PREMIER LEAGUE
Liverpool widen lead
Liverpool’s march to a first English league championship in 30 years is turning into a procession, while Manchester City certainly look in no state to stop it. Hours after City’s shaky defense conceded an 88th-minute equalizer in a 2-2 draw against Newcastle United, Virgil van Dijk powered home two headed goals from set-pieces to lead Liverpool to a 2-1 win over Brighton & Hove Albion at Anfield. In other games, Tottenham Hotspur beat AFC Bournemouth 3-2, West Ham United upset Chelsea 1-0, Crystal Palace won against Burnley 2-0 and Southampton rallied to beat Watford 2-1.
BUNDESLIGA
Klinsmann’s Hertha lose
Jurgen Klinsmann lost on his debut as Hertha BSC coach, Bayern Munich were finally beaten under interim coach Hansi Flick and RB Leipzig moved to the top of the table on Saturday. Leipzig profited from Bayern’s 2-1 shock defeat at home to Bayer 04 Leverkusen by moving three points clear of the Bavarian powerhouse with a 3-2 win against last-placed SC Paderborn, although they were fortunate after nearly letting a three-goal lead slip. Borussia Monchengladbach, two points behind Leipzig, were in a position to reclaim the lead with a win at home against SC Freiburg yesterday, with that game to begin after press time last night. Klinsmann’s tenure of Hertha began with a lackluster loss at home to 10-man Borussia Dortmund, who held on for a 2-1 win to ease the pressure on coach Lucien Favre. In other games, Cologne drew 1-1 at home against Augsburg and Fortuna Dusseldorf drew against TSG 1899 Hoffenheim 1-1.
SERIE A
Pasalic outdoes Balotelli
Mario Balotelli showed flashes of form as he returned to Brescia’s lineup after sitting out a game due to disciplinary reasons, but it was another Mario who made the biggest impact on Saturday. Atalanta BC’s Mario Pasalic scored either side of halftime as they won 3-0 to stay in the Champions League qualifying places. Atalanta moved level on points with fourth-placed Cagliari and fifth-placed AS Roma, with the top four finishers qualifying for the Champions League. Elsewhere, Torino won against Genoa 1-0 and US Lecce won against ACF Fiorentina 1-0.
LA LIGA
Real Madrid beat Alaves
Real Madrid on Saturday pulled off a hard-fought victory against Deportivo Alaves, with Sergio Ramos and Dani Carvajal scoring second-half goals in the 2-1 win to take the league lead from Barcelona, who were to play fifth-placed Atletico Madrid yesterday. In other games, Real Sociedad beat Sociedad Deportiva Eibar 4-1, Valencia beat Villarreal 2-1 and Real Betis Balompie won 2-1 against RCD Mallorca.
LIGUE 1
Lyon battle to victory
Olympique Lyonnais battled back to claim a 2-1 win over RC Strasbourg Alsace on Saturday, moving to sixth in the table. Lyon moved to just two points adrift of Angers SCO in the third and final Champions League place after Angers fell to a 3-1 loss against OGC Nice. Elsewhere, Girondins de Bordeaux drew 1-1 against Stade de Reims, Lille OSC beat Dijon FCO 1-0, Nimes Olympique and Metz drew 1-1 and Montpellier HSC won 4-2 against Amiens.
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
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB