Alonso's position at the head of the championship is a surprise considering the relative lack of performance of the car.

A major upgrade for Spain resulted in a marked improvement in pace.

The double world champion qualified third, which became second following a penalty for fastest qualifier Lewis Hamilton of McLaren, when his previous highest grid position had been ninth.

Team boss Stefano Domenicali said: "It takes very little to change the hierarchy among the teams and this rule is even more true when the differences are just a few tenths or even hundredths.

"This year, the winner will be whoever manages to bring the best technical updates to the track in the shortest time possible: staying still for just a handful of races could mean finishing out of the points, given that so many teams have proved capable of fighting for the top places.

"We achieved our goal of making a step forward in Spain, but we must continue down this path, especially as the gap to the time that gave Hamilton his pole position is still too big."

Manchester City: set to outpace Real Madrid and Barcelona in cash spending on players

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 Real Madrid & Barcelona are Man City's benchmark

Manchester City will emulate Spanish giants Real Madrid and Barcelona this summer by spending heavily to target Champions League success, boss Roberto Mancini has promised fans.

Mancini told BBC Sport: "Barcelona and Real Madrid every year buy two or three players and spend a lot of money.
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    “It's not difficult to manage Tevez. He's a good guy. We had a good relationship always”

Roberto Mancini

"I think for Manchester City it will be the same.

"We need to improve. We need to have the strength to play Champions League and Premier League."
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Man City lift Premier League trophy

He added: "For this we need to have a good team, a strong team with a good mentality, but I'm sure we will do it."

Real Madrid and Barcelona have spent an estimated total of £105m each, over the last two seasons, to recruit players.

Barcelona bought David Villa for £34.2m in the summer of 2010 while, 12 months later, they spent a similar amount on signing Cesc Fabregas.

Madrid's big outlay followed their 2009 spending spree, which included bringing in the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo (£80m), Kaka and Karim Benzema for a combined total of more than £170m.

City have the spending power to match the Spanish giants and, as Mancini plans an assault on European glory, he is pleased with how his side have dealt with the pressures of the Premier League this season.

He says City - top-flight champions for the first time since 1968 - are worthy winners of the title, pointing out that, unlike close rivals Manchester United, they were never beaten heavily by anyone.

"We lost 1-0, 1-0, 1-0 - always games we could win," he said. "Manchester United lost 3-0 to Newcastle and 6-1 against us, but we never had a game like this.

"Against United in the FA Cup, when we lost 3-2 at home, in the second half [it was] 11 players against 10, but we had three or four chances and they did not have any."

Noting also that City had beaten their neighbours home and away in the league, he added: "We worked very hard. We deserved to win this."

And he says that, even when City fell eight points behind leaders United with just six games remaining, from which point on he repeatedly insisted in public that the title race was over, he never entirely lost hope.

"After [losing to] Arsenal, I thought it was going to be difficult - but I thought it was impossible that United were going to continue to win," he said.

In an exclusive BBC interview, the 47-year-old reflects on a title-winning season not without its share of troubles, but insists his relationship with strikers Carlos Tevez and Mario Balotelli remains good.

Tevez, 28, did not play for City for six months after Mancini claimed he failed to warm-up in the 2-1 defeat at Bayern Munich in September, while Balotelli was sent-off twice during the course of the season.

"It's not difficult to manage Tevez," he said. "He's a good guy. We had a good relationship always.

"I don't know why we had that situation in September but in the end he's a good guy and a fantastic player."

He also believes the Argentine's return to the team for the title run-in, after an unauthorised absence in Argentina, had helped tip the title race in City's favour.
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City's parade through Manchester's streets

"No question he made a difference. Carlos is an incredible, top player," he said.

For Italian striker Balotelli, his countryman has words of caution.

"Mario is different, he's young, but an incredible talent," Mancini said.

"He's young, and for this reason sometimes he can have bad behaviour - it's normal. But it's important for him to understand he can lose his talent.

"He can play football for another 10 or 12 years. I hope that now, after this title, he can understand that it's better that he starts to work in a good way."

And of Sunday's dramatic ending to the season, he joked: "I'm 47 - after the game, 97!"