West Ham United manager Slaven Bilic compared Dimitri Payet to Lionel Messi after the Frenchman’s show-stopping strike earned his side a 1-1 draw with Middlesbrough on Saturday.
West Ham were trailing to Cristhian Stuani’s header at London Stadium when Payet picked up the ball wide on the left in the 57th minute and span away from Antonio Barragan.
He jinked past Marten de Roon on the edge of the area and then skirted forlorn challenges by Calum Chambers, Ben Gibson and George Friend before rolling a shot past goalkeeper Victor Valdes.
Photo: Reuters
“It was a great goal, a brilliant individual goal which brought us back into the game,” said Bilic, whose side had lost their four previous Premier League matches. “I don’t see many players scoring these type of goals. You see free-kicks, you see volleys, scissor-kicks, all different types of goals, but this was like Messi’s goals. It was a brilliant, brilliant moment of magic. But we can’t rely on him doing that every week.”
Signed from Marseille last year for ￡10.7 million (US$13.9 million), Payet was named West Ham’s Player of the Year after scoring 12 goals and providing 14 assists in his maiden campaign.
The draw kept West Ham in the relegation zone, below fourth-bottom Swansea City on goal difference.
Photo: Reuters
Chelsea ended a three-game winless run with a 2-0 win at Hull City on Saturday that provisionally lifted Antonio Conte’s men to sixth, while a memorable Dimitri Payet goal earned West Ham United a 1-1 draw with Middlesbrough.
Watford and Bournemouth played out an entertaining 2-2 draw at Vicarage Road. Bournemouth twice went in front, through Callum Wilson and substitute Joshua King, but Watford equalised on each occasion courtesy of captain Troy Deeney and substitute Isaac Success.
Patrick van Aanholt’s 83rd-minute equalizer earned Sunderland manager David Moyes a measure of respite in a 1-1 draw at home to West Bromwich Albion, who had gone ahead through Nacer Chadli.
SCOTTISH PREMIERSHIP
AFP, GLASGOW, Scotland
Rangers midfielder Niko Kranjcar says he still believes his side have a good season ahead of them after they ended a four-match winless run with a 2-0 defeat of Partick Thistle at Ibrox on Saturday.
The Croatian midfielder capped his best performance for the Ibrox club with his first league goal to open the scoring in the 33rd minute before Andy Halliday added a second seven minutes later.
It was far from a polished performance from the Glasgow giants, who move up to fifth in the table and continue to trail league leaders Celtic, who defeated Dundee 1-0 earlier in the day, by seven points with their Old Firm rivals having played a game less.
It was Rangers’ first victory in the league since Aug. 20 as they struggle to adapt to life back in the top flight following a four-year absence.
Rangers’ victory was overshadowed by a coach crash which left one of their fans dead and 17 injured.
The road accident happened when the coach, carrying 36 fans plus the driver, overturned in East Ayrshire to the south of Glasgow en route to the afternoon match.
Witnesses said the vehicle swerved near a roundabout before it overturned on a grass verge.
The 18 injured were taken to hospital, said a police spokesman, who confirmed that a 39-year-old man had later died of his injuries.
“Obviously there are things more important than football and our thoughts are with the people and families involved,” Weir said.
LIGUE 1
AFP, PARIS
Edinson Cavani was at his clinical best on Saturday with a first-half brace as Paris Saint-Germain eased to a 2-0 victory over Bordeaux, while Monaco thrashed Metz 7-0 to return to the top of Ligue 1.
The oft-maligned Cavani struck twice in the first half-hour at the Parc des Princes as PSG built on their midweek Champions League win away to Ludogorets in Bulgaria and got back on track domestically.
Paris had come into the weekend in fourth spot in the table having lost at Toulouse last time out, their second defeat in just seven league matches under new coach Unai Emery.
LA LIGA
AFP, MADRID
Valencia named former Italy boss Cesare Prandelli as their fourth coach in a year on Saturday on a two-year deal.
“Valencia Club de Futbol wish to communicate to fans that they have reached an agreement with Cesare Prandelli,” the club said in a statement. “The Italian being appointed as first team coach through to June 30th, 2018.”
Prandelli has been unemployed since leaving Galatasaray after just four months in charge in 2014.
The 59-year-old led Italy to the Euro 2012 final, eventually losing 4-0 to Spain, but resigned after failing to make it out of the group stages at the 2014 World Cup.
Meanwhile, Wissam Ben Yedder backheeled home an injury time winner as Sevilla moved joint top of La Liga in a chaotic 2-1 win over Alaves that saw four players and the referee go off injured.
Alaves’ defensive gameplan looked to have been undone when one of Sevilla’s enforced substitutes Ganso’s sensational backheel teed up Ben Yedder for the opener 17 minutes from time.
However, after referee Mateu Lahoz joined the casualty list with a calf injury, Victor Languardia bundled home a corner at the back post to level.
Ben Yedder had the final say, though, after also netting the winner against Lyon in the Champions League in midweek as he flicked home Vitolo’s low cross.
Sevilla leapfrog Atletico Madrid and Barcelona into second behind Real Madrid on goal difference.
BUNDESLIGA
AFP, BERLIN
Leaders Bayern Munich dropped their first Bundesliga points of the season on Saturday as their 1-1 draw at home to Cologne denied Carlo Ancelotti a record-equaling sixth straight win.
Joshua Kimmich’s first-half header at Munich’s Allianz Arena was canceled out by Anthony Modeste’s volley to break the Bavarian giants’ 100 percent record in the league this season.
It meant Ancelotti missed out on equaling the Bundesliga record of six straight wins for a coach in his debut season in Germany’s top flight.
“We were good in the first half and controlled the game, then we lost the cohesion and order in our game,” admitted Ancelotti.
Badminton world No. 3 Anders Antonsen clinched his first Indonesia Open title yesterday after beating Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen, while South Korea’s An Se-young won her second championship in Jakarta. The 28-year-old Dane sank world No. 7 Chou at the Indonesian capital’s Istora Senayan arena, winning 22-20, 21-14 in a 60-minute match to secure the prestigious Super 1000 event. Antonsen came out on top in a tightly contested first game before cruising to victory in the second. In a more closely fought women’s singles final, South Korean ace and world No. 1 An fought back from one game down to beat China’s
Spain starlets Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams dazzled on Thursday as La Roja beat France 5-4 in a thriller in Stuttgart, Germany, to set up a UEFA Nations League final with Portugal. Yamal bagged a brace, while Williams scored and provided an assist as the two wingers cut France’s makeshift defense to ribbons. Mikel Merino and Pedri were also on the score sheet for the UEFA Euro 2024 champions. Kylian Mbappe netted a second-half penalty, but Spain were 5-1 up and cruising, before Les Bleus suddenly woke up as their opponents took their foot off the pedal. France’s three late goals — a
Italy crashed to a 3-0 loss away to Norway, as the four-time FIFA World Cup champions made a disastrous start to their 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign on Friday, while Belgium had to settle for a draw in North Macedonia. Alexander Sorloth, Antonio Nusa and Erling Haaland all scored in the first half in pouring rain in Oslo as Norway made it a night to forget for Italy, who missed out on the past two World Cups. “I have no explanation. Our supporters don’t deserve this kind of match. We need to do some soul-searching. It’s unacceptable,” Italy captain and goalkeeper Gianluigi
The Crusaders yesterday produced a clinical performance in difficult conditions to beat the Queensland Reds 32-12 and claim home advantage in next week’s Super Rugby semi-finals. Lock Scott Barrett and prop Tamaiti Williams scored first-half tries to reward an outstanding performance from the Crusaders’ forwards in wet, slippery conditions and bitterly cold temperatures. Scrumhalf Noah Hotham defied the conditions in the second half to score a superb solo try and, after kicking a conversion and penalty to make the score 22-0 at the hour mark, flyhalf Rivez Reihana scored a try which took the game beyond the Reds. “Typical Christchurch weather, cold, wet
RSS