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Punjab Kings became the second team to hand Gujarat Titans a loss when they defeated the Hardik Pandya-led side by 8 wickets on Tuesday. Shikhar Dhawantop-scored for the Kings with 62 runs, The Indian Express reported.

Earlier, Gujarat Titans were restricted to 143 for eight. Opting to bat, Sai Sudharsan top-scored for the Titans with an unbeaten 64 off 50 balls, after the team was struggling at 44 for three in the seventh over. Pace spearhead Kagiso Rabada finished with excellent figures of 4/33 in four overs. 

Sandeep Sharmaconceded only 17 runs in his four overs, while Rishi Dhawan bagged a wicket for 26 runs in his full quota of four overs at the D Y Patil Stadium, according to The Indian Express.

Liverpool players stared at each other in disbelief. By the bench, manager Jürgen Klopp watched in awe.

Just like that, Liverpool had squandered its two-goal lead from the first leg of the Champions League semifinals against Villarreal, and its spot in the final was suddenly in jeopardy.

Would Liverpool be the latest powerhouse to be stunned by the modest Spanish club? Would its bid for a seventh European title end in disappointment?

Luckily for the English club, it was only a scare.

Liverpool rallied in the second half to defeat Villarreal 3-2 and reach its third Champions League final in five seasons on Tuesday. It advanced 5-2 on aggregate at the La Cerámica Stadium, Associated Press reported.

“You could see how impressed we were with them in the first half,” said Klopp, who will be making his fourth Champions League final appearance as coach, joint-most with Miguel Muñoz, Alex Ferguson, Carlo Ancelotti and Marcello Lippi. “To come back and win in the second is really impressive.”

After Boulaye Dia and Francis Coquelin put Villarreal ahead by the 41st minute, Fabinho, substitute Luis Díaz and Sadio Mané scored in the second half to propel Liverpool into the final for the first time since winning its sixth European title in 2019. It will be Liverpool’s 10th final in Europe’s top club competition.

Based in a city of 50,000 people in southern Spain, Villarreal had eliminated Juventus in the round of 16 and Bayern Munich in the quarterfinals.

Unai Emery’s team played a man down from the 86th after Étienne Capoue, who assisted on both Villarreal’s goals, was sent off with a second yellow card.

Liverpool will play the May 28 final in Paris against either Premier League rival Manchester City or 13-time European champion Real Madrid. They will meet on Wednesday in Madrid with City defending a 4-3 win from the first leg in England, according to the Associated Press.

The victory also keeps alive Liverpool’s hopes of a “ quadruple ” — winning all four major trophies in one season.

The visitors were dominant in the first leg but looked lost on Tuesday as Villarreal came out pressing early. The hosts won almost every 50-50 ball and stayed near the Liverpool area without giving up much space for counterattacks.

It didn’t take long for Villarreal to cut into the first-leg deficit as Dia opened the scoring from close range after a pass by Capoue in the third minute.

Villarreal wanted a penalty kick after Giovani Lo Celso collided with Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson Becker, but a few moments later it got the second goal with a header by former Arsenal midfielder Francis Coquelin into the top corner after a well-placed right-flank cross by Capoue.

The Liverpool defense looked flat-footed on both goals, leaving space for the Villarreal players to finish into the net.

The English club improved significantly in the second half. It nearly pulled closer when Trent Alexander-Arnold’s shot deflected on a defender and hit the crossbar in the 55th, and it got the first goal came in the 62nd with a low shot by Fabinho that went through the legs of goalkeeper Gerónimo Rulli, Associated Press reported.

Liverpool took advantage of Villarreal’s letdown and Díaz, who helped turn the game around after entering the match at halftime, equalized with a 67th-minute header. Mané got the go-ahead goal on a breakaway in the 74th after getting past Rulli outside the area and shooting into the open net.

With his goal, Mané became the top African scorer in the knockout stage in the Champions League era. He has 15, one more than Mohamed Salah and Didier Drogba.

“Their first goal hurt us a lot,” Villarreal defender Raúl Albiol said. “In the second half they were better than us. We couldn’t maintain the same rhythm than in the first half and that cost us.”

