Granada’s Youseff El Arabi scored a hat-trick to steer the home side to a 3-1 win over Malaga in La Liga on Friday.
Granada forward Yacine Brahimi also shone in his team’s third victory in four league matches by setting up two of El Arabi’s goals after the striker opened three minutes into the second half following an error by Malaga’s defense.
“This one is to take home,” El Arabi said when he was given the ball he had placed in the net three times at the Estadio Nuevo Los Carmenes.
El Arabi was left unmarked to push in a rebound after goalkeeper Willy Caballero denied Fran Rico, who had stolen a poor pass by Malaga defender Marcos Angeleri in front of the penalty area.
Malaga’s Juanmi Jimenez came on in the 54th minute and leveled the score seconds later, but El Arabi then redirected Brahimi’s squared pass to restore the hosts’ lead.
El Arabi scored his third goal in the 77th minute when Brahimi drew the defense, before using a no-look pass to slip the ball back to his striker to fire past Caballero.
Granada provisionally moved level on points with Real Sociedad in seventh place. Malaga, meanwhile, were left midtable and winless in seven away games this season.
Elsewhere on Friday, UD Almeria won 1-0 at CA Osasuna as the promoted club continued their turnaround with a third straight victory.
After starting the season without a win in the first 10 rounds, Almeria have squeaked out a trio of victories by one goal each to escape last place.
Almeria again had in-form striker Rodrigo Rios to thank for the 18th-minute winner with his team-leading seventh goal of the campaign.
Rios got a lot of help from Osasuna goalkeeper Andres Fernandez, who fumbled a corner-kick inside the six-yard box for the striker to toe across the line.
Almeria goalkeeper Esteban Suarez saved teammate Hernan Pellarano from scoring an own-goal in first-half stoppage-time when he reacted in time to stretch and push a deflected ball onto his post.
Sixteen-year-old Jose Garcia debuted for Osasuna as a substitute and almost grabbed the equalizer with an individual effort one minute from time.
“Three for three is great for us. Ten weeks without a win is a long time,” Almeria defender Nelson Tomar said. “The important thing is that the team is feeling more confident because the season is long, especially for a team like us that has just come up.”
Pacesetters Barcelona visit Real Betis Balompie today with a one-point lead over Atletico Madrid, who play at fourth-placed Villarreal.
Real Madrid in third place and trailing Barcelona by six points were due to entertain Sociedad at the Santiago Bernabeu in the capital yesterday.
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