Inter earned a 2-0 victory over AS Livorno thanks to a howler from visiting goalkeeper Francesco Bardi, who is on loan from the San Siro club, and a late Yuto Nagatomo strike in Serie A on Saturday.
Bardi patted a simple-looking Jonathan cross into his own net after half an hour, before Nagatomo sealed the points in stoppage-time for Walter Mazzari’s Inter, who welcomed back 40-year-old Javier Zanetti after seven months out injured.
Inter move on to 25 points, but stay fourth, six points adrift of unbeaten leaders AS Roma, who were playing yesterday. Livorno remain 14th on 12 points.
The Inter fans paid tribute to club president Massimo Moratti, who recently sold a controlling stake to Indonesian businessman Erick Thohir, but saved the loudest cheer of the night for Zanetti, who came on with eight minutes left.
“It’s really emotional. Making a comeback at 40-years-old isn’t easy,” said Zanetti, who has been sidelined since April with an Achilles tendon injury. “I’ve said since the day of my operation I wanted at least one more game in front of my fans. I couldn’t have asked for anything more.”
Inter took the lead with a comical own-goal.
There seemed no danger when Jonathan whipped in a low cross that looked too close to Bardi to cause any problems, but as the goalkeeper stretched down to collect the ball he knocked it backwards into the net.
Zanetti, who came off the bench to rapturous applause, started the move which led to Inter’s late second goal, feeding the ball to Mateo Kovacic, who showed great skill in setting up Nagatomo.
The Japanese midfielder squeezed his shot past Bardi as he moved Inter to 29 goals for the season, equaling the club record after 12 matches set by the Ronaldo-era side and Jose Mourinho’s treble-winning team.
Also on Saturday, a Maxi Lopez penalty in the 30th minute saw Catania beat Udinese 1-0 in a match that left the visitors furious about two spot-kicks denied them after Panagiotis Tachtsidis and Nicola Legrottaglie both appeared to handle the ball.
The victory was Catania’s first under new manager Gigi de Canio and it sees them move on to nine points, level with US Sassuolo and UC Sampdoria, although they remain second from bottom.
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