Spanish LeagueRuud van Nistelrooy scored his first three Spanish league goals on Sunday and also missed a penalty in Real Madrid's 4-1 win over newly promoted Levante.
Van Nistelrooy, who made a 16 million euro (US$20.3 million) move from Manchester United in July, put Madrid on its way to its first victory of the new season with a 16th-minute shot from the edge of the area at Levante.
Antonio Cassano added a second goal 11 minutes later before Levante midfielder Felix Ettien reduced the deficit in the 36th.
PHOTO: EPA
Van Nistelrooy restored Madrid's two-goal cushion in the 57th minute and completed his hat trick in injury time to give Madrid four points from its first two matches.
Sevilla and Getafe maintained their perfect records. Sevilla won 3-1 at Real Sociedad, while Getafe edged Racing Santander 1-0.
Sevilla leads the standings after two games, ahead of defending champion FC Barcelona, Getafe and Valencia on goal difference. On Saturday, Barcelona downed Osasuna 3-0, while Valencia won 1-0 at Atletico Madrid.
Also on Sunday, it was: Mallorca 0, Deportivo 0; Gimnastic Tarragona 1, Celta Vigo 2; Villarreal 0, Recreativo Huelva 1; and Real Betis 3, Athletic Bilbao 0; Zaragoza 3, Espanyol 0.
Premier League
Bobby Zamora scored a second-half goal on Sunday to give West Ham a 1-1 draw with Aston Villa in the English Premier League.
It was West Ham's first match since the arrival of Argentina internationals Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano. Tevez came on as a substitute in the 61st minute, but Mascherano stayed on the bench.
Zamora, the league's leading scorer with five goals, deflected Paul Konchesky's powerful header from outside the area past goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen in the 52nd minute.
Liam Ridgewell gave Villa the lead in the fourth minute after West Ham goalkeeper Roy Carroll saved Gareth Barry's header but left the rebound waiting on the goal line for the easy tap in.
Tevez, who came on for Marlon Harewood, showed his ability in the 76th minute as he burst down the left flank and dribbled past Olof Mellberg before losing possession.
Villa was unlucky to leave with a draw after Stilian Petrov -- making his debut for Villa -- beat Carroll with a chip in the 54th that was acrobatically cleared off the line by defender Tyrone Mears.
French LeagueSenegalese striker Mamadou Niang drew two penalties and converted one while Franck Ribery had two assists as Marseille beat Paris Saint-Germain 3-1 on Sunday to put them back on top of the French first division.
The victory gave Marseille 13 points after five rounds and moved it back in front of defending champion Lyon on goal difference. Lyon beat Troyes 2-0 on Saturday.
Also on Sunday, ten-man Toulouse rallied for a 2-2 draw with Nancy.
Niang started early, getting fouled by Mario Yepes in the sixth minute. Niang had to convert the penalty twice after the referee ruled a Marseille player had encroached.
Niang gave the advantage away in the 20th, pulling Sammy Traore's arm to hand PSG a penalty that Pedro Pauleta converted on his second attempt. Pauleta put the first off the post but was awarded a second try for encroachment.
Ribery provided the difference in the second half, beating Traore on the left flank before sending a ball to Niang, who again was brought down in the area by Yepes.
Samir Nasri converted the subsequent penalty kick in the 66th, and Ribery beat the PSG defense again for the insurance in the 89th, dribbling past defender Bernard Mendy to feed Mickael Pagis for the close-range finish.
The Minnesota Timberwolves, with so many promising performances spoiled by late mistakes fresh in their memory bank, sure timed this strong finish well. Jaden McDaniels scored a career playoff-high 30 points and spearheaded Minnesota’s stifling defense on an ailing Luka Doncic, and the Timberwolves beat the Los Angeles Lakers 116-104 to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference first-round series in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Friday night. “Jaden never looks tired. He looks like he could play 48 minutes,” said teammate Anthony Edwards, who had 29 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Julius Randle added 22 points for the Wolves, who outscored
Inter’s defense of their Italian Serie A title was hit with a setback on Sunday as they lost 1-0 at home to AS Roma, while Scott McTominay netted a brace as SSC Napoli beat Torino 2-0 to go top of the table. No fixtures were played on Friday or Saturday because of the funeral of Pope Francis in Rome, meaning the full round of Serie A matches took place on Sunday and yesterday. Matias Soule’s first-half strike for Roma knocked Inter off top spot earlier in the day before new Napoli opened up a three-point buffer with victory in Sunday’s
FOCUS: ‘We came out here with a goal in mind ... to keep our foot on their throat and on their neck, and continue to play 48 minutes of basketball,’ Donovan Mitchell said The Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday thrashed the Miami Heat to cruise into the next round of the NBA playoffs as the Golden State Warriors battled past the Houston Rockets 109-106 to move to the brink of a series victory. After pounding Miami 124-87 in game three on Saturday, No.1 Eastern Conference seeds Cleveland once again piled on the misery for their outclassed opponents with a crushing 138-83 victory to complete a 4-0 series win. The 55-point drubbing was the largest series-clinching victory in NBA playoff history and sets up a series against either the Indiana Pacers or Milwaukee Bucks in
Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa yesterday set a women’s only world record of 2 hours, 15 minutes, 50 seconds as she won the London Marathon, while Kenya’s Sabastian Sawe put a star-studded men’s field to the sword. For 28-year-old Assefa it was ample compensation for finishing runner-up in London and the Paris Olympics last year — especially as bitter Dutch rival, the Ethiopia-born Sifan Hassan, finished third. Assefa dropped Kenya’s Joyciline Jepkosgei as the race, played out in blazing sunshine and with thousands lining the route, entered its business end. She came home almost three minutes clear of the Kenyan. Hassan, who beat her in
RSS