Schalke 04 are up to third in the Bundesliga after Peru’s Jefferson Farfan and Georgia’s Levan Kobiashvili scored in the 2-1 win over Cologne on Sunday, while Hamburg stay top of the league.
Farfan headed Schalke into the lead after just two minutes, but Cologne, who are still chasing their first win of the season since promotion, equalized when Lukas Podolski scored his first league goal since returning from Bayern Munich.
But Schalke took the three points when Kobiashvili scored immediately after the break to pick up their fifth win in seven games.
“I was nervous for the last half hour,” said Schalke coach Felix Magath. “But I am happy that we were able to weather this pressure. For the young team we have I think it was fine today.”
Werder Bremen were held to a 0-0 draw at home to midtable Hanover to leave them sixth.
Hanover’s Florian Fromlowitz, substituting for Germany goalkeeper Robert Enke who is suffering from an infection, denied the hosts on half a dozen occasions.
Bremen laid a second-half siege in the Hanover defense but Per Mertesacker had a point-blank header kicked off the line by defender Steven Cherundolo.
Tim Borowski’s long-range effort flew wide and Marko Marin’s drive was blocked well by Fromlowitz.
The 23-year-old keeper denied Claudio Pizarro’s double strike in the 58th and then blocked the Peruvian’s next effort minutes later.
BACK-TO-BACK: The League One club, which is owned by stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, is sparing no expense to clinch promotion to the Championship Hollywood endings are pricey, even in England’s third division. In pursuit of their third straight promotion, Wrexham AFC splashed some cash at League One rival Reading to secure the services of striker Sam Smith. The Welsh club owned by actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney confirmed the signing of the 26-year-old Smith on Friday. He is one of the top scorers in the third division. The transfer fee was not disclosed, but British media widely reported it to be about ￡2 million (US$2.48 million) — not extravagant, but a hefty price at this level and it would be about the same figure that
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
The Washington Capitals and Winnipeg Jets on Saturday did not disappoint in a thrilling midseason matchup in front of a fired-up sellout crowd of more than 18,500 fans. The top two teams in the NHL delivered with a combined nine goals, including the 877th of Alex Ovechkin’s career to put him 18 back of breaking Wayne Gretzky’s record. That tied the score, the Jets pulled it out in overtime and just about everyone involved got their money’s worth out of the 5-4 game. “We knew how we were both sitting in the standings and both having real good years,” Winnipeg coach Scott
Less than a week after splashing out a world-record fee for Naomi Girma, Chelsea has spent big again to bring England midfielder Keira Walsh back to the English Women’s Super League. Walsh left European champions Barcelona after more than two years to join Chelsea for a reported ￡400,000 (US$496,000) on Friday. Walsh was the world’s most expensive player for two years after moving to Barcelona from Manchester City for a reported ￡400,000 in 2022. That status now belongs to Girma, the US defender who cost Chelsea a reported ￡900,000 to sign from the San Diego Wave. Still, it means 27-year-old Walsh — a technically
RSS