InFrance: OGC is the acronym for OlympiqueGymnaste Club, the formal title of the soccer club of Nice, along the Rivierain southern France. It is currently thethird best football club in France. Thisyear the club has been successful beyond normal expectation. The club will take at least third place inthe final league table, and with that earn a shot at an unprecedented spot inthe group phase of the next UEFA Champions League. Today they face off against ParisSaint-Germain, title-holders and second in Ligue 1, and if they do they willadvance even further in the final standings of the year. One of their heroes, Mario Balotelli,formerly of Inter Milan, Man City, AC Milan, and Liverpool, had a slogan, "WhyAlways Me?" He once had the words printed on a T-shirt he wore, verypublicly, as headlines kept being generated around him while he was in England.Although he has suffered some injuries and red cards, he has stayed strong, tocome back alive, helping OGC to their current place. InGermany, meanwhile, Bayern Munich has set a new record by clinching a fifthstraight Bundesliga title, winning 6-0 against hosts Wolfsburg, who are at thebottom of the table and thus risk demotion to a lower league for next season. Ingolstadt, at risk of relegation was able toplay to a draw, but that most likely will not save their next season. Augsburg, while possible risking relegation,is ahead of Darmstadt, suprisingly likely to be demoted this Spring. BorussiaDortmund failedto take a firm grip on third place as they were held to a goalless home draw byCologne. Hoffenheim, two points behind them in fourth, cantake advantage with victory over Eintracht Frankfurt on Sunday. This draw, however, did guarantee a top-fourfinish for Dortmund. In Spain, severalof the late games on Saturday leave things too close to call. As Saturday dawned, Barcelona, who cleanedReal Madrid's clocks last weekend, was moving up on the Vikings on thetable. The royals respondedconvincingly, though with a 2-1 win over powerhouses Valencia. Madrid then opened up a three-point lead onBarcelona. Cristiano Ronaldo opened thescoring, heading home a Dani Carvajal cross on 27 minutes with Madrid's onlyshot on target of the first half. In alate game, Barҫa beat local rivals Espanyol 3-0 with the return of Neymar fromhis three game suspension. The chiefexcitement in the European Soccer world, as the season winds down throughoutthe old continent is felt in Italy, where two great competitions, and othergood games, will be contested today! Thesemi annual Derby between the powerhouses of the capital city pits Roma againstlocal rivals Lazio. For several decadesthey have both used the same stadium, Rome's Olympic stadium as their homestadium, and although that may change in a few years, they both still feelvery much at home in the neo fascistconfines. Roma thrashed Serie B boundPescara on Monday night 4-1. In the CopaItalia semifinals, earlier in the year, Lazio ensured Roma's elimination. A loss on Sunday could put Roma in thenightmarish situation of not having a direct promotion to the champions league,and they are not always successful in winning such spots through playoffs. After the derby, Roma have to travel to theSan Siro to take on AC Milan and then host champions-elect Juventus. They need this win or Napoli, who are fourpoints behind second-placed Roma, may overtake them. The other major game of the weekend is thegame between Napoli and hosts Inter Milan on Sunday night. Napoli's only challenging team after tomorrowevening are Fiorentina, so the games today could determine a lot in thestandings. In the USA, inprofessional basketball: seven of eightteams to play in round 2 of the NBA playoffs have been determined. One more game will be played to determine theeighth team, before the cagers move onto round two. Tied at three games a piece are the Utah Jazzand the Los Angeles Clippers. TheClippers took a close game on Friday evening to force game seven of the series,which takes place this afternoon at Los Angeles. -- Posted By Rex to SR at 4/30/2017 03:52:00 AM -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "omnisport" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/omnisport. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
