Chelsea moved to the top of their UEFA Women’s Champions League group with a 3-1 win at Twente on Thursday, while record eight-time winners Lyon saw off Wolfsburg.
Sonia Bompastor’s Chelsea, still bidding for a first Champions League title after four semi-final exits and a final defeat since 2018, made it two wins from two in Group B after beating Real Madrid in their opener.
The five-time defending English Women’s Super League (WSL) forged ahead early on, thanks to rising star Agnes Beever-Jones’ first goal in the competition.
Photo: AFP
Japanese forward Maika Hamano caught home goalkeeper Olivia Clark off her line from long range to make it two.
The away side moved further in front with Guro Reiten’s second-half penalty, before Nikee van Dijk grabbed a consolation for Twente.
Chelsea have made a fine start to their first season since long-serving coach Emma Hayes left to become coach of the US women’s national team. They have also won their first three WSL matches.
Earlier, Real Madrid bounced back from their opening loss to Chelsea by thrashing Celtic 4-0 at the the Alfredo Di Stefano Stadium in Madrid.
Scotland international Caroline Weir curled home a brilliant left-footed strike from outside the box into the top corner to give Real Madrid a seventh-minute lead.
The hosts had to wait until the 72nd minute to double their advantage against a stubborn Celtic through Signe Bruun’s header.
Caroline Moller came off the bench and added a third with a 30-yard lob, before Colombian star Linda Caicedo rounded off the scoring with a penalty.
Real Madrid, bidding to avoid a third straight group-stage exit, sit in second place, above Twente on goal difference.
Lyon made it two wins from two in Group A with an impressive 2-0 success at two-time champions Wolfsburg at AOK Stadion in Wolfsburg.
France centre-back Wendie Renard opened the scoring in the eighth minute and US Olympic gold medallist Lindsey Horan scored from the spot in the second period.
Last season’s runners-up Lyon sit behind Roma in the standings on goal difference and are to visit the Italian club next month.
Six different players scored as Roma continued their flying start to Group A with a 6-1 rout of tournament debutants Galatasaray in Istanbul.
Bayern Munich made it two wins from two in Group C with a 2-0 victory away to Serie A Women leaders Juventus.
WSL leaders Man City won 3-2 away to St. Polten courtesy of an 80th-minute winner by Australian striker Mary Fowler. The blues are top of Group D with two wins from two.
Additional reporting by staff writer
Taiwanese runner Lo Wei-ming (羅維銘) broke the record for his age bracket and finished third in this year’s Sri Chinmoy Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race on Monday evening in New York (local time). Running the multi-day footrace for his fourth consecutive year, Asian record holder Lo broke the “age 60 record” by finishing in 45 days, 12 hours, 37 minutes and 55 seconds, according to the organizers. The previous age 60 record of 50 days, 15 hours, 6 minutes and four seconds had been held by British runner William Sichel since 2014. Now in its 28th year, the Sri Chinmoy Self- Transcendence 3100 Mile
Shin Oebori coaches the Fukagawa Hawks youth baseball team in Tokyo, and he is very aware how Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani touches his players. “With Ohtani, the kids think everything is possible,” Oebori said, wrapping up practice yesterday on an all-dirt field set alongside a local Buddhist temple, below an elevated highway, and in the shadow of tall apartment blocks in central Tokyo. “Nothing is impossible with him. A dream is not a dream,” Oebori said, stepping out of the fenced practice field that keeps balls from landing on the temple grounds. None of the players hitting sponge-soft baseball has reached
CRICKET Azhar’s 59 leads Stallions Aashir Azhar’s blazing half-century guided the Taipei Stallions to victory over Taipei Super 11 in the Taiwan Premier League’s Group A at the Yingfeng Cricket Ground in Taipei yesterday. The Stallions were 102-3 and into the 12th over of 20 when Azhar came to the crease. He hit seven sixes and two fours in the 25 deliveries he faced to push his side to 171-5. Gokul Kumar was the star with the ball for Super 11, taking 3-17. In the reply, Deepak Vishnu outscored Azhar with 77 from 50 balls, but nobody else got past 20 as
‘GLOBAL PRESSURE’: LA’s Dave Roberts said that it was difficult to appreciate the ‘pressure on a global scale’ his starter was under ‘pitching for his country’ The Los Angeles Dodgers shelled out US$1 billion for Japanese talent in the off-season and it is paying off in the MLB playoffs. Yoshinobu Yamamoto on Friday outdueled Yu Darvish in a historic post-season matchup of Japanese-born starters, while the Dodgers got home runs from Kike Hernandez and Teoscar Hernandez to beat the San Diego Padres 2-0 and advance to the National League Championship Series. “It’s pretty sweet,” a smiling Freddie Freeman said. Yamamoto allowed two hits over five innings for the win, getting pulled after 63 pitches in a decisive Game 5 between heated NL West rivals who were meeting in a