Ajax Amsterdam followed up their elimination of Real Madrid by producing a spell-binding display of inventive, passing football to win 2-1 away to Juventus on Tuesday and end the Serie A team's dreams of winning the Champions League.

Ajax's 19-year-old captain Matthijs de Ligt headed the winner from the corner in the 67th minute of the quarterfinal second leg as the Dutch side came from behind to clinch a 3-2 aggregate win and reach the last four for the first time since 1996-97.

Cristiano Ronaldo, aiming for a fourth successive Champions League title after winning the last three with Real Madrid, put Juventus ahead in the 28th minute with a typically emphatic header, his sixth goal of the competition.

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But Donny van de Beek levelled six minutes later before the visitors swept Juventus aside in the second half with wave after wave of attacks as they earned a semifinal against Manchester City or Tottenham Hotspur.

"Can we can go on to win the competition? Well, we are in the semifinals now. And we have eliminated two of the favourites in the last two rounds. The next games will be very difficult, but so were these ones. So who knows?," said De Ligt.

Frenkie de Jong added: "We dominated after the break and were well worth our victory. In fact, we probably should have won by more."

Ajax goalkeeper Andre Onana gave his team an early scare when his clearance was charged down by Emre Can but the rebound flew wide.

Ajax settled well after that but, despite not playing well, Juventus went ahead when Ronaldo got away from the defenders to score the 126th Champions League goal of his career.

There was a long delay for the VAR review, the referee eventually going to the pitchside monitor with the ball back on the centre circle ready for the re-start, before the goal was confirmed.

Ajax kept their cool and took six minutes to level, helped by a somewhat lucky break.

Hakim Ziyech's long-range shot hit a defender and fell perfectly for Van de Beek who, unmarked and onside, slotted the ball calmly past Wojciech Szczesny, and then had to wait for another long VAR check before the goal was confirmed.

Ajax took complete control in the second half and their geometric passing repeatedly opened up the Juventus defence, which sorely missed injured veteran Giorgio Chiellini.

Szczesny made one-handed save from Ziyech after Juventus were opened up again and then turned Van de Beek's curling shot over for a corner.

Juventus were rocking but, ironically, Ajax's winner came from an old-fashioned header as De Ligt out-jumped two defenders to score.

Ajax had chances for further goals and Ronaldo's frustration boiled over in stoppage time when he was booked for a lunging tackle from behind near the centre circle.

BARCELONA, Spain -- Ernesto Valverde says Lionel Messi is unstoppable when he's at his best after the Argentine fired Barcelona into the semifinals of the Champions League for the first time in four years.

Messi scored twice in Barca's 3-0 win over Manchester United at Camp Nou on Wednesday to take his tally for the season to 45 in all competitions.

He almost completed a hat trick with an opportunistic bicycle kick in the second half and gave United's defenders a headache all night.

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"Leo always appears in the important games," Valverde said in his postgame news conference. "Not just to finish off the moves, but all over the pitch.

"He's involved in all our play. He gets the goals, but he also takes on responsibility in attack. When he's playing like that, he's unstoppable."

Messi, who hadn't scored in his last 12 European quarterfinal appearances, was proud of his team's performance but warned his teammates they will have to improve in the semifinal against either Liverpool or Porto.

United were the better side in the first 15 minutes and hit the crossbar through Marcus Rashford before Messi's 16th-minute opener.

"This is a spectacular win, this shows who we are," Messi told Movistar. "We were a bit cold and nervous in the first five minutes. We cannot come out like this in any Champions League game. We said that from the start.

"We have the experience from [losing to] Roma last season, you can't make life hard for yourself because one mistake and you're knocked out. We have to be aware of that.

"But after that, we managed to take control and played spectacular football."

Philippe Coutinho scored the third goal in the second half to keep Barca on track for an historic third Treble in the last 11 years.

The former Liverpool playmaker's celebration saw him cup his ear in front of the Barca supporters following criticism received for his performances this season.

"I honestly didn't see it," Valverde said when asked about Coutinho's celebration. "I don't know if it meant anything. He would have to explain it to me. What stays with me is the great goal he scored."

