CGTN Sports Talk

Jamal Musiala's goal for Bayern Munich in the 89th minute against Cologne at RheinEnergieStadion on Saturday saved the 2022-23 season for the club because at least they finished with one trophy. But, just how happy will Bayern and their fans be at the Bundesliga title after winning it 11 times in row, especially after they were eliminated from both the UEFA Champions League and the DFB-Pokal? What...

Manchester City and Inter Milan will play each other in this season's UEFA Champions League final at the Ataturk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul, Türkiye, on June 10. Having been seeking a Champions League title for over a decade, Man City now have their second chance in three years. They have already beaten Bayern Munich and Real Madrid, two traditional European powerhouses that have left the English...

If you ask the Milwaukee Bucks or the Phoenix Suns, they will probably say it's the 76ers' head coach Doc Rivers since the two teams just fired their coaches after playoffs exit. Many blame James Harden for not doing enough even after he carried the 76ers to two key victories like a lone hero who scored 45 and 42 points in those competitions. Joel Embiid, who beat Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nugget...

Three teams have advanced to the NBA Conference Finals. The Los Angeles Lakers and the Denver Nuggets will face each other in the West while the Heat wait to see who they will play in the East. LeBron James won his second series against Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors in their fifth meeting, though not in the NBA Finals this time. Nikola Jokic didn't win the NBA Most Valuable Player aw...

The last time Stephen Curry played LeBron James in the NBA postseason was in 2018 during the Finals. That was their fourth straight meeting since 2015. Now the two will face each other again, only this time, it's in the Western Conference semifinals and James is a Laker. Both the Warriors and the Lakers were underdogs when they knocked out the Sacramento Kings and the Memphis Grizzlies respectivel...

How many were surprised at the Los Angeles Lakers' 4-2 series win over the Memphis Grizzlies in this year's NBA Western Conference first-round playoffs? The purple and gold have completed a great upgrade after trading for Rui Hachimura, Jarred Vanderbilt and D'Angelo Russell in February. It took some time to put every piece in place, but they became a different before entering the playoffs. The La...

Two of the top four teams in the NBA Eastern Conference, the No. 1 Milwaukee Bucks and the No. 4 Cleveland Cavaliers, were upset by the No. 8 Miami Heat and the No. 5 New York Knicks, respectively, in the first-round playoffs. Jimmy Butler cemented his reputation as "tough" with his epic performances for the Heat during their 4-1 series win against the Bucks. The Knicks showed the rest of the leag...

The Phoenix Suns have eliminated the Los Angeles 4-1 in the NBA Western Conference first-round playoffs after Devin Booker left two dominant games while the whole team was benefiting from the presence of Kevin Durant. The Suns will face the Denver Nuggets in the semifinals after they beat the Minnesota Timberwolves with a gentleman's sweep too. Two years ago, the Nuggets and their ace Nikola Jokic...

The Philadelphia 76ers swept the Brooklyn Nets 4-0 in the NBA Eastern Conference first-round playoffs, though they faced certain level of resistance from the opponents that completed two blockbuster trades in February for a lineup reshuffle. While the 76ers are waiting to find out who they will meet in the East semifinals, they may want to pray that Joel Embiid can recover quickly from his knee sp...

The 2023 NBA playoffs will begin on Friday for 16 teams to compete for the championship. Five of the eight matchups seem to be in great strength disparity and our predictions are (teams with home court advantage come first): Milwaukee Bucks 4-0 Miami Heat Boston Celtics 4-0 Atlanta Hawks Philadelphia 76ers 4-0 Brooklyn Nets Denver Nuggets 4-1 Minnesota Timberwolves Phoenix Suns 4-1 Los Angeles Cli...

Manchester City made a significant breakthrough in the UEFA Champions League with their 3-0 win over Bayern Munich in the first leg of the tournament's quarterfinals at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday. Man City have gone further than the quarterfinals before in the Champions League, but securing such a big win over heavyweights like Bayern has been very rare for the English club despite their Europe...

The Cleveland Cavaliers, the Memphis Grizzlies and the Los Angeles Clippers are three competitive teams in the 2022-23 NBA regular season, but none are serious title contenders. The Cavaliers have been a solid defensive team during the campaign, but don't be surprised when you see four of their five starters become the attacking targets of the opponents in the playoffs. The Grizzlies have been cou...

