Bundesliga: Bayern Munich closed to within two points of a 20th German league title when they came from behind to beat Stuttgart 3-1 last night. Danijel Ljuboja gave Stuttgart an early lead at the Allianz Arena but goals from Roque Santa Cruz, Claudio Pizarro and Bastian Schweinsteiger sealed a win that restores Bayern's five-point lead over Hamburg with two games left to play.
Hearts: Hearts clinched a Champions League place for the first time with a 1-0 win over Aberdeen in the Scottish Premier League yesterday. Paul Hartley scored the winner with a second-half penalty after Aberdeen defender Zander Diamond handled on the line and escaped with just a yellow card from referee Stuart Dougal. With one game left Hearts have 74 points from 37 games and cannot be caught by third-placed Rangers who have 70.
CSKA Sofia: CSKA Sofia hammered Naftex Bourgas 4-1 yesterday to set up a showdown with Cherno More Varna in the Bulgarian Cup final. The final will be played on May 24. CSKA, seeking their first Cup title since 1999, have won the trophy 18 times.
World Cup tickets: Thousands of Tunisian fans queued for more than four hours yesterday for World Cup tickets, even though visa problems risked scuppering their plans to travel to Germany. FIFA has offered tickets for 4,000 fans to cheer on Tunisia when they begin their campaign on June 14 against Saudi Arabia. The tickets will be distributed over four days. Men, old women and young girls lined up patiently from 7 a.m. in front of El Menzah stadium near Tunis for the first 3,000 tickets. Those with the best chance of a visa would need a document proving they have a job, travel health insurance and a plane ticket.
Ajax: A late strike from Wesley Sneijder yesterday secured Ajax a place in next season's Champions League. Despite losing the second leg of the Dutch play-off final 2-1 to Groningen, Ajax booked their place in Europe's premier club competition with a 3-2 aggregate win thanks to Sneijder's goal two minutes from time. Groningen had erased the 2-0 first-leg deficit with goals from Norwegian Erik Nevland and Bruno Silva. Groningen qualified for the UEFA Cup for the first time since 1992.
Iran: Germany does not expect Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to attend the World Cup next month, Interior Ministry official August Hanning said yesterday. "We have no indication that the Iranian President wants to come to Germany," he said. "Of course, we do have to play our host role, but it's also needless to elaborate some people are more welcome than others." In April the Iranian Soccer Federation said Ahmadinejad might come, a prospect that raised concern about protests.