LA LIGA
Atletico close gap
Atletico Madrid’s fine form continued as Filipe Luis scored in a 1-0 win over Real Sociedad to close to within seven points of leaders Real Madrid on Tuesday. Atletico, moved three points clear of Sevilla in the battle for third. “Other than the opening 15 minutes when they dominated the ball, we imposed our tempo, pressed well high up the pitch and created chances,” Atletico manager Diego Simeone said. “It is a very important win.” Antoine Griezmann was involved in the only goal as Luis exchanged passes with him and Fernando Torres before slotting home. Athletic Bilbao were 2-0 victors over RCD Espanyol thanks to Aritz Aduriz’s first-half double, while Villarreal’s Adrian Lopez scored the only goal in their game against Real Betis Balompie.
COPPA ITALIA
Lazio reach the final
SS Lazio on Tuesday reached the final, despite losing 3-2 in the second leg to bitter city rivals AS Roma, advancing 4-2 on aggregate. A double from Mohamed Salah added to Stephan El Shaarawy’s goal two minutes before the break to give Roma victory on the night. However, Lazio scored in either half through midfielder Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and forward Ciro Immobile to book a third final in five years.
BUNDESLIGA
Bayern Munich run ended
Leaders Bayern Munich had their 20-match unbeaten run in all competitions ended by TSG 1899 Hoffenheim on Tuesday as Andrej Kramaric’s winner sealed the hosts’ historic 1-0 victory. It was Bayern’s first loss since going down 3-2 against Russia’s Rostov in a Champions League group game in November last year. It was also only their second defeat in 27 Bundesliga games, having also stumbled against Borussia Dortmund, but they still hold a 13-point lead at the top of the table. “Of course, we shouldn’t have allowed that to happen,” Bayern captain for the night Arjen Robben said. “It was better in the second half, but the ball wouldn’t go in. Our lead [on the table] is still big, but that was an unnecessary defeat.” A poor clearance from Bayern defender Mats Hummels was snapped up by striker Kramaric, who slammed his shot past Sven Ulreich. In other games, Dortmund beat Hamburg SV 3-0, Schalke 04 lost 3-0 to Werder Bremen and Cologne beat Eintracht Frankfurt 1-0.
COUPE DE FRANCE
Monaco surge into semis
Valere Germain hit a brace as AS Monaco surged into the semi-finals with a 2-1 win over 10-man Lille OSC on Tuesday. They made light work of visiting Lille at a sparse Stade Louis II, despite fielding a weakened side. Striker Radamel Falcao and starlets Kylian Mbappe and Tiemoue Bakayoko were all named on the bench. Monaco took the lead in the 35th minute when striker and captain-for-the-night Germain rifled high into the roof of the net and five minutes later Lille were in deeper trouble when Carlens Arcus was sent off for hauling down Jorge as the Brazilian had a run at goal. Monaco made it 2-0 just before the break when Germain struck again, this time from close range. Lille pulled a consolation goal back through Anwar El Ghazi deep into stoppage-time. Monaco joined En Avant de Guingamp in the last four after they beat fourth-tier minnows Frejus Saint-Raphael 1-0.
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
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
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier