AS Roma on Sunday provided an unexpected twist to the Serie A title race with a 3-1 win over leaders Juventus, who had needed only a draw to wrap up their sixth successive title with two games to spare.
Daniele De Rossi, Stephan El Shaarawy and Radja Nainggolan scored for Roma to end Juve’s 16-match unbeaten run in the league after Mario Lemina had put the visitors ahead.
Juve’s lead over Roma was cut to four points with two matches to play, with Roma having the better head-to-head record.
SSC Napoli, who earlier kept up their free-scoring form as they beat Torino 5-0 away, are one point further behind in third and also still have a mathematical chance of winning the title.
Juventus, aiming for a league, cup and UEFA Champions League treble, are still firm favorites, needing three points from their matches at home to Crotone and away to Bologna.
They return to the Stadio Olimpico to face SS Lazio in the Coppa Italia final tomorrow.
Elsewhere, hapless Inter lost 2-1 at home to US Sassuolo, their fourth defeat in a row, and most of their hard-core fans walked out in protest in the 25th minute, leaving a banner on the curva Nord saying they had “gone to lunch.”
There were bizarre goals elsewhere.
AC Chievo Verona were left fuming when goalkeeper Stefano Sorrentino lost his boot during a clash on the byline, but play was waved on and Fabio Quagliarella scored into an empty net to put Sampdoria ahead.
Roberto Inglese volleyed home early in the second half to give the Flying Donkeys a 1-1 draw.
Genoa lost 1-0 at relegated US Citta di Palermo when their goalkeeper Eugenio Lamanna caught a harmless Andrea Rispoli header under the crossbar, but stepped backward into his goal and took the ball over the line with him.
Genoa’s defeat left them with 33 points, only two ahead of Crotone in the relegation zone with Empoli sandwiched in between.
Crotone continued their bid for a great escape by beating Udinese 1-0 with a goal by Marcus Rohden, while Empoli lost 3-2 at Cagliari.
Palermo and Delfino Pescara 1936 are already down.
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
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
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