Schalke 04 moved back level with Werder Bremen at the top of the German Bundesliga with a convincing 3-1 victory over local rival Borussia Dortmund on Sunday.
Goals from Christian Pander, Kevin Kuranyi and Peter Loevenkrands before a late Dortmund consolation gave Schalke their sixth victory in seven games.
Schalke and Werder Bremen both have 33 points from 16 games but Werder, who were 6-2 winners at Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday, have the vastly better goal difference.
The victory was important for Schalke after Werder's impressive win plus victories on Saturday by rivals VfB Stuttgart and Bayern Munich who remain third and fourth on 31 and 30 points respectively.
Schalke, who are unbeaten at home and had lost only one of their last 15 derby matches against Dortmund, went into a 14th minute lead when Pander's free-kick from 40m out sailed into the net.
Kuranyi took advantage of poor Dortmund marking from a corner to head in unchallenged from close range in the 25th minute, and Loevenkrands made it three when he slid in a shot from the edge of the area two minutes after the break.
Swiss striker Alexander Frei struck his sixth goal of the season with a long-range effort in off the post with eight minutes remaining to give Dortmund some late joy.
"It was an important win for us," said Schalke captain Fabian Ernst. "We really had to win after all the other top teams won their games yesterday and I think we did our job well."
"Dortmund had a lot of possession at the beginning without creating any clear chances and were were in control after 10 minutes," said coach Mirko Slomka. "We are getting forward very fast at the moment and were always extremely dangerous. You can see that we're able maintain a very high pace over 90 minutes."
In the day's other game, visiting Alemannia Aachen came from behind to defeat Wolfsburg 2-1.
SS Lazio on Monday fired the far-right sympathizer who handles their eagle mascot after he posted online a series of videos and pictures of his erect penis. Falconer Juan Bernabe, who has been present at Lazio home matches with Olimpia the eagle since the 2010-2011 season, posted the footage on social media after having surgery on Saturday to implant a penile prosthesis to improve his sexual performance. Lazio said that they had “terminated, with immediate effect” their relationship with Bernabe “due to the seriousness of his conduct,” adding that they were “shocked” by the images. The Serie A club added that Bernabe’s dismissal
Hong Kong-based cricket team Hung See this weekend found success in their matches in Taiwan, even if none of the results went their way. Hung See played the Chairman’s XI on Saturday morning, the Daredevils that afternoon and PCCT yesterday, with all three home teams winning. The team for Chinese players at the Happy Valley-based Craigengower Cricket Club sends teams on tour to “spread the game of cricket.” This weekend was Hung See’s second trip to Taiwan after visiting Tainan in 2016. “The club has been traveling to all parts of the world since 1982 and the annual tradition continues [with the Taiwan
‘TOUGH TO BREATHE’: Tunisian three-time Grand Slam finalist Ons Jabeur suffered an asthma attack in her 7-5, 6-3 victory over Colombia’s Camila Osorio Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday cruised into the second round of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Iga Swiatek romped into a third-round women’s singles showdown with Emma Raducanu and Taylor Fritz was just as emphatic in his pursuit of a maiden Grand Slam title. Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, the third seeds, defeated Slovakia’s Tereza Mihalikova and Olivia Nicholls of Britain 7-5, 6-2 in 90 minutes in Melbourne. Ostapenko and Hsieh — who won the women’s doubles and mixed doubles at the Australian Open last year — hit 25 winners and converted five of nine break points to set
HARD TO SAY GOODBYE: After Coco Gauff dispatched Belinda Bencic in the fourth round, she wrote ‘RIP TikTok USA’ and drew a broken heart on a television camera lens Defending champion Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while compatriot Chan Hao-ching on Saturday dominated her opponents in the second round, as world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka swept into the quarter-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia toppled Hungary’s Timea Babos and Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US 6-4, 6-3, hitting 24 winners and converting three of seven break points in 1 hour, 18 minutes at 1573 Arena. Although rivals at last year’s Australian Open — where Hsieh and Belgium’s Elise Mertens beat Ostapenko and Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Kichenok 6-1, 7-5
RSS