■ FRANCE
Rennes stay in sixth place
Goals from Carlos Bocanegra and Jimmy Briand earned Rennes a 2-0 victory over Auxerre in Ligue 1 on Sunday to keep them firmly in the race for a European spot. Bocanegra headed in a cross from Mickael Pagis in the ninth minute and Briand tucked home another cross from Pagis in the 36th minute to keep Rennes in sixth place. Araujo Ilan struck twice to lead St Etienne to a 2-1 comeback victory over Nantes. The Brazilian striker converted a penalty in the 11th minute after Guillaume Moullec handled the ball and then picked his spot from 27m to fire into the top corner in the 30th minute. Croatia forward Ivan Klasnic had given Nantes a sixth minute lead, nodding in a free-kick from Frederic Da Rocha and teammate Yohann Poulard nearly equalized for Nantes in the 80th minute with a header that struck the crossbar. St Etienne moved out of the relegation zone with the win. Last-place Le Havre came back from a goal down to beat fellow relegation battlers Sochaux 2-1.
■ PORTUGAL
Benfica stay behind Porto
Pablo Aimar and Costas Katsouranis scored on Sunday to help Benfica beat Naval 2-1 and hold on to second place. Aimar set Benfica on the way to their first away win for three months by firing home in the third minute after the Naval defense failed to clear a free-kick by Jose Antonio Reyes. Naval equalized in the 53rd minute through substitute Marcelinho’s angled shot, only for Katsouranis to head home following another Reyes free-kick in the 74th minute. Benfica, aiming to win the title for the first time since 2005, trail defending champions Porto by two points. Also on Sunday it was Amadora 2, Braga 2; Academica 1, Trofense 0; and Guimaraes 3, Belenenses 1.
■ GREECE
Violence overshadows draw
League leaders Olympiakos played out a goalless draw at PAOK Thessaloniki on Sunday in a match that was overshadowed by violent clashes between fans and police. Seven riot police and five PAOK fans were injured in clashes that flared outside the stadium both before and after the game. Supporters threw rocks, bottles and firebombs at police, who responded with tear gas. PAOK fans had been angered by what they claimed was bad refereeing in a Greek Cup game between the two sides last Wednesday. Also on Sunday, it was Thrasivoulos 1, Ergotelis 3; OFI 0, Levadiakos 2; Panserraikos 1, AEK 5; and Xanthi 1, Panthrakikos 0.
■ BRAZIL
Ronaldo grabs equalizer
Brazilian striker Ronaldo scored his first goal for Corinthians on Sunday having played for the first time in more than a year last week following a serious knee injury. The 32-year-old World Cup winner and three-time FIFA World Player of the Year came on after an hour in the 1-1 draw against Sao Paulo. Ronaldo headed home in the second minute of injury-time for the equalizer to send the supporters into frenzied celebrations.
■ RUSSIA
CSKA edge Rubin Kazan
CSKA Moscow edged Rubin Kazan 2-1 in extra-time to lift the Russian Super Cup on Sunday, Tomas Necid’s late volley securing victory in the traditional curtain-raiser for the league season. Lithuanian defender Deividas Semberas slotted home a rebound to give CSKA the lead in the 43rd minute at the Luzhniki Stadium, before Roman Sharanov equalized for the league champions after an hour. The teams remained locked in a stalemate until second-half substitute Necid scored the winning goal in the 113th minute.
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and partner Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia yesterday advanced to the women’s doubles final at the Australian Open after defeating New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe and Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada 7-6 (7/3), 3-6, 6-3 in their semi-final. Hsieh has won nine Grand Slam doubles titles and has a shot at a 10th tomorrow, when the Latvian-Taiwanese duo are to play Taylor Townsend of the US and Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic in the championship match at the A$96.5 million (US$61 million) outdoor hard court tournament at Melbourne Park. Townsend and Siniakova eliminated Russian pair Diana Shnaider and Mirra Andreeva 6-7
Manchester City have reached do-or-die territory in the UEFA Champions League earlier than expected ahead of what Pep Guardiola has described as a “final” against Club Brugge today. City have disproved the suggestion a new format to Europe’s top club competition would remove any jeopardy for the top clubs as Guardiola stares down the barrel of failing to make the Champions League knockout stages for the first time in his career. The English champions have endured a torrid season both in their English Premier League title defense and on the continent. A run of one win in 13 games, which included Champions League
FINAL WEEK LOOMS: PSG rose to 22nd place to set up another tense challenge against 24th-placed Stuttgart, while Man City require victory against Club Brugge Manchester City are on the brink of a humiliating UEFA Champions League exit after a stunning loss to Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday, while Real Madrid is no longer at risk after routing Salzburg. Man City blew a two-goal lead in a high-stakes clash of super-wealthy underachievers that PSG won 4-2 in Paris, who could still be eliminated alongside the English champions after the final round of games next week. Only the top 24 in the 36-team standings are to advance. Man City, the 2023 champions, are in 25th place, but could squeeze into the knockout playoffs round by beating Club Brugge. “We will
Things are somewhat out of control at the Australian Open this year, and that has only a little to do with the results on the courts. Yes, there were some upsets, including Madison Keys eliminating No. 2 Iga Swiatek in the women’s singles semi-finals on Thursday. It also was the first time since 1990 that three teenagers beat top-10 men’s seeds at a Grand Slam tennis tournament. The loser of one of those matches, Daniil Medvedev, got fined US$76,000 for behaving badly. Last year’s women’s singles runner-up exited in the first round. However, the real fuss is happening elsewhere. The rowdy fans, for one
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