Last gasp penalty sees Atalanta stun Dortmund

Lazar Samardzic slotted home a stoppage-time penalty to complete a dramatic 4-1 victory for Atalanta against Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday, sending the Italian side into the Champions League’s last 16 with a comeback 4-3 aggregate triumph. Dortmund’s Ramy Bensebaini was sent off after his studs caught the head of Atalanta’s Nikola Krstovic in the penalty area and Samardzic converted the spot kick in the 98th minute to send the Italians through. Atalanta will now face either Arsenal or Bayern Munich in the round of 16,

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PSG defender Achraf Hakimi to stand trial over rape allegation

Paris St-Germain defender Achraf Hakimi says he is set to face trial after an allegation of rape was made against him. A woman has accused the Morocco captain of raping her at his home in the French capital in 2023, when she was aged 24. He denies the allegations. The public prosecutor’s office in Nanterre, a western suburb of Paris, began a preliminary investigation in March 2023.

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Benfica’s Gianluca Prestianni handed provisional one-match ban

Gianluca Prestianni will not be available for Benfica’s Champions League playoff at Real Madrid on Wednesday night after Uefa suspended him following allegations that he racially abused Vinícius Júnior during the first leg. The one‑game ban is a provisional mea­sure as an investigation continues. Benfica have said they will appeal and regret being “deprived” of the winger, but the club admitted they did not expect to be able to prevent the 20-year-old Argentinian from missing the second leg at the Santiago Bernabéu.

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Eze and Gyökeres bag braces as Arsenal rout Spurs

Eberechi Eze was Tottenham Hotspur’s tormentor again as Arsenal made a title statement of intent by restoring their lead at the top of the Premier League table to five points with victory in the north London derby. Spurs had high hopes of turning up the heat further in interim manager Igor Tudor’s first game in charge, but Arsenal simply possessed too much class and threat for their struggling arch-rivals.

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Gordon bags four goals as Newcastle United demolish Qarabag

Anthony Gordon scored four goals as rampant Newcastle United blew Qarabag away to take control of their last 16 Champions League play-off tie. It took Gordon just two minutes to open the scoring after the latched on to a through ball from marauding centre-back Dan Burn and finished coolly past goalkeeper Mateusz Kochalski into the bottom corner. Newcastle did not let up from that moment and lead by five at the interval.

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