Substitute Bags Two Late Goals in Villa Thriller with Liverpool 

Jhon Duran of Aston Villa celebrates after scoring the sixth goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Aston Villa and Liverpool in Birmingham, Britain, 13 May 2024. (EPA)
Jhon Duran of Aston Villa celebrates after scoring the sixth goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Aston Villa and Liverpool in Birmingham, Britain, 13 May 2024. (EPA)
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Substitute Bags Two Late Goals in Villa Thriller with Liverpool 

Jhon Duran of Aston Villa celebrates after scoring the sixth goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Aston Villa and Liverpool in Birmingham, Britain, 13 May 2024. (EPA)
Jhon Duran of Aston Villa celebrates after scoring the sixth goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Aston Villa and Liverpool in Birmingham, Britain, 13 May 2024. (EPA)

Substitute Jhon Duran was a late savior for Aston Villa on Monday, scoring twice in the last five minutes against Liverpool to grab a remarkable 3-3 home draw and edge his team closer to next year’s Champions League.

Watched by Villa fan Tom Hanks, who was in the ground in a claret tracksuit top, Villa played its part in a thrilling match in front of a packed house that Liverpool coach Jurgen Klopp described as “rocking.”

A win would have confirmed a place in the English Premier League top four for Unai Emery’s side and a place in the European Cup for the first time since 1983.

But the home side went behind in the second minute with a bizarre own goal from goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez, and although Youri Tielemans equalized soon after, goals from Cody Gakpo and Jarell Quansah put Liverpool in the driving seat.

Until Duran’s appearance after 79 minutes.

The Colombian scored in the 85th and 88th, the second an astonishing lob executed on the run that sent Villa and its supporters wild with joy.

“We created chances but we didn’t score,” Tielemans told broadcaster Sky Sports. “We got the draw and fought right until the end and that’s the most important thing. Unfortunately, we couldn’t score more, we felt like we deserved more in the first half. It’s unlucky but we’ll take the draw.”

Villa remained in fourth place, five points ahead of Tottenham.

Villa has one game left to play and Tottenham has two, starting with Tuesday night’s visit by league leader Manchester City.

The top four qualify for the Champions League. Liverpool was third, 14 points clear of Villa.

The atmosphere was electric at kickoff but the power was quickly sapped for the home side when Liverpool had the ball in the back of the net after just 62 seconds. Harvey Elliott’s cross from the right took a deflection and the wrong-footed Martinez fumbled the ball into his own net.

It took the home side just 15 minutes to recover. Ollie Watkins did well on the left flank and cut the ball back for the unmarked Youri Tielemans to slam home from around 16 meters.

Liverpool regained the lead but only after a lengthy VAR review. Luiz Diaz fed Joe Gomez on the overlap and his low ball across goal was turned in by Cody Gakpo.

Jarell Quansah made it three early in the second half when he headed home a cross from Elliott to bag his first league goal.

And then it was Duran Duran when the Colombian slotted home from just outside the box and then scored that astonishing lob.

“Jhon Duran is a special player,” Emery said on Sky Sports. “He was very clinical and today was important for him.”

The Aston Villa players will tune into Tuesday's Spurs-Man City game. Anything other than a Spurs win means Villa are into the Champions League.

“There’s some of us that have never been close to the Champions League in our life,” Villa captain John McGinn said. “We’ll have our Man City tops on tomorrow.”



‘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.