Barcelona and Inter on Wednesday won again in the UEFA Champions League, although both former title holders are looking up in the standings toward upstart newcomer Stade Brestois 29.
Aston Villa started the week atop the 36-team table, but their winning run ended after a bizarre penalty was awarded when defender Tyrone Mings picked up the ball in the area during their game against Club Brugge, resulting in a 1-0 loss that sent the Premier League club plummeting to eighth place.
Barcelona’s blistering scoring form continued in a 5-2 win against Red Star Belgrade — a seventh straight win since the start of last month at a rate of four goals per game.
Photo: Reuters
Robert Lewandowski scored twice and has 21 this season.
Inter stifled Arsenal in a 1-0 win at San Siro sealed by Hakan Calhanoglu’s penalty in first-half stoppage-time.
Inter are unbeaten on 10 points and in fifth place, one below Brest, who won 2-1 against Sparta Prague.
Photo: EPA-EFE
The French debutants look sure to advance to the knockout phase starting in February next year.
Atalanta BC won 2-0 against VfB Stuttgart to stay unbeaten on eight points, while Salzburg got their first goals and points in a 3-1 win against Feyenoord.
Shakhtar Donetsk playmaker Heorhiy Sudakov had a fine assist and an even better goal in a 2-1 win for the Ukrainian champions against Young Boys.
Photo: AFP
Shakhtar’s No. 10 showed why he is expected to be the club’s next big-money sale.
Liverpool, who on Tuesday routed Bayer 04 Leverkusen 4-0, lead the standings at the midway point of the eight-round program.
Liverpool are the only team with four straight wins, while five teams have four losses. They are Leipzig, Sturm Graz, Young Boys, Red Star and Slovan Bratislava.
Two Italian teams — Inter and Atalanta — have yet to concede a goal in four games. Another Italian side, Bologna, are the only team with no goals scored.
Villa had led the standings in the new league-phase format after three straight wins without conceding a goal — and it took a bizarre incident before goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez was eventually beaten.
Mings was punished for picking up the ball when Martinez seemed to restart play with a goal-kick passed forward to his teammate.
Mings walked a couple steps to gather the ball with his left hand and returned to place it in the box.
“It’s the biggest mistake I witnessed in my career,” Villa coach Unai Emery said. “It has only happened one time in all my life. Today.”
Brugge captain Hans Vanaken placed the 52nd-minute spot-kick to Martinez’s left as the FIFA World Cup-winning Argentina goalkeeper dived to his right.
Hong Kong-based cricket team Hung See this weekend found success in their matches in Taiwan, even if none of the results went their way. Hung See played the Chairman’s XI on Saturday morning, the Daredevils that afternoon and PCCT yesterday, with all three home teams winning. The team for Chinese players at the Happy Valley-based Craigengower Cricket Club sends teams on tour to “spread the game of cricket.” This weekend was Hung See’s second trip to Taiwan after visiting Tainan in 2016. “The club has been traveling to all parts of the world since 1982 and the annual tradition continues [with the Taiwan
‘TOUGH TO BREATHE’: Tunisian three-time Grand Slam finalist Ons Jabeur suffered an asthma attack in her 7-5, 6-3 victory over Colombia’s Camila Osorio Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday cruised into the second round of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Iga Swiatek romped into a third-round women’s singles showdown with Emma Raducanu and Taylor Fritz was just as emphatic in his pursuit of a maiden Grand Slam title. Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, the third seeds, defeated Slovakia’s Tereza Mihalikova and Olivia Nicholls of Britain 7-5, 6-2 in 90 minutes in Melbourne. Ostapenko and Hsieh — who won the women’s doubles and mixed doubles at the Australian Open last year — hit 25 winners and converted five of nine break points to set
HARD TO SAY GOODBYE: After Coco Gauff dispatched Belinda Bencic in the fourth round, she wrote ‘RIP TikTok USA’ and drew a broken heart on a television camera lens Defending champion Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while compatriot Chan Hao-ching on Saturday dominated her opponents in the second round, as world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka swept into the quarter-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia toppled Hungary’s Timea Babos and Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US 6-4, 6-3, hitting 24 winners and converting three of seven break points in 1 hour, 18 minutes at 1573 Arena. Although rivals at last year’s Australian Open — where Hsieh and Belgium’s Elise Mertens beat Ostapenko and Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Kichenok 6-1, 7-5
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Coco Gauff’s dreams of a first women’s singles title in Melbourne were crushed in the quarter-finals by Paula Badosa. World No. 2 Alexander Zverev was ruffled by a stray feather in his men’s singles quarter-final, but he refocused to beat 12th seed Tommy Paul and reach the semi-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia defeated Elena-Gabriela Ruse of Romania and Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine 6-2, 5-7, 7-5 in 2 hours, 20 minutes to advance the semi-finals. Hsieh and Ostapenko converted eight of 14 break
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