■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.
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