The incredible 3-0 victory at the Stadio Olimpico saw the home side overhaul a 4-1 first-leg defeat and advance on away goals.

“Rome’s historic feat: 3-0 against Barca, flying into the semi-finals. Messi and companions KO,” said Italian daily La Stampa, referencing the Spanish champions’ star forward.

“Perhaps the greatest night in Roma’s history,” tweeted daily Il Fatto Quotidiano

“Rome’s gladiators: Messi folds, horns blast all over the city,” declared the online paper RomaToday.

While the AS Roma twitter account excitedly tweeted: “DAJEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeifefefbejfwjofnwjfnwjfbrufbwfubweufbewfuewbewbfwejfwjlfjfwfjlwfjbfjwfbwjfbwjofwjfnewjofnewjofnwjfnweAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH”(a very enthusiastic “COME ONNNNNNN!”)

The “giallorossi” now advance to the Champions League semi-finals for the first time since 1984, and their fans can start dreaming of the ultimate victory in the final in Kiev in May.

The 37-year-old’s victory came despite her trailing in sixth in 2:42.17 hours in the 113.6km third and final stage, which started and finished at Kaen Nakhon Lake in the northeastern city.

Zabelinskaya, who won two bronzes at London 2012 (in the road race and time trial) and a silver at Rio 2016 (in the time trial again), also spearheaded the Russia National Team to the overall title with a combined time of 19:40.33 hours.

The women’s individual event ended up as a Russian 1-2-3 as Zabelinskaya’s teammates, Karina Kasenova and Gulnaz Badykova, finished second and third overall.

However, Thailand still had someone to feel proud of as 2014 Asian Games road race gold medalist Jutatip Maneephan won the final stage in a time of 2:42.17 hours.

Jutatip, also the stage one winner on Sunday, enjoyed triple delight by winning the Best Sprinter to earn herself the green jersey as Best Asean Rider in the final stage.

However, the overall Best Asean Rider title and the purple jersey went to Vietnamese  Nguyen Thi Thai, who clocked 6:52.21 hours.

Nguyen and her teammates at World Cycling Centre also won the overall Best Asean Team title with a total time of  19:42.59 hours, just 1.05 seconds in front of the Thailand Women’s Cycling Team.

New Zealand’s Laurel Hubbard, the Games’ first transgender athlete, made a painful exit while leading the women’s +90kg competition as she attempted a tournament-record lift on Monday.

Hubbard’s left elbow buckled and she grimaced as dropped the 132kg barbell behind her, reportedly rupturing a ligament in an injury that will require surgery.

Hubbard later told a public event: “My arm is busted. It looks like it’s probably going to be a career-ending injury, it’s being looked at.

“I’m glad that I’ve gone out trying to achieve my best on the platform because as the (New Zealand team) slogan says you have to ‘earn the fern’, you can’t just phone it in.

“Thank you very much for your support, I’m very grateful.”

If confirmed, it has been a short-lived women’s career for Hubbard, 40, who was born Gavin Hubbard and competed for New Zealand as a man before transitioning to female in her 30s.

She competed at last year’s world championships in the women’s +90kg category, winning two silvers — New Zealand’s first medals at the competition.

Her presence at Gold Coast caused much debate, with officials from two rival countries insisting she had an unfair advantage.

Simon Kent, New Zealand’s high performance director for Olympic weightlifting, called Hubbard “courageous” for starting the debate about transgender sport.

“It is a complex issue,” Kent told AFP.

“I actually tend to think it is a good thing that it is being talked about in the open… because there are no right or wrong answers at the moment.”

Hubbard became eligible to compete as a woman after showing testosterone levels below the International Olympic Committee threshold. She received strong backing from the Commonwealth Games Federation.

Despite the controversy over her participation, she was greeted by a huge roar from the Gold Coast crowd when the athletes were introduced.

“People make a lot of guesstimates around physiology, the potential advantages and disadvantages,” Kent said.

“Medically it is still such a new area that discussion is good. There needs to be a lot more talk and debate. There needs to be a lot more research.

“I think that the more it is talked about the more we can find solutions that will ultimately appease the majority.”

