Paul Pogba repaid some of his world record transfer fee with two goals as Manchester United rediscovered their early-season shine, cruising to a 4-1 Europa League win over Fenerbahce SK to go top of their group on Thursday.
Pogba scored a penalty and rifled United’s third into the top corner. Anthony Martial also netted from the spot and Jesse Lingard fired home in the second half before former Old Trafford favorite Robin van Persie pulled one back for Fenerbahce.
Inter and AS Roma, though, had more testing evenings.
Photo: AFP
Inter coach Frank de Boer breathed a sigh of relief when his side survived an onslaught from Southampton to end a three-match losing streak with a 1-0 victory, while Roma conceded twice late on to draw 3-3 at home to Austria Vienna.
Three sides have perfect records after three matches, Shakhtar Donetsk, Schalke 04 and Zenit St Petersburg all winning to move to the brink of the knockout rounds.
United have six points in Group A after a morale-boosting performance ahead of manager Jose Mourinho’s return to former club Chelsea tomorrow.
They went ahead in the 31st minute when Juan Mata was tripped in the area.
Regular penalty taker Wayne Rooney was on the pitch and needed one goal to join Ruud van Nistelrooy as United’s all-time top scorer in Europe, but Pogba took the ball and converted from the spot.
The hosts were handed a second penalty less than three minutes later and Martial took responsibility this time before Pogba lashed home a third goal.
Lingard took it to 4-0 three minutes after the restart and Van Persie pulled one back for the Turkish team with seven minutes remaining.
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