Basque outfit Real Sociedad on Friday went to the top of La Liga thanks to a 1-1 draw at home against bottom side CD Leganes.
In a season that has seen several sides get to the top, including Granada, Real Sociedad have 23 points from 13 games with Barcelona and Real Madrid just a point behind, with two games in hand and both playing yesterday.
Leganes striker Mikel Merino got the away side off the mark in the 63rd minute before Moroccan Youssef En-Nesyri equalized with a header in the 78th minute.
“I see long faces both inside the dressing room and out of it, but we have to be happy,” Real Sociedad coach Imanol Alguacil said.
His opposite number, Javier Aguirre, who was overseeing his first point in his first match as the one in charge, was also positive.
“We’re still bottom and that’s how it goes sometimes, but we have got a point at a difficult ground against a strong side who are top of the league and I’m really happy for the boys,” Aguirre said.
Leganes have just six points and are to be locked in a long struggle to climb out of the relegation zone.
ERNESTO VALVERDE
Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde has said that he is not worried about his future and feels fully supported by the club.
Valverde’s position has again come under scrutiny after Barca were last weekend beaten 3-1 by Levante UD, before being held to a goalless draw at home to Slavia Prague on Tuesday.
Asked if he feels concerned about his future, Valverde said: “No.”
“The club has supported me and respected me,” he added. “I have no problem with that.”
Barcelona have lost three times in the league already this season and their semi-final collapse against Liverpool in the Champions League in May still lingers.
“I don’t have much to say except if the game against Slavia had been better or if we had scored in the first half or another in the second, it would be different,” Valverde said.
Yesterday, Barca were to play at home against struggling RC Celta de Vigo, who appointed Oscar Garcia as coach on Wednesday after sacking Fran Escriba.
“What we need is a victory,” Valverde said. “We come from losing a game against Levante, where we conceded three in six minutes, and we need a victory to get back to adding three points.”
“We are motivated,” Valverde added. “We know this will be a difficult match, but we want to win for the feeling more than anything but also to stay top of the table.”
Barcelona are ahead of Real Madrid only on goal difference, but the two sides have played a game fewer than Real Sociedad in third and Atletico Madrid in fourth, after El Clasico was postponed last month.
Yu Yao-hsing on Tuesday nabbed Taiwan’s only goal in the final round of qualifiers for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup, as they fell 3-1 to Sri Lanka at Taipei Municipal Stadium. Early goals from Sri Lanka in the first half left Taiwan struggling to get on the board, and Christopher Tiao’s own goal at 53 minutes sealed the team’s fate in the third round of qualifiers. While acknowledging that the defeat, Taiwan’s sixth in Group D, was disappointing, head coach Matt Ross said he saw reasons to stay positive about the team’s development. “There were lots of positive signs in terms of the
INDIGESTION: Italy failed to qualify for the World Cup for a third consecutive time after a 4-1 defeat to Bosnia on penalties in a loss Gattuso said was ‘difficult to digest’ Coach Graham Arnold on Tuesday challenged his players to “shock the world” after Iraq became the 48th and final team to qualify for the FIFA World Cup with a nerve-shredding 2-1 win over Bolivia in an intercontinental playoff in Mexico, as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Turkey, the Czech Republic, Sweden and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) also secured their places at the finals. Iraq, whose preparations were disrupted by the war in the Middle East, sealed their first appearance at the finals in 40 years and are to play in Group I against France, Senegal and Norway. Goals from Ali al-Hamadi
“I don’t remember the moment, but ever since I was a kid, that’s the first thing I loved,” two-time NBA All-Star Isaiah Thomas said of his lifelong romance with basketball. However, that journey unfolded against the limitations of his size in a game where height often dictates opportunity — a reality he confronted throughout his career. At 175cm, Thomas is less than 2cm taller than the average Taiwanese adult male, while NBA players during his career stood at about 200cm on average. Compared with the NBA’s average career length of less than five years, Thomas’ 13-season career stands out as
Dakar and Rabat have longstanding ties, but relations have been strained since the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) final, which Senegal won in mid-January before being stripped of the title, which was transferred to Morocco. Now, the AFCON trophy is something of a thorn in the two countries’ sides. On Rue Mohamed V, the street where Moroccan vendors are based in the Senegalese capital, a police van is parked. “The police have been on high alert since the Confederation of African Football [CAF] decided to award the title to Morocco, but there have been no incidents,” a local resident said.
RSS