Ronaldinho inspired 10-man AC Milan to only their third win of the season with a come-from-behind 2-1 success against AS Roma at the San Siro on Sunday. While the first half in Milan belonged to Roma’s French winger Jeremy Menez, it was Ronaldinho who starred after the break, scoring one and creating the other before captain Massimo Ambrosini was sent off late on.
The visitors went in front with a helping hand from Milan center-back Thiago Silva as Menez pounced on his fluffed back pass on three minutes before beating goalkeeper Dida.
Milan needed a helping hand to get back into the match and they got it with a contentious penalty after Nesta crumbled under Nicolas Burdisso’s challenge in the box.
PHOTO: EPA
Ronaldinho despatched the penalty on 56 minutes and the winner came from a moment of quality on 67 minutes as Ronaldinho’s long diagonal ball found Pato, whose control on his chest was sublime and took John Arne Riise out of play before he rounded Doni and slotted home.
Roma coach Claudio Ranieri was unhappy about the penalty but blamed his players for the defeat.
Meanwhile, Sampdoria lost ground on Inter at the top when they were held to a 1-1 draw at Lazio, in a game where both teams finished with 10 men.
Sampdoria needed a win to join Inter on 19 points at the top but despite taking the lead through Giampaolo Pazzini, they were pegged back by a goal from Francesco Matuzalem.
But Sampdoria coach Luigi Delneri was furious that two penalty appeals in the last five minutes were turned down, the first when Fernando Muslera came out and punched Pazzini in the head after the striker beat him to the ball and the second when Mobido Diakite barged Reto Ziegler.
Pazzini was taken to hospital and onfield TV pictures seemed to show he had a broken nose.
Also on Sunday, it was:
• Catania 2, Cagliari 1
• Chievo Verona 1, Bari 2
• Livorno 1, Palermo 2
• Napoli 2, Bologna 1
• Parma 1, Siena 0
• Udinese 1, Atalanta 3
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