If you need to choose between the following two players for the 2022-23 NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award, who do you pick? Nikola Jokic, who has averaged 24.9 points, 11. 9 rebounds and 9.9 assists in 67 games for the Western Conference leader Denver Nuggets; Joel Embiid, who has averaged 33 points, 10.2 rebounds and 4.1 assists in 63 games for the Eastern Conference No. 3 Philadelphia 76ers....

Judging by the NBA teams' performances so far this season, six of them have the better chance of winning the championship in the end, but the race will be very close. The Denver Nuggets have the unstoppable two-time NBA Most Valuable Player Nikola Jokic, but does he have enough trustworthy teammates? The reigning champions Golden State Warriors know they can count on Stephen Curry, but who else ca...

Julian Nagelsmann has been replaced by Thomas Tuchel as the manager of Bayern Munich, the Bundesliga powerhouse announced on Friday. The direct trigger for this major personnel change is likely Bayern's loss to Bayer Leverkusen on March 19. They dropped to the second on the standings table below Borussia Dortmund because of that, but only by one point. Bayern are currently at a very crucial stage...

Bayern Munich eliminated Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) from the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday with their eighth straight win in the tournament. The Bundesliga giants allowed no goal in seven of those games. PSG performed in completely different ways in the first and second halves of Wednesday's competition. Instead of making adjustments for the club to win, their manager Christophe Galtier's deci...

Barcelona currently enjoy a seven-point lead over Real Madrid in La Liga after both sides played 23 games. Judging by history, it won't be easy for the team behind to catch up. First, the rest of the league is hardly able to slow Barca down, especially after they have no European competitions to worry about; second, Real's biggest target this season is likely the UEFA Champions League title. By co...

Who would have thought that after nearly two-thirds of matches in the 2022-23 season, Arsenal are leading the Premier League over Manchester City, especially when "The Gunners" played one fewer game? Meanwhile, just in case you haven't noticed, Manchester United, which have been seen as a bad example for heavyweights in recent years, are only six points behind Man City. The "Red Devils" do not pos...

Manchester United's 2-1 win over Barcelona in the second-leg of the UEFA Europa League Round of 32 competitions became one of the most important victories for the "Red Devils" this season. Erik ten Hag, who was appointed as Man United's manager after the 2021-22 campaign, has carved his team into an energetic and competitive group after the right players were brought in and underperformers were se...

Real Madrid's 5-2 comeback win over Liverpool in the first-leg game of the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 competitions at Anfield reminded both sides' fans of the final five years ago between the same two teams. Back then, at the NSC Olimpiyskiy Stadium in Kyiv, Liverpool's goalkeeper Loris Karius made two lethal mistakes that cost his team's game. Real's Thibaut Courtois and Liverpool's Alisso...

Bayern Munich's 1-0 win over Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) at the Parc des Princes on Tuesday night was like déjà vu of many of their Bundesliga games this season. They had the apparent advantage, but shied away from finishing the final scoring move. PSG did Bayern a favor by replacing Achraf Hakimi with Presnel Kimpembem and leaving 16-year-old Warren Zaire-Emery to guard Alphonso Davies alone. PSG s...

The four days before the 2022-23 NBA trade deadline were full of nothing but constant surprises. Some teams look completely different to how they did less than a week ago. Among all of the game-changing deals, Kevin Durant's departure from the Brooklyn Nets for the Phoenix Suns definitely had the biggest impact. Imagine that a team has two historic scorers, Durant and Devin Booker, an experienced...

Chelsea outspent another club during the European football winter transfer window that closed on Tuesday. It cost "The Blues" as much as 329.5 million euros (about $358.6 million) to bring multiple players to Stamford Bridge. The transfer of Argentine midfielder Enzo Fernandez from Benfica even set a new Premier League record fee of 121 million euros. One of the major reasons behind Chelsea's stru...

The Los Angeles Lakers sent three future second-round draft picks and Kendrick Nunn to the Wizards for Rui Hachimura, who is in the final year of his rookie contract. The three picks are a 2023 second-rounder via the Chicago Bulls, their own pick for 2029 and the less favorable of the Washington Wizards' and Lakers' 2028 second-rounders. On paper, Hachimura is exactly the kind of player the Lakers...

Lionel Messi wrote likely the final, perfect chapter to his story as a member of the Argentine national team after they won the third FIFA World Cup title for "La albiceleste" at Lusail Stadium in Qatar on Sunday night. The victory belonged to everyone, including Messi and Angel Di Maria, who together scored Argentina's three goals, goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez who blocked at least two key shots,...