Bournemouth beat Fulham in the Premier League

Bournemouth, Apr. 16: Bournemouth beat Fulham 1-0 at home in the Premier League on Monday and snapped a six-game winless run.

Antoine Semenyo got the goal in the first minute. The Ghanaian international took a pass from Alex Scott, surged to the edge of the box and curled in a left-foot shot.

Semenyo’s first goal in nine games lifted the Cherries above Fulham and into eighth place, keeping alive their hopes of a European place next season.

“As soon as I got it, I knew I had space 1-v-1," Semenyo said of his early strike. "I wanted to shift him one side, hopefully get on the left comfortably, and pass it in the net. I feel like I’ve been in that position, hit it hard, and it’s gone over the bar. I knew when I went past him, I just wanted to pass it into the corner. As soon as he turned, I knew — get the shot away.”

“The manager’s been saying all week it’s a make-or-break game for us," Semenoy added. "We wanted to give it all and you can see from the celebrations it meant a lot.”

An open match gave both teams chances after the explosive start.

Evanilson hit the bar after 17 minutes and Tyler Adams also came close, but Fulham keeper Bernd Leno was lively throughout.

The introduction of Adama Traore, Raul Jimenez and Tom Cairney after an hour boosted Fulham but although it pushed forward in the last quarter it could not find a way past an impressive Kepa Arrizabalaga.

“It’s our fault we lost today. The first 20 minutes we were not on point or at our level, we were lucky it was just 1-0," Leno told Sky Sports. "(In the) second half we tried everything and were much better but Bournemouth defended well.

“We had a lot of chances, a couple of headers, dangerous crosses, but in the end the last percentage was missing."

Meanwhile, After shedding its “galácticos,” Paris Saint-Germain looks in better shape than ever to win the Champions League and can reach the semifinals on Tuesday by completing the job against Aston Villa.

PSG takes a 3-1 lead to Villa Park, where Villa hasn't lost since October and has already beaten Bayern Munich in the Champions League.

An intense atmosphere awaits PSG in the second leg. Then again, the French champions faced a similar situation in the round of 16 — indeed, the task was even worse as they headed to Anfield 1-0 down from the first leg against Liverpool — and came through with flying colors and with many labeling them as one of the competition standouts.

With Neymar, Lionel Messi and most recently Kylian Mbappé leaving the club, PSG coach Luis Enrique has placed his confidence in younger, up-and-coming players and they are delivering. On a run of 17 wins from its last 18 games, PSG has already captured the French league and even had the weekend off — ensuring its players will be fresh for the second leg.

Villa was outplayed in Paris last week but is in good form itself, winning seven straight matches previously and 3-0 at Southampton on Saturday.

Villa, the 1982 European champion, is playing on Europe's top stage for the first time since 1983. PSG, a beaten finalist in 2020, got to the semifinals last season, losing surprisingly to Borussia Dortmund.

Dortmund up against it Getting back to the semifinals appears to be a near-impossible task for Dortmund.

Barcelona heads to Germany with a 4-0 lead though needs to be wary of Dortmund, which tends to play its best Champions League games in front of its “Yellow Wall” of vocal fans.

Barcelona’s Hansi Flick is the perfect coach for the job. He’s won all of his seven games against Dortmund — as coach of Barcelona and before that Bayern Munich.

Barcelona had a tough time in Dortmund in the league phase, when an 85th-minute goal from Ferran Torres ensured a 3-2 win. That remains the only time Dortmund has lost a home game in the Champions League since 2021.(AP)