Jeremy Sarmiento produced a moment of magic to give West Brom a precious 1-0 win at Cardiff.
Sarmiento’s second Albion goal five minutes after the restart lit up a contest that had been largely forgettable until that point and was enough to take West Brom into the top three of the Sky Bet Championship.
The Ecuador winger, on a season-long loan from Brighton, was at the World Cup this time last year and his goal would not have looked out of place at that tournament.
Sarmiento broke down the left before cutting inside Josh Bowler and unleashing a vicious curling 25-yard shot that flew into the far corner of Alex Runarsson’s net.
Although not as spectacular as Alejandro Garnacho’s stunning overhead kick for Manchester United at Everton on Sunday, it will be a chief contender for West Brom’s goal of the season.
Albion’s fifth win in six games moved them above Leeds and Southampton – who both play on Wednesday – and seven points behind second-placed Ipswich.
Victory would have taken Cardiff above Albion, but the Bluebirds were flat throughout as they slipped to a second successive home defeat.
The game quickly settled into a cautious affair with neither side willing to take too many risks.
Cedric Kipre, who spent last season on loan at Cardiff and whose April winner at Rotherham virtually guaranteed the Bluebirds’ survival, was on hand for Albion to block from former team-mate Joe Ralls.
West Brom struggled to make an impact in the final third and were handicapped by the departure of Jed Wallace, who left the action holding his arm and in obvious pain.
Okay Yokuslu fired wildly from 25 yards for the visitors before Sarmiento and Bowler tangled at the other end.
Bowler went down to some half-hearted penalty appeals as Callum Robinson, against his former employers, picked up the loose ball and shot over.
The deadlock was almost broken after 31 minutes when Cardiff were exposed defensively from their own corner.
Albion had a four-on-two situation but Grady Diangana delayed the final pass and the stretching Sarmiento could only trickle his effort against the post.
Bowler, Cardiff’s biggest attacking threat down the left, immediately escaped marker Conor Townsend and shimmied his way past Kipre but Alex Palmer was off his line quickly to smother.
Sarmiento’s sublime strike gave Albion the edge as both sides turned heavily to their bench for the final half-hour.
Yokuslu had excelled in the midfield battle before being withdrawn in the final quarter and Albion should have doubled their advantage 15 minutes from time.
Ryan Wintle sliced Darnell Furlong’s long throw to the far post where the unmarked Brandon Thomas-Asante directed his header over.
Cardiff stirred in the final 10 minutes as Rubin Colwill made a lively impact from the bench, the Wales international having two shots blocked, and Bowler and Manolis Siopis blasted over.
But the night belonged to Carlos Corberan’s Albion and in particular Sarmiento.
Champions League success does not define Bayern move, says Kane
Harry Kane refuted suggestions Champions League glory this season will decide the success of his Bayern Munich move, after Tuesday's 2-2 draw with Real Madrid in the semi-final first leg.
Kane scored from the penalty spot to make it 2-1 to Bayern early in the second half, just four minutes after Leroy Sane had levelled with a thunderous finish at Allianz Arena.
Having finished with his usual ease from 12 yards, Kane became the first English player to be directly involved in 11 goals in a single Champions League campaign.
Kane is the joint-top scorer across Europe's big five leagues in all competitions this season (43 – level with Kylian Mbappe), while the England captain now has the most combined goals and assists of any player (54 – 43 goals and 11 assists).
Regardless of whether Bayern can overcome Madrid in the second leg next week and go all the way in the final, Kane insists his move to Germany is a long-term mission, rather than a one-year aim for success.
When asked on TNT Sports if winning the Champions League would define his Bayern move as a success, Kane responded: "I don't think so.
"I'm here for many years, it's not just a one-off year that I've come for. Of course, the expectation at the start of the year was to win trophies and it hasn't gone our way in the Bundesliga or the cup, but the Champions League is the biggest one of them all.
"If we can somehow get our hands on that one, it'll be an amazing season, but there is a long way to go.
"These are the big games under the lights [that I'm here for]. The atmosphere was incredible. I'm sure at the Bernabeu it'll be the same. It's exactly why I’ve come, I wanted to play in these big games, these big moments, and it's no bigger than next week.
