Real Sociedad’s Carlos Vela and Ruben Pardo scored to spoil Michel’s debut as the new Sevilla coach in a 2-0 La Liga victory on Monday.
Former Real Madrid and Spain player Michel replaced Marcelino as Sevilla boss last week, but he failed to make an immediate impact and the sliding Andalucians have now taken only two points from their past eight matches.
Mexico striker Vela, on loan from Arsenal, volleyed the opener in the 65th minute at the Estadio Anoeta and three minutes later Pardo struck a blistering drive past Andres Palop.
Photo: EPA
Sevilla dropped down to 13th, only three points above the relegation places.
Sevilla were the latest Spanish-based sports stars to protest against the image of them being doping frauds during the game by wearing shirts emblazoned with the logo “Liberty, Equality and Superiority.”
The Sevilla players wore the logo, a dig at France’s national motto, though the Spaniards substituted “superiority” for “fraternity,” on their shirts during the match with Sociedad — who refrained from such a gesture — in the latest offering in a bitter war of words between France and Spain.
The Spanish have been up in arms since French satirical puppet show Les Guignols implied that tennis superstar Rafael Nadal and other athletes are drug cheats following the two-year ban imposed on two-time Tour de France champion Alberto Contador for doping last week.
Sevilla issued a statement explaining why they had allowed their players to take to the pitch with the slogan on their shirts.
“This is to show our support for all sportsmen in the country,” the club said. “We also wanted to take the movement a step further in our resolute defense of the Spanish sporting world.”
The sketches on French TV prompted the Spanish foreign minister to order a formal protest to French media.
One sketch featured a puppet likeness of world No. 2 Nadal refueling the tank of his car from his own bladder, a fill-up which powers up the car and leads to him being pulled over by police.
In another, a satirical advert asks people to donate blood to Contador and therefore share in the glory of his cycling victories.
Also in La Liga on Monday, struggling Sporting de Gijon put former Spain coach Javier Clemente in charge in a bid to avoid relegation.
Clemente, 61, was to be presented yesterday afternoon, the club said in a statement.
He replaces Inaki Tejada, who was promoted following the sacking of Manuel Preciado two weeks ago.
The north-coast club gave Tejada the job until the end of the season, but one draw and a 4-0 defeat to Valencia on Sunday prompted a quick change.
Gijon are 19th in the standings with 19 points and they have only won once since the turn of the year.
The outspoken Clemente has a vast range of experience having managed clubs such as Athletic Bilbao, a team he led to two league titles in the 1980s, Atletico Madrid and RCD Espanyol. Clemente was sacked by Cameroon in October after they failed to qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations.
Freddie Freeman homered and drove in four runs, Shohei Ohtani also went deep and Roki Sasaki earned his first major league win as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves 10-3 on Saturday night for their seventh straight victory. The Dodgers have won the first two games of the series to improve to 5-0 against Atlanta this year. Los Angeles’ three-game sweep at home early in the season left the Braves 0-7. Sasaki allowed three runs and six hits over five innings. The 23-year-old right-hander gave up a home run to Ozzie Albies, but received plenty of offensive support in his
Bayern Munich on Sunday were crowned German champions for the 34th time, giving striker Harry Kane his first major trophy, after second-placed Bayer 04 Leverkusen drew 2-2 at SC Freiburg. Bayern’s 3-3 draw at RB Leipzig on Saturday, when the Bavarians came from two goals down to take the lead before conceding a stoppage-time equalizer, meant defending Bundesliga champions Leverkusen needed to win at Freiburg to delay the title party. Leverkusen were two goals down before scoring twice in the final 10 minutes, but Xabi Alonso’s side could not find a third, as Bayern reclaimed the title at the first attempt after
INTER AWAIT: Superb saves by PSG ’keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma inspired the victory, as Arsenal were punished for misses, including one by Bukayo Saka Arsenal on Wednesday fell short on the big stage again as their painful UEFA Champions League semi-final exit against Paris Saint-Germain left Mikel Arteta to rue his club’s failure to provide him with enough attacking options. Arteta’s side were unable to reach the Champions League final for the first time in 19 years as PSG clinched a tense 2-1 win at Parc des Princes. Trailing 1-0 from last week’s first leg in London, the Gunners made a blistering start to the second leg, but could not convert their chances as Gianluigi Donnarumma’s superb saves inspired PSG’s 3-1 aggregate victory. Arsenal were punished for
THRILLER: Raphinha gave Barca a 3-2 lead with two minutes remaining of regular time, but Francesco Acerbi equalized the game in the second minute of added time Davide Frattesi on Tuesday fired Inter into the UEFA Champions League final with an extra-time winner that gave the Italians a stunning 4-3 triumph over Barcelona, 7-6 on aggregate. Italy midfielder Frattesi won a tie for the ages under a downpour in Milan when he lashed home in the 99th minute, sending a packed and rocking San Siro wild with joy. Simone Inzaghi’s team will face either Arsenal or Paris Saint-Germain at the end of this month in Munich, Germany, where they would feel they have a great chance to be crowned kings of Europe for a fourth time after
RSS