Asked if he feels the supporters and media have been unfair with the Brazil international, he added: "There are huge demands at this club. We always have to win and play well. There's a huge media focus and we're all subject to criticism.

"There's also an expectation that we always play brilliantly and Coutinho always scores and it cannot always be like that. We're all human and we have to deal with the world we're in."

Barca will face either Liverpool or Porto in the last four. The English side have a 2-0 lead going into the second leg in Portugal on Wednesday.

The Catalans also have a nine-point lead in La Liga and are in the final of the Copa del Rey as they pursue the Treble, which they previously won in 2009 and 2015.

BARCELONA, Spain -- Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has admitted he faces a rebuilding job at Manchester United that may take years after a humbling Champions League exit to Barcelona.

United were out-classed by the Spanish giants, who eased to a 3-0 win at Camp Nou thanks to two goals from Lionel Messi.

It stretches their wait for the Champions League semifinal to eight years and Solskjaer says he has work to do to get his team back to that level.

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"We know there's work to be done," said Solskjaer.

"I've said all along this isn't going to change overnight and the next few years are going to be massive to get to the level of Barcelona.

"We're on with the job and we've spoken to the players about it as well.

"We need to create an environment of top, world-class attitude every single day. We've got a lot of good players to work with but as I have said, we have a rebuilding job. It started with coaches, players and of course one or two additions in the summer."

Looking to overturn a 1-0 deficit from the first leg, United started well against Barcelona and could have taken the lead after just 24 seconds when Marcus Rashford hit the bar.

But any hope was extinguished when Messi scored twice in four minutes in the first half -- the second squirming under David De Gea's body and into the net.

"That's unfortunate with goalkeepers, when you make an error it can get highlighted and that'll be remembered," said Solskjaer.

"He made some fantastic saves and his contribution to the team is good but sometimes that happens in football."

Both Rashford and Scott McTominay had early chances as United started on the front foot but after Messi scored with Barcelona's first two shots on target the tie was all but over.

Philippe Coutinho added a stunning third in the second half, curling a shot beyond De Gea from 25 yards.

"We did well to get here and the quality of their finishing was absolutely outstanding," said Solskjaer.

"We started well in the first five minutes and we felt we've got something here and then in four minutes they scored two goals.

"The attitude was right but we were fighting against a good team.

"Messi is an exceptional talent. Him and Cristiano [Ronaldo] have been the best players in the world for the last decade and he showed why we think that and why this team have won so many Champions Leagues.

"If you give him space and time around the goal he'll create and score goals. He's a fantastic player."

TURIN, Italy -- It turns out Cristiano Ronaldo is not enough. The Portuguese scored in both legs of Juventus' Champions League quarterfinal against Ajax. He put the Bianconeri in front at the Allianz Stadium on Tuesday. They wouldn't even be here without his face-saving hat trick against Atletico Madrid in the round of 16. The 34-year-old kept up his side of the bargain. Ultimately, though, Juventus came up short.

What Ajax have achieved is stunning. As Erik ten Hag noted on the eve of the game, "it's already a big deal to still be in Europe after winter." Ajax had not reached the competition's knockout stages in 13 years. They began the campaign in the second qualifying round. When Ajax played Sturm Graz at the end of July, they couldn't have imagined they would be the first Eredivisie side to reach the Champions League semifinals since PSV in 2005. The game has become so economically stratified since then.

Consider the wealth gap. The €112 million Juventus spent on acquiring Ronaldo is €20m more than Ajax's annual revenues. The team's wage bill is €4m short of what the five-time Ballon d'Or winner makes before tax.

But sometimes ideas trump investment. Ajax deserved to win in Amsterdam a week ago and outplayed Juventus in the second half Tuesday for a 2-1 win and 3-2 aggregate edge. They remain unbeaten on the road in Europe despite going to Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and now Juventus. The feat of coming back from behind in the backyard of a team who are about to become the first in Europe's top five leagues to win the title for eight straight years is jaw-dropping.

