■ITALY
Fiorentina win in Cup
Adrian Mutu scored twice to help Fiorentina beat Chievo Verona 3-2 to advance to the Italian Cup quarterfinals on Thursday. Mutu found the target in the 35th and 77th minutes, with Khouma Babacar also scoring for the home side. After Pablo Granoche Louro put Chievo ahead seven minutes in, Mutu equalized from a cross from Manuel Pasqual. Simone Bentivoglio restored Chievo’s lead in the 38th and Babacar made it 2-2 by redirecting in a free kick from Pasqual in the 75th. Two minutes later, Mutu skipped past two defenders to score the winner. Fiorentina next face Lazio, who beat Palermo 2-0. Aleksandar Kolarov put Lazio in front in the 57th minute before Sergio Floccari doubled the lead in the 74th. Also, Udinese eliminated third-division Lumazzane 2-0. Francesco Lodi scored a penalty seconds before halftime and Bernardo Corradi sealed the win with a goal in the 61st. Udinese’s quarterfinal opponents are AC Milan, who edged third-division Novara 2-1 on Wednesday. Also advancing were Juventus, Inter, AS Roma and Catania.
■ENGLAND
Pompey cash diverted
Portsmouth are to have their £7 million (US$11.4 million) share of the latest English Premier League television revenues diverted to clubs they owe money to over unpaid transfer deals, officials said on Thursday. Portsmouth, four points adrift at the bottom of English soccer’s top flight, are currently unable to sign new players during this month’s transfer window because of an embargo placed upon them by the league. The Premier League board held talks with Portsmouth, who on several occasions this season have failed to play their players on time. Pompey have been unable to convince the league they have the money to cover a reported £10 million of debts to other clubs, hence the decision to divert their share of the television cash to other teams.
■ENGLAND
Redknapp on tax rap
Tottenham Hotspur manager Harry Redknapp was charged with tax evasion on Thursday, a spokesman for English prosecuting authorities said. The charges, which relate to Redknapp’s time in charge of Portsmouth, result from a police investigation into alleged corruption in English soccer. Redknapp, who has repeatedly protested his innocence, said he would fight the charges. “Henry [Harry] Redknapp, the former football manager of Portsmouth Football Club, has today been charged with two counts of cheating the public revenue,” a Crown Prosecution Service spokesman said on Thursday. Redknapp’s lawyer, Ian Burton, said his client had voluntarily attended a police station to be charged. The charges against Redknapp came two days after former Portsmouth chairman Milan Mandaric was charged with two counts of tax evasion.
■ENGLAND
Teen fetches £3.5 million
Chelsea must pay Manchester City £3.5 million for teenage striker Daniel Sturridge, with the final bill possibly hitting £7 million depending on appearances. A Professional Football Compensation Committee hearing on Thursday ruled an initial payment of £3.5 million was due, with additional payments of £500,000 after each of 10, 20, 30 and 40 first-team appearances. A further payment of £1 million will be due if Sturridge makes a full international appearance. Sturridge, 19, joined Chelsea in July on a four-year deal after his contract expired at City, but the two clubs could not agree on a fee, which was determined by the tribunal.
Taiwanese badminton player Lin Chun-yi had to settle for silver in the men’s singles at the Orleans Masters in France on Sunday after losing in the final to his French opponent. The 25-year-old Lin, ranked world No. 14, lost to Alex Lanier 13-21, 18-21 in a match that lasted 42 minutes at the Palais des Sports arena. It was the first time that the two players were facing each other in their professional careers. In the opener, Lin was slow to warm up, which gave the 20-year-old Lanier an opportunity to take an early lead with seven consecutive points. Despite
Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday held their nerve to beat Liverpool 4-1 on penalties and reach the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals after their tie finished one-apiece on aggregate, while Bayern Munich saw off Bayer 04 Leverkusen to complete a 5-0 win over both legs. Lamine Yamal and Raphinha fired Barcelona into the next round as the Catalans bested SL Benfica 3-1, and Inter booked a last-eight meeting with Bayern by seeing off Feyenoord 2-1. At Anfield, Ousmane Dembele netted the only goal of the night as PSG bounced back from Liverpool’s late winner last week to force the tie to extra-time and penalties. Maligned
Taiwan’s Lin Chun-yi on Wednesday inflicted a first-round defeat on former badminton world No. 1 Viktor Axelsen at the All England Open. Lin came out of top after a back-and-forth first game before Axelsen dominated the second, but the Dane was not able to keep that form in the decider as Lin reeled off six points in a row on the way to a 21-19, 13-21, 21-11 victory. “If I don’t play my best, everyone can win against me,” said Axelsen, the world No. 4. “Today’s opponent played a fantastic game; it was disappointing, but that is how it is.” “I just tried
Two-time Indian Wells champion Iga Swiatek on Thursday avenged her shock Paris Olympics loss to Zheng Qinwen with a 6-3, 6-3 win over the Chinese eighth seed, setting up a semi-final against 17-year-old Russian Mirra Andreeva in the California desert. In the men’s singles, Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz put on a show with his acrobatic shotmaking under the lights to close out the day’s action, overcoming a 4-1 second-set deficit to defeat Francisco Cerundolo 6-3, 7-6 (7/4), while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei crashed out of the women’s doubles. Swiatek, one of the gold medal favorites when she lost to eventual champion Zheng in the
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