Sevilla will be without midfielder Samir Nasri, who has been play | Forum

RIO DE JANEIRO -- Olympic officials gave up on cleaning the green-tinged water in one of the pools at the Maria Lenk Aquatics Center. Atlanta Braves Shirts . Instead, they began draining it Saturday and planned to transfer nearly 1 million gallons of clear water from a nearby practice pool in time for the start of synchronized swimming.Mario Andrada, a spokesman for Rio 2016, said the radical measure was necessary to ensure clear water for both judges and competitors during an event that requires swimmers to spend much of their time underwater.He stressed again that the kale-colored water posed no risk to the health of the athletes. An adjacent, smaller pool will continue to be used for the diving competition, even though it remains murky. American diver Abby Johnston has dubbed it the swamp.Of course it is an embarrassment because we are hosting the Olympic Games, Andrada said. It should be light blue, transparent. We could have done better in fixing it quickly. We learned a painful lesson the hard way.While the womens 3-meter springboard semifinals were held at one end of the facility Saturday, the bigger pool was slowly being drained. It had already dropped several inches as officials scurried around the deck, checking the water level and hauling out pumps and hoses that were to be used for the transfer.Gustavo Nascimento, director of venue management for Rio 2016, said the entire operation will take 10 hours -- six to drain the dirty water out of the competition pool and four to bring in clean water using the pumps and hoses. He said it should be completed by 7 a.m. Sunday, four hours before the scheduled start of the first synchronized swimming event of the games.Thats going to be an impressive feat, American diver Kassidy Cook, if they can pull it off.The larger pool had been used for water polo preliminary games. That sport was already scheduled to move to the 15,000-seat Olympic Aquatics Stadium after the final session of swimming Saturday night.The water in the diving well turned a dark shade of green Tuesday, and the larger pool began to turn the same color the following day. While both pools seem to be improving a bit, Nascimento said there was not enough time to complete the cleaning process by Sunday.He blamed a contractor for mistakenly dumping hydrogen peroxide into the pool late last week, which caused an adverse reaction when it mixed with chlorine. The dirty water will be disposed of using the citys sewage system, which has already come under intense scrutiny for dumping untreated waste into waters that are being used for rowing, canoeing, sailing, triathlon and open water swimming.There are two warmup pools at Maria Lenk, and neither was affected by the issues inside the stadium. The one used by water polo teams will be drained since it wont be needed after Saturday, while the synchronized swimmers will continue to have use of their practice pool.Some divers have said the green water actually helps them during competition by giving them a contrast with the blue sky when theyre spinning through the air.Others had a different view.Today was pretty gross, Australias Maddison Keeney said after Saturdays competition. Youre standing on the stairs and you cant see your feet, one and half meters down. When youre standing up there its a bit off-putting. Ive never had a pool like this ever before. I just try to close my eyes and close my mouth. Hopefully I am going up and not down.There were plenty of snarky posts on social media. After the diving pool was closed for a scheduled practice session Friday, Germanys Patrick Hausding posted a couple of pictures, one holding his nose with the caption Good morning from the green lake!Andrada stressed that Rio officials had been able to solve myriad issues plaguing the games, but conceded they were out of short-term options when it came to the green water. A day before, he attempted to explain trouble fixing the water by declaring that chemistry is not an exact science.This is probably the only problem we were unable to solve quickly, he said. The embarrassment wont last forever.Rio officials are also dealing with another aquatics venue mishap.The starting platform for the open water course broke into three pieces in bad weather, forcing the cancellation of practice Saturday at Fort Copacabana. A backup platform is set to be brought in for the womens 10-kilomter race Monday.One piece from the shattered platform washed up on the famous beach at Copacabana.Twenty water polo games have been played at Maria Lenk since the water began to change. While some players complained about a burning sensation in their eyes, apparently caused by extra chlorine being added to the water in an attempt to clean it, no major issues were reported.At the end of the day, yeah, the color of the pool may be different or the pH level is whatever it is, but its a pool, U.S. womens captain Maggie Steffens said. If youre a competitor like we all are, if youre here for the right reasons, youre not worried about that. Youre worried about playing the game.---AP Sports Writer Jay Cohen contributed to this report.