PREMIER LEAGUE
Chelsea tie on Costa brace
Diego Costa on Sunday scored his second goal of the game from an overhead-kick to earn Chelsea a 2-2 draw at Swansea City, ending the visitors’ winning start to the English Premier League season. Costa’s acrobatics in the 81st minute salvaged a point for Chelsea at Liberty Stadium after two defensive blunders in a three-minute span almost gifted Swansea a victory.
LIGUE 1
Balotelli leads Nice to win
Former Liverpool striker Mario Balotelli on Sunday struck twice on his OGC Nice debut to help his new side defeat Mediterranean rivals Olympique de Marseille 3-2. Mevlut Erding netted a hat-trick as promoted Metz strolled to a 3-0 victory at Nantes, with Philippe Hinschberger’s men climbing into the top three. Paul Georges-Ntep provided an assist on his long-awaited return from injury as Stade Rennes beat Stade Malherbe Caen 2-0 in Brittany, with Wesley Said and Sanjin Prcic scoring the goals for the hosts.
LA LIGA
Betis defeat Valencia 3-2
Valencia’s tough start to the season on Sunday hit a new low after Real Betis Balompie ended the club’s three-decade wait for a win at Mestalla Stadium. Ruben Castro and Joaquin Sanchez, both 35, combined for three goals to earn a thrilling 3-2 victory over Valencia. Betis last won in the league at Valencia in 1986. Raul Garcia’s 30m blast shortly before halftime stunned RC Deportivo de La Coruna and gave Athletic Bilbao their first league win of the season. A last-gasp strike, combined with a mistake by Mexico goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa, helped 10-man Sociedad Deportiva Eibar grab a 2-1 victory at Granada. Elsewhere, Real Sporting de Gijon beat CD Leganes 2-1 at home.
BUNDESLIGA
Mainz squander lead to tie
FSV Mainz 05 on Sunday threw away a three-goal lead in a thrilling 4-4 home draw against TSG 1899 Hoffenheim as Werder Bremen lost 2-1 to Augsburg to stay bottom of the Bundesliga. Mainz, who are to meet French side AS Saint-Etienne in Europa League action on Thursday, looked on course for a rout with a Pablo De Blasis double on three and 23 minutes followed by another from Jhon Cordoba on 27. Sandro Wagner reduced the deficit for Hoffenheim on 39 minutes with Levin Oztunali getting the hosts’ fourth two minutes before the break.
SERIE A
Totti scores winner in debut
Veteran Francesco Totti on Sunday scored a stoppage-time winner in his first appearance of the season as AS Roma beat UC Sampdoria 3-2. Sudden and heavy rain meant the start of the second half was delayed for more than an hour. The weather also hit Genoa’s home match against ACF Fiorentina, which was abandoned after 28 minutes because of a fierce hailstorm. England goalkeeper Joe Hart had a debut to forget at Torino, who lost 2-1 at Atalanta BC. Mauro Icardi’s stoppage-time strike earned Frank de Boer his first win as Inter coach, a 2-1 defeat of promoted Pescara. AC Milan defender Luca Antonelli was hospitalized with a suspected head injury after colliding with a teammate in his side’s 1-0 defeat to Udinese at the San Siro.
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
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite