Inter remained top of Serie A despite Saturday’s defeat against AS Roma after most of the unlikely chasing pack lost on Sunday, leaving Lazio the main beneficiaries five matches into the season.
It was also a good day for Juventus and their new Serbian winger Milos Krasic, who opened his account for the club with a hat-trick in a 4-2 home win over Cagliari that banished memories of Thursday’s 3-1 loss to Palermo.
Brescia could have surged to the summit but lost 2-1 at Bari and fellow promoted club Cesena also slipped up.
PHOTO: AFP
Stop-start Sampdoria failed to keep pace with a 0-0 home draw against Udinese, who picked up their first point of the season but remained bottom.
Fiorentina also secured their opening win of the campaign with a 2-0 victory over Parma in Florence to ease the pressure on new boss Sinisa Mihajlovic.
Palermo continued their rollercoaster start to the season by coming from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 with Lecce after substitute Massimo Maccarone netted on the rebound in stoppage-time.
■LA LIGA
REUTERS, MADRID
David Trezeguet added to Hercules’ giant-killing reputation in La Liga by scoring both goals in a 2-0 home win over Sevilla that piled the pressure on visiting coach Antonio Alvarez on Sunday.
Atletico Madrid secured a 1-0 home win over basement side Real Zaragoza, Diego Costa’s goal enough to see them through despite them playing the last half hour with 10 men.
Zaragoza grew in confidence, but were unable to make the extra man count and remain rooted to the foot of the standings.
Argentine striker Fernando Cavenaghi scored both goals in Real Mallorca’s 2-0 victory at home to promoted Real Sociedad, while Espanyol and Getafe both won 1-0 against Osasuna and Racing respectively.
■BUNDESLIGA
REUTERS, BERLIN
VfL Wolfsburg’s Brazilian striker Grafite headed two goals to secure a 2-1 home win over Freiburg in the Bundesliga on Sunday, leaving the visitors to rue an extraordinary miss by striker Papiss Demba Cisse.
Hannover 96 went third with 13 points after Mohammed Abdellaoue headed the only goal in the 33rd minute, his fourth of the season, to give them a 1-0 win over promoted Kaiserslautern in the weekend’s final game. Freiburg were unhappy about both Grafite’s goals, complaining that the Brazilian fouled his marker before the first, while the second came from a free-kick taken from the wrong place.
■LIGUE 1
REUTERS, PARIS
Toulouse missed the chance to take top spot in Ligue 1 after being held to a 1-1 draw at home by Lille on Sunday.
Later on Sunday, Paris Saint-Germain climbed to fifth with a 2-0 victory over strugglers Lens, who shot themselves in the foot with an own goal by Yohan Demont four minutes into the second half.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
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