Villarreal reclaimed third place in the Spanish first division with a 1-0 home win over Champions League rivals Sevilla on Sunday, with Brazilian striker Nilmar’s ninth league goal of the season sealing victory.
Nilmar, the club’s record signing at 11 million euros (US$14.6 million), struck on 29 minutes as Villarreal made it 19 points from 21 at home and climbed back into third after Espanyol had temporarily gone a point above them with a 1-0 home win over Sporting Gijon.
Espanyol sit two points behind Villarreal, maintaining their 100 percent home record with a 1-0 win over Sporting Gijon at the Cornella-El Prat Stadium.
Relegation rivals Almeria and Real Zaragoza shared the spoils in a 1-1 draw.
In other matches, Malaga moved out of the bottom three with a thumping 4-1 home win over Racing Santander on Sunday.
Elsewhere, promoted Real Sociedad defeated Athletic Bilbao 2-0 to win the first Basque derby since the 2006 to 2007 season.
At the top, champions Barcelona stayed two points clear of Real Madrid with a 3-0 win at Osasuna on Saturday thanks to a Lionel Messi brace.
LIGUE 1
AFP, PARIS
In Sunday’s late game, an 89th-minute header by Fernando earned Bordeaux a 2-2 draw at Saint-Etienne that prevented the hosts from recording their first win in nine matches.
Bordeaux climb two places to eighth, while Les Verts remain 11th.
Earlier, Senegal striker Moussa Sow claimed a hat-trick as Lille returned to the top of the standings with an extraordinary 6-3 win at home to Lorient in their rearranged game.
SERIE A
AFP, ROME
Fabio Quagliarella suffered a Frank Lampard moment on Sunday when he had a perfectly good goal ruled out in Juventus’s 3-1 win at Catania when officials failed to spot his shot had crossed the line.
Quagliarella unleashed a 43rd-minute drive from a Milos Krasic pass that crashed against the crossbar before bouncing behind the line and back into play in a replay of Lampard’s effort in England’s World Cup defeat to Germany.
Quagliarella got on the scoresheet just before the break after being freed by Vincenzo Iaquinta and he made it 3-1 on the hour mark as Juventus moved on to 27 points, six behind leaders AC Milan.
Goalkeeper Julio Sergio allowed a long-range effort from Davide Moscardelli to slip through his grasp just after the hour. And with seven minutes remaining, Pablo Granoche slotted home the equalizer for Chievo before Roma’s misery was compounded when skipper Daniele De Rossi was sent off for a reckless lunge on Moscardelli.
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