Not least because Ajax did not look themselves in the first half. Six fouls in the first 15 minutes stopped either team getting into a rhythm. Frenkie De Jong's influence was initially more limited than it had been in the first leg, perhaps because of the muscle injury he sustained at the weekend, and the early loss of Noussair Mazraoui to injury meant Ajax were without either of their first-choice full-backs with Nicolas Tagliafico also missing the game through suspension.

Ronaldo's goal came just as Ajax were beginning to build some pressure, too. Teams of lesser character would have resigned themselves to their fate, thinking this is just the way it is. Ronaldo has scored 65 goals in 78 knockout games. He has won this trophy four times in the past five years. This is what Madrid were missing when Ajax dumped the holders out of the competition last month.

But Ten Hag's players never let any doubt creep into their minds. That in itself is astonishing. Ajax are the youngest side in the competition. Legs are supposed to tremble under this kind of pressure. But this team didn't waver an inch. Before kickoff, Juventus' vice president Pavel Nedved was asked what stood out to him about their opponents in Amsterdam. "I was surprised by the composure with which they play," he said.

That composure came to the fore again Tuesday. Ajax got back level within six minutes of going behind. A deflected Hakim Ziyech shot found its way to Donny van de Beek, who didn't look up to check whether he was onside or not, focusing solely on beating Wojciech Szczesny. The flag stayed down, as it should in today's VAR era, correctly too because Federico Bernardeschi, late to step up, played the Dutchman onside.

A different Ajax emerged after the interval, the one we've become accustomed to over the course of this season. It was as if they'd overcome whatever had been inhibiting them in the first half. It was as if they realised there was nothing to be afraid of.

They proceeded to cut Juventus to shreds. Were it not for Szczesny, the Old Lady's man of the match, the defeat would have been heavier. The Poland international needed a strong left hand to repel a Ziyech shot and then tipped a Van der Beek curler over the bar with his right. Like Ronaldo, he cannot be blamed for Juventus' elimination.

In the moments before Matthijs de Ligt's towering header, it looked as if Ajax might be found guilty of attempting to walk it in. Dusan Tadic and Ziyech both passed when they had ample time to shoot, letting Juventus' defenders off the hook. But their 19-year-old captain -- just let that sink in for a moment -- ensured Ajax left with no regrets, emulating Gerrie Muhren, who scored the decisive goal in the Dutch side's last win over Juventus 45 years ago.

And so the dream lives on. Ajax are in the semis for the first time since 1997.

This wasn't supposed to happen. The best team they'd had in years was picked apart two seasons ago. Just the Europa League final in Stockholm felt like a fairy tale in the modern game. No one thought Ajax would be back and do even better. Davinson Sanchez and Davy Klaassen left for the Premier League. Last summer, Justin Kluivert decided it was time for him to go to Serie A.

The rest made a pact to stay together one more year, curious to see what might happen if they realised their potential. It's fair to say they have exceeded all expectations. In the next round Ajax will play Spurs -- a team consisting of alumni like Toby Alderweireld, Jan Vertonghen, Sanchez and Christian Eriksen -- or Manchester City, whose coach Pep Guardiola learned everything he knows under Johan Cruyff.

Whatever happens, we can safely Ajax will win. It is the triumph of their idea.

Josh Philippe, the in-demand exciting wicketkeeper-batsman, has signed a three-year Big Bash contract extension with Sydney Sixers.

Philippe, 21, set the BBL alight last season after making a last-minute move from Perth Scorchers to the Sixers on a one-year deal just prior to the start of the tournament.

He made 304 runs at a strike-rate of 158.33, the highest of the 21 players who made 300 runs or more in the BBL. He struck two blistering half-centuries including an unbeaten 86 in a chase against the best home and away team Hobart Hurricanes, and 52 in the semi-final against the eventual champions Melbourne Renegades.

The Scorchers made a significant bid to lure Philippe home as he hails from Perth, began his career with the Scorchers in BBL07 and plays his one-day domestic and Sheffield Shield cricket with Western Australia. However, while Philippe will continue to play with WA next season he has committed to the Sixers in the BBL the next three years.

It leaves the Scorchers looking to completely rebuild their list for the first time in the franchise's history after missing the finals for the first time in eight seasons and finishing bottom.

The three-time champions have lost Shaun Marsh who signed a three-year deal with the Melbourne Renegades. Opener Michael Klinger has retired, Hilton Cartwright has also left, signing a three-year deal with the Melbourne Stars and overseas players David Willey and Usman Qadir have not had their contracts renewed.

The Scorchers have re-signed wicketkeeper batsman Sam Whiteman on a two-year deal. Whiteman endured an injury-riddled 2018-19 season play just four BBL matches, but he did make 68 off 44 balls in his last game of the season against the Hurricanes before injuring his quad. He also had a good finish to the Sheffield Shield season playing as an opening batsman for Western Australia.

Amid all the announcements made by Cricket Australia earlier this week, the player with the biggest fall from grace was probably Mitchell Marsh who finds himself without a central contract six months after being named Test vice-captain. This is a look back over a rollercoaster 18 months for the allrounder

Ashes breakthrough?

Marsh was recalled midway through the 2017-18 Ashes for his hometown Test in Perth, returning in style with a maiden Test hundred which he pushed to 181. He followed that with another ton in Sydney, brought up in emotional scenes with his brother alongside him at the crease. Had things clicked for Mitchell?

Fades in South Africa

The runs continued in the first Test in Durban, his 96 the top score in Australia's first innings and helping them set up victory. He fought hard for 45 in the second innings in Port Elizabeth, chipping in with wickets as well, but South Africa levelled the series and the tour quickly turned sour from a personal and team perspective. As the ball-tampering controversy erupted, Marsh's runs dried up with 25 runs in the last four innings

Leadership promotion

As Australia tried to pick up the pieces of their Test side six months later in the UAE, Marsh was promoted to joint vice-captain alongside Josh Hazlewood - who missed the series against Pakistan - in support of new captain Tim Paine. "I've certainly grown as a leader in the past 12 months for WA, found out about myself and about my leadership," Marsh said. "But I absolutely love captaining WA, probably my biggest strength is that hasn't changed me as a person, and I certainly don't see the vice-captaincy role changing me as a person."

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UAE struggles

The two Tests against Pakistan proved difficult for Marsh as he made 30 runs across four innings having initially been promoted to No. 4. He was trapped lbw three times in four innings by Mohammad Abbas who tormented the Australia batsmen, particularly in the second Test where he claimed ten wickets in a crushing 373-run victory.

MCG misery

Australia reverted to six frotnline batsmen, a keeper and four bowlers at the start of the home series against India which meant Marsh was surplus to requirements in Adelaide and Perth. He was recalled for the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne, when Australia wanted bowling reinforcements, and with the ball Marsh did a good holding role. Things went badly with the bat, however, as he failed twice with India claiming victory, dismissed by Ravindra Jadeja in both innings.

Test omission

Marsh was dropped for the final Test in Sydney and a few days later was ditched from the Test set-up altogether when he wasn't selected for the Sri Lanka series. His slip down the pecking order was reinforced when Marcus Stoinis was briefly called into the squad ahead of the second Test in Canberra, indicating he was the allrounder of choice. To compound things for Marsh, illness meant he didn't play the one-day series against India.

Solid in the Shield

He was left to focus on the latter half of the domestic season, firstly with Perth Scorchers in the BBL and then Western Australia in the Sheffield Shield. BBL runs were tough to come by until an unbeaten half-century in the Scorchers final match of a wooden-spoon season, but the last couple of rounds of the Shield provided some encouragement - after recovering from a nasty injury - as WA made a late push for the final. He claimed six wickets in victory over Tasmania then scored a century against Queensland although WA were ultimately pipped to the final by New South Wales.

ALSO READ: Pattinson, Warner, Smith handed central contracts; Mitchell Marsh dropped

Contract cut

However, that all-round showing wasn't enough for him to retain his CA contract when the 20-man list for 2019-2020 was announced. "It's really hard because he's like my little brother," head coach Justin Langer said. "And his dad, Swampy [Geoff], who is one of the really good guys of Australian cricket, he's been like my old man or one of my best mates. Again, it's tough, but it's not the end of the road. The message I guess there for him, or all the players, is there's great competition in Australian cricket now and you've got to be on top of your game all the time."

