Barcelona leapfrogged Atletico Madrid to go top of La Liga after Lionel Messi’s acrobatic volley secured a hard-fought 2-1 victory against tenacious Malaga on Saturday.
Munir El Haddadi, deployed up front in place of the injured Neymar, fired Barca ahead in the second minute at La Rosaleda on the south coast after smart work by Luis Suarez.
However, the visitors were unable to exert their customary control and 12th-placed Malaga, whose relentless pressing unsettled the Spanish and European champions, netted a deserved equalizer in the 32nd minute.
Javier Mascherano surrendered possession in a dangerous area and the ball fell to midfielder Juanpi, whose shot was deflected in off the former Liverpool player as he slid across to block.
Barca were much improved in the second period and took a 2-1 lead in the 51st minute when Messi cracked Adriano’s cross past goalkeeper Carlos Kameni.
The Argentina captain was falling away from the ball as it dropped and he caught it perfectly on the volley to send it arrowing into the corner for his 11th goal of an injury-disrupted campaign.
Barcelona goalkeeper Claudio Bravo then did well to palm away a shot from Ignacio Camacho in the 73rd minute and Kameni denied Messi a second with a superb save two minutes from time.
Fourth-placed Villarreal missed a chance to draw level on points with Real Madrid in third place when they needed a late goal from defender Mateo Musacchio to salvage a point in a 2-2 draw at mid-table RCD Espanyol.
Felipe Caicedo put Espanyol ahead in the fourth minute in Barcelona, before Manuel Trigueros leveled 20 minutes later.
Gerard Moreno, who was sent off a minute from time, made it 2-1 to the hosts in the 40th minute, before Musacchio headed in from an 88th-minute corner.
RC Celta de Vigo, who are fifth, failed to take advantage of Villarreal’s stumble when they were beaten 3-0 at Rayo Vallecano de Madrid.
Rayo and Granada climbed out of the relegation places after Granada won 3-2 at home to Getafe.
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