"It'll be tough, we know their history in the competition, but we can take a lot of positives from today. There's a couple of small details that we need to get right because we can get punished in a couple of quick moments, but we can take a lot from this game."
Kane now has 401 goals for club and country, having moved past the quadruple-century mark with his double against Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday.
Including his well-taken penalty against Madrid, the former Tottenham striker now has a personal-best 43 goals in all competitions this season as well.
Yet his focus remains solely on the next game, with Stuttgart to come on Saturday before the return visit to Madrid.
"It's been a good season [personally] so far, but it's always about the next game, the next big game, and it's next week, away from home against Real Madrid," he added.
"Everything we're fighting for this year is in this competition, so we've got to find a way to get it done. It's going to be tough, the Bernabeu, Real Madrid in the Champions League, but we go there with full belief, it's 0-0 and we go there for the win."
Kane's second-half strike on Tuesday came after Sane had cancelled out an opener from Vinicius Junior, whose late penalty then ensured the shares were spoiled at Allianz Arena.
With the pressure on Bayern's spot-kick, Madrid's Jude Bellingham appeared to offer Kane a few words of advice – though the Bayern striker was in his own space preparing to face Andriy Lunin.
"I don't know what he was saying," Kane added on his England team-mate's quiet word. "I saw him there, mumbling something, but I'll have to ask him what he said.
"Once I'm in that zone I'm just trying to block everything out – I'm sure he was saying something to try and put me off. Thankfully it didn't do anything."
Coventry City 1-2 Ipswich Town: Burgess puts Tractor Boys on brink of promotion
Ipswich Town took a huge step to Premier League promotion after Cameron Burgess snatched a second-half winner in Tuesday's 2-1 victory over Coventry City.
Kieran McKenna's side require just one point from their final Championship game against League One-bound Huddersfield Town to go up, after a decisive victory at the Coventry Building Society Arena.
Kieffer Moore blasted in an eighth-minute opener for the visitors after Wes Burns' crafty cutback pass, easing the pressure on Ipswich and dampening the top-two hopes of third-placed Leeds United.
Haji Wright levelled in the second half, only for Burgess to squeeze a winning goal past Bradley Collins five minutes later, putting Ipswich on the brink of top-flight football for the first time since their relegation in 2002.
A draw against Huddersfield, who are 23rd and three points adrift of safety, would secure promotion at Portman Road, marking just the fourth instance of back-to-back promotions in the Premier League era.
Having managed to climb out of League One, McKenna's entertaining side would join Watford, rivals Norwich City and Southampton as the only sides to achieve the feat.
Data Debrief: Ipswich end winless run at perfect time
Prior to this game, only five teams had won fewer points in the Championship than Ipswich's six since the beginning of April (W1 D3 L1).
Yet McKenna's men refused to let their top-flight push derail as the Tractor Boys ended a four-game winless run to move within touching distance of history.
Al Ittihad 1-2 Al Hilal: Holders into King's Cup final
Al Hilal overcame Sergej Milinkovic-Savic's red card as Saud Abdulhamid's late goal sealed a 2-1 victory over Al Ittihad in the King's Cup semi-finals.
Without Karim Benzema, Al Ittihad ultimately lacked the firepower to make their numerical advantage count in Tuesday's clash.
Former Lazio midfielder, who joined Al Hilal as part of their spending spree last year, received a straight red card in the 42nd minute.
Al Ittihad's Abderrazzaq Hamed-Allah cancelled out Micheal's opener, but Abdulhamid popped up with the winner in the 81st minute.
Al Hilal are 10-time King's Cup winners, having won their 10th title last season.
The Saudi Pro League leaders, who are still without the injured Neymar, will now face either Al Khaleej or Cristiano Ronaldo's Al Nassr in the final at the end of May.
Data Debrief: Malcom in the middle
Al Hilal might be missing their star Brazilian Neymar, but his compatriot Malcom is delivering when it comes to playmaking.
The former Zenit attacker set up both of Al Hilal's goals, creating three chances in total and registering a pass accuracy of 92.6 per cent, better than any of his team-mates.
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