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Monaco took its 3-2 first-leg advantage and stormed into the Champions League semifinals with a 3-1 home second-leg win over Borussia Dortmund.

Kylian Mbappe scored the opener very early on, and Falcao also struck before the 20 minute mark to send Monaco well through.

Just three minutes into the match, Benjamin Mendy burst forwards cutting inside from the left flank, and he rifled a shot on goal. It was straight at Roman Burki, but powerful enough that the German could only parry the shot. The rebound fell straight to two streaking Monaco attackers, and it was Mbappe who struck a shot off Burkis hands and into the back of the net for a 1-0 lead.

The goal makes Mbappe the first player in Champions League history to score in his first four knockout game appearances.

Then, in the 17th minute, Falcao headed in from a wonderfulThomas Lemar delivery, and Monaco was well and truly through.

With Dortmund down big, manager Thomas Tuchel brought on Ousmane Dembele in the 27th minute. Tuchel had come under fire for not starting either Dembele or Christian Pulisic. Nuri Sahin hit the post with a brilliant free-kick in the 14th minute, the best chance Dortmund had in the first half, and they would find a response soon after the halftime break.

Dembele was the creator as Dortmund hit back, finding a tiny window of opportunity on a pull-back to Marco Reus in the 51st minute as the German club made it 2-1. They still needed two more goals, however, to force extra time, and the mountain was too much to climb. Tuchel brought on Pulisic with 18 minutes to go, but he was powerless to change the tide. With 10 minutes to go, Valere Germain scored Monacos third to put the game to bed, and sending the aggregate score to 6-3. The goal means Monaco become the first team in Champions League history to score at least three goals in four straight knockout games.

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Like the Champions League today, the Europa League will be left with just four teams when the quarterfinalsconclude tomorrow with the second leg.

Manchester United is looking for Champions League qualification via the Premier League top four and still have a solid shot at doing so, but they can also lock that up by winning the Europa League. The Red Devils take a 1-1 aggregate back home against Belgian side Anderlecht, and you can bet Jose Mourinho will give this match everything hes got.

Defensively.

Mourinho, known already as a defend and counter proponent, will likely lean heavily on his defense as they look to advance to the semifinals. He shut down likely Premier League champions Chelsea last time out, doing so by controversially selecting to leave star striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic on the bench along with Henrkih Mkhitaryan. The gamble worked out, and with Marcus Rashford up front, the Red Devils scored a 2-0 win with a different style going forward than they had previously shown with Ibra.

Will Mourinho revert to their previous tactics with Zlatan up front, or will he ride the hot hand against a Belgian side that has already seen off Zenit St. Petersburg and APOEL in these Europa League knockout stages?

Elsewhere, Lyon travels to Turkey to take on Besiktas in a tightly contested match. The French side took the opening leg 2-1 in stunning fashion, coming back from a 1-0 deficit with goals in the 83rd and 84th minute. Still, the match is up for grabs thanks to the away goal by Besiktas, and Lyon will do well to keep in a mentally stable state after the week they had. The French club saw their supporters forced out onto the field in the first leg against Besiktas after Turkish fans rained pyrotechnics down on them from the tier above, and then had their league match against Bastia over the weekend abandoned after players were attacked by opposing fans on the pitch. Now with an away trip to rowdy Turkey, it will be tough to keep in the right frame of mind.

Dutch giants Ajax have a visit to Schalke holding a 2-0 lead after keeping a clean sheet at home and watching Davy Klassen score twice. Schalke has been all over the map this season, so its a bit tough to predict who well seen from them at home on Thursday. Their last two Bundesliga matches alone have seen Schalkewin 4-1 over Wolfsburg followed by a 2-1 defeat to last-placed Darmstadt. Which Schalke side will show up with the odds stacked against them?

Finally, pesky Celta Vigo hits the road to visit Belgian club KAA Genk after a wild 3-2 first leg in Spain. Celta Vigo has been sparkling to watch at times this year, but their defensive abilities have let them down on more than one occasion (theyve conceded 51 La Liga goals this season, more than all but five Spanish teams), and if that happens again here, Genk can nick a win as they hold those two away goals.

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Harry Redknapp has signed on in an attempt to save Championship side Birmingham City overthe final three matches of the season.

The 70-year-old walks into a unique situation. The club was just outsidea playoff position when they shockingly fired Gary Rowett in mid-December. Gianfranco Zola took over, and the club entered a full-on nosedive, falling into a relegation battle after 13 losses compared to just two wins since.

Redknapp revealed he has a special clause in his contract: if Birmingham City is relegated this season, he wont be paid.

I have got a bonus. Its not a massive one, but I said if I dont keep you up, I dont want paying, he said.

Redknapp also revealed he had a similar clausein his contract with Derby County when he worked as a consultant at the end of last season, but instead of relegation it concerned promotion. Derby County was not promoted, after losing in the playoffsemifinal to Hull City despite nearly completing a three-goal comeback in the second leg.

Birmingham currently sits in 20th place, three points off the drop.Ive been in these sort of situations before, Redknapp said. Theyre always difficult, but Im ready for it.

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Borussia Dortmund might have good reason to blame their Champions League exit on the bomb attack that struck their team bus prior to the first leg against AS Monaco, but given recent reports, they might wish to consider themselves lucky.

According to German police who reconstructed the incident, its possible that things could have gone very differently.

If the explosions had detonated one second earlier, the entire bus would have been hit with a massive shock, an official from the German Federal Criminal Investigation Office told German publication Bild on Sunday.There would surely have been many serious injuries and possibly some deaths.

Thankfully, the only casualty was the broken wrist suffered by defender Marc Bartra, who is out four weeks after having surgery to repair the injury.

The bombs were found to be full of nails, with one imbedded in one of the buss seat headrests. They were reportedly built to a professional level, with materials and layouthintingtowards a knowledge of German military construction and schematics.

Letters have been sent claiming to be from Islamic extremistgroups that claim responsibility for the attack, but the German police have openly questioned the authenticity of those letters. The investigations have so far failed to publicly identify a lead on who may have been responsible for the bombing.

Before their second leg match in France, Monaco presented Dortmund with a plaque in a show of solidarity. The plaque depicted numerous photos of fans from both sides celebrating together, as Monaco showed its appreciation for the hospitality Dortmund fans showed them on the night of the attacks.

Social media was used to help Monaco fans stranded in Germany by the postponement of the first leg, and many Dortmund fans gave their rivals a place to stay for the night.

Associated Press

Barcelona looked for a second straight miracle comeback in the 2016/17 Champions League, but it was not to be as the stout Juventus defense held up under heavy fire for a 0-0 draw, seeing the Italians move into the semifinals with a 3-0 aggregate advantage.

The Spanish giants held much of the possession throughout the match, with Juventus happy to absorb the pressure. Georgio Chiellini and Leonardo Bonucci lived up to their reputation as one of the worlds best central defensive partnerships, whileAlex Sandro and former Barcelona full-back Dani Alves did the work on the flanks.

Lionel Messi had the best early chance with a wide open shot near the penalty area on 20 minutes, but couldnt direct it goalwards, firing just wide right, leaving Luis Enrique baffled at the missed opportunity. There was a scary moment just before halftime when Messi went up for an aerial challenge and was undercut by Miralem Pjanic, landing square on his cheek. Messi recovered from his fall as his cheek began to bleed, and he returned for the second half with a bandage.

Juventus had opportunities as they built themselves into the game, with Juan Cuadrado proving the most dangerous. On the other end, Juventus defenders continued to usher the Barcelona attackers into wide areas of the box, forcing them to shoot from tight angles.

Sami Khedira was booked for hauling down Luis Suarez past the hour mark, meaning he is suspended for the semifinal first leg. As the final whistle blew, it marked an enormous 530 minutes since Juventus last conceded a goal in Champions League play, a 9th minute goal by Sevilla back in November.

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Mbappe scores again to send Monaco through to CL semis - ProSoccerTalk (blog)

Barcelona have another opportunity to make Champions League history on Wednesday as they look to mount a remarkable recovery in the Champions League quarter-finals.

Luis Enrique's men were dismantled in last week's first leg with Juventus, Paulo Dybala's double helping inspire the Turin club to a 3-0 win.

But Barca have good reason to be confident of becoming the first team to overturn a 3-0 deficit in the Champions League, having pulled off the largest comeback in the history of the competition in the previous round, beating Paris Saint-Germain 6-1 after a 4-0 first-leg loss.

Meanwhile, Borussia Dortmund's first-leg meeting with Monaco lived up to the billing, as the Ligue 1 club emerged 3-2 winners as Kylian Mbappe enhanced his burgeoning reputation.

The teenager will aim to help Monaco to a first last-four appearance since 2004, when they were beaten in the final by Porto.

Dortmund have plenty of young talent of their own, with Ousmane Dembele sharing the spotlight with Mbappe as he found the net in the defeat at Signal Iduna Park. However, history is not on the German club's side, with all five of the previous teams to have claimed a 3-2 away win in the first leg of a knockout tie progressing to the next round.

Barcelona v Juventus

- Barcelona have scored at least three goals in seven of their last eight Champions League games atCamp Nou.

- Barcelona have reached the quarter-finals for the 10th consecutive season, the longest run in the history of the Champions League. However, they have been knocked out at that stage in two of the last three seasons.

- Juventus have won their last five games in the Champions League, the current longest run in the competition and the Bianconeri'sjoint-longest. They are one of two unbeaten teams this season alongside Real Madrid.

- Juventus are also the only team to have won all four of their Champions League away games this season (10 goals scored, 1 conceded), their best ever run of victories on the road in the competition.

- On top of that, Juventus have notconceded a goal for 441 minutes, also the current longest run in the competition. Sevilla's Nico Pareja was the last player to find the net against Juve back in November.

- Juventus have conceded fewer goals in the Champions League this season than any of the other seven sides still left in the competition (2 in 9 games). Both of those goals came from set-pieces.

Monaco vBorussiaDortmund

- Monaco can reach the semis of the Champions League for the fourth time after 1993-94, 1997-98 and 2003-04. No other French team has made the last four more than once.

- Monaco have won 70 per cent of their home games in the Champions League (21 out of 30). Among clubs to have hosted at least 30 games, only Real Madrid (76 per cent), Barcelona (73 per cent) andBayernMunich (71 per cent) have a better rate.

-BorussiaDortmund are the top scorers in this season's Champions League (27 goals in nine games), with 30 per cent of them coming in the final 15 minutes (8). Dortmund's games have produced more goals than any other team (40 - 27 for and 13 against).

- The first leg saw the first ever instance of two teenagers scoring in the same Champions League knockout game (OusmaneDembeleandKylianMbappe).

-Mbappeis the top scorer in this season's Champions League knockout stages with four goals in three games, while 21-year-old ThomasLemaris the top assist provider in the knockouts with three.

Continued here:
Champions League: Juventus' formidable away record and magnificent Mbappe - Champions League in Opta numbers - Yahoo Sports

The black mark of Madrid's stunning win over Bayern, were the many refereeing gaffes, which the FC crew dissect fervently. Real Madrid ultimately topped Bayern thanks to a Cristiano Ronaldo hat-trick in a match that provided a plethora of chances. BT Sport highlight: Real Madrid ultimately topped Bayern thanks to a Cristiano Ronaldo hat-trick in a match that provided a plethora of chances.

Reports in Spain have alleged that police intervened after three Bayern Munich players stormed into the referee's dressing room following their team's elimination from the Champions League at Real Madrid.

Bayern lost 4-2 in extra time at Real Madrid to go out of the Champions League quarterfinals 6-3 on aggregate.

The Bundesliga leaders were angered by several key decisions made by Hungarian referee Viktor Kassai.

And reporter Jose Luis Sanchez, of Atresmedia TV programme "El Chiringuito de los Jugones," said Robert Lewandowski, Arturo Vidal -- sent off in the 84th minute for a controversial second yellow card -- and Thiago Alcantara entered the official's dressing room and insulted him before police intervened.

Marca reported that shouting could be heard in the tunnel after the match.

But a UEFA spokesman told ESPN FC the governing body had not so far received any information regarding those reports.

UEFA later told ESPN FC by email:"No disciplinary cases have been opened following Tuesday's UEFA Champions League matches."

Bayern coach Carlo Ancelotti had expressed his frustration after the game,telling Mediaset: "He [Kassai] made a lot of mistakes and probably he was not good enough."

On the subject of referees, he said: "At this point I think it's absolutely indispensable. A referee cannot decide a knockout game in this way."

Speaking after the game, Vidal said Bayern had suffered a "robbery" at the hands of Kassai, claiming the official, not Real Madrid, had been responsible for their elimination.

"It is very tough when they steal a game from you like that -- two goals offside and me wrongly sent off. When two big teams meet like this in the Champions League, such a robbery cannot happen," he said.

Bayern midfielder Thiago Alcantara told Onda Cero radio: "I don't even have words for Vidal's sending off. It was not a yellow card, it was not even a foul.

"At this level, in the Champions League, you cannot see these types of mistakes.

"Everyone talks about the use of video assistant referees, but what you need is competent referees."

Adriana Garcia is a Valencia-based football writer who covers La Liga for ESPN FC.