Glimmer of hope?

Perhaps there is already a route back for Marsh. Despite losing his contract he was named in both Australia A squads to tour England which runs concurrent to the World Cup and Ashes build-up. It has been made clear from the selectors that strong performances in the four-day portion will play a key role in Ashes selection. "We know how quickly it can change and we also know he's such a talented player, he's not far off," Langer said.

Heavyweight contender Jarrell "Big Baby" Miller has tested positive for the banned substance GW1516 ahead of his scheduled challenge of unified world titleholder Anthony Joshua, three sources with knowledge of the results told ESPN on Tuesday.

The fight is scheduled to take place on June 1 (DAZN) at Madison Square Garden in New York and to serve as the American debut for England's Joshua, but it is now in jeopardy because of Miller's positive test.

The test results, which came to light on Tuesday, were from a random Voluntary Anti-Doping Association-conducted urine test Miller submitted to on March 20.

Miller (23-0-1, 20 KOs), 30, had accused Joshua of using PEDs during their media tour to announce the fight in February.

"We are in the process of obtaining further information about VADA's finding and will have more to say soon on this developing situation," Dmitriy Salita, Miller's co-promoter with Greg Cohen, told ESPN after he was informed of the positive test result. "In the meantime, Jarrell continues to train for his June 1 fight against Anthony Joshua."

Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn, who represents Joshua, also acknowledged the positive test.

"We have been informed by VADA that there has been an adverse finding in Jarrell Miller's sample collected on March 20th, 2019," Hearn said in a statement. "We are working with all relevant parties and will update with more details soon. AJ's preparation continues for June 1st at MSG."

If Miller is dropped from the fight, it will cost him millions. He is due to earn a career-high purse of $4.875 million, not to mention additional money he stands to earn from a percentage of the profits from the fight on Sky Sports Box Office pay-per-view in the United Kingdom. Miller's deal with DAZN calls for two comeback fights worth $1.5 million apiece in the event that he loses to Joshua, which would disappear if there is no fight.

The biggest purse of Miller's career was a little over $500,000 for his fourth-round knockout of Bogdan Dinu on Nov. 17.

GW1516, also known as Cardarine and Endurobol, is on the World Anti-Doping Agency's banned list and is classified as a metabolic modulator. An athlete might use it to assist in fat loss or use it as an endurance booster. WADA has warned athletes of health risks connected to the drug, which in early trials caused cancer in laboratory mice.

Miller is likely to face a hearing on the matter before the New York State Athletic Commission, which probably will decline to license him for the fight if it handles this as it has similar recent situations. On Dec. 22, for example, Willie Monroe Jr. was due to challenge interim middleweight world titlist Jermall Charlo at Barclays Center in New York, but when Monroe tested positive for elevated levels of testosterone, the commission would not license him, and Charlo faced late replacement Matt Korobov instead.

Whomever Joshua (22-0, 21 KOs), 29, faces, he will be making his seventh title defense and fighting outside the United Kingdom for the first time. The 6-foot-4, 300-pound Miller got the matchup with Joshua thanks to his ability to sell a fight with his mouth and because he defeated a series of former world title challengers the past two years to earn his title shot.

COLUMBUS - The Tampa Bay Lightning will be defined by their failure, swept out of the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs in the first round by a Columbus Blue Jackets team few felt had a prayer of hanging with the Presidents' Trophy winners.

That's one way to look at them. Here's the spin the Lightning had after Tuesday night's stunning 7-3 defeat in Game 4 of the first round: That they were victims of their own success.

The Lightning had 128 points in the regular season, with a points percentage of .780, the second-highest rate in NHL history for an 82-game season behind the 1995-95 Detroit Red Wings (.799). They tied that Red Wings team with 62 wins, the most recorded in the 100-plus years history of NHL hockey. They clinched a playoff spot after just 68 games, and were coasting well before reaching that mark. They weren't just winning -- they were crushing opponents. They had the league's best power play, best penalty killing and were the highest-scoring team on average (3.89) since the 1995-96 season. Of their 62 wins, 30 of them were by a margin of three or more goals, which was tied for the most since 1992-93.

