■FRANCE
Marseille leapfrog Lyon
Marseille overtook Lyon at the top of Ligue 1 on Sunday after they beat Grenoble 4-1 and the seven-times champions only drew 2-2 at home to mid-table Monaco. The first goal that led to Lyon’s downfall was scored in the 34th minute by Croatian midfielder Jerko Leko, who was perfectly set up by a backpass from South Korea’s Park Chu-young after a swift counterattack. Lyon’s France striker Karim Benzema hit the woodwork five minutes later and the champions had another chance on the hour when Monaco keeper Stephane Ruffier blocked Jean Makoun’s header. Five minutes later, Lyon got back into the game when Cris headed home a Juninho long-range free-kick, but just a minute later Colombian striker Juan Pablo Pino had put Monaco back in front. Lyon leveled nine minutes from time when Frederic Piquionne’s scissor-kick went in after a scramble in the penalty area. They pushed hard to snatch a victory, but Monaco’s defense held tight. A few hours earlier, in a packed Stade Velodrome, Marseille had to wait until the 52nd minute for their opener, which came when Nigerian defender Taye Taiwo converted a penalty after Laurent Battles brought down Mathieu Valbuena. Brazilian central defender Hilton made it two seven minutes later, heading home a Valbuena corner. Taiwo sealed Marseille’s victory with his second, blasting in a 25m free-kick in the 65th minute and Brazilian striker Brandao added another one minute from time. Also on Sunday, Lille and Paris Saint-Germain shared the points in a 0-0 draw.
■NETHERLANDS
Ajax knock in seven
Luis Suarez scored three goals, including two from the penalty spot, to help Ajax rout Willem II 7-0 on Sunday and keep alive the team’s hopes of playing in the Champions League next season. Dario Cvitanich scored first for Ajax in the second minute from Suarez’s pass. He then set up Cameroon midfielder Eyong Enoh for the second in the 10th minute. Cvitanich got the third in the 20th minute, before Suarez made it 4-0 from the penalty spot in the 35th minute after defender Gregory van der Wiel was fouled in the area. Urby Emanuelson collected Cvitanich’s pass to score the fifth in the 45th minute and Suarez scored two more goals in the second half to bring his season tally to 20. Willem II’s Angelo Martha was dismissed in the 82nd minute for fouling Suarez, who then scored his seventh penalty of the season. Also on Sunday, veteran striker Roy Makaay scored a hat-trick, including a 59th-minute penalty, to help Feyenoord defeat Heracles Almelo 5-1. Kelvin Leerdam and Denny Landzaat scored the other goals for Feyenoord, while Bas Dost netted a 34th-minute consolation for Heracles. Viktor Elm scored in the 53rd minute to help SC Heerenveen beat FC Volendam 1-0, and Lasse Nilsson, Civard Sprockel and Ricky van Wolfswinkel scored a goal each to give Vitesse Arnhem a 3-2 win at FC Groningen.
■BRAZIL
Flamengo earn final spot
Defender Juan scored a first-half goal to give Flamengo a 1-0 win over rivals Fluminense and a spot in the Rio Cup final on Sunday. Flamengo will face Botafogo, who routed Vasco 4-0 in the other semi-final on Saturday. Corinthians earned a last-minute 2-1 victory at Sao Paulo in the first leg of the state championship semi-finals after defending champions Palmeiras fell 2-1 to Santos on Saturday. Juan gave Flamengo the win in front of nearly 70,000 fans at Maracana Stadium with a low left-footed shot from outside the area.
BOUNCE BACK: Curry scored 46 points in the Warriors’ victory over the Spurs, after ‘everybody stepped up’ following Tuesday’s blowout loss to Oklahoma City Nikola Jokic scoring 50 or more points had never been enough for the Denver Nuggets to win — until now. Jokic on Wednesday night tied the highest-scoring performance in the NBA this season with 55 points, as the Nuggets beat the Los Angeles Clippers 130-116 for their sixth straight victory. The Nuggets were 0-4 in his previous 50-point outbursts. “It’s a good feeling,” the three-time NBA Most Valuable Player said. He equaled Oklahoma City Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who had 55 in a double-overtime game at the Indiana Pacers on Oct. 23. Jokic has been on a roll during Denver’s winning streak. He is the
TIGHT GAME: The Detroit Pistons, the NBA’s second-best team, barely outlasted the Washington Wizards, who fell to an NBA-worst 1-10 with their ninth consecutive loss Cade Cunningham’s triple double, Daniss Jenkins’ three-pointer at the buzzer and Javonte Green’s overtime dunk lifted Detroit past Washington 137-135 on Monday, stretching the Pistons’ win streak to seven games. In an unexpected thriller, the NBA’s second-best team barely outlasted a Wizards club that fell to an NBA-worst 1-10 with their ninth consecutive loss. “We knew how big this game was for us,” Jenkins said. “We wasn’t going to let nothing stop us from getting this W.” Cunningham made 14-of-45 shots and 16-of-18 free throws for a career-high 46 points, and added 12 rebounds, 11 assists, five steals and two
The tri-nation Twenty20 international series featuring hosts Pakistan, as well as Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe, is to be played entirely in Rawalpindi from Tuesday next week, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said yesterday, after this week’s suicide bombing in the capital, Islamabad. The change came after at least eight Sri Lankan players asked to leave over security fears following Tuesday’s bombing that killed 12 people and wounded 27. Their country’s cricket board issued a stern directive to the team to stay put or face consequences. Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) said the decision to stay was taken after “close consultations” with hosts Pakistan who
LIKE FINE WINE: Thirty-eight-year-old Djokovic won his 101st title of his career in Athens, becoming the oldest tournament winner since Ken Roswell, 44, in 1977 Elena Rybakina on Saturday clinched her biggest title since Wimbledon in 2022, defeating world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka 6-3, 7-6 (7/0) at the WTA Finals in Riyadh. The world No. 6 put on yet another serving masterclass and was at her returning best as she became the first Kazakh and the first player representing an Asian country to lift the WTA Finals singles trophy. Having gone 3-0 in round-robin play, Rybakina earned a record US$5.235 million and would finish the year ranked No. 5 in the world. “It’s been an incredible week, I honestly didn’t expect any result, and to go so far,
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