LISBON, Portugal -- Defending champion Real Madrid advanced from the group stage of the Champions League for the 20th straight time after beating 10-man Sporting Lisbon 2-1 on Tuesday.Karim Benzema came off the bench to get the late winner in the 87th minute.A draw would have been enough to get Madrid through to the knockout stages anyway, but victory gave the team a chance to finish first in Group F -- with a home victory over Borussia Dortmund in the final round.It was important that we won here, Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane said. We achieved what we came to get. We are going to play a final against Dortmund now.The German side, which routed Legia Warsaw 8-4, has a two-point lead over Madrid.Benzema salvaged Madrids victory with a header after a well-placed cross by Sergio Ramos. That came just seven minutes after Sporting midfielder Adrien Silva equalized by converting a controversial penalty kick. The penalty was awarded after the ball hit Fabio Coentraos arm, which he had just thrust into the air to complain of a hand ball by Sporting.We had our difficult moments in the game but thats normal, Zidane said. But we managed to score a wonderful second through Karim Benzema.Benzema had been doubtful to play during the week because of an injury but his recovery proved crucial. He entered the match in the 67th to replace Francisco Isco Alarcon.Portugal forward Cristiano Ronaldo, returning home to play against the team where he started his career, got an assist in Madrids first goal when he mis-hit a shot inside the area. The ball bounced off his back foot and moved forward for Raphael Varanes easy shot from close range in the first half.It was the third straight game for Ronaldo without a goal in the Champions League, keeping him two short of becoming the first player to reach the 100-goal mark in European competitions.Sportings Joao Pereira was sent off in the 64th with a straight red after an altercation with Madrids Mateo Kovacic.We were great both technically and tactically. We only missed a few details, Sporting coach Jorge Jesus said. In Madrid we were not able to defend our lead after 87 minutes and tonight the red card to Joao Pereira was decisive.Madrid scored two late goals -- the first in the 89th -- in the 2-1 win over Sporting in the teams opener in the group stage.Gareth Bale limped off the field on Tuesday after being substituted because of an apparent ankle injury in the 58th.The game marked Madrids return to Lisbon for the first time since winning the 2014 Champions League against Atletico Madrid at the Estadio da Luz.The victory extended Madrids unbeaten streak to 30 matches in all competitions. The Spanish club has scored 25 goals in its last six away games. Air Max 97 Vapormax Sortie . -- About a third of the way through the regular season, the Washington Wizards are at . Nike Vapormax Plus Femme Pas Cher ., for the next three years with the signings on Monday of Daryl Townsend and Michael Carter. http://www.chaussuresportairmax.fr/ . Speaking Thursday on TSN 1050 Thursday, the Leafs GM also touched on the questions surrounding the teams leadership and the struggles of his big-name free-agent signing. “Its not from lack of effort from the coaching staff. Vapormax Plus Blanche Homme . Newcastle dominated in the early stages but City weathered the storm and then raised its game in extra time. Negredo broke the deadlock from close range after a simple move in the 99th minute before Dzeko took the ball round goalkeeper Tim Krul to seal the victory in the 105th. Air Max Soldes Pas Cher . PETERSBURG, Fla. With all due respect to Ronald Reagans George Gipp on his deathbed, Denzel Washingtons Herman Boone at Gettysburg or even Robert Loggias halftime talk with the Texas State Armadillos, Hollywoods greatest football speech was Al Pacinos in Any Given Sunday.You find out lifes this game of inches. So is football. Because in either game -- life or football -- the margin for error is so small. I mean, one half a step too late or too early and you dont quite make it. One half second too slow, too fast, and you dont quite catch it. The inches we need are everywhere around us. Theyre in every break of the game, every minute, every second. On this team we fight for that inch.On Sunday afternoon, the College Football Playoff selection committee announced the four teams that will compete for the national championship: Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State and Washington. The season started with the 128 FBS squads, all hoping to make that final four. Those teams played a total of 837 games. Those contests produced more than 640,000 yards of offense. That translates to roughly 360 miles, almost precisely the distance between Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa and Clemsons Death Valley.Yet somehow, the entire season came down to only a handful of key plays, the outcome of each determined by merely a few yards here and, yes, Mr. Pacino, a few inches there. Yet the sum of their tiny parts shaped the most unpredictable season of the still-young playoff era.Week 1: Two inches Thats what LSU running back Leonard Fournette needed to be added to his vertical leap. With two minutes remaining, down 16-14 to Wisconsin, the Tigers offense was finally waking up. Having just crossed midfield, they handed off to the preseason Heisman favorite, who busted off a run deep into Badgers territory, but when he tried to leapfrog a defender, he caught a helmet to his right leg just below the knee. He limped off the field and never returned. It was the first of a series of nagging hurts that would dog Fournette all season. LSU lost, and head coach Les Miles was walking the plank. Meanwhile, Wisconsin had a big cross-conference win that it -- and the entire Big Ten -- could, and would, hang their hats on all season.Week 4: Ten fingers The two hands of Arizona quarterback Brandon Dawkins werent able to cleanly catch a fourth-down red zone shotgun snap against Washington at home in overtime. His bobble was just enough to cause a twinge of panic. That milliseconds difference in timing was just enough for the would-be tying TD pass play to break down into an overthrown dying quail pass that sailed over the head of the receiver. Washington survived 35-28 to keep its playoff hopes alive.Week 5: 1? yards In perhaps the best game of the season, Louisvilles Lamar Jackson took Clemsons best shots and repeatedly returned serve. If he does win the Heisman Trophy on Saturday, this will be the game many point to ... but the Cardinals lost. With 13 seconds remaining in a six-point game, Jackson threw a strike to James Quick. It was fourth-and-12 at the Clemson 14-yard line. Quick, confused as to where the first-down marker was, stepped out of bounds at the 3. It was less than 2 yards too short. Clemsons playoff season continued, while Louisvilles season took its first step toward eventually becoming derailed.Week 7: 1 foot plus 5 feet, both to the right Back to Death Valley, South Carolina: As the game clock zeroed out to end regulation, a would-be game-winning 33-yard field goal attempt by NC State kicker Kyle Bambard squirted just wide of the right upright. The Tigers won in OT 24-17. Meanwhile, at damp Camp Randall Stadium, also in OT, Ohio States J.T. Barrett tossed a back-shoulder fade to Noah Brown, a ball that found its way past the outstretched fingers of two Wisconsin defenders and floated into the back-right corner to Brown. The Buckeyes won 30-23.Week 8: Ten fingers, two inches, OK ... pretty much all of the above Second-ranked Ohio States magic ran ouut at Penn State.dddddddddddd The Nittany Lions trailed 21-17 when a drive-stopping interception slipped through their fingers with 4:39 remaining. It turned out to be an accidental blessing. The resulting field goal attempt was blocked and returned for a touchdown. Penn State won 24-21. It was the first blemish on OSUs record but also the first spark of the question, Can the Big Ten get more than one school into the playoff?Week 11: 1 yard On fourth-and-1 at the Pittsburgh 35, Clemson ran a sweep with tailback Wayne Gallman. He was grabbed around the ankles by nose tackle Jeremiah Taleni and was dropped 1 yard short of the first down. Pitt took over on downs with 52 seconds remaining and drove 34 yards on six plays to kick the winning field goal as time expired.Week 12: Two steps After a touchdown pulled them to within 17-16 with 4:41 remaining, Michigan State Spartans head coach Mark Dantonio elected to go for two points in a bid to upset Ohio State, which had crawled back up to second in the rankings. Tyler OConnor saw an open receiver at the goal line, but Jamal Lyles moved one step to his right as two defenders took opposite steps toward the inbounds pass and shared an interception. The game essentially ended there, as did Michigan States chances to brighten an otherwise disappointing season.Week 13: The Game, The Spot, The Inch Hey, its Ohio State again! In the second overtime period, on fourth-and-1, head coach Urban Meyer looked over his teams shaky day on special teams and elected not to attempt a game-tying field goal. Instead, Barrett ran a keeper that carried him to the edge of the white yard line he needed to reach. Did he make it? Did he not? The officials -- with help from the replay booth -- said he did. But the ruling is still being debated on either side of the Ohio-Michigan border. Last week a nuclear physicist at Wayne State told the Detroit Free Press that math and chemistry make it incredibly difficult for anyone to get that call right, humans or video cameras. Then again, hes also a Michigan grad.Week 14: 1 foot forward, 1 arm left On Saturday night, almost simultaneously, two conference championship games were determined by about 12 inches each. In Orlando, Virginia Tech was down a TD and down to a fourth down, at the 23 with 1:11 on the clock and thinking overtime. Quarterback Jerod Evans dropped back to throw. Clemson linebacker Kendall Joseph blitzed. Tech knew it was probably coming, and thats why the Hokies had running back Travon McMillian stay home to block. But he was waiting on the right, not the left. As Joseph streaked by, McMillian threw his arm out and grabbed, but got ahold of nothing. Joseph hit Evans as he threw, the pass fell short of tight end Bucky Hodges (who appeared to be wide-open), and the playoff chaos -- at least any involving the ACC -- was avoided. Meanwhile, in the Big Ten championship, Wisconsin was in a nearly identical situation, trailing Penn State 38-31 and deep in enemy territory. Corey Clement was handed the ball on fourth-and-1 with 1:05 remaining. He was met head-on by DBs Marcus Allen and Grant Haley and stopped 1 foot short at the 24-yard line. Penn State saved its game and title. But 12 hours later, it was the Nittany Lions who came up short.Sunday afternoon I stared at my computer monitor, looking at the just-revealed final College Football Playoff rankings. Then I got out a tape measure and checked the distance on that screen between Ohio State in third and Penn State in fifth.It was exactly an inch.So, no offense to the guy from Wayne State, but when it comes to 2016, it doesnt take a doctorate in physics to realize that one of the oldest clichés in sports isnt a cliché at all. Its a game of inches is a rock-solid fact. Just ask any fan who watched any big game of this college football season.Or Al Pacino. Cheap NFL Jerseys China NFL Jerseys Wholesale Wholesale Stitched Jerseys NFL Jerseys Wholesale Cheap Stitched Jerseys NFL Jerseys From China NFL Jerseys China ' ' '