It all came so easy for Tampa Bay -- until it didn't.

"When you have the amount of points we had, it's a blessing and a curse, in a way. You don't play any meaningful hockey for a long time. Then all of a sudden you have to ramp it up. It's not an excuse, it's reality," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said after the team's 7-3 defeat in Game 4. "That's how it goes: You have a historic regular season and we had a historic playoff."

Indeed, the Lightning made history in the 2019 playoffs, just not the kind any coach would ever want. For the first time in the NHL, a team with the most points in the regular season failed to win a single game in an opening-round seven-game series.

"If we had the answers, we would have found a way to win a game. It sucks," said captain Steven Stamkos.

There are some obvious factors behind the Lightning's stunning demise:

• The Blue Jackets put on a defensive clinic in the series, playing a 1-2-2 forecheck the slowed the pace down, owned the neutral zone and never allowed the Lightning to find their way offensively. The Jackets had 30 takeaways in four games, while Tampa had 21. "Columbus is pretty good at shutting it down. They never did that in the regular season, because they were always chasing us," Cooper said. "The last time we played here, we had a 5-1 lead and they had completely outplayed us. We just scored every time we went down the ice."

• Blue Jackets goalie Sergei Bobrovsky had the best postseason of his career, with a .932 save percentage and a 2.01 goals-against average. Even when the Lightning could break through the Columbus defense, Bobrovsky made key saves. In contrast, Tampa goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy finished the series with a .856 save percentage and a 3.82 goals-against average.

• Perhaps the biggest disparity was on special teams. The Lightning had the most effective power play since 1988-89 in the regular season at 28.1 percent. They were playing a team, however, that was short-handed the fewest times in the regular season. The Lightning scored once on just six power-play opportunities in this series; the Blue Jackets, meanwhile, were a stellar 5-for-10 with the man advantage. "No power plays. One PP in two games. It's tough. I don't know what to say," said Nikita Kucherov, the Lightning's star winger who won the scoring title in the NHL this season.

Kucherov was suspended for Game 3 of the series for an illegal check in Game 2. Star defenseman Victor Hedman played hurt in Games 1 and 2, but missed the final two games of the series.

Asked if this Lightning core can still capture a Stanley Cup at full strength, Stamkos replied, "Yeah, we believe in it. But it's one thing to say it and it's another to execute. They executed a detailed game plan to slow us down, and we didn't have a response to it. You have to give them some credit. Everyone's going to talk about us losing the series, but they did a lot of good things. We just didn't have an answer."

This core was together when the Lightning lost in the 2016 conference finals, losing Games 6 and 7 to the Pittsburgh Penguins. It was together when they lost Games 6 and 7 (again) to the Washington Capitals last season. Against the Blue Jackets, they squandered a 3-0 lead in Game 1 and never recovered when the Jackets rallied to win.

"I don't know," said Cooper when asked if there's a fundamental flaw to how the team handles adversity. "It's funny: We're expected to go far this year, and we go nowhere. In 2015, no one expected us to go anywhere, and we went far, with the same core of players.

"It's hard to win in this league. It's tough not to be holding up the Stanley Cup at the end, but how many teams have gone through this? They knock at the door and knock at the door and then ... you look at Washington, for example? They had two remarkable years and got bounced in the second round, and the year no one expected them to do anything they won the Stanley Cup."

From Oct. 6, 2018, through April 6, 2019, the Lightning were the favorites to win the Stanley Cup and one of the most dominating regular-season teams in the history of the league.

And then the playoffs started.

"We couldn't find our game. It's that clear. For six days in April, we couldn't find it," said Cooper. "It's unfortunate, because it puts a blemish on what was one hell of a regular season."

"If you don't accomplish the goal of winning it all, it's a failure. We don't care about what happened in the regular season," said Stamkos.