Edinson Cavani converted a late penalty for his league-leading 27th goal of the season as Paris Saint-Germain labored to a 1-0 win over strugglers AS Nancy-Lorraine on Saturday.
PSG endured a frustrating afternoon, despite their domination at the Parc des Princes and survived a huge scare when Nancy substitute Alexis Busin’s 75th-minute shot struck both posts.
However, the hosts won a penalty after Serge Aurier was fouled by Nancy goalkeeper Sergey Chernik, leaving Cavani to score the only goal 10 minutes from time as PSG moved back level on points with leaders AS Monaco.
Photo: Reuters
“It’s difficult to play against these teams that defend a lot and give you so little space,” Cavani told TV station Canal+, with PSG turning their focus to defending their 4-0 lead against Barcelona at the Camp Nou on Wednesday.
“The important thing is to win,” Cavani added.
SERIEA
Photo: EPA
AFP, MILAN, Italy
Napoli’s Dries Mertens hit a brace in a thrilling 2-1 win at the Stadio Olimpico that prompted AS Roma coach Luciano Spalletti to virtually concede the Serie A title race to Juventus on Saturday.
“We have to be realistic. For us it’s now almost impossible to catch Juventus,” Spalletti said after a morale-crushing defeat.
Belgium midfielder Mertens was given the nod ahead of striker Arkadiusz Milik, despite the Poland star’s recent return from a five-month injury lay-off.
Manager Maurizio Sarri’s intuition to keep deploying the Belgian midfielder as his main striker was proved right during an end-to-end thrill-fest that saw Napoli soak up long spells of pressure before seeing Mertens punish Roma’s leaky defense.
Napoli took a 1-0 lead into halftime at the Stadio Olimpico after Mertens struck against the run of play to flick the ball over onrushing Wojciech Szczesny on 26 minutes.
Mertens completed his brace, taking his league tally for the season to 18 goals, five minutes into the second half with another cool finish following Lorenzo Insigne’s inswinger toward the back post.
When Kevin Strootman reduced the arrears on 89 minutes it sparked a dramatic late fightback from Roma that saw Pepe Reina acrobatically palm Diego Perotti’s deflected drive off the crossbar before clearing with his leg.
US track and field athletes have about four dozen pieces to choose from when assembling their uniforms at the Olympics. The one grabbing the most attention is a high-cut leotard that barely covers the bikini line and has triggered debate between those who think it is sexist and others who say they do not need the Internet to make sure they have good uniforms. Among those critical or laughing at the uniforms included Paralympian Femita Ayanbeku, sprinter Britton Wilson and even athletes from other countries such as Britain’s Abigail Irozuru, who wrote on social media: “Was ANY female athlete consulted in
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Former US Masters champion Zach Johnson was left embarrassed after a foul-mouthed response to ironic cheers from spectators after a triple bogey at Augusta National on Friday. Johnson, the 2007 Masters winner, missed the cut after his three-over-par round of 75 left him on seven-over 151 for 36 holes, his six on the par-three 12th playing a big role in his downfall. Television footage showed Johnson reacting to sarcastic cheers and applause when he tapped in for the triple bogey by yelling: “Oh fuck off.” Such a response would be considered bad form in any golf tournament, but is particularly out of keeping
Taiwan’s Lee Jhe-huei and Yang Po-hsuan on Saturday won the men’s doubles bronze medal at the Badminton Asia Championships in Ningbo, China, after they were bested by the hosts in their semi-final. The Taiwanese shuttlers lost to China’s Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang, who advanced to yesterday’s final against Malaysia’s Goh Sze Fei and Nur Izzudin. The Chinese pair outplayed Lee and Yang in straight games. Although the Taiwanese got off to a slow start in the first game, they eventually tied it 14-14, before Liang and Wang went on to blow past them to win 21-17. In the second game, Lee and