■FRANCE
Leaders lose to Rennes
Girondins Bordeaux saw their lead at the top of Ligue 1 cut to three points after going down 4-2 at Stade Rennes on Saturday. A goal after three minutes by Sylvain Marveaux, a penalty by Jimmy Briand and then a fine strike by Ismael Bangoura just after the break gave Rennes a comfortable lead, before Bordeaux fought back with goals from Yoan Gouffran and Brazilian Wendel. A superb goal in the 78th minute by Rennes’ Ghana striker Asamoah Gyan, freshly returned from the Africa Cup of Nations, sealed victory for the Breton side. Earlier in the day, second-placed Montpellier cut the gap at the top with a 2-0 win at second-from-bottom Boulogne-sur-Mer through goals from Souleymane Camara and Victor Montano. Surprise package Montpellier are now looking increasingly confidently toward European competition next year. Bordeaux, still on course for an unprecedented French triple of league and cup triumphs, lead the table with 48 points, ahead of Montpellier on 45 with third-placed Lille, who drew 1-1 at Nice, on 41. Paris Saint-Germain slid to 15th after going down 3-0 to Lorient. Bottom club Grenoble recorded a shock 5-0 win over sixth-placed Auxerre.
■NETHERLANDS
PSV go three points clear
PSV Eindhoven marched three points clear at the top of the Dutch league with a 2-0 home win over third from bottom ADO Den Haag on Saturday. Mexican Francisco Rodriguez opened the scoring after 16 minutes when he nodded in a corner from Balazs Dzsudzsak at the near post and Ola Toivonen netted a rebound after the break to make sure of victory. PSV have 58 points from 22 matches, three ahead of Twente Enschede. Fifth-placed Heracles Almelo fought back from two goals down to beat nine-man Groningen 4-3. Groningen went 3-1 up thanks to two goals from Thomas Enevoldsen and one by Morten Nordstrand, but red cards for Gibril Sankoh and Leandro Bacuna early in the second half gave Heracles hope. Bas Dost grabbed his second goal of the match for the home team in the 72nd minute, before Willy Overtoom leveled and Birger Maertens scored the winner with a minute left. Elsewhere, Heerenveen beat Utrecht 2-0 and Roda JC Kerkrade overcame Sparta Rotterdam 2-1.
■PORTUGAL
Benfica held at Setubal
Benfica moved four points clear of Braga at the top of the Portuguese league after drawing 1-1 at Setubal on Saturday. Ricardo Silva’s early goal for Benfica was equaled by David Luz in the 38th minute. Benfica could have taken three points after being awarded a penalty in stoppage-time, but Oscar Cardozo hit the bar. Braga, with two games in hand, visits Belenenses today. Also on Saturday, fourth-placed Sporting lost 2-1 to 11th-placed Academica.
■GREECE
AEK rally to beat Xanthi
Ismael Blanco scored twice on Saturday to help AEK overcome an early deficit and beat visiting Xanthi 3-1. Leonardo scored AEK’s other goal. Mugurel Buga had given Xanthi the lead. The victory moved AEK into fourth place with 33 points after 21 games, 16 points behind leaders Panathinaikos and 10 behind Olympiakos and PAOK. The game between Aris Thesaloniki and Panthrakikos was suspended at the end of the first half when referee Christos Mitsios decided that heavy rain had made the waterlogged pitch unplayable. Panthrakikos were leading 1-0 after a 42nd-minute goal by Fotis Papoulis. The second half was scheduled to be played yesterday afternoon. Also on Saturday, Kavala beat Giannena 1-0.
LOW-GOAL SHOOT-OUT: Of the nine penalties in the shoot-out, only three went in, with Flamengo’s Samuel Lino, and Vitinha and Nuno Mendes of PSG netting Matvei Safonov on Wednesday made four straight penalty saves in a penalty shoot-out to help Paris Saint-Germain beat Flamengo in the Intercontinental Cup final and win a sixth trophy of the year. The Russian goalkeeper was thrown in the air by his teammates after his exploits in the shoot-out, which was won 2-1 by PSG after a 1-1 draw after extra-time. It completed a trophy-laden 12 months for the French team, who had already won the Trophee des Champions, Ligue 1, the Coupe de France, the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Super Cup — also on penalties against Tottenham Hotspur in
TOOTHLESS: Bologna never looked like finding a way back, and Antonio Conte and his substitutes were waiting to celebrate long before the final whistle SSC Napoli on Monday lifted the Italian Supercoppa with a 2-0 win over Bologna in Riyadh, David Neres netting both goals to earn the league champions a deserved victory over the toothless Coppa Italia winners. Neres opened the scoring with a stunning strike from distance six minutes before halftime and found the net again in the 57th minute when Bologna were caught trying to play out of defense. “We came here as champions of Italy, we wanted this trophy and we showed it with a great performance,” Napoli forward Matteo Politano told Mediaset. “We could have scored a few more goals, but
LACKLUSTER FIGHT: At one stage, the referee lost patience with the two fighters, warning them in the fourth round that ‘the fans did not pay to see this crap’ Former world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua on Friday knocked out YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul in their controversial Netflix-backed bout in Miami. The fight at the Kaseya Center, which saw both men reportedly splitting a mammoth purse of US$184 million, had triggered alarm across boxing due to the gulf in physical size and class between Britain’s two-time former world champion Joshua and Paul, an Internet personality who has forged a lucrative career through a handful of novelty boxing contests. However, in the event, Joshua made hard work of defeating his vastly less accomplished opponent, before his superior size and power eventually told
Fulham on Monday climbed away from the English Premier League relegation zone and left Nottingham Forest mired in the fight for survival after Raul Jimenez’s penalty sealed a 1-0 win. Marco Silva’s side started the day just two points above fourth-bottom Forest, but Jimenez’s first-half goal at Craven Cottage moved them 10 points clear of the bottom three. While Fulham’s relegation fears were eased heading into the Christmas schedule, Forest are just five points ahead of third-bottom West Ham United in the scrap to avoid crashing into the Championship. Forest had won six of their previous eight games in all competitions, with a
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