Werder Bremen midfielder Diego admits he lost his head as his red card led to his side losing 1-0 to Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday to give Bundesliga leaders Bayern the chance to open a six-point gap.
Brazilian Diego -- one of the league's biggest drawcards -- was shown a straight red card for a shoulder charge on Frankfurt's Sotirios Kyrgiakos -- who milked the foul for all it was worth -- in the 40th minute.
But the Greek defender's international team-mate Ioannis Amanatidis extracted revenge when he scored for the home side on 56 minutes to humble Bremen and the defeat leaves second-placed Werder three points behind Bayern.
PHOTO: AFP
"I am constantly given a lot of attention by defenses in games," the Brazilian, who could be suspended for up to four weeks by the league's disciplinary committee, told Premier television.
"I should be used to it by now, but I lost the head when he said to me `Fuck you!' and I shouldn't have done it," he said.
Two of the Bundesliga's struggling sides, VfB Stuttgart and Duisburg, both produced spirited performances to boost their flagging league positions and confidence.
Defending champions VfB Stuttgart picked up their second consecutive win at home to Karlsruhe to cancel out their two previous defeats as Mario Gomez curled in a fifth minute shot to get the ball rolling in the 3-1 victory.
Germany midfielder Roberto Hilbert then followed it up with right-footed shot in the 26th minute.
The visitors grabbed a consolation goal through Hungary midfielder Tamas Hajnal, before Brazilian striker Cacau sealed the win with a 89th minute strike to put his side eighth.
Duisburg lifted themselves off the bottom with a 2-0 win at Arminia Bielefeld after the heart-break of their 3-2 defeat at home to Stuttgart last week when the winning goal was conceded deep into injury time.
Duisburg's Silvio Schroeter put his side ahead in the eighth minute before Nigerian striker Manasseh Ishiaku hit a 48th minute goal.
After the heroics of their 1-0 Champions League win over FC Porto on Tuesday, 10-man Schalke were humbled 1-0 by Bayer Leverkusen thanks to a spectacular long-range pin-point accurate shot by Germany defender Manuel Friedrich on 85 minutes.
The shot gave Schalke goalkeeper Manuel Neuer no chance as it flew into the top of the net and put Bayer third in the league, as Schalke's Jermaine Jones was sent off for a second yellow card deep into stoppage time.
"That was a bitter defeat for us," said Schalke coach Mirko Slomka, with his side down to fifth in the league. "Jermaine is a competitive player, but a fair one. We lost out to a freak goal, but we should have worked harder in attack."
In the day's other match VfL Wolfsburg were held to a 0-0 draw by Hertha Berlin.
On Friday, strugglers VfL Bochum picked up only their seventh win of the season when they beat Hanover 2-1.
The US’ bid for a fourth consecutive CONCACAF Nations League title came to a stunning end as they fell 1-0 to Panama after a stoppage-time goal from Cecilio Waterman on Thursday in Inglewood, California. Despite dominating possession, the US struggled to break down a resilient Panama side for long periods. Panama spent the bulk of the match defending, but pounced on a giveaway by the US before substitute forward Waterman sent a shot from the right side of the area to the bottom left corner late in stoppage time. Up next for Panama in tomorrow’s final is to be Mexico, who beat
DOMINATION: McLaren drivers Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris took the first two spots as Mercedes’ George Russell and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen followed them Australian Oscar Piastri yesterday roared back from season-opening disappointment in his home race by winning the Formula One Chinese Grand Prix from pole position in a McLaren one-two with championship-leading teammate Lando Norris. George Russell finished third for Mercedes, ahead of Red Bull’s reigning champion Max Verstappen with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Saturday’s sprint winner Lewis Hamilton fifth and sixth respectively. Piastri’s win denied Norris a third victory in a row, including last year’s Abu Dhabi season-ender, but left champions McLaren unbeaten in two races so far this year. “Mega job guys. The car was very, very lovely,” Piastri said
TO FINAL FOUR: France had 22 chances and scored two goals, while Croatia could not manage a single shot on target in 120 minutes. Les Bleus won 5-4 on penalties France on Sunday overturned a two-goal deficit to qualify for the UEFA Nations League Final Four by eliminating Croatia 5-4 on penalties after a 2-0 victory in their quarter-final second leg at the Stade de France. Dayot Upamecano scored the winning spot kick in a nail-biting shootout in which France keeper Mike Maignan made two saves, sending Les Bleus into the semi-finals against Spain. Michael Olise opened the scoring and Ousmane Dembele doubled their lead 10 minutes from time to send the tie into extra time after their 2-0 loss in Split, Croatia, on Thursday. France had a total of
Armand Duplantis will be among the reigning Olympic champions adding star power to the world indoor championships this weekend when the Chinese city of Nanjing hosts the first major global athletics meet since the Paris Games last year. The three-day event was originally slated for 2020 and faced multiple postponements due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but Nanjing’s Sports Training Center would finally welcome more than 570 athletes for the start of the showpiece today. One of the main attractions would be pole vaulter “Mondo” Duplantis, who soared 6.27m to break the world record for a staggering 11th time in Clermont-Ferrand last
RSS