Manchester United and Aston Villa paid a heavy price for having men sent off on in the English Premier League on Sunday, with United losing a tight derby to Manchester City and Villa surrendering a lead in a defeat by Tottenham Hotspur.
Sergio Aguero condemned United manager Louis van Gaal to a 1-0 defeat in his first Manchester derby after defender Chris Smalling saw red for the visitors before halftime.
Villa scored a first goal in six games to take the lead at home to Tottenham, but then had Belgian striker Christian Benteke dismissed for a moment’s indiscipline and conceded two late goals to go down 2-1.
Photo: AFP
The Manchester clubs’ 151st league meeting was decided by a goal from Argentina’s Aguero in the 63rd minute.
With Rafael da Silva missing the game, Smalling sent off and then Marcos Rojo forced off in the second half with a shoulder injury, a makeshift United defense comprising Antonio Valencia, Michael Carrick and teenagers Paddy McNair and Luke Shaw came under increasing pressure.
The surprise was that City were pushed back and suddenly looked edgy once they had scored.
In the end, champions City were pleased to hang on for a fourth successive league win over their neighbors — the first time that has happened since 1970.
The other depressing historical note for Van Gaal was that he has now presided over United’s worst start to a season since 1986-1987, when Ron Atkinson was sacked and Alex Ferguson appointed.
Smalling picked up a foolish yellow card for raising his foot in attempting to block a clearance by City goalkeeper Joe Hart, then seven minutes before halftime he clearly fouled James Milner and was dismissed.
“I didn’t see the first yellow, but as a player if you know you have a yellow card you have to deal with that problem,” Van Gaal said. “I don’t think he dealt with it very smartly.”
United, who brought on Carrick for his first appearance of the season after a long injury, could have conceded two penalties before the interval, but referee Michael Oliver gave them the benefit of the doubt as City appealed for apparent fouls against Aguero and Yaya Toure.
The visitors were then forced into another defensive change when Rojo dislocated his shoulder and was replaced by 19-year-old Northern Irish centerback McNair.
Ten minutes later Toure’s pass sent Gael Clichy to the byline and he cut the ball back for Aguero to hook in his 10th league goal of the season.
United pushed forward and finally threatened with chances for Robin van Persie, Angel di Maria and Marouane Fellaini.
City were relieved to hear the final whistle.
“You miss a couple of chances and seem to lose a little control,” City captain Vincent Kompany told Sky Sports. “They played well towards the end, but we stayed strong for a clean sheet.”
Wayne Rooney, back in the United side after suspension, added: “Our pace caused them problems and they were panicking towards the end.”
While City are not firing on all cylinders, manager Manuel Pellegrini believes they can easily make up a six-point deficit on leaders Chelsea, just as they did to Arsenal a year ago.
“We have 28 more games to play, so nobody knows what will happen,” Pellegrini said.
Villa boss Paul Lambert was upset with the decision to send off Benteke — a major turning point in the match — after a melee involving Tottenham’s Ryan Mason.
“I’m not condoning what Christian did, as you can’t raise your hands, but he was provoked as well,” Lambert told Sky Sports.
Villa scored for the first time since Sept. 13 through Austrian Andreas Weimann in the 15th minute.
Fortunes changed after Benteke was dismissed. In the last 10 minutes Nacer Chadli equalized and just before stoppage-time substitute Harry Kane, who had replaced Emmanuel Adebayor, drove in a free-kick that was deflected in off Nathan Baker.
It was Kane’s first league goal of the season, to add to eight in the UEFA Europa League and League Cup.
OUT AGAINST INDONESIA: Taiwan reached the semi-finals at the tournament for the first time by defeating Denmark, with Chou Tien-chen beating Viktor Axelsen Taiwan yesterday crashed out of the Thomas Cup team competition in Chengdu, China, but achieved their best result at the top-tier badminton event by reaching the semi-finals. Indonesia were too good in the semis, winning 3-0 to advance to today’s final against China, who eliminated Malaysia 3-1. In the opening singles of the men’s team clash at the Hi-Tech Zone Sports Center Gymnasium 2, Anthony Ginting defeated Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen 21-18, 21-19 in 51 minutes, which put a huge hole in Taiwan’s aspirations to perhaps even make the final. In the men’s doubles, Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Ardianto downed Lee Yang and Wang
NO DOUBT: Spurs star Wembanyama was unanimously selected as NBA Rookie of the Year, winning all 99 votes to become the first Frenchman to capture the honor The Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday night produced a dominant defensive display to seize a commanding 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven playoff series against the Denver Nuggets with a 106-80 road victory. The third-seeded Timberwolves harassed Denver relentlessly to claim a second straight win over the NBA champions as the series heads back to Minneapolis for Game 3 on Friday. Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards scored 27 points apiece, but the star of the show was Minnesota’s suffocating defensive effort, which knocked Denver out of their stride almost from the tip-off. The Timberwolves finished with 11 steals and 12 blocks, in sharp contrast to
Top-ranked Iga Swiatek on Saturday came through “the most intense and crazy final” she has ever contested to avenge her loss to Aryna Sabalenka in last year’s Madrid Open final with a grueling three hour, 11 minute victory in the Spanish capital. Coming back from 1-3 down in the decider and saving three match points in total, Swiatek claimed a 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (9/7) victory to secure the Madrid Open trophy for the first time. “Well, who is going to say now that women’s tennis is boring, right?” Swiatek said. Swiatek, who picked up the 20th title of her career, and ninth at
Playing soccer and competing for trophies is the best way that many transplanted Hong Kongers and Macanese have found to stay in touch, and to interact with Taiwanese society, said officials at the Taiwan-Hong Kong-Macau Football Friendship Cup, which was held on April 13. Twelve clubs, mostly of players and coaches originally from Hong Kong and Macau, took part in the tournament in New Taipei City. The event is sponsored by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) and the Taiwan-Hong Kong Economic and Cultural Co-operation Council. Participating teams were from the wider Taipei area, Hsinchu, Taichung, Kaohsiung and other areas. They divided into two