Substitute Clarence Seedorf fired in a thunderous strike in stoppage time to give AC Milan a 1-0 win over Chievo and slash the gap with Serie A leaders Inter Milan to a point.
Inter lost 3-1 at Catania on Friday and second-placed Milan looked to have wasted their chance to put huge pressure on the stuttering leaders until the Dutchman found the top corner from the edge of the box.
Mid-table Chievo hit the post and had a goal debatably ruled out for offside and Milan’s David Beckham suffered a suspected ruptured Achilles tendon that threatens his World Cup with England.
PHOTO: REUTERS
“I’m very happy because tonight was tough. Inter know we are only a point away and we’ll fight for the championship until the end,” Seedorf told Sky TV after Milan got over their Champions League elimination by Manchester United in midweek.
“Inter’s loss allowed us to quickly forget the Champions League defeat,” added a jubilant Seedorf, who has not always been a favorite of the San Siro crowd.
Inter have won just one league game in six and held a nine-point lead in the middle of month.
Third-placed AS Roma were held 3-3 at Livorno amid a flurry of goals in the afternoon kickoffs, which summed up the poor standard of Serie A rather than its great excitement.
A Cristiano Lucarelli hat-trick for third-bottom Livorno meant Roma could only move to within six points of champions Inter with 10 games left.
Simone Perrotta and Luca Toni helped put Claudio Ranieri’s side 2-1 up and David Pizarro made it 3-2 before the Chilean hit the post with a penalty and Lucarelli leveled the scores from the spot on 71 minutes after Juan’s handball.
Palermo stayed fourth despite a 3-2 defeat at Udinese, who went seven clear of the drop zone largely thanks to goals either side of the break from striker Antonio Floro Flores.
Juventus, enduring a nightmare season, could have gone above the Sicilians into the fourth and final Champions League qualifying spot, but blew a three-goal lead to draw 3-3 with bottom side Siena in Turin.
Alessandro Del Piero scored his 300th and 301st career goals inside the first seven minutes with a close-range finish and superb volley before Antonio Candreva thumped in a third.
Siena hit back through Massimo Maccarone and Abdelkader Ghezzal, who then netted a leveler from the spot on 74 minutes after hapless Juve defender Zdenek Grygera fouled Maccarone.
Sampdoria are a point behind fifth-placed Juventus after a 1-1 draw at Bologna, whose injury-time equalizer looked offside.
Samp’s city rivals Genoa, two points further back, enlivened their hopes of Europa League soccer next season with a thrilling 5-3 victory over Cagliari.
Parma beat second-bottom Atalanta 1-0, while famous Roman club Lazio remain in deep trouble, two points above the relegation zone, following a harrowing 2-0 home defeat by Bari.
Eugenie Bouchard already has her own signature pickleball paddle. She is No. 17 in the pickleball rankings and constantly appears on the main court at events because she is always a big draw. However, just to be absolutely clear, she is not retired from tennis. The 2014 Wimbledon finalist still practices on the tennis court, still competes at tennis events and still has a Women’s Tennis Association ranking (No. 1,288). The Canadian standout just has a new sport that has caught her attention. Bouchard is one of several familiar tennis names — like Jack Sock and Donald Young — crossing over to
Starting with three fights in the first nine seconds and ending with a celebration and a spot in the 4 Nations Face-Off final, the US on Saturday delivered exactly what Matthew Tkachuk hoped for by beating Canada. “We needed to send a message,” Tkachuk said. “The message we wanted to send is ‘It’s our time.’” Tkachuk fought Brandon Hagel off the opening faceoff, brother Brady tussled with Sam Bennett the next time the puck dropped, J.T. Miller dropped the gloves with Colton Parayko next and the Americans followed those fisticuffs with a 3-1 victory over their biggest rival. “That was one of the
Shaquille O’Neal is staying with TNT Sports on a new contract worth more than US$15 million per year, Front Office Sports reported on Friday. The news means the cast of Inside the NBA is staying together even as TNT is set to license out the show to ESPN starting next season. TNT was the odd network out in the NBA’s recent TV rights negotiations, as NBC and Amazon joined previous rightsholder ESPN in inking deals for basketball games. That left TNT without a need for pregame and postgame NBA shows. In a trade with ESPN, TNT is licensing Inside the NBA to the
Aaliyah Edwards on Monday pulled off the stunner of the opening round of the Unrivaled one-on-one tournament, beating top-seeded Breanna Stewart 12-0. The tournament to be played over three days featured 23 of the WNBA’s 36 players. A few had other commitments and a couple others were out with injuries. Stewart got the ball first against Edwards and missed a contested layup. Edwards then hit a three-pointer from the corner and a jumper from the elbow to go up 5-0. The player who scores keeps the basketball. Edwards hit two layups and a three-pointer to seal the win. Stewart, a two-time WNBA Most Valuable Player,