Women’s weightlifting only became an Olympic sport in 2000, Kent noted.

“So 18 years and we have come a long way since then,” he said. “The more we can look forward the better we are to understand these sorts of things,” he said.

Ronaldo’s bicycle kick in Real Madrid’s 3-0 first leg victory last week ensured he passed Ruud van Nistelrooy’s feat by scoring in 10 consecutive Champions League games.

But the Portugese also now stands just three goals short of his best ever tally in a single European campaign, an achievement that would suggest this Ronaldo, aged 33, may even be the finest version yet.

His 14 goals so far have come over nine matches and featured doubles against APOEL, Borussia Dortmund, Paris Saint-Germain and Juventus.

It means this is Ronaldo’s third most prolific Champions League showing to date already and, with Real almost certain to reach the semi-finals, he is unlikely to finish here.

When he posted 16 goals in the 2015-16 tournament and his personal best of 17 in 2013-14, both times Real were crowned champions.

“Cristiano is Cristiano, it’s always been like that,” coach Zinedine Zidane said after Ronaldo opened the scoring against Atletico Madrid on Sunday.

“There’s no other player in the team that scores like he does.”

There is no doubt Ronaldo’s game is now more streamlined and therefore more geared towards goals than perhaps it has ever been before.

To preserve his fitness and energy, he accepts less touches and covers less ground. The touches he takes and the spaces he finds are aimed at creating the greatest chance of hitting the net.

Even Zidane’s system is suited to accommodating this predatorial Ronaldo, a 4-4-2, with Karim Benzema playing the supporting role and wingers, instructed to supply deliveries into the box.

When Ronaldo volleyed in from eight yards against Atletico, it was a simple cross to the back post from Gareth Bale that provided it.

In this mould, Ronaldo could be terrorising goalkeepers for a fair few years yet.

Zidane withdrew his star player in the 64th minute last weekend, despite the match being delicately poised at 1-1 after Antoine Griezmann’s equaliser.

The draw keeps Atletico four points clear of Real, and favourites for second place in La Liga, but Ronaldo going off early in a Madrid derby, without any protest, is a measure of how the Champions League is now all-encompassing for Los Blancos.

“He is intelligent,” Zidane said about Ronaldo’s substitution. “There are moments where he does not play and others where he does. He needs it, he knows that and he is better every day.”

Luka Modric and Karim Benzema were also left out of the starting line-up at the Santiago Bernabeu while Bale played 90 minutes, an indicator the Welshman is set for another European snub in midweek.

Bale’s first choice is still to regain favour under Zidane and then stay at Real this summer but his coach is showing little sign of softening. Zidane made three substitutions last week in Turin but Bale remained rooted to the bench.

If Real score one, which they have not failed to do in 24 Champions League games, Juve will need four.

“We do not cry to each other and we go to Madrid with the desire to have a good race. In football and in life you never know,” Juve defender Giorgio Chiellini said after a 4-2 win at Benevento on Saturday.

“The game is long and therefore we will need some balance but to do it will also take a pinch of healthy madness from everyone.”

The 25-year-old cyclist, who also won the first stages of this tournament in 2015 and 2017, stole the show on day two, which featured a distance of 117.45km from Kaen Nakhon Lake to Ban Fang district in Khon Kaen.

Nguyen also won the Best Asean Rider title while the Best Sprinter category went to Nina Kessler of the Netherlands.

In the overall event, 2016 Olympic team time trial gold medalist Olga Zabelinskaya of Russia held onto to her pink jersey after timing a total 4:08.18 hours.

Russia National Team were leading in the team overall, clocking a total 11:33.42 hours while Vietnam National Team held the top spot of the Best Asean Team with 11:36.08 hours.

Among the most coveted is, of course, the prestigious championship belt. In martial arts, there is no prize more valuable than the ONE Championship title.

The ONE Championship belt is a symbolic ornament of honor and glory. Weighing more than seven kilograms, the jewel-encrusted silver and gold-plated belt is mounted by hand on a thick natural leather strap that is locked together securely with 10 steel studs.

The pair of warring lions that frame the centrepiece ONE Championship logo represents royalty and prestige, and it is complimented by a crown motif at the belt’s apex. Two blood-red rubies are placed in the eyes of the lions, while two secondary plates added eminent value to the handmade masterpiece as it is studded with 52 crystals on each side.

Needless to say, it is beautiful prize, and one that is the perfectly suited for its holder.

Yet beyond the intricately crafted piece of hardware itself lies a much deeper significance. Holding the belt in possession means the champion is the best in the world in his field and this effectively makes the belt worth more than its components.

In 2018, ONE Championship has announced the establishment of the ONE Super Series, at the same time launching Rich Franklin’s ONE Warrior Series.

With the ONE Warrior Series, ONE has placed the emphasis on discovering fresh young talent – martial artists who have the potential to become the next global superstars.

With the ONE Super Series, the promotion aims to showcase the beauty of Asia’s striking arts such as Muay Thai, kickboxing, karate, taekwondo, Kung Fu, wushu, sanda, silat, lethwei, and more.

Along with matches officiated under ONE’s unique Global Rule Set, the promotion now tackles all spectrums of the competition landscape. Because ONE now encompasses all martial arts, this effectively makes the ONE Championship belt the most valuable prize in all of martial arts.

With world-class athletes representing not just Asia, but also the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, ONE has widened its global footprint to 1.7 billion viewers on any given night in over 136 countries around the world. The belt, which has often been referred to as the richest prize in combat sports, becomes representative of the true value of martial arts.

ONE currently has world champions in 10 divisions, represented by eight elite global athletes. When ONE Warrior Series and ONE Super Series champions are inaugurated, ONE will then have the largest collection of world champions in martial arts history for a single promotion.

As the talent continues to rise and flourish in Asia, the competitive landscape gets tighter. As it stands, ONE already boasts of the most talent-rich roster in all of martial arts. And with its continued development of local homegrown martial arts superheroes, ONE has become a promotion that only organises bouts between top competitors.

The 27-year-old US Ryder Cup firebrand showed the same grit he displays in match-play battles, dispatching Jordan Spieth, Rickie Fowler and Rory McIlroy in an emotional battle that had spectators roaring.

“Today was probably the hardest mentally a round of golf can possibly be,” Reed said. “I knew it was going to be a dogfight.”

Reed, whose breakthrough came in his 17th major start, fired a 1-under par 71 to finish 72 holes on 15-under 273, one stroke ahead of Fowler with Spieth third on 275 and Spain’s Jon Rahm fourth on 276.

“Having to shoot under par in the final round to win my first major, it was awesome,” Reed said. “It was really satisfying.”

In addition to the iconic winner’s green jacket, Reed pocketed $1.98 million from an $11 million purse.

Reigning British Open champion Spieth, the 2015 Masters champion and twice a runner-up, matched the low final-round in Augusta National history with a 64, a closing bogey thwarting his bid for the biggest comeback to win in Masters history.

“I started nine back,” Spieth said. “I wanted to shoot a low round and see if something crazy happens.”

Fowler, still seeking his first major win, birdied six of the last 11 holes. He sank a 7-foot birdie putt on 18 to pull within one and keep Reed under pressure to the 72nd hole.

“We gave our all out there and made P-Reed earn it,” Fowler said. “I was happy to make that last putt.”

Needing a two-putt par from 25 feet at 18 to win, Reed gently tapped the first putt and saw it race four feet past the cup. He sank the comeback effort and pumped his fist in celebration.

“To have to two-putt the last hole to win my first major, it definitely felt right,” Reed said. “I was glad to end the drought.”

Reed’s last-pair partner McIlroy kept near on the front nine, chasing his dream of a Masters win to complete a career Grand Slam, but managed only one birdie in the last 14 holes.

“I just didn’t quite have it,” the Northern Ireland star said. “When I did have opportunities I didn’t take advantage of them.

“Tough day. But I’ll be back.”

– Kudos from Trump to Reed –

US President Donald Trump congratulated Reed, who won a 2014 WGC event at Trump-owned Doral, although Trump mistakenly cited it as in 2013.

“Congratulations to Patrick Reed on his great and courageous MASTERS win!” Trump tweeted. “When Patrick had his amazing win at Doral 5 years ago, people saw his great talent, and a bright future ahead. Now he is the Masters Champion!”

Reed, who had never cracked 70 in 12 Masters rounds before this week, became the fourth straight first-time Masters winner and the ninth first-time winner in the past 10 majors.

Reed’s approach at the par-5 13th clung to a bank above Rae’s Creek, his title bid nestled with it, but he escaped with par to stay deadlocked with Spieth for the lead at 14-under.

Reed sank an eight-foot birdie putt at the par-4 14th to regain a one-stroke lead and parred to the clubhouse to win.

Spieth clipped a tree branch off the 18th tee and needed three to reach the green, where he missed an 8-foot par putt that would have seen him match the 18-hole course record.

Spieth was only the seventh player to shoot 64 in the last round, the first since Bo Van Pelt in 2012.

American Charley Hoffman aced the par-3 16th with a 6-iron, the 20th time the hole has surrendered a hole-in-one, while compatriot Tony Finau birdied six consecutive holes from the 12th to 17th.

Dustin Johnson fired a 69 to share 10th on 281 and retain his world number one ranking. Spieth, Rahm or Justin Thomas could have overtaken him by winning.

– Tiger roars late –

Tiger Woods, playing his first major event since 2015 in a comeback from nagging back pain and spinal fusion surgery, fired a 69, his week’s low round.

“It was possibly the highest score I could have shot today,” Woods said. “All in all it was a bittersweet ending.”

The 14-time major champion sank a 29-foot eagle putt at the par-5 15th and birdied 17 but a closing bogey denied his goal of level par overall.

Woods, a four-time Masters champion, failed to deliver on promise showed in two top-5 tuneup finishes but said he was glad to be back.

“I really missed it,” Woods said. “I made too many mistakes. But overall it was a lot of fun. It felt great to be able to compete again.”

    Laurel Hubbard, 40, looked in distress when her left elbow gave way attempting to snatch a Games-record 132kg, when she was already leading the women’s +90kg competition with a lift of 120kg.

Gold medal favourite Hubbard, the first transgender athlete to compete at the Games, said she thought she may have ruptured a ligament in her elbow.

“I have no regrets about the attempts that I made because I believe that to be true to sport, you really have to try to be the best that you can. I’m happy with the decisions that were made,” she said.

“It wouldn’t be true if I said I wasn’t unhappy at the moment but the nature of sport means that things don’t always go your way and it is what it is,” added Hubbard.

Hubbard’s presence had been criticised by some officials from rival countries but she received a huge roar of support from the crowd when the athletes were introduced.

“I think you have to be true to yourself and I hope in this case that’s what I’ve done,” said the New Zealander.

Born Gavin Hubbard, she represented New Zealand in male weightlifting events before transitioning to female in her 30s.

At last year’s world championships she won two silvers in the women’s +90kg category, becoming New Zealand’s first medallist in the competition.

“The crowd was absolutely magnificent. I felt (it was) just like a big embrace and I wanted to give them something that reflected the best I could do, and my only real regret today was that I was unable to show them,” Hubbard said.

– Saving grace –

Samoa’s Feagaiga Stowers, second behind Hubbard before the Kiwi’s injury, took gold with a total lift of 253kg.

According to reports, Samoan coach Jerry Wallwork earlier took issue with Hubbard, saying she had an unfair advantage and adding: “A man is a man and a woman is a woman.”

It follows similar criticism from Australian weightlifting chief Mike Keelan.

Asked whether she had been anxious about getting a rough reception at the Games in Gold Coast, Hubbard said: “It would be untrue to say that the thought never crossed my mind.

“But there’s no indication at all today that they were anything other than absolutely fantastic, a real credit to the Australian people and also the broader sporting community.”

She added: “The one saving grace in all of this is that I’m not in any great pain at the moment. I’m sure that will come with time.”

Hubbard became eligible to compete as a woman after showing testosterone levels below the threshold required by the International Olympic Committee.

“It’s very, very clear that Laurel is eligible to compete as a woman in accordance with the existing rules and we respect that right for her to compete,” Games chief executive David Grevemberg said earlier.//AFP