Brazil centerback David Luiz began life with his new club, French champions Paris Saint-Germain, with a 2-1 win in a friendly against Italian side SSC Napoli on Monday in Naples.
The 27-year-old — who cost the French side a reported 50 million euros (US$67 million) when he signed from Chelsea in June — fared better than his national and club captain Thiago Silva, who had to go off in the 13th minute and trudged to the dressing room with his right thigh strapped with ice.
Both only returned to France last week after taking a holiday following the World Cup finals, where Luiz wept openly following the 7-1 humiliation by eventual champions Germany in the semi-finals — Luiz captained the side as Silva was injured — and then lost to the Netherlands in the third-place playoff.
Photo: AFP
Two others who also only recently returned — Argentina’s Ezequiel Lavezzi and Uruguay striker Edinson Cavani — received different reactions from the home crowd for whom they were heroes until they left in 2012 and last year respectively.
Lavezzi — who impressed at the World Cup finals and was arguably Argentina’s most effective player until he went off at halftime in the 1-0 defeat to Germany in the final — went off to a standing ovation, but Cavani was booed and jeered throughout.
Lavezzi’s compatriot Gonzalo Higuain gave Rafael Benitez’s side the lead six minutes into the second half, only for PSG’s Swedish star Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who had come on at the beginning of the second half, to level four minutes later.
Luiz went close to opening his account for PSG with a thunderous header from a corner in the 76th minute, but it went over the bar.
The visitors secured victory with a superb solo effort by Javier Pastore, the Argentine outfoxing several Napoli defenders before slotting home 13 minutes from time.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but