Liverpool has not been eliminated in the knockout rounds after winning the first leg since 2001-02. It has scored a club-record 139 goals in all competitions this season, according to the Associated Press.

Returning to the Champions League may be hard for Villarreal as it’s currently out of the qualification zone in the Spanish league. This was only the fourth appearance in Europe’s top club competition for the club. It had also made the semifinals in 2006, losing to Arsenal. It was a quarterfinalist in 2009, losing to Arsenal again.

The defeat also means there will be no first Champions League trophy for Emery, who had never made it past the round of 16 until now. He has four Europa League trophies on his career, including with Villarreal last season.

With Villarreal’s elimination, Shakhtar Donetsk is set to earn an automatic spot directly into the group stage next season. The berth was freed up because the winner this season will be either Liverpool, Madrid or City, who already qualified through their league’s position, according to the Associated Press.

Kolkata Knight Riders defeated Rajasthan Royals by seven wickets in a return leg IPL match on Monday, The Indian Express reported.

Invited to bat, skipper Sanju Samson smashed seven fours and a six in his 49-ball 54, while Shimron Hetmyer provided late charge with an unbeaten 13-ball 27 as RR scored 152 for five.

However, Jos Buttler (22), Riyan Parag (19) and Karun Nair (13) got starts but couldn’t capitalise.

Tim Southee (2/46) scalped two wickets, while Umesh Yadav(1/24), Anukul Roy (1/28) and Shivam Mavi (1/33) accounted for one each. Nitish Rana (48 not out), Rinku Singh (42 not out) and Shreyas Iyer (34) then chipped in with useful contributions as KKR romped home, scoring 158 for three in 19.1 overs, according to The Indian Express.

Cristiano Ronaldo continues to be the shining light in an otherwise disappointing season for Manchester United.

Make that 18 goals in the English Premier League for the Portugal superstar after he converted a penalty that he earned himself in a 3-0 victory over Brentford on Monday.

Ronaldo also had a goal disallowed at Old Trafford for a narrow offside as United saved one of its best performances of the season for its final home game. Bruno Fernandes and Raphael Varane — with his first in English football — were the other scorers.

The victory kept alive -- at least mathematically -- sixth-placed United’s chance of finishing in the top four and qualifying for next season’s Champions League.

United, though, has only two games remaining and is five points behind fourth-placed Arsenal and three behind Tottenham, with both rivals still having four to play.

Ronaldo, who has netted in each of his last four games, is third on the league’s list of top scorers behind Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah (22) and Tottenham’s Son Heung-min (19), Associated Press reported.

And he’ll be back again next season, unlike some of the other players in United’s team.

United fans gave standing ovations to departing veterans Nemanja Matic and Juan Mata as they were substituted on their final Old Trafford appearances. It was also the last home game in charge for interim manager Ralf Rangnick, who will be replaced by Erik ten Hag during the offseason.

Monday marked a year since the postponement of United’s home match against Liverpool, when fans made clear their anger at the ownership of the Glazer family in the wake of the European Super League debacle.

Supporters have protested at each of United’s final three home games and the anti-Glazer sentiment was apparent before and during the victory against Brentford.

It was the first match that Brentford had lost with Christian Eriksen in the team and he pulled the strings in the London club’s first competitive match at Old Trafford since 1975, according to the Associated Press.

Anthony Elanga set the first goal in the ninth minute, scampering down the right and crossing for Fernandes to volley home.

Ronaldo was proving a handful, forcing David Raya into an awkward save from a long-range free kick, then furiously claiming he should have had a penalty following Mads Bech Sorensen’s challenge.

Then Ronaldo smartly flicked a pass into Mata, who lashed narrowly wide of the near post on his first Premier League start of the season. The roles were reversed when Mata broke down the left and sent a low cross that Ronaldo squeezed past Raya. The provider and scorer celebrated together, only for the goal to be ruled out following a VAR review.

United created breathing space in the 61st minute when Ronaldo was bundled over in the box by Rico Henry before sending Raya the wrong way in front of an elated Stretford End.

Ahead of the final goal, Pontus Jansson nearly turned a cross from Ronaldo into his own goal but it went behind for a corner. Telles swung it in and Varane hooked home the ball via a minor deflection, Associated Press reported.