A Marten De Roon pile driver on Wednesday gave Atalanta BC the advantage in their Coppa Italia semi-final with ACF Fiorentina as his strike saw his side draw 3-3 in the first leg in Florence, Italy.
De Roon crashed home his side’s third goal 57 minutes into a hugely entertaining match at the Stadio Artemio Franchi after Fiorentina goalkeeper Alban Lafont weakly punched out an Alejandro Gomez corner to the Dutch midfielder.
Luis Muriel equalized for the hosts 11 minutes from the end to keep the tie in the balance, but three away goals give Atalanta the edge ahead of next month’s second leg in Bergamo, Italy.
The away side looked like they would run away with the tie when Josip Ilicic laid on goals for Alejandro Gomez and Mario Pasalic with two wonderful assists in the 16th and 18th minutes.
However, they were pegged back by a lively Fiorentina, with striker Federico Chiesa charging through on goal virtually unopposed before rolling home his sixth goal in the competition in the 33rd minute.
The Viola were level three minutes later thanks to a sharp Marco Benassi volley that got the packed and rowdy Franchi bouncing.
De Roon put Atalanta back in front with his thumping hit before Muriel tapped in the equalizer following great work on the right from the lively Chiesa.
COUPE DE FRANCE
AFP, PARIS
Former Manchester United star Memphis Depay ended his three-and-a-half month goal drought on Wednesday, when he was on target in Olympique Lyonnais’ 3-1 Coupe de France win over Stade Malherbe Caen.
Dutch international Depay had not scored since netting twice in a 4-2 win over En Avant de Guingamp on Nov. 10 last year.
However, he ended that unwanted streak on Wednesday as Lyon moved into the semi-finals of a tournament they have not won since 2012.
Jason Denayer and Maxwel Cornet gave Lyon a 2-0 lead before Casimir Ninga pulled one back for Caen off the crossbar in the 78th minute.
That set the stage for Depay to settle Lyon’s nerves with his team’s third goal from a free-kick seven minutes from time.
In the night’s other quarter-final, Stade Rennais, on a high after making the UEFA Europa League last-16, defeated second-division Orleans 2-0.
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
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
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