Valencia moved toward a place in the Copa del Rey quarter-finals and a possible meeting with Real Madrid when Dani Parejo and substitute Roberto Soldado struck in a 2-0 win at CA Osasuna in their round-of-16, first-leg match on Tuesday.
Parejo curled a free-kick past goalkeeper Asier Riesgo two minutes after the break and Soldado scored in the fourth minute of stoppage-time to give the 2008 winners the upper hand ahead of next week’s second leg in Valencia.
The victory at the Estadio Reyno de Navarra in Pamplona made it two wins out of two for Valencia’s new coach Ernesto Valverde, both against Osasuna, who they also beat 1-0 in La Liga at the same venue in his debut on Saturday.
Photo: EPA
Valverde replaced Mauricio Pellegrino, sacked despite leading Valencia into the last 16 of the UEFA Champions League after they made an erratic start to their La Liga campaign.
Copa del Rey holders Barcelona were due to play their round-of-16, first-leg match at second-tier Cordoba yesterday, before holders Real Madrid visited RC Celta de Vigo and Atletico Madrid hosted city rivals Getafe.
Barca’s World Player of the Year Lionel Messi was in the squad for the trip to Andalusia and if the Argentine played he would have the chance to extend his record goals tally of 86 for a calendar year.
Barca and Real are on course to meet in the semi-finals, while Sevilla face a possible semi-final against Atletico, who they beat in the 2009-2010 final.
Sevilla were also due to play yesterday at RCD Mallorca.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
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