Vitor Roque on Friday scored on his home debut as Real Betis Balompie left it late to overcome newly promoted CD Leganes 2-0 in La Liga.
Betis had never lost in four previous home encounters with Leganes and although they were on top for most of the match, they had to wait until the last quarter to secure all three points.
Moroccan winger Abde Ezzalzouli finally broke the deadlock with 16 minutes remaining when he turned home a cutback from Hector Bellerin.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Substitute Roque made sure of the win four minutes from time. The 19-year-old Brazilian, who joined on loan from Barcelona, was on hand to bundle the loose ball home when Juan Soriano parried Ezzalzouli’s curling shot.
“I never imagined I’d score on my home debut,” Roque said. “Not in my wildest dreams did I expect to start this way.”
The result left Betis in ninth place before the rest of the weekend’s games, two points above Leganes.
LIGUE 1
AP
AS Saint-Etienne on Friday finally got some points on the board four games into the Ligue 1 season with a surprise 1-0 win over high-flying OSC Lille.
The 10-time French champions started on the bottom of Ligue 1 with no points and no goals from their first three games, but led Lille after just six minutes and stayed in front.
Visiting Lille had most of the possession and most of the shots on goal, but the home side survived to lift themselves off the bottom of the 18-team table and into 15th place.
BUNDESLIGA
AP, BERLIN
Heidenheim’s dream rise to the top of the Bundesliga came to an abrupt halt on Friday after losing against Borussia Dortmund 4-2.
Heidenheim were the surprise league leaders after two wins in their first two games, but they were overcome by a home side who had Karim Adeyemi in fine form.
The win took Borussia ahead of their opponents and into first place in the Bundesliga ahead of the rest of the weekend’s games.
Taiwan kept its hopes of advancing to the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome last night, backed by solid pitching. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. The win was crucial for Taiwan, as a loss would have eliminated the team from contention for the next WBC. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen (沙子宸) struck out one and allowed no hits, except for
The Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) is considering reducing its pitch clock by two seconds to help players better adjust to the rules applied at the World Baseball Classic (WBC). The proposal aims to shorten the pitch timer from 25 seconds to 23 seconds with the bases empty, and from 20 seconds to 18 seconds with runners on base. Currently, the WBC mandates that pitchers deliver a pitch every 18 seconds with the bases empty and 15 seconds with runners on base. The issue was raised during a pre-season CPBL managers’ meeting on Tuesday by Rakuten Monkeys bench and batting
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