■NETHERLANDS
Arsenal rally to beat Ajax
Arsenal rallied from 2-0 down to defeat hosts Ajax 3-2 on the opening day of the Amsterdam four-team tournament on Friday. Inter Milan, under new coach Jose Mourinho, drew 0-0 with Sevilla in the day’s other game. Togo striker Emmanuel Adebayor scored twice for Arsenal and also laid on a goal for Dane Nicklas Bendtner. Coach Arsene Wenger started with his strongest possible team but the Londoners fell behind in the 33rd minute when a headed clearance from Kolo Toure was snapped up by Luis Suarez, who netted with a fierce volley. Suarez then set up Ajax’s second goal for the unmarked Klaas Jan Huntelaar two minutes later. But Arsenal turned the tide with a three-goal blitz in 15 second-half minutes.
■GERMANY
Hertha struggle to advance
Hertha Berlin struggled to overcome fourth-division Eintracht Trier 3-1 in Frankfurt on Friday to reach the second round of the German Cup, and Bochum needed a penalty shootout to edge Preussen Muenster, another fourth-division club. Marko Pantelic gave Berlin an early lead in the eighth minute, but Trier equalized before halftime. Fabian Lustenberger and Patrick Ebert scored after the break to secure the victory for Berlin, which missed a half-dozen starters for various reasons. Bochum was held to a goalless draw in extra time and won the penalty shootout 6-5 to advance.
■FRANCE
Players in violent bust-up
Nantes midfielder Djamel Abdoun was knocked unconscious after being kicked in the head by team-mate Stefan Babovic during a violent dressing-room bust-up on Friday. The players are to receive stiff penalties, said the French first division team’s technical director, Christian Lariepe, without giving further details. Algerian-born Abdoun, 22, started his career at Paris St Germain and was briefly loaned out to Manchester City last year, while Babovic, 21, has been capped by Serbia.
■ENGLAND
Liverpool beat Lazio 1-0
Liverpool, without injured captain Steven Gerrard, beat Lazio 1-0 at Anfield on Friday in a friendly warm-up for next week’s Champions League match with Xabi Alonso in fine form. Liverpool travel to Belgians Standard Liege for the first leg of the third qualifying round on Wednesday and thigh-strain victim Gerrard at this point looks unlikely to feature. Liverpool fans chanted Alonso’s name constantly during the match and the Spaniard responded with a fine all-action display of passing and running. Liverpool were crisp and assertive with Alonso pulling the strings in front of a 43,062 crowd. They made it eight pre-season games unbeaten, the winner coming in injury-time when Andriy Voronin volleyed home from Jay Spearing’s pass.
■GERMANY
Jens Lehmann steps down
Germany’s veteran goalkeeper Jens Lehmann is handing in his international gloves after 10 years’ service, the German soccer federation (DFB) said on Friday. The 38-year-old Lehmann was the oldest player at Euro 2008 in Switzerland and Austria when Germany lost to Spain in the June 29 final. The keeper, who quit Arsenal at the end of last season to join Stuttgart, decided to step down after a discussion with Germany’s national coach Joachim Low and goalkeeping coach Andreas Kopke. Lehmann explained he wanted to give a chance for another keeper to prove himself in time for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
SS Lazio on Monday fired the far-right sympathizer who handles their eagle mascot after he posted online a series of videos and pictures of his erect penis. Falconer Juan Bernabe, who has been present at Lazio home matches with Olimpia the eagle since the 2010-2011 season, posted the footage on social media after having surgery on Saturday to implant a penile prosthesis to improve his sexual performance. Lazio said that they had “terminated, with immediate effect” their relationship with Bernabe “due to the seriousness of his conduct,” adding that they were “shocked” by the images. The Serie A club added that Bernabe’s dismissal
‘TOUGH TO BREATHE’: Tunisian three-time Grand Slam finalist Ons Jabeur suffered an asthma attack in her 7-5, 6-3 victory over Colombia’s Camila Osorio Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday cruised into the second round of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Iga Swiatek romped into a third-round women’s singles showdown with Emma Raducanu and Taylor Fritz was just as emphatic in his pursuit of a maiden Grand Slam title. Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, the third seeds, defeated Slovakia’s Tereza Mihalikova and Olivia Nicholls of Britain 7-5, 6-2 in 90 minutes in Melbourne. Ostapenko and Hsieh — who won the women’s doubles and mixed doubles at the Australian Open last year — hit 25 winners and converted five of nine break points to set
Dubbed a “motorway for cyclists” where avid amateurs can chase Tadej Pogacar up mountains teeming with the highest concentration of professional cyclists per square kilometer in the world, Spain’s Costa Blanca has forged a new reputation for itself in the past few years. Long known as the ideal summer destination for those in search of sun, sea and sand, the stretch of coast between Valencia and Alicante now has a winter vocation too. During the season break in December and January, the region experiences an invasion of cyclists. Star names such as three-time Tour de France winner Pogacar, Remco Evenepoel and Julian Alaphilippe
Hong Kong-based cricket team Hung See this weekend found success in their matches in Taiwan, even if none of the results went their way. Hung See played the Chairman’s XI on Saturday morning, the Daredevils that afternoon and PCCT yesterday, with all three home teams winning. The team for Chinese players at the Happy Valley-based Craigengower Cricket Club sends teams on tour to “spread the game of cricket.” This weekend was Hung See’s second trip to Taiwan after visiting Tainan in 2016. “The club has been traveling to all parts of the world since 1982 and the annual tradition continues [with the Taiwan
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