---Follow Paul Newberry on Twitter at www.twitter.com/pnewberry1963 and Beth Harris at www.twitter.com/bethharrisap . Atlanta Braves Gear . In Europe, top teams seem to be largely happy with their squads after spending nearly $1 billion in the off-season. And although English league clubs are unlikely to splash cash in January, Arsenal and Chelsea could be tempted to strengthen their squads with new strikers. Braves Jerseys 2020 . -- Golden State Warriors coach Mark Jackson asked his players a simple question during Fridays morning shootaround: How many of them had ever been on a team 14 games over . https://www.cheapbraves.com/ . Ryan Garbutt had a goal and two assists as Dallas snapped a six-game losing streak with a 5-2 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday night. BARCELONA, Spain -- Unless Cristiano Ronaldo suddenly decides to add mercy to his list of virtues, the Real Madrid forward will have a good shot at scoring his 100th goal in European competition on Wednesday.Ronaldo, who once aptly described himself as rich, handsome and a great player, is two goals short of that landmark before Madrid visits Legia Warsaw in the Champions League on Wednesday.The Portugal forward arrives primed for more goals after recovering his ruthless touch on Saturday, when he scored his 38th career hat trick in a 4-1 win at Alaves in the Spanish league.Ronaldo is the all-time leading scorer in the Champions League, with 95 of his European goals coming in the tournament he helped Madrid win for a record 11th time last season.But Barcelona rival Lionel Messi has closed the gap with Ronaldo in their never-ending scoring duel after netting seven goals to lead the Champions League this season. Thats compared to Ronaldos two so far. Messi has 90 Champions League goals -- after scoring the opener in Barcelonas 3-1 defeat against Manchester City on Tuesday -- and 93 in all UEFA competitions.Legia looks like easy pickings for Ronaldo. The Polish team has lost all three group matches and conceded a tournament-high 13 goals.And its players will face Madrid all alone at Wojska Polskiego Stadium, whose doors will be closed to the public by UEFA as a penalty for fans racist behavior and the fireworks thrown during a previous loss to Borussia Dortmund.Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane said Legia has played well despite the poor results.We respect Legia. This is a good team, that can get you into trouble, Zidane said. They were not very lucky with results, but, as I said, they can be dangerous for opponents.Madrid, which beat Legia 5-1 in their first meeting without any goals from Ronaldo, are undefeated in 26 matches across all competitions dating back to last seasons quarterfinals. They have won their last five matches overall by the combined score of 24-5.Gareth Bale will also be eager to shine after signing a new contract with Madrid through 2022.The only worry for Madrid is the absence of injured center backs Pepe and Sergio Ramos.Madrid will qualify for the last 16 if it wins and Dortmund beats Sporting Lisbon in the other Group F match.Here are some others things to know about Wednesdays matches:---GROUP EGroup E is proving tto be this seasons most competitive quartet. Stitched Braves Jerseys. Only three points separate leader Monaco from last-placed CSKA Moscow before they meet in the Mediterranean principality. Monaco has been boosted this campaign by the arrival of Poland defender Kamil Glik, whose late goal earned a draw against Bayer Leverkusen.Tottenham hosts Leverkusen with both sides hoping for a win combined with a Monaco slip to move to the top of the group. Spurs havent won in five matches across all competitions without injured striker Harry Kane.---GROUP FDortmund, like Madrid, can advance with a win over Sporting Lisbon.Mario Goetze, who returned to Dortmund this season from Bayern Munich, has shown some flashes of his rich talent. But more will be needed for Dortmund make another run to the final like in 2013, which Goetze missed because of injury.To do it would be my biggest dream come true, Goetze said. Yet that was a long time ago. Im focusing on the future and on this Champions League season. Its not going to be easy next time against Sporting.---GROUP GIts Premier League title defense may be in serious trouble, but Leicester City is outperforming the other English sides in its first foray in the Champions League.Three wins in as many matches mean Leicester can seal a place in the knockout rounds with another win over FC Copenhagen.In the other group match, FC Porto welcomes Brugge hoping to break a run of four home matches without a victory in Europe.---GROUP HJuventus and Sevilla are level at the top of Group H and can go through with victories in their respective home matches against Lyon and Dinamo Zagreb.Juventus faces Lyon fresh off an encouraging 2-1 win over domestic rival Napoli, which allowed it to build a four-point lead in Serie A.I can be satisfied with our start, but Im also sure we have a lot of room to improve, Juventus striker Gonzalo Higuain said. Were expecting a difficult game. Lyon had better results in their recent games and they gave us a real test two weeks ago.Sevilla will be without midfielder Samir Nasri, who has been playing well for the Andalusian side on loan from Manchester City.Nasri scored Sevillas winner in a 1-0 victory in Zagreb. He then picked up a left leg muscle injury over the weekend. ' ' '