Thierry Henry and Rafael Marquez scored as Barcelona beat Mallorca 2-0 at the Camp Nou in the first leg of the Copa del Rey semi-finals on Thursday.
Henry headed in a cross by Bojan Krkic in the 35th minute and Marquez notched his first goal for Barcelona from a free-kick in the 74th minute, curling the ball over a wall of defenders and finding the upper left hand corner of the goal.
The match began in front of about 50,000 spectators with a minute’s silence for Barcelona field hockey coach Josep Llorente, who died earlier in the day.
PHOTO: AP
Lionel Messi was on the substitute’s bench, but right-back Daniel Alves was in Barcelona’s line-up after he successfully appealed a suspension to the Spanish Football Federation on Thursday. Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola chose not to risk captain Carles Puyol, who was recovering from an injured left leg muscle sustained during a quarter-final win against Espanyol a week ago.
Barcelona striker Krkic had two early shots saved by outstretched Mallorca goalkeeper German Lux.
Messi and Sergio Busquets went on to huge applause in the 55th minute for Henry and Eidur Gudjohnsen, who played his 100th match for Barcelona.
Lux was forced to save a powerful shot from Messi nine minutes later and another shot, this time left-footed, 10 minutes after that.
Yu Yao-hsing on Tuesday nabbed Taiwan’s only goal in the final round of qualifiers for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup, as they fell 3-1 to Sri Lanka at Taipei Municipal Stadium. Early goals from Sri Lanka in the first half left Taiwan struggling to get on the board, and Christopher Tiao’s own goal at 53 minutes sealed the team’s fate in the third round of qualifiers. While acknowledging that the defeat, Taiwan’s sixth in Group D, was disappointing, head coach Matt Ross said he saw reasons to stay positive about the team’s development. “There were lots of positive signs in terms of the
Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli yesterday vowed to “keep raising the bar” after winning the Japanese Grand Prix to become the youngest driver in Formula One history to lead the championship standings. The 19-year-old Italian took advantage of a mid-race safety car to jump into the lead after a dreadful start from pole position, crossing the line ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. Antonelli’s Suzuka victory came two weeks after the first grand prix win of his career in China, and sent him top of the championship standings after three races, nine points ahead of team-mate George Russell. Mercedes are struggling to
INDIGESTION: Italy failed to qualify for the World Cup for a third consecutive time after a 4-1 defeat to Bosnia on penalties in a loss Gattuso said was ‘difficult to digest’ Coach Graham Arnold on Tuesday challenged his players to “shock the world” after Iraq became the 48th and final team to qualify for the FIFA World Cup with a nerve-shredding 2-1 win over Bolivia in an intercontinental playoff in Mexico, as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Turkey, the Czech Republic, Sweden and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) also secured their places at the finals. Iraq, whose preparations were disrupted by the war in the Middle East, sealed their first appearance at the finals in 40 years and are to play in Group I against France, Senegal and Norway. Goals from Ali al-Hamadi
Teng Kai-wei, the only Taiwanese player on an opening-day roster in this year’s Major League Baseball (MLB) season, took his first win of the year with the Houston Astros in his season debut. Teng entered in relief in the top of the fifth inning against the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday, with the Astros trailing 5-0. He pitched 2-1/3 scoreless innings with two strikeouts, as Houston scored 11 runs during his outing to snatch an 11-9 comeback victory. The win is the Astros’ first of the season and the third of Teng’s MLB career. “It’s my first time pitching for the Astros, so
RSS