Striker Miguel Angel "Mista" Ferrer struck twice Sunday as Valencia crushed lowly Espanyol 4-0 and regained the leadership of the Spanish league.
Spanish international midfielders Ruben Baraja and Vicente Rodriguez also netted in an emphatic victory, which maintains Valencia's unbeaten record this season.
Valencia's defense also kept up its formidable form, having now gone eight league and UEFA Cup matches without conceding a goal.
In Sunday's other games: Athletic de Bilbao defeated Villarreal 2-0; Osasuna edged Murcia 2-1; Racing de Santander downed Malaga 4-2; Atletico de Madrid defeated Mallorca 2-1; and Zaragoza beat Valladolid 1-0. Sevilla was playing Real Betis in Sunday's final game.
After seven matches, Valencia has 19 points, one more than Deportivo de La Coruna. Real Madrid lies third with 16 points, while Osasuna has 14.
Valencia raced to a three-goal lead before the interval to add to the woes of a depleted Espanyol, which is missing seven players through injury and suspension, and has still not won this season.
Valencia took just eight minutes to get started, although it was with some good fortune.
Espanyol `keeper Toni Jimenez's clearance to the right of the goal rebounded off right back Marc Beltran and the ball fell to Mista, who clipped the ball into an empty net.
Valencia goalkeeper Santiago Canizares made a good save from midfielder Angel Morales, but two goals in first-half injury time then ended Espanyol's comeback hopes.
Baraja slotted home after rounding Toni and moments later Mista slotted his second goal from Vicente's pinpoint pass across goal.
Valencia compounded Espanyol's misery with a fourth goal in the 79th minute.
Osasuna continued its surprise start to the season with a narrow win over a battling Murcia.
Ivory Coast striker Ibrahim Bakayoko netted his first goal for Osasuna in the 11th minute, with Murcia leveling seven minutes later through striker Luis Garcia.
After Murcia was reduced to nine men in the closing stages, Bakayoko struck for the winner with five minutes remaining.
Taiwan’s men’s table tennis team won bronze on Saturday at this year’s International Table Tennis Federation World Team Table Tennis Championships in London, matching the country’s best-ever finish at the regular tournament. Consisting of Lin Yun-ju, Taiwan’s top-ranked player at world No. 7, Feng Yi-hsin, Kuo Guan-hong, Hong Jing-kai and Hsu Hsien-chia, the team won bronze after losing 0-3 to Japan in the semifinals. In the opening match, 24-year-old Lin played the first game against world No. 3 Tomokazu Harimoto 11-5, but ultimately lost the next three closely contested games 9-11, 10-12 and 10-12. Feng then faced world No. 8 Sora Matsushima in
Lin Yun-ju on Thursday handed Taiwan two key victories as they advanced to the semi-finals of the ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships Finals in London. The Taiwan men’s table tennis team beat Sweden 3-2 in five singles matches. The 24-year-old Lin, Taiwan’s top-ranked player at world No. 7 and nicknamed the “Silent Assassin,” opened the tie by defeating world No. 2 Truls Moregard 3-0 (11-8, 11-9, 13-11) before clinching the deciding fifth match with a 3-0 (11-8, 11-9, 11-5) win over Anton Kallberg to hand his team the overall victory. Kuo Guan-hong put Taiwan up 2-0 with a 3-2 (4-11, 11-8, 8-11,
Taiwanese fire dancer Yang Li-wei advanced to the final of Britain’s Got Talent this weekend after receiving a Golden Buzzer during her live semi-final performance. Yang, a member of Taiwan’s Coming True Fire Group, awed judges and audiences with a high-intensity fire performance featuring flaming umbrellas, fire swallowing and spinning metal structures balanced with her legs. Judge Simon Cowell praised Yang as a star, while guest judge KSI reacted with amazement before pressing the Golden Buzzer, sending her to the finals. The dance group wrote on social media that the Golden Buzzer was “the highest honor” on the talent show, adding: “Twenty-three years
As Super Rugby fast approaches its playoff season it finds itself racing toward a reckoning with many issues that threaten the southern hemisphere tournament. A group of stakeholders met in the New Zealand city of Christchurch late last month to address problems that are making the future of the 31-year-old competition increasingly tenuous. The discussion was made more urgent by the decision by the owners of Moana Pasifika to fold the Auckland-based club for financial reasons. That followed the closure of the Melbourne Rebels at the end of the 2024 season, likewise because of financial difficulties. Problems addressed included player retention as more
RSS