It all started with what Bayern executive board chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge considered a “crisis” during the 2000 European Championship, when Germany failed to get out of the group stage. Rummenigge and other club executives sat down with the German federation and decided that youth programs would be the key to the future. After a successful decade and a half, during which Bayern developed the likes of German internationals Philipp Lahm, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Thomas Muller, Germany has become a dominate force in world soccer....

Madrid have won the Champions League in two out of the past three seasons - one under Ancelotti and the latest under Zidane - and are on course to return to the final after seeing off Napoli in the last 16. When is the Champions League draw? Standing in their way now, however, is the Bayern machine. Ancelotti’s record in continental competition is outstanding and he was chosen to replace Pep Guardiola in the belief he represented the Germans’ best chance of being crowned champions of Europe once again....

The Blaugrana had battered the hosts, with Bayern looking again off the pace after three straight Bundesliga draws. The only thing that was missing for Barcelona was the final product, and it felt like that eventually, things would fall their way. Then halftime came and went, and a different Bayern team emerged from the tunnel, unrecognizable from the one that departed the Allianz Arena field at the break. Lucas Hernandez and Leroy Sane goals four minutes apart saw the hosts go in front before the hour mark, and Barcelona were yet again sunk by the German opposition which is quickly becoming Public Enemy No....

In the victory, Baylor made FBS history by posting the most rushing yards in a bowl game, with an astounding 645 yards. The total smashed the record of 524 yards set by Nebraska against Florida in the 1996 Fiesta Bowl. MORE: College football’s best 2015 storylines | Jared Goff has record-breaking performance in Armed Forces Bowl Baylor’s 756 yards of total offense also shattered the previous bowl record of 653, set by North Carolina State against Kansas in the 2003 Tangerine Bowl....

No. 1 Baylor will meet No. 2 Houston in a Final Four national semifinal on Saturday. Tipoff will be at 5 p.m. or 8:30 p.m. ET at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. The game will be televised by CBS. Baylor (26-2) won the South Region under coach Scott Drew with an 81-72 victory over Arkansas in the region final. The Bears are in the Final Four for the first time since 1950....

West Brom 0-1 Liverpool It strengthened Liverpool’s push for a Champions League place and furthered their credentials in conquering these sort of unpleasant encounters - the kind that have too often proved to be their undoing in 2016-17. On Easter Sunday, the Reds refused to allow that to be the case again and finally overcame a Tony Pulis team on their travels in the league. As per Jurgen Klopp’s judgement of their run-in after the Merseyside derby and the season-ending knee injury to Sadio Mane, his charges had to forget about rolling over teams and roll up their sleeves in the battle to consolidate their top-four ambitions....

Becky Hammon will coach the Spurs’ team at the Las Vegas Summer League, according to the San Antonio Express-News. It’s an important assignment in a coaching career that often goes to associate head coaches and other top assistants. MORE: 12 affordable free agents who can really help | NBA free agency tracker Hammon was a WNBA star but retired after last season to take an assistant coaching position under coach Gregg Popovich....

In fact, underneath the rancor the climate was different. The Palestinian delegation–which at Israel’s insistence did not include members of the Palestine Liberation Organization–presented a face of moderation to the world. Ignoring Syrian pressure, the Palestinians and Jordanians agreed at the end of the conference to proceed to Act II: their first bilateral session with Israel in Madrid on Sunday. But Syria, which earlier had agreed to Baker’s plan for direct talks with Israel four days after the opening conference began, suddenly balked in a dispute with Israel over the site....

Like many in his generation, Roh is a veteran of political struggle. Yet until very recently, the democracy he strove to create served him poorly. Over the last 12 years he has lost four of the six elections he’s entered. Even a year ago he was not widely recognized as a rising star in South Korean politics. Then, unexpectedly, the 56-year-old high-school graduate swept the ruling Millennium Democratic Party’s primary and, buoyed by Internet-savvy baby boom-ers born after the Korean War, defeated his conservative opponent to claim victory in last December’s presidential election....

However, Ridge is learning that being the most mentioned contender in the Republican vice-presidential sweepstakes is not all beer and skittles. National Review, the biweekly encyclical from the church of conservatism, recently excommunicated Ridge in an article by John J. Miller, who called Ridge a “liberal Republican.” Some of Ridge’s congressional votes between 1983 and 1994 can perhaps be explained as the price he paid for representing an industrial district with a strong union presence....

Goals from Jan Vertonghen and Romelu Lukaku late on helped the Red Devils grab three more qualifying points in Athens, while Zeca was on target for the hosts. It was Belgium’s seventh victory in eight Group H matches, and the one which finally clinched passage to Russia 2018. With just two games to go Martinez’s men hold an unassailable eight-point lead over closest rivals Bosnia-Herzegovina, meaning they are guaranteed to finish in the group’s top spot and take automatic qualification....

Its death rate on Tuesday compares with 13 percent in hard-hit Italy, and 12.8 percent in the U.K. In Britain, a government scientific adviser said the nation may emerge as the worst-affected country in Europe. In the U.S., the death rate is 4.3 percent, 4 percent in China, and 2.5 percent in Germany, a figure so relatively low it has prompted questions. So what underlies Belgium’s seemingly alarming COVID-19 death rate?...

Eriksen, who wears the No.10 shirt for Denmark, is stable and awake now after collapsing on the field, so the moment will be a celebration for his survival and improved health. “This is about a celebration in football and for Christian,” Belgium manager Roberto Martinez told reporters. “As you can imagine, the uncertainty that we had when the incident happened, that was a really tough moment, a tough moment for any player that was watching the game, a tough moment for players who have been sharing dressing rooms with Christian....

Women make up 61 percent of all Americans who attend religious congregations, but they still struggle for their place in some denominations. A national study led by researchers at Hartford Seminary found that only 12 percent of the clergy in the 15 largest Protestant denominations are women. And some 112 million Americans belong to denominations that don’t ordain women at all, including Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox Christians, Southern Baptists, Mormons, Muslims and Orthodox Jews....

The Bellator women’s featherweight champion has won 10 consecutive fights and looks to make the third defense of her title on Friday night in the Bellator 224 headliner against Olga Rubin, streamed exclusively on DAZN. Budd, 36, is regarded as one of the top women’s featherweights in the world alongside current UFC 145-pound titleholder Amanda Nunes and Cris “Cyborg” Justino. With Justino on the verge of free agency after her fight at UFC 241 later this month, there is the possibility of a Budd-Cyborg showdown in Bellator....

Although there won’t be a Triple Crown quest in 2019 at Belmont Park, the good news is that betting on horse racing is more mainstream than ever in the United States regardless of who’s running in the race. And to follow the unpredictable Kentucky Derby and Preakness, there isn’t a clear-cut betting favorite this year. A parimutuel system is used in horse racing, which is different from betting on a basketball or football game against a point spread in Las Vegas....

“It is not illegal for Black pastors to support the parents of Ahmaud Arbery or any other Black victims. We are going to bring 100 Black pastors to pray with the family next week,” Crump tweeted on Friday morning. A day earlier, defense attorney Kevin Gough, who represents William “Roddie” Bryan, raised an issue with the Black pastors who were seen attending the trial with the Arbery family. “Obviously, there’s only so many pastors they can have,” Gough told the court on Thursday....

On Thursday, the Steelers announced that they have signed quarterback Ben Roethlisberger to a new contract for the 2021, effectively restructuring the remaining money on Roethlisberger’s contract and ending a months-long odyssey of the two parties dancing around one another in contract discussions. “It is my greatest honor to be a Pittsburgh Steeler and give my all for this organization,” Roethlisberger said in a statement. “I am grateful to be at this stage of my career and more than happy to adjust my contract in a way that best helps the team to address other players who are so vital to our success....

The Steelers quarterback issued a statement Monday shortly after being placed on injured reserve, effectively ending his 2019 campaign as he prepares for a season-ending elbow procedure he didn’t see coming. But that doesn’t mean the 37-year-old is looking to retire. “I’ve been informed that I need season ending surgery on my elbow to continue playing football at the level I expect. This is shocking and heartbreaking for me, to miss this much of a season and feel like I am letting down so many people,” the release read....