Cristiano Ronaldo propelled Manchester United closer to defending their Premier League title yesterday, scoring twice in a 4-1 victory over West Ham United.
The Red Devils were racing to victory after Ronaldo took his tally to 40 goals in all competitions with strikes in the third and 24th minutes, before Carlos Tevez added a third against his former club in the 26th.
But Dean Ashton pulled one back two minutes later and United were reduced to 10 men in the 37th when Nani was ejected for headbutting Hammers captain Lucas Neill.
Former West Ham midfielder Michael Carrick secured the win in the 59th, giving United a three-point lead over title rivals Chelsea, who play Newcastle tomorrow.
momentum
United seemed to have maintained the momentum from Tuesday’s Champions League semi-final win over Barcelona, with the unchanged team exhibiting no signs of exertion.
Ronaldo took the ball near the sideline and went passed West Ham captain Lucas Neill before cutting into the area from the right and unleashing a shot which deflected off defender George McCartney into the bottom of the net.
More erratic defending gifted Ronaldo his second — and 30th league goal.
Owen Hargreaves whipped in a cross, which went past center-backs James Tomkins and John Pantsil, allowing Ronaldo to divert the ball past Robert Green.
Two minutes later, Tevez beat Green from long-range with a dipping strike to pile the misery on his former side.
But the Londoners almost immediately pulled one back when United defender Wes Brown sent Bobby Zamora’s cross looping back into the path of Dean Ashton. Despite Rio Ferdinand almost clinging to him, the England striker executed an overhead kick from close range past Edwin van der Sar.
Blip
Despite the blip, United were cruising to victory — until Nani was sent off for headbutting Neill.
Sir Alex Ferguson’s side kept its fluidity after the break, and Carrick picked up the ball from just beyond the halfway line and progressed 20m before cracking in a low shot from 30m which Neill’s boot diverted into the bottom of the net.
Ryan Giggs replaced Park Ji-sung in the 61st, putting him two appearances away from surpassing Sir Bobby Charlton’s club-record 758 games, with a match against Wigan and the Champions League final in Moscow remaining this season.
Until club statisticians delved into the archives this week, it had always been thought that Charlton had turned out 759 times, but they discovered that the England World Cup winner had missed an FA Cup game in January 1962 with influenza.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB