Valencia yesterday moved to within one point of Spanish La Liga leaders Barcelona by winning 2-1 at lowly Deportivo Alaves, recording a sixth consecutive league victory to post their best-ever start to a season.
Simone Zaza opened the scoring in the 34th minQute for Marcelino’s high-flying side to grab his ninth strike of the campaign and score for the sixth game in a row. Their excellent run came under threat when veteran defender Alexis Ruano headed the hosts level three minutes into the second half.
Former Valencia loanee Munir El Haddadi nearly put Alaves in front with a thunderous strike that was turned away by Brazilian goalkeeper Neto, but the visitors restored their lead after Rodrigo Ely handled a cross in the area.
Photo: Reuters
Spain forward Rodrigo Moreno converted from the penalty spot in the 66th minute to make it seven wins and three draws for Valencia, their best-ever return in the league after 10 games.
UNITED V SPURS
Reuters
Substitute Anthony Martial’s 81st minute strike yesterday gave Manchester United a 1-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur at Old Trafford in Manchester, England, to keep them in touch with Premier League leaders Manchester City.
After last week’s surprise defeat at Huddersfield Town, Jose Mourinho’s team could ill afford another slip-up, but they found it hard to break down a resilient Spurs defense.
Tottenham, without their top scorer Harry Kane who was ruled out with a hamstring injury, could have gone in front themselves in the 76th minute when Christian Eriksen threaded a superb ball towards Dele Alli, but the England midfielder’s effort went the wrong side of the post.
After Romelu Lukaku headed a Jesse Lingard cross against the post, United finally broke through and it was in direct fashion.
A long ball from keeper David De Gea was flicked on by Lukaku into the path of the on-running Martial and the Frenchman confidently slotted past Hugo Lloris.
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
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite