A goal in either half from Brazilian forward Jonas Oliveira reignited Valencia’s UEFA Champions League Group F hopes on Tuesday, cementing a 2-0 win over LOSC Lille Metropole of France.
Valencia started off their campaign with a 2-1 loss at Bayern Munich, but the three points put them right back into the mix.
Jonas bagged his first eight minutes from the break after taking a pass from Roberto Soldado.
Lille, beaten at home by BATE Borisov in their opening fixture, did not wilt, though, and they were almost level three minutes later.
Senegal international Idrissa Gueye fed Dimitri Payet, but his first-time effort just kissed the side netting with Vicente Guaita, who had earlier smothered a long-range drive from Franck Beria, beaten in the Valencia goal.
Soldado should have made it 2-0 just after the hour mark, but he sent a free header over.
However, the hosts made the pressure tell at the Estadio Mestalla when Algerian star Sofiane Feghouli found Jonas, who shrugged off Aurelien Chedjou before flicking a cross shot over veteran Lille goalkeeper Mickael Landreau 14 minutes from time.
To compound the visitors’ misery they had fullback Mathieu Debuchy sent off for a second bookable offense in the closing stages as his frustration boiled over, having already received a first yellow just before the interval for fouling Aly Cissokho.
In Moscow, a last-minute goal by Giorgos Samaras gave Celtic their first ever away win in 21 UEFA Champions League games as they defeated 10-man Spartak Moscow 3-2.
The Greece international headed home to seal a famous win for the Scottish champions — who ended a losing run of 11 successive away Champions League losses since drawing in Barcelona in 2004 — and complete a great second-half comeback.
That had been sparked when trailing 2-1 — thanks to an Emmanuel Emmenike brace — when French referee Tony Chapron sent off Spartak defender Juan Insaurralde just after the hour mark for bringing down Gary Hooper, who had given Celtic the lead early in the first half, and substitute James Forrest equalized 10 minutes later.
“My players played exciting football tonight,” Hoops manager Neil Lennon said. “It’s fantastic that we managed to battle back and win in the second half, as we were playing against very strong opponents.”
In Istanbul, Turkey, Ruben Micael and Osorio Alan scored to give SC Braga a 2-0 win over Galatasaray for the Portuguese team’s first points in Group H.
Galatasaray dominated the match until Micael put the visitors ahead in the 27th minute after Antonio Eder penetrated the Turkish side’s defense and passed the ball to Ruben Amorim, whose shot was blocked by goalkeeper Nestor Fernando Muslera. The ball fell to Micael, who knocked a low shot into the empty net.
“They put us under intense pressure from the first minutes,” Braga manager Jose Peseiro said. “Our defense was strong. We would have liked to have controlled the ball more, [but] I believe it was a deserved win.”
Alan secured the win in the fourth minute of stoppage-time on a counterattack after taking a pass from the left.
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