Dimitri Payet made his return to Ligue 1 with for Marseille on Friday, but the star West Ham United recruit’s appearance failed to pay off as his new employers lost 1-0 against Metz.
The 29-year-old midfielder had come on to a standing ovation in Tuesday’s Coupe de France game against Olympique Lyonnais after 94 minutes with the game deadlocked 1-1 and heading into extra-time.
Marseille went on to win that 2-1 to book their ticket in the semi-finals, but his presence failed to help Marseille’s fortunes this time.
Photo: AFP
He was introduced by Marseille coach Rudia Garcia in the 55th minute for Bouna Sarr with Bafetimbi Gomis, who scored a hat-trick last time out, replacing Florian Thauvin.
Seconds later Payet sent in a free-kick headed in by Gomis only for the effort to be ruled offside.
Marseille, who trounced Montpellier Herault 5-1 last week, looked to be heading for a point until Yann Joufre scored for the hosts five minutes after taking the place of Opa N’Guette.
Photo: AP
This eighth defeat of the season left Marseille in sixth, with Metz climbing out of the relegation zone.
Payet rejoined the Ligue 1 side on a four-and-a-half-year deal on Sunday last week after Marseille paid 30 million euros (US$31.3 million) to bring him back to the Stade Velodrome.
Marseille also signed veteran Patrice Evra, injured for this outing, on a free transfer from Juventus.
BUNDESLIGA
AP, HAMBURG, Germany
On loan from Bayer 04 Leverkusen, defender Kyriakos Papadopoulos scored against the side to earn Hamburg SV a 1-0 victory in the Bundesliga on Friday.
Papadopoulos joined Hamburg in the winter transfer window, arriving via RB Leipzig, where Leverkusen sent him on loan at the beginning of the season after his previous season was marred by injuries.
Papadopoulos struck with 15 minutes remaining, heading inside the far post after Nicolai Mueller lobbed in a hopeful cross. He ran to the corner to celebrate before running to embrace under-pressure Hamburg coach Markus Gisdol, familiar from their time together at Schalke 04.
“It’s only the start,” Papadopoulos said. “We have to keep working. We shouldn’t celebrate. We haven’t achieved anything yet.”
The goal lifted Hamburg, who had lost both of their league games this year, into the relegation playoff place ahead of the rest of the 19th round, while Leverkusen face a mini-crisis after their second successive defeat.
“When you’ve only one or two shots in Hamburg it’s too little,” Leverkusen forward Stefan Kiessling said. “I’ve no explanation.”
Roger Schmidt’s side were playing their first game without Hakan Calhanoglu, suspended the day before for four months by FIFA for breach of contract after the Court of Arbitration for Sport rejected his appeal.
Leverkusen contributed nothing of note in the first half — not even a cross — prompting Schmidt to send on Kiessling for the second.
However, it was Bobby Wood who went close at the other end, shooting just wide after Mueller set him up with his heel, and Hamburg continued pushing until Papadopoulos duly claimed the reward.
“He’s on loan from Leverkusen and then he scores the goal against them. For us, super. For Leverkusen, bitter,” Hamburg goalkeeper Rene Adler said.
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