Valencia continued their solid start to the season and climbed to second in La Liga when recent Spain recruit Paco Alcacer set them on their way to a 3-0 win at Getafe on Monday.
Forward Alcacer, who scored on his competitive Spain debut in this month’s 5-1 Euro 2016 qualification victory over Macedonia, fired Valencia ahead in the seventh minute at Getafe’s Coliseum Alfonso Perez in the Madrid suburbs.
Midfielder Andre Gomes made it 2-0 in the 20th minute.
Photo: EPA
Striker Rodrigo had an eventful second half when he netted a 72nd-minute penalty, before earning a second yellow card and getting sent off a minute later.
The victory lifted Valencia into second place after four matches, level on 10 points with Sevilla and two behind early leaders Barcelona, the only team with a 100 percent record.
Four-time World Player of the Year Lionel Messi starred as Barca scored a thumping 5-0 win at Levante UD on Sunday, while champions Atletico Madrid have eight points in fourth following Saturday’s 2-2 draw at home to RC Celta de Vigo.
Photo: EPA
Real Madrid are seventh on six points after they hammered hapless RC Deportivo de La Coruna 8-2 on Saturday to help the stuttering European champions put consecutive La Liga defeats behind them.
Hopes are high at Valencia, who failed to qualify for Europe last season, that a takeover by Singapore billionaire Peter Lim will help the club put years of financial woes behind them, transforming them into genuine challengers in domestic and continental competition.
Lim’s purchase of the club is close to completion, although reports in Spain have said talks with Valencia’s main creditor, Bankia, have broken down.
Lin Yun-ju on Thursday handed Taiwan two key victories as they advanced to the semi-finals of the ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships Finals in London. The Taiwan men’s table tennis team beat Sweden 3-2 in five singles matches. The 24-year-old Lin, Taiwan’s top-ranked player at world No. 7 and nicknamed the “Silent Assassin,” opened the tie by defeating world No. 2 Truls Moregard 3-0 (11-8, 11-9, 13-11) before clinching the deciding fifth match with a 3-0 (11-8, 11-9, 11-5) win over Anton Kallberg to hand his team the overall victory. Kuo Guan-hong put Taiwan up 2-0 with a 3-2 (4-11, 11-8, 8-11,
Aryna Sabalenka on Thursday said that she hoped she would be able to play tennis under the Belarusian flag after the International Olympic Committee lifted its ban on the country’s athletes competing in the Olympics. World No. 1 Sabalenka has had to compete under a neutral banner as a consequence of her country’s support for Russia following its ally’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The IOC earlier on Thursday lifted its ban on Belarusian athletes competing in the Olympics, although restrictions on Russian athletes remain in place. Asked whether the women’s tour would drop the ban on her representing her country, Sabalenka said:
China’s Wu Yize on Monday won the World Snooker Championship for the first time with a dramatic 18-17 victory over Shaun Murphy in the final. Wu held his nerve to seal his thrilling triumph in a tense last frame shoot-out at Sheffield’s Crucible Theatre. The 22-year-old is the second Chinese player to win the world title after Zhao Xintong beat Mark Williams to make history as the first Asian to lift the trophy last year. Wu is also the second-youngest player to be crowned world champion at the Crucible after Stephen Hendry, who was 21 when he won in 1990. “I have been trying
Real Madrid announced on Friday they had fined Aurelien Tchouameni and Federico Valverde 500,000 euros (US$588,000) each after a training ground clash that saw Valverde transported for medical care. The club did not impose any sporting sanctions on the two players, saying in a statement that the fine “thereby concludes the internal procedures” launched against them. Valverde is going to miss today’s Clasico against Barcelona as a result of the head injury he suffered during the altercation. The club said he would be out for up to two weeks. Tchouameni took part in training on Friday and could feature at Camp
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