Excerpt from:
Bayern Munich stars confronted referee after Madrid loss - reports - ESPN FC

Question: "President Obama, when he was in office, he spent $33,000 a day for his expenses. . . . Our president now, at this time, his average is $3 million a day."

Rep. Ted Yoho, R-Fla.: "It's costing him $60,000 a day when he comes down for extra care, but Palm Beach said they're going to put an extra tax for that. President Obama spent, what was it, $97 million in his eight years. . . . He went to Hawaii a lot. He went to Africa quite a bit. He went around the world. . . . He went to Africa, and he took their kids and friends and all that. Ninety-seven-million dollars in eight years, man."- Exchange during a town hall in Palatka, Fla., April 11, 2017

Question: "I heard you say earlier that you didn't care what Donald Trump did on the weekend and, frankly, neither do I. Except, he wants me to pay for it. . . . Does this concern you at all?"

Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz.: "I wasn't critical of the last president or the president before that, for what they do in their off time. . . . I'm not going to tell the president where he can or cannot spend his weekends."- Exchange during a town hall in Mesa, Ariz., April 13, 2017

"I do wish that he would spend more time in Washington, D.C. That's what we have the White House for."- Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, answer at town hall in Wall Lake, Iowa, April 18, 2017

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President Donald Trump's travels to his Mar-a-Lago property in Florida are a frequent topic at town halls hosted by members of Congress during the April recess. We've been asking readers to send us fact-checkable claims from their town halls, and some readers flagged claims about the cost of Trump's trips.

Flake and Ernst shared their opinions in response to constituents' questions. But Yoho's response involved claims that merit a fact check. Did Obama go to Africa "quite a bit" with his family and friends? How does the $97 million figure for Obama's travels compare with the $60,000-a-day figure for Trump's travels to Mar-a-Lago?

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Presidential travel costs are not readily made public, so at the moment we just have snapshots of the total price tag. As you can imagine, presidential trips require elaborate planning and security measures, and the main costs involve transportation and Secret Service detail.

There were a lot of numbers in the exchange between the constituent and Yoho, so we'll explain each of them.

Obama's $97 million over eight years: This is an estimate by the conservative group Judicial Watch, which tallied Secret Service and Air Force costs incurred during the former first family's personal travels. Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said the group tracked trips that were "political, leisurely or otherwise unnecessary," including vacations to Martha's Vineyard and travels during the 2016 campaign as Hillary Clinton's surrogates.

Obama's $33,000 per day: This is $97 million, divided by eight years, divided by 365 days.

Trump's $3 million per day: The constituent appears to be referring to a number floating on the Internet for Trump's cost per trip to Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach. The figure, $3.6 million to be exact, comes from an October 2016 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report about Obama's February 2013 golf weekend to Palm Beach.

But as the Associated Press found, the trips are not directly comparable. Obama's February 2013 trip included a stop in Chicago, where he gave a speech before going to Florida for his golf weekend. That stop added costs to the total estimate.

Judicial Watch estimates Trump's Mar-a-Lago visits at closer to $1 million, when calculated just with the estimated costs for Air Force One and Secret Service. But there is no documented figure.

Trump's $60,000 per day: Yoho is describing how much it costs Palm Beach County every day to pay for local law enforcement to work overtime when Trump visits Mar-a-Lago. As Yoho says, the county wants to levy a special tax on the resort to pay for the overtime security costs.

That is only one piece of the total price of Trump's Mar-a-Lago visits, and it excludes Secret Service or Air Force costs. Moreover, some of Trump's trips to Mar-a-Lago are "working" trips, where he conducts some official business, such as hosting foreign dignitaries at his golf club. That means they're not directly comparable to the purely leisurely trips tallied under Obama's $97 million.

Fitton said some Mar-a-Lago trips can be justified and wouldn't necessarily indicate a misuse or abuse of presidential travel.

"His [Obama's] vacations to Hawaii cost millions of dollars," Fitton said. "The political problem with President Trump, and the accountability problem, is after a period of time, the cost will be difficult for him to be able to defend. It doesn't help that we don't know what the [total] costs are because the Defense Department and Department of Homeland Security [which oversees the Secret Service] haven't gotten their act together to turn them over to us."

The Washington Post reported that the unusually lavish lifestyle of Trump and his family is pushing the rate of his travel costs beyond his predecessors', and "could balloon into the hundreds of millions of dollars over the course of a four-year term."

Did Obama go to Africa "quite a bit" with his friends and family? Not really.

