Leverkusen’s Unbeaten Run Hits 30 Games in Thrilling German Cup Win Over Stuttgart 

Football - DFB Cup - Quarter Final - Bayer Leverkusen v VfB Stuttgart - BayArena, Leverkusen, Germany - February 6, 2024 Bayer Leverkusen's Jonathan Tah celebrates with teammates after the match. (Reuters)
Football - DFB Cup - Quarter Final - Bayer Leverkusen v VfB Stuttgart - BayArena, Leverkusen, Germany - February 6, 2024 Bayer Leverkusen's Jonathan Tah celebrates with teammates after the match. (Reuters)
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Leverkusen’s Unbeaten Run Hits 30 Games in Thrilling German Cup Win Over Stuttgart 

Football - DFB Cup - Quarter Final - Bayer Leverkusen v VfB Stuttgart - BayArena, Leverkusen, Germany - February 6, 2024 Bayer Leverkusen's Jonathan Tah celebrates with teammates after the match. (Reuters)
Football - DFB Cup - Quarter Final - Bayer Leverkusen v VfB Stuttgart - BayArena, Leverkusen, Germany - February 6, 2024 Bayer Leverkusen's Jonathan Tah celebrates with teammates after the match. (Reuters)

Bayer Leverkusen reached 30 games unbeaten in all competitions this season with a 3-2 comeback win over Stuttgart to reach the German Cup semifinals Tuesday.

Jonathan Tah’s 90th-minute header won the game and spared Xabi Alonso’s team extra time ahead of a league game Saturday against title rival Bayern Munich. On the sideline, Alonso jumped and punched the air in celebration.

Leverkusen had twice recovered from a goal down. Stuttgart took the lead at a corner when Waldemar Anton got away from his marker Edmond Tapsoba and headed in at the far post. Midfielder Robert Andrich leveled the score early in the second half with a curling shot from around 20 meters (yards) into the top-right corner.

Chris Führich restored Stuttgart’s lead in a move that began when Andrich gave away the ball, but Amine Adli leveled again for Leverkusen on the break from a through ball from Florian Wirtz, who also assisted Tah’s winner. It was the third time in Leverkusen’s last five games that it won a on a goal scored in the 90th minute or stoppage time.

Both teams were left with questions over the refereeing, as Andrich was lucky to escape a second yellow card for a heavy tackle in which he stepped on Enzo Millot’s foot.

Leverkusen was aggrieved when Stuttgart’s Hiroki Ito brought down Jeremie Frimpong with a slide tackle in the box. The referee and video review opted not to give a penalty, even though Ito didn’t seem to make any contact with the ball.

The win keeps alive the chance at a league and cup double for Leverkusen, a team sometimes dubbed “Neverkusen” for its historic tendency to fall just short of winning trophies. Leverkusen’s last trophy was the German Cup in 1993.

Leverkusen joins second-division teams Fortuna Duesseldorf and Kaiserslautern in the semifinals. Top-division Borussia Moenchengladbach plays third-tier Saarbruecken for the last spot on Wednesday.

The stadium briefly fell silent as a fan was treated after falling from a stand. The person was conscious, Leverkusen said.



‘Flooding Rains’ Threaten to Dampen Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony

Paris 2024 Olympics - Opening Ceremony - Paris, France - July 26, 2024. Spectators are seen behind the Eiffel Tower ahead of the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics. (Reuters)
Paris 2024 Olympics - Opening Ceremony - Paris, France - July 26, 2024. Spectators are seen behind the Eiffel Tower ahead of the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics. (Reuters)
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‘Flooding Rains’ Threaten to Dampen Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony

Paris 2024 Olympics - Opening Ceremony - Paris, France - July 26, 2024. Spectators are seen behind the Eiffel Tower ahead of the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics. (Reuters)
Paris 2024 Olympics - Opening Ceremony - Paris, France - July 26, 2024. Spectators are seen behind the Eiffel Tower ahead of the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics. (Reuters)

The Paris Olympics look likely to get off to a soggy start.

Meteo-France, the French weather service, is predicting “flooding rains” Friday evening when the opening ceremony is set to unroll along the Seine River. But the show is set to go on as planned, starting at 1:30 p.m. EDT/7:30 p.m. CEST and should last more than three hours.

Already in the late afternoon, skies were gray with intermittent drizzle. There was a silver lining, though, with temperatures expected to stay relatively warm throughout the evening.

Instead of a traditional march into a stadium, about 6,800 athletes will parade on more than 90 boats on the Seine River for 6 kilometers (3.7 miles). Though 10,700 athletes are expected to compete at these Olympics, hundreds of soccer players are based outside Paris, surfers are in Tahiti and many have yet to arrive for their events in the second week, organizers said Thursday.

Hundreds of thousands of people, including 320,000 paying and invited ticket-holders, are expected to line the Seine’s banks as athletes are paraded along the river on boats.