■SPAIN
Real left with work to do
A brace from Ruud Van Nistelrooy was not enough for Real Madrid on Sunday and left the club with work to do as they lost their Spanish Supercup first leg 3-2 to Valencia. The Dutch hitman opened the scoring for the league champions against the Copa del Rey winners on 14 minutes with a right-footed shot but Juan Manuel Mata and Euro 2008 star David Villa turned things around with quickfire goals just before the hour mark. Van Nistelrooy scored again with 22 minutes remaining but Vicente hit the winner on the night in the 82nd minute, ensuring Real must sweat in the return leg in Madrid. Real, who last year lost the Supercup contest to Sevilla, included Brazilian midfielder Robinho despite persistent talk of a possible move to Chelsea.
■ENGLAND
City star suffers setback
Manchester City forward Valeri Bojinov is set to be out for six months after the Bulgarian snapped his Achilles tendon ahead of Sunday’s 4-2 defeat at Aston Villa. Bojinov, 22, and who suffered a knee ligament injury last season, was injured in the warm-up. “It is a huge blow for Valeri,” City boss Mark Hughes told BBC Sport. “He has had a terrible spell with injury. We are all disappointed for him but he will have to come back again.” Hughes is already shorn of the services of injured pair Benjani Mwaruwari and Darius Vassell and newcomer Jo is at the Olympics, absences which could yet prompt a renewed City bid for Blackburn’s Paraguayan striker Roque Santa Cruz. Bojinov joined City from Fiorentina a year ago but has made only four brief appearances owing to his previous injury misfortune.
■FRANCE
Marseille thrash Auxerre
Olympique Marseille’s inter-season signing from Nice, Bakari Kone, was instrumental in OM’s 4-0 victory over Auxerre at a packed Stade Velodrome on Sunday. Ivory Coast international Kone, transferred to OM before the start of the season, dodged defenders and sent in a precise cross from the right to Mamadou Niang who, with a flick of his head sent it into the net. Later, Marseille’s account was doubled when Auxerre defender Stephane Grichting deflected a Hatem Ben Arfa strike into his own net. Next, Elliot Grandine skilfully evaded defenders and sent in a lob which ended up in the Auxerre goal. Taking a free kick six minutes before time, Marseille’s Dutchman Boudewijn Zenden sent the ball sailing over the wall into the target, the finishing touch to the home side’s quadruple scoreline.
■GERMANY
Stuttgart make winning start
Stuttgart, bidding to dislodge last season’s Bundesliga winners Bayern Munich, got their campaign off to a solid start on Sunday in winning 3-1 away at promoted Borussia Moenchengladbach. With Bayern held to a 2-2 home draw the previous day by old rivals Hamburg the stage was set for Armin Veh’s side to take advantage and his side impressed in securing full points with goals from Thomas Hitzlsperger, Ciprian Marica and Mario Gomez, all before half-time. A Rob Friend consolation on the hour mark was of little cheer to Borussia fans. Veh was delighted by the start to the campaign. “We saw really good football out there today, not least as Gladbach also played in an attacking vein [although] at 3-0 it was essentially all over,” Veh said. In the other Sunday encounter, Eintracht Frankfurt slid to a 2-0 home loss to Hertha Berlin, who bagged the points with Brazilian Raffael and Patrick Ebert on target either side of the break.
Shohei Ohtani on Wednesday homered for the fifth consecutive game, tying a Los Angeles Dodgers franchise record. Yankees star Aaron Judge was the last player to homer in five consecutive games, accomplishing that feat last year. Ohtani, who leads the National League with 37 home runs, homered in the first inning off Minnesota Twins starter Chris Paddack. He hit a slow curveball 134m to center. He carried the bat midway down the first-base line and then did a bat flip. He did not hit a home run later in the game with the Dodgers trailing, but his presence was felt. With two outs
The 2025 International Federation of Bodybuilding and Fitness (IFBB) Mr Universe Chinese Taipei competition began yesterday at Xinzhuang Gymnasium in New Taipei City, with more than 150 athletes showcasing their physiques. It is the first time in 16 years that the IFBB has held a competition in Taiwan, the last being the 2009 World Games in Kaohsiung. The professional bodybuilding contest is bringing together athletes from Taiwan and 16 other countries, including Malaysia, Japan, the US, France and Mexico. IFBB Chinese Taipei president Hsu An-chin said in an interview yesterday that the event came to Taiwan thanks to his lobbying efforts at last
US top seed Taylor Fritz dropped an early yesterday morning marathon to Alejandro Davidovich-Fokina of Spain, while the UK’s Emma Raducanu and Canada’s Leylah Fernandez reached the semi-finals of the ATP and WTA DC Open. World number four Fritz, two points from victory in the ninth game, dropped the last five games in falling to the 26th-ranked Spaniard 7-6 (7/3), 3-6, 7-5 after three hours and five minutes in a match ending just before 2am. Davidovich-Fokina advanced to the semi-final against US fourth seed Ben Shelton, who beat sixth-seeded hometown hero Frances Tiafoe 7-6 (7/2), 6-4. Fritz, who had 20 aces and six
Ben O’Connor won Thursday’s monster Alpine stage to the ski resort of Courchevel as three-time Tour de France champion Tadej Pogacar responded to attacks from Jonas Vingegaard and dropped him to cement his grip on the yellow jersey. With just three stages left before the race ends in Paris, Pogacar looks poised to retain his title, with a comfortable lead of more than 4 minutes over Vingegaard, a two-time champion. Stage 18 featured three extremely difficult ascents, including the 26.4km climb of the Col de La Loze to the finish. At 2,304m, La Loze is the highest summit in this year’s Tour. Two
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