SPAIN
Eibar defeat Rayo 3-2
Mikel Arruabarrena scored his second goal of the night in the 86th minute to give Sociedad Deportiva Eibar a 3-2 win at Rayo Vallecano de Madrid in La Liga on Monday. Arruabarrena opened the scoring in the 37th minute when he converted a penalty and Federico Piovaccari doubled the lead when he struck the ball under David Cobeno as the goalkeeper came forward in the 50th minute, but Leo Baptistao pulled the hosts level with two goals in less than two minutes. His header bounced in off the crossbar in the 67th minute and he netted the equalizer just a minute later for his third brace of the season. Arruabarrena then netted the winner from a counterattack. Eibar are ninth in the standings on 13 points after 10 rounds, while Rayo are 12th on 11. Cobeno substituted the injured Antonio Martinez in Rayo’s goal in the 24th minute.
ENGLAND
Fellaini to face no action
Manchester United midfielder Marouane Fellaini will face no action from the Football Association after slamming claims he spat at Manchester City’s Sergio Aguero during Sunday’s derby. Fellaini and Aguero tussled in the first half of City’s 1-0 victory after the Argentina striker tumbled to the floor following a challenge from the Belgium international. Fellaini kicked Aguero’s standing leg and the hosts appealed for a penalty, which was not given. The United player clearly did not feel it was a foul and he bent down to shout at Aguero, who went on to score City’s winner. TV replays showed that some spit appeared to exit the Belgian’s mouth as he unleashed his tirade at the striker, but former Everton star Fellaini says he did nothing wrong. “The press loves to invent the stories when there aren’t any. Thanks the journalist,” he tweeted on Monday. Referee Michael Olivier took no action against Fellaini at the time and, after reviewing the incident, a disciplinary panel said it believed it was not intentional.
ARGENTINA
Gutierrez given the all clear
Newcastle United and Argentina winger Jonas Gutierrez has been give the all clear by doctors after a successful fight against testicular cancer. “I got the all clear. Thank you very much to all those who stood by me in this moment,” the 31-year-old said in a Twitter message. Instantly recognizable playing for Newcastle and Argentina at the 2010 World Cup finals with long hair and a beard, Gutierrez made his most recent public appearance running the Buenos Aires Marathon several weeks ago, totally bald after chemotherapy. Gutierrez, whose fight against cancer lasted 18 months, ran the marathon in support of cancer research. A tumor was discovered in one of his testicles in May last year following a knock playing against Arsenal, and he went back to Argentina for treatment and had surgery in October last year. On his return to England midway through last season, Newcastle loaned him to Norwich City in the second tier, but he returned to Argentina again this year to undergo chemotherapy.
GERMANY
Draxler out until next year
Schalke 04 will be without World Cup winning midfielder Julian Draxler until next year as it was announced on Monday he needs an operation on a torn hamstring. The 21-year-old suffered the injury in Schalke’s 1-0 Bundesliga win over Augsburg on Friday last week. Among the matches Draxler will miss are today’s UEFA Champions League match against Portugal’s Sporting, Germany’s Euro 2016 qualifier against Gibraltar next week and a friendly against Spain.
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
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,
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
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