Erling Haaland scored his ninth goal in six games for Borussia Dortmund as they swept past Eintracht Frankfurt 4-0 in the Bundesliga on Friday.
Achraf Hakimi ran the game from rightback for Dortmund, cuing up Lukasz Piszczek to score the opening goal. Jadon Sancho made it 2-0 with a solo goal before he and Hakimi combined in the build-up to Haaland’s.
Dortmund overtook RB Leipzig for second place in the league with the win and were just one point off leaders Bayern Munich, who face Cologne today.
Photo: AFP
Six days after the defense allowed two late goals in a 4-3 loss to Bayer 04 Leverkusen, Dortmund’s back line looked much improved against Frankfurt, who had few clear chances in their biggest defeat of the season.
“It’s really important, especially that we gave up few chances. I think they had one shot,” Dortmund defender Mats Hummels said. “We were very concentrated and switched on in every position.”
LA LIGA
Photo: EPA-EFE
Atletico Madrid were twice pegged back in Friday’s 2-2 draw against Valencia to keep Diego Simeone’s side in fourth in La Liga.
Atletico’s Marcos Llorente right-footed the visitors’ into an early lead before a close-range header from Gabriel Paulista got Valencia back level five minutes before the break.
Three minutes later, midfielder Thomas Partey had Atletico back in front, only for Geoffrey Kondogbia to earn Valencia a share of the points off a set piece after the restart.
It was Atletico’s 10th stalemate of the season and it left them on 40 points, with Valencia in sixth, two points adrift.
“We’re on the right path. It was an important match with lots of goal-scoring chances for both sides,” Simeone said.
LIGUE 1
AS Monaco celebrated their third successive Ligue 1 win after a second-half header by Islam Slimani gave them a 1-0 home victory over Montpellier HSC in an entertaining clash on Friday.
Algeria striker Slimani, on loan from Leicester City, rose to meet a corner in the 52nd minute and his downward header beat goalkeeper Dimitry Bertaud and defender Damien Le Tallec on the line.
Monaco missed a string of chances to win by a bigger margin after Florent Mollet came close for the visitors in the sixth minute when home keeper Benjamin Lecomte saved with his foot.
SERIE A
Cagliari have banned three of their supporters for racially abusing opposition players at matches this season, the Serie A club announced on Friday.
In a statement, the Italian side said that the bans “will prevent those who are guilty of these deplorable acts from entering the Sardegna Arena, for any event, for life.”
The club did not specify for which incidents the fans had been banned, referring only to episodes in “recent months.”
The Sardinian club’s stadium has been a frequent host to racist abuse from fans towards black players, including Italy striker Moise Kean and his former Juventus teammate Blaise Matuidi.
However, it is likely they are referring to Romelu Lukaku, who in September became Italy’s most high-profile victim when Cagliari fans aimed monkey chants at him before he scored the decisive penalty in a 2-1 away win.
PREMIER LEAGUE
Wolverhampton Wanderers were held by Leicester City to a scoreless draw after Willy Boly’s first-half header was disallowed for a narrow offside in the English Premier League on Friday.
Boly had glanced in Matt Doherty’s knockdown just before halftime, but Pedro Neto was ruled by the video referee to be offside.
Leicester played from the 76th minute with 10 men after Hamza Choudhury was sent off. The midfielder was already on a booking and walked when he took down Leander Dendoncker having slipped and lost the ball.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
Japanese players are moving to English soccer in record numbers and more look set to follow with clubs attracted by their quality, strong work ethic and value for money. Kaoru Mitoma is the standout talent of five Japanese players in the English Premier League, with eight more in the Championship and two in League One. Liverpool midfielder Wataru Endo, the captain of Japan, believes his compatriots are “being held in higher esteem” by English clubs compared with the past. “The staff at Liverpool ask me about lots of Japanese players, not necessarily with a view to a transfer, but just saying this or
Taiwan yesterday survived Bosnia and Herzegovina to win their Davis Cup World Group I tie at the Taipei Tennis Center. The tight series started on Saturday with world No. 123 Jason Tseng losing 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 to Mirza Basic in the opening singles matchup. However, teammate Tony Wu kept the tie even, dominating world No. 86 Damir Dzumhur 6-2, 6-1. Yesterday, 24-year-old Ray Ho and partner 25-year-old Hsu Yu-hsiou kept up the momentum, making short work of Basic and Nerman Fatic, winning 6-3, 6-4. Tseng then suffered another defeat, losing 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 to Dzumhur in a brutal match that lasted more than two