Buffon’s anger earned him a red card from English referee Michael Oliver, moments before Ronaldo slammed a 97th-minute penalty into the top corner to send Real into the semi-finals.

Oliver’s decision was not as poor as Buffon claimed. Mehdi Benatia’s challenge on Lucas Vazquez had been clumsy, from behind and a desperate attempt to stop the Spaniard finishing from five yards.

But Juve had made the impossible possible, having cancelled out a 3-0 deficit from the first leg, to lead by the same scoreline at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Buffon, who has racked up 125 Champions League appearances but never won the competition, could not contain his frustration as Ronaldo’s goal made the aggregate score 4-3.

“This referee has no heart, he has a garbage bag instead of a heart,” Buffon told Italian channel Mediaset Premium after the match.

“If you do not have personality and courage, you should go to the stands to watch the match with your wife and a Sprite.”

Benatia controversially likened the penalty decision to being “raped”.

Amidst the swarm of Juventus players surrounding Oliver, and Buffon at the front of them, Ronaldo kept his cool. This was a record-strecthing 11th consecutive Champions League game in which he has scored.

“I do not understand why they protest against the penalty,” Ronaldo told beIN Sports.

“If he did not commit the foul, Lucas would have scored. During the game, Benatia and the rest of them had already been kicking us from behind. But we are happy and we are in the semi-finals.”

Real coach Zinedine Zidane was more sympathetic towards Buffon.

“He did not deserve that,” Zidane said. “But we cannot change it. It will not take away everything he has done, even if it’s a shame to end his Champions League career this way.”

Mario Mandzukic set Juve on their way with a goal after 76 seconds — the fastest Real have ever conceded in this competition — and then scored again before half-time with another header at the back post.

When Keylor Navas fumbled Douglas Costa’s cross on the hour, allowing Blaise Matuidi to stab home, Juve were on the cusp of ensuring there would be no Spanish representative in the last four.

But Oliver blew, Buffon exploded and Ronaldo hit the net.

“It leaves a bitter taste,” Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri said.

“Because we have not had the chance to take the game to extra-time. In view of the two legs both teams would have deserved to move on to the next phase.”

Real, meanwhile, edge one step closer to claiming an unprecedented third consecutive Champions League triumph, a fourth in five years.

They join Bayern Munich, who knocked out Sevilla, Liverpool and Roma in Friday’s semi-final draw.

“What I did not expect is in minute one to score a goal,” Zidane said. “By conceding the goal after a minute, you drop your head and give them life. Then they played a good game — they were good and we were bad.”

Gareth Bale perhaps paid the heaviest price. Bale had been handed his first Champions League start since September by Zidane but the Welshman was hauled off at half-time, with his team 2-0 down. Casemiro also made way as Marco Asensio and Vazquez came on.

“Something had to change,” Zidane said. “I was not happy with the approach, it was not to punish Gareth or Casemiro. ”

“We have changed a little more the dynamics, with Lucas and Marco giving us a little more energy. We had to do it.”

The Thai star received 36 per cent of the votes from the fans to earn the accolade for March, ahead of Sweden’s Alex Noren who polled 33 per cent.

Kiradech  finished tied fifth at the WGC-Mexico Championship on 13 under par – three shots behind winner Phil Mickelson. Three weeks later, at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, the 28 year old dominated his group with three victories; beating Chez Reavie 3 and 2, defeating Keegan Bradley by one hole and clinching a 4 and 3 victory versus Jon Rahm.

He progressed to the quarter final stage with a one hole win over Charles Howell III but could not defeat eventual WGC-Dell Technologies winner Bubba Watson, as the American beat him 5 and 3.

Sweden’s Noren was runner-up for the March award after finishing third at the Dell Technologies Match Play. Matt Wallace came third with 18 per cent following his victory at the Hero Indian Open, while South African George Coetzee earned 13 per cent after he won the first tournament of March at Tshwane Open in South Africa.

By casting their vote to decide who should be crowned the Hilton Golfer of the Month fans are automatically entered into a fantastic prize draw, with one lucky winner claiming win a two-night stay at any Hilton hotel, anywhere in the world.

As the latest recipient of the monthly award ,Kiradech will receive an automatic upgrade to Hilton Honors Diamond Status, Hilton’s award-winning loyalty program.

Hilton is the Official Sponsor of the Hilton Golfer of the Month award, which recognises and rewards the best performances of European Tour members each month.

Don’t believe it?

Ask Jordi Diaz, a researcher at the Institute of Earth Sciences Jaume Almera in Barcelona. He’s got the hard proof.

“We put a seismometer inside a building in Barcelona,” he explained at a geosciences conference in Vienna, where he presented his findings.