Obama took three trips to seven African countries. That's seven out of 58 countries he visited as president through both terms. President Bill Clinton visited 10 African countries, and George W. Bush visited 11. Bush visited once with his wife and two daughters, and another time just with his wife.

Obama took his wife and daughters on his 2013 trip to three African countries, at an estimated price tag of tens of millions of dollars - possibly the most expensive of his tenure. The federal government provided all the resources, because the options in developing areas did not meet White House standards, The Post reported. That made the trip particularly costly. Clinton and Bush made similarly resource-intensive trips.

Yoho's staff did not provide a response or comment, but we will update this fact check if we receive one.

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There was a lot of interest at recent town halls about Trump's travels to Mar-a-Lago, and how much they are costing taxpayers. Yoho, responding to a constituent with some inaccurate information, did not make an apples-to-apples comparison of Trump's and Obama's travels in the town hall. Yoho noted the daily cost of $60,000 for Trump's Mar-a-Lago trips, vs. Obama's $97 million in travel costs over eight years. But the $60,000 represents a fraction of the costs per trip; it's just the cost to the Palm Beach County government.

Some of Trump's Mar-a-Lago trips involve official work, whereas the Obama family trips counted in the $97 million figure are ones that a conservative group deemed "political, leisurely or otherwise unnecessary" to taxpayers. So the two figures are not directly comparable.

And while Obama's trips to Africa were costly (as were the Africa trips of Bush and Clinton), he didn't go "quite a bit" when you look at his Africa trips compared with the rest of his travels as president. We award Two Pinocchios to Yoho.

More here:
Fact Check: Are President Trump's trips to Mar-a-Lago similar to Obama's travels? - Chicago Tribune

Now his secretary of state is, for the time being, certifying it.

"I've been doing deals for a long time, I've been making lots of wonderful deals -- great deals -- that's what I do. Never, ever, ever in my life have I seen any transaction so incompetently negotiated as our deal with Iran. And I mean, never."

That much has remained the same. But when it comes to the Iran deal, Trump has, for the moment, changed. Blaring skepticism has given way to (yet another) pragmatic adjustment. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Tuesday delivered a letter to Congress confirming that Iran has kept up its end of the controversial bargain.

The letter pads what will be an unpopular conclusion among GOP hawks with word that Trump has ordered a review of plans to lift sanctions in accordance with the deal, citing the Iranian government's ties to assorted terror groups. To follow through on the implicit threat would, ironically, put the US in defiance of the terms of the agreement.

Which is to say, it's not happening. At least not yet. By fate or fancy, the Trump administration has effectively taken on the foreign policy of its predecessor. The missile attack on Syria -- a one-off tactical jab -- was initially celebrated (or denounced) as a departure from Obama's caution, but the reality is that American strategic positions in multiple foreign theaters remain essentially indistinguishable from a year ago.

Democrats will, of course, use this as another example of Trump betraying his campaign promises. That's fair enough. Candidates make outlandish claims at their own political peril. But the reality here is that reality, more than any president, rules. Who saw it coming? Former Associated Press correspondent Terry Anderson, kidnapped by Hezbollah, an Iranian proxy, in 1985 and held for nearly seven years, offered a pretty good preview.

If he hasn't yet learned that, then Trump has surely experienced it. Though largely true to his campaign pledges as a matter of effort, he has been repeatedly turned back by the same forces he vowed to tame. Obamacare remains, thanks to in the intransigence of his own party. NATO? "Obsolete" no more. Tax reform? That could be the most difficult feat of all.

President Trump's reversals

before becoming president

NATO

China

Attacking the Syrian government

Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen

Executive orders

The unemployment rate

Presidential golf

The Export-Import Bank

Federal hiring freeze

His explanation was simple. Pyongyang and its nukes were the priority.

"What, am I going to start trade war with China in the middle of (Chinese President Xi Jinping) working on a bigger problem with North Korea?" Trump said during an interview with Fox News. "I'm dealing with China with great respect. I have great respect for him. We'll see what he can do. Maybe he won't be able to help. That's possible. I think he is trying. Maybe he won't be able to help. That's a whole different story."

And so it goes for the Iran deal. Is Trump going to begin unraveling the dense, multinational accord in the middle of a ramped-up war on ISIS and escalating tensions with Syria (plus Russia and Iran by proxy)?

Not yet. His tactical unpredictability, for now, only stretches so far. Through nearly 100 days in office, Trump's foreign policy has a familiar ring.

Excerpt from:
When it comes to Iran, Trump and Obama aren't yet looking much different - CNN