CORNER KICKS
Five things happening around the world:
1 Liverpool, a five-time European champion, Tuesday advanced to the May 23 final of the Champions League in Athens when it defeated Chelsea, 4-1, on penalty kicks, in a nail-biting semifinal second-leg game at Anfield.
Chelsea had won the first game, 1-0, in London last week, but a 22nd minute goal by Daniel Agger tied the aggregate score, and the teams battled for another 100 minutes before it was left to penalties to separate the two English Premier League giants.
Goalkeeper Pepe Reina twice came up huge for the home team, smothering penalty kicks by Arjen Robben and Geremi, with only Frank Lampard beating him.
Liverpool, meanwhile, scored off penalties by Boudewijn Zenden, Steven Gerrard, Xabi Alonso and Dirk Kuyt to reach the final for the second time in three years.
In the 2005 final, Liverpool recovered from a 3-0 halftime deficit to beat AC Milan on penalties.
*
2 Manchester United plays AC Milan in Italy today in the second leg of its Champions League semifinal series, having won the first match, 3-2.
Dida, Milan’s goalkeeper, will be hoping for a better outing. A couple of miscues by him last week allowed Manchester two goals, and one angry Milan fan responded by putting the keeper up for auction on the Internet.
There were 25 bids, and Dida’s “price” had reached $96 before eBay yanked him off its auction site.
*
3 Austrian energy drink billionaire Dietrich Mateschitz bought SV Salzburg Austria in 2005 and renamed it Red Bull Salzburg. The next year, he bought Major League Soccer’s MetroStars and recast them as the New York Red Bulls.
Today, Mateschitz has one league champion and one unbeaten team.
Red Bull Salzburg, coached by Italy’s Giovanni Trapattoni with the assistance of former MetroStar Lothar Matthaeus, has won the Austrian league title, making Trapattoni only the second coach in European soccer history after Ernst Happel to win league championships in four countries.
He also won titles in Italy with Juventus and Inter Milan, in Germany with Bayern Munich and in Portugal with Benfica.
The Red Bulls, who are 3-0-1 in MLS play, will be in Los Angeles on Tuesday night for a U.S. Open Cup qualifying game against the Galaxy.
*
4 Real Salt Lake, which failed to make the playoffs in each of its first two MLS seasons, is off to an 0-2-2 start in 2007 and hasn’t scored a goal in three games.
That has fans in Utah wondering just how much longer Coach John Ellinger can hang on.
Ellinger is the only coach Real has had, but his record is 15-37-16 and owner Dave Checketts could soon be considering a change.
*
5 An English Premier League referee banished Kingsley, Reading’s oversized lion mascot, from the sideline this week during a match because its blue and white team shirt was confusing him.
Said Reading coach Steve Coppell: “I can see where the referee was getting confused; you know he does look like so many of my players.”
American internationals Bobby Convey and Marcus Hahnemann play for Reading.
-- GRAHAME L. JONES