“This allowed us to identify signature vibrations produced by different activities, including traffic or subway trains.”

Or football matches.

By design or not, the instrument — which measures everything from tremors to full-on quakes — was about half a kilometre from Nou Camp stadium, home to the city’s fabled football team.

“We get information every time there is a goal,” he told journalists at a press conference.

“Well,” he corrected himself, “every time Barcelona makes a goal. People jump, and the stadium shakes.”

Exhibit A: a graphic display of the Champions League knockout tie last month versus English team Chelsea that saw Messi score twice in a 3-0 Barca victory.

The inky spike provoked by his first goal, after three minutes of play, looked like the lie detector answer when the murderer swears he didn’t do it.

The second goal — an hour later when the game was largely won — didn’t provoke the same level of vertical enthusiasm.

– Dancing, not jumping –

The historic, come-from-behind, 6-1 victory against Paris Saint Germain last year, which put Barcelona into the Champions League quarter finals, looked like a crescendo of earthquakes ending in the Big One.

But a football game is not — seismically speaking — the same as a concert.

“Sometimes we have beautiful seismic recordings from rock concerts, particularly Bruce Springsteen or U2,” he said.

“You see what we call ‘harmonic structures’, energy localised in a precise amplitudes,” he explained.

“This is because people are not jumping, they are dancing.”

He recalled a Springsteen concert from last year in which “every single song had a particular pattern.”

Marathon races, wind bursts, ocean waves — each has its own seismic signature, he said.

Why bother?

“At first, it was mainly for outreach, to show people how a seismometer works,” he conceded.

But then other applications came into focus.

The technique, for example, could be an easy, inexpensive way to do long-term survey of traffic or subway activity.

And it could be handy as evidence that transport workers have gone on strike, he added.

Guardiola was forced to watch the second half from the stands after being sent off for his protestations at the break as free-spending City’s dreams of conquering the Champions League for the first time were dashed for another season.

City led 1-0 on the night at that stage after Gabriel Jesus’s second-minute opener, but the hosts felt aggrieved after Leroy Sane had a second goal wrongly disallowed for offside just before half-time.

“It’s different to go in 1-0 at half-time to 2-0,” said Guardiola, who also believed Liverpool’s opener in a 3-0 first-leg win at Anfield last week should have been ruled out for offside.

“When the teams are so equal the impact of these decisions is so big.”

Mohamaed Salah booked Liverpool’s place in the last four for the first time in a decade when he coolly chipped home his 39th goal of the season 11 minutes into the second half before Roberto Firmino inflicted a third consecutive defeat on City for the first time in Guardiola’s near two-year reign.

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp hailed the maturity of his side to see out a first-half onslaught.

“The boys found a solution. We had these two or three moments already at end of the first half so it was easy for me and the boys to see the development of the game and that we are already through the whirlwind,” said Klopp.

Liverpool trail City by 17 points in the Premier League, but have now beaten Guardiola’s men in three of their four meetings this season.

“I really think they are the best team in the world at the moment but I knew we could beat them,” added Klopp.

“We should enjoy the moment. It was a while ago Liverpool was in the semis and I was in the semis and now we are there together.”

– Perfect start –

Guardiola admitted beforehand that his side needed the “perfect” performance and the hosts got the perfect start as they opened the scoring after just 117 seconds.

Liverpool were unhappy at Mateu Lahoz in what was to be the start of a controversial night for the Spaniard when Virgil van Dijk claimed he had been pushed by Raheem Sterling in the lead-up to the goal.

The referee was unmoved, though, and with the Dutchman out of position, Fernandinho’s through ball found Sterling and his low cross was swept home by Jesus.

Salah had been an injury doubt after limping off in the first leg, but Liverpool were unable to spring the Egyptian free in the first 45 minutes as City peppered the visitors’ box with crosses without finding the final touch.

Bernardo Silva saw a deflected effort spin just wide and then rattled the post with a deflected long-range strike.

“The first half was so good,” added Guardiola. “(We) hit the post from Bernardo, but when you arrive you have to try to sore the second goal.”

The turning point came seconds later when Sane turned into an empty net after Loris Karius’s punch came back off his own player James Milner.

Guardiola ran onto the field at half-time to pull his protesting players away from the official before embarking on his own rant at Mateu Lahoz that saw him watch the second half from the stands.

City understandably failed to maintain the intensity of their first-half display and Salah got the decisive goal when he followed up after Ederson had denied Sadio Mane with a wonderfully-judged chipped finish past the despairing Nicolas Otamendi in the 56th minute.

City’s terrible week after also blowing the chance to seal the Premier League title against local rivals Manchester United at the weekend was rounded off 13 minutes from time when Otamendi was caught in possession and Firmino slotted in off the far post.

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.