AS Monaco reasserted their grip on second place in Ligue 1 with a 2-0 victory over SC Bastia on Tuesday, while 10-man Olympique de Marseille beat Montpellier Herault 1-0 to stretch their unbeaten run to 11 matches.
Former Monaco defender Francois Modesto gifted the hosts the opening goal as he inadvertently turned a corner into his own net 10 minutes before halftime at the Stade Louis II.
Bernando Silva’s deflected strike on 73 minutes wrong-footed Bastia goalkeeper Jean-Louis Leca as Monaco registered a third win in four attempts to move five points clear of third-place Angers SCO.
Photo: Reuters
Brazilian striker Vagner Love made his first start for Monaco following his move last month from Corinthians, completing 75 minutes before he was replaced by Argentine Guido Carrillo.
“The team played well, we controlled our opponents, created a handful of good chances and scored twice. We did lots of good things,” said Monaco coach Leonardo Jardim, who was pleased with his side’s response after a chastening 3-0 defeat at Angers on Saturday.
Marseille have relied on their superb away form in their bid to challenge for a Champions League place, and it was no different at the Stade de la Mosson.
The visitors were without leading scorer Michy Batshuayi through suspension, while Scotland international Steven Fletcher was not registered in time following his surprise arrival from Sunderland.
However, Georges-Kevin Nkoudou has enjoyed a fine debut season at OM after his summer switch from Nantes and the 20-year-old delivered the game’s only goal on 68 minutes with a tidy finish past Laurent Pionnier.
Nkoudou’s fifth goal of the season was enough to give Michel’s side a sixth away win in eight outings, although the visitors were forced to see out the final 20 minutes a man down as Florian Thauvin was sent off for a needless lunging tackle on Vitorino Hilton.
Michel sprung to the defense of Thauvin, who only rejoined Marseille on loan from Newcastle United on Sunday, saying the decision to brandish a red card was somewhat harsh.
“He wanted to do well so badly. He apologized to his teammates, but a yellow card would perhaps have been a more fair punishment for the incident,” the Spaniard said.
Yesterday, runaway leaders Paris Saint-Germain had an opportunity to break Nantes’ 20-year-old record unbeaten run in Ligue 1.
Laurent Blanc’s side stretched their streak without a loss to 32 matches with Sunday’s 2-0 victory at AS Saint-Etienne and can claim the top-flight record outright if they avoid defeat at home to Lorient.
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