■SOUTH KOREA
Poisoning claims dismissed
South Korea soccer officials yesterday ridiculed North Korea’s claims that its players were poisoned by Seoul before losing a World Cup qualifier last week. “The North’s claims are groundless,” said Park Il-ki, a Korea Football Association (KFA) official. “The North’s team stayed at a hotel they chose during the game in Seoul. They only had food that their team doctor checked out. Their claims are really far-fetched. How can we be responsible?” The North’s soccer body on Sunday accused Seoul of poisoning its players who lost Wednesday’s match 1-0. North Korea asked for a postponement before the game, saying three players had fallen ill because of food poisoning. FIFA ordered that the game go ahead as scheduled. In Sunday’s statement, the North urged FIFA to review the match. It said the food poisoning “was a product of a deliberate act perpetrated by adulterated foodstuff” and also blasted the referee for disallowing a goal by North Korea. “The match ... turned into a theater of plot-breeding and swindling,” the statement said.
■PORTUGAL
Sporting, Benfica grab wins
Sporting defeated Leixoes 1-0 and Benfica beat Amadora 2-1 on Sunday — with all three goals coming from the penalty spot — as the two Lisbon clubs maintained the pressure on Portuguese leaders FC Porto. Sporting’s Derlei Fernandes scored with a left-footed shot in the 13th minute as Leixoes continued their slide — dropping to seventh. Amadora’s Ney Santos was booked for bringing down Nuno Gomes in the seventh minute and Oscar Cardoza stepped up to convert the penalty for Benfica. Cardoza scored again from the spot in the 15th minute to put Benfica 2-0 up, before Silvestre Varela got one back for the home side in the 29th minute after Hassan Yebda had brought down Nuno Andre Coelho. Orlando Sa, Cesar Peixoto and Alberto Rodriguez all scored second-half goals as Braga beat Setubal 3-0 on Sunday to stay fourth with 40 points. Maritimo drew 1-1 with Trofense and Naval and Pacos Ferreira drew 0-0 in a meeting of teams battling relegation.
■RUSSIA
Zenit down Tomsk, go top
Zenit St Petersburg had a 3-0 away victory at Tomsk on Sunday that shot them to the top of the Russian Premier League table. Zenit dominated the match, but Tomsk defended well, stifling the visitors’ attacking moves while hitting on the counterattack, to keep a clean sheet in the first half. But after the break, the home side paid the price for holding the fort for almost an hour as Zenit upped the tempo and went into the lead through Portuguese defender Fernando Meira, who fired in from close range from a corner. In the 60th minute, midfielder Igor Denisov made it 2-0 for Zenit, firing in from 18m after a Tomsk mix-up in defense. Turkish striker Fatih Tekke rounded off the scoring, sending the ball into an empty net after a razor-sharp pass by Konstantin Zyryanov with seven minutes to go.
■COLOMBIA
Player injured in bus attack
A player was injured and taken to hospital when rival fans pelted Columbian soccer club Deportivo Cali’s bus with missiles as it arrived at the stadium for a match against Millonarios on Sunday. The kick-off was delayed 45 minutes as Deportivo refused to take the field following the injury to Juan Guillermo Dominguez. The team were persuaded by league officials to change their minds. “We want to set a precedent and we are not going to play,” Deportivo Cali’s Sergio Herrera said. Millonarios won 1-0.
Arminia Bielefeld on Tuesday pulled off a major upset in the DFB-Pokal by defeating defending champions Bayer 04 Leverkusen 2-1 in their semi-final. The third-division team came from behind after Jonathan Tah gave the visitors a 17th-minute lead. Marius Worl replied three minutes later and Maximilian Groser scored Bielefeld’s second goal just before the break. The home team looked more likely to add to that tally as the Leverkusen players looked jaded. “I’m just proud of this team,” Bielefeld coach Mitch Kniat said as most of the fans the small stadium sang around him. “No one will sleep in the city tonight.” Patrik Schick went
Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) have shown the team do not need star power to win trophies and with the French Ligue 1 title won with six games to spare, the French champions would look to finish the season without losing, manager Luis Enrique said on Saturday. A 1-0 victory over Angers SCO at the Parc des Princes helped PSG win their fourth straight Ligue 1 title and a record-extending 13th overall. PSG can still break Nantes’ 30-year-old record of 32 games unbeaten. Although Nantes lost one game en route to the title, no French club has ever gone an entire league
THREES KINGS: The Celtics claimed a piece of league history by setting a new record for the number of threes in a season, ending their game with 1,370 Jalen Green and Alperen Sengun on Friday combined for 65 points as the Houston Rockets halted Oklahoma City’s 11-game winning streak with a statement 125-111 victory. In a potential Western Conference finals preview, the Rockets produced a dominant all-round performance to jolt the top-seeded Thunder’s all-conquering preparations for the post-season. Green finished with 34 points from 11-of-24 shooting, while Turkish big man Sengun made 31 points as second-placed Houston improved to 51-27. Oklahoma City grabbed the lead in the opening minutes of the first quarter, but Houston soon knocked the Thunder out of their stride with a physical approach to move into the
RECORD WINNERS: The Catalan club, who are still in contention for a historic quadruple this season, are to face rivals Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey final Barcelona are to face rivals Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey final after Ferran Torres secured them a 1-0 win at Atletico Madrid on Wednesday, progressing 5-4 on aggregate from the semi-final tie. Record 31-time winners Barca had the better of the clash at the Metropolitano after the wild 4-4 first-leg draw. The defeat leaves Diego Simeone’s Atletico with little to play for in the rest of the season. By contrast, the Catalans are on the hunt for a potential quadruple and are unbeaten this year, stretching their run to 21 games without defeat. Atletico were the last team to triumph