English Premier League leaders Liverpool salvaged a 2-2 draw at home to Fulham despite trailing twice and having Andy Robertson sent off after 17 minutes as chasing Arsenal were left to rue being held to 0-0 stalemate at home to Everton.
Diogo Jota scored an 86th minute equalizer at Anfield as Arne Slot’s side avoided a second league defeat of the season.
They have 36 points from 15 games, five more than Chelsea, while Arsenal’s failure to score at home for the first time this season left them still six points off the pace having played one game more than the two sides above them.
Photo: AFP
Newcastle United returned to form in emphatic style as they thrashed Leicester City 4-0 with Jacob Murphy scoring twice.
At the bottom, the pressure increased on Wolverhampton Wanderers manager Gary O’Neil as his side lost 2-1 at home to fellow strugglers Ipswich Town.
There are good draws and bad draws, and Liverpool’s would definitely feel like the former, as they emerged from a difficult afternoon with minimal damage at Anfield.
Photo: Reuters
Liverpool got off to the worst possible start as Fulham took the lead in 11th minute through Andreas Pereira’s stretching volley and then left back Robertson was dismissed, after a long Video Assistant Referee check, for denying Harry Wilson a goalscoring opportunity.
Cody Gakpo’s diving header from a Mohamed Salah cross brought Liverpool level straight after halftime and they were chasing the win when Rodrigo Muniz stunned the hosts to put Fulham back in front after 76 minutes.
However, Jota came off the bench in the 79th minute for his first appearance since October because of injury and slotted past goalkeeper Bernd Leno in the 86th to salvage a point.
Photo: AFP
Arsenal failed to score at home for the first time since April as they could not find a way through a blue Everton barricade at The Emirates.
Despite overwhelming pressure, they lacked attacking spark and even when they did get a sight of goal England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford proved unflappable, making great saves from Bukayo Sako, Martin Odegaard and Gabriel Martinelli.
LA LIGA
Reuters, MADRID
Real Madrid paid for defensive mistakes as they were held to a 3-3 draw at lowly local rivals Rayo Vallecano on Saturday, missing the chance to move above leaders Barcelona in Spanish LaLiga.
Real are second on 37 points from 17 matches, one behind Barca. Rayo are 13th with 20 points.
Already missing France captain Kylian Mbappe with a leg muscle injury, Real manager Carlo Ancelotti decided to rest Vinicius Jr from the start and Rayo Vallecano took a two-goal lead in the first half thanks to mistakes.
Rayo stunned the champions with a goal after four minutes on counter when Jorge de Frutos ran past Fran Garcia before crossing to the unmarked Unai Lopez whose header at the far post beat goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois.
They extended their lead when Abdul Mumin was left alone behind Lucas Vazquez and nodded home from a corner in the 36th.
However, a thunderous Federico Valverde strike from long range got Real back in the game three minutes later with Rodrygo finding Jude Bellingham who netted a first-time effort from inside the box to level just before the break.
The Brazilian in the 56th gave Real the lead with a deflected strike from the edge of the area.
Ancelotti brought on Vinicius Jr to provide a spark Real were missing and Batalla made a fine save to deny him, with Arda Guler having a goal ruled out for offside minutes later.
Ancelotti’s side tried to push for the win, but Batalla denied efforts from Vinicius and substitute Endrick, with Ruediger missing a clear chance late on as Real had to settle for a draw that could prove costly in the title race.
BUNDESLIGA
AFP, MAINZ, Germany
Two goals from Lee Jae-sung lifted Mainz to a shock 2-1 home win over Bayern Munich on Saturday, handing manager Vincent Kompany his first league loss.
Lee scored in each half against an uncharacteristically poor Bayern, who are now just four points clear after Bayer 04 Leverkusen’s 2-0 win at Augsburg.
Union Berlin drew 1-1 at home against last-placed VfL Bochum in a game suspended by about half an hour after the visiting goalkeeper was hit by an object thrown from the crowd.
Bochum, were reduced to 10 men when Koji Miyoshi was red carded 13 minutes in, took the lead through Ibrahima Sissoko despite the deficit 10 minutes later. Union levelled things up through Benedict Hollerbach in the 33rd minute, but were unable to take advantage against their undermanned opponents.
With the game in stoppage time and Union pushing, Patrick Drewes was hit by what appeared to be a cigarette lighter, with the referee ordering the players off the pitch.
When they returned, both sides kicked the ball between themselves until the clock wound down, apparently in agreement not to attack after the incident.
Bochum striker Philipp Hofmann, who replaced Drewes between the sticks, said the incident was “a shame on an otherwise likeable club.”
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
After fleeing Sudan when civil war erupted, Al-Hilal captain Mohamed Abdelrahman and his teammates have defied the odds to reach the CAF Champions League quarter-finals. They are today to face title-holders Al-Ahly of Egypt in Cairo, with the return match in the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott, on Tuesday next week. Al-Hilal and biggest domestic rivals Al-Merrikh relocated to Mauritania after a power struggle broke out in April 2023 between the Sudanese army and a paramilitary force. The civil war has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced more than 12 million people, according to the UN. The Democratic Republic of the Congo-born Al-Hilal
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
RSS