AS Monaco took a brief hold on top spot in the French league after just two games despite being held to a drab goalless draw at home by LOSC Lille on Friday night.
However, their stay is unlikely to last 24 hours as Saturday night’s fixtures seem sure to see them overhauled.
An error-ridden match yielded few chances, although Monaco had the visitors pegged back in their own half for virtually the first half-hour but were unable to capitalize on some swift running down the left by Portuguese winger Ivan Cavaleiro.
Photo: AFP
In the end it was Lille who finished the stronger, but neither side ever seriously threatened to break the deadlock. Having allowed a few early careless tackles to pass unpunished, referee Benoit Millot had no hesitation in reaching into his pocket for the first yellow card of the evening 24 minutes in after Lille defender Sebastien Corchia went in late on Cavaleiro with a crude challenge.
Corchia’s interest in the game ended shortly afterwards, however, when he was involved in a clash of heads with Cavaleiro as they both went up for a cross in the area and he was laid out before being hauled off and taken to hospital as a precaution.
Monaco should probably have taken the lead a minute before the interval when Joao Moutinho struck a perfect free kick which Lille’s Nigerian international goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama scrambled behind for a corner after Argentina defender Renato Civelli had got himself booked for a late challenge on Jeremy Toulalan.
Lille’s first real chance came just after the restart when Baptiste Guillaume slipped in behind the home defense and clipped a Sofiane Boufal pass straight at goalkeeper Danijel Subasic.
The keeper had to be at his sharpest again two minutes later to clear a second Guillaume shot with his feet after he was put through again by the lively Boufal down the left.
Former Monaco midfielder Mounir Obbadi appeared to receive his marching orders for a foul on Fabinho with a quarter of an hour left, but the referee changed his mind after consulting the linesman and booked Boufal instead.
From the resulting free kick, Ricardo Cavalho rose smartly to flick on a header which Eyneama had to be at full stretch to save.
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