Romelu Lukaku was stretchered off after a clash of heads as Manchester United drew 0-0 with Southampton on Saturday.
Lukaku crashed into Southampton’s Wesley Hoedt as the pair contested an aerial challenge early in the first half at Old Trafford.
The Belgian striker lay prone on the pitch barely moving while he was treated by medical staff for five minutes.
Photo: AFP
Lukaku remained conscious and was eventually carried off wearing an oxygen mask.
The injury continued a difficult period for Lukaku, who has scored only four times in his past 19 appearances.
In the absence of Lukaku, Jose Mourinho’s men were unable to break down Southampton and had to settle for their third successive league draw.
Photo: Reuters
United ended a frustrating month trailing 14 points behind leaders Manchester City.
“When you see a player leave the pitch like he did, it is usually two games at least,” Mourinho said of Lukaku. “We missed easy chances, but I’m really unhappy because we should have had a penalty.”
LIVERPOOL 2, LEICESTER CITY 1
Liverpool on Saturday celebrated Virgil van Dijk’s arrival at Anfield by coming from behind to beat Leicester City 2-1 thanks to Mohamed Salah’s brace.
Van Dijk, signed from Southampton for a world record fee for a defender, is not able to play for Liverpool until this month, but the flaws the Dutch centerback will be asked to fix were on display as Leicester took a third minute lead.
With Van Dijk watching, Joel Matip carelessly conceded possession and Riyad Mahrez set up Jamie Vardy to slot past goalkeeper Loris Karius for his 10th of the season.
Liverpool leveled seven minutes after the interval. Egypt winger Salah took Sadio Mane’s brilliant pass and showed good footwork before drilling past Kasper Schmeichel for his 22nd club goal of an incredible debut season following his move from Roma.
Salah then won it for Liverpool in the 76th minute, turning away from Leicester defender Harry Maguire and firing it in.
Liverpool, unbeaten in 12 league games, remain fourth and now hold a four-point advantage over Tottenham Hotspur in the race to qualify for the Champions League.
“It is a maximum satisfaction to win like this. Today was pretty much perfect,” Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp said. “When we were one goal down our reaction was the best I’ve ever seen in this situation. Mo was fantastic with his dribbling and his vision. I couldn’t ask more from him.”
CHELSEA 5, STOKE CITY 0
At Stamford Bridge, Chelsea climbed above United into second place after shutting out Stoke City 5-0.
Antonio Conte’s side made a perfect start when German defender Antonio Rudiger headed home from Willian’s free-kick in the third minute.
Eden Hazard was rested, but his replacement Danny Drinkwater did a passable impression of the brilliant Belgian, the midfielder bagging his first goal for the Blues with a blistering strike in the ninth minute.
Stoke were three down by the 23rd minute when Pedro finished off Willian’s pass to put Chelsea on course for a fourth win in five league games.
Willian stroked home a penalty in the 73rd minute, before wing-back Davide Zappacosta grabbed his first Premier League goal with two minutes remaining.
“Every win is important for us. Today it was important to get three points to continue our positive run,” Conte said.
In Saturday’s other games, it was:
‧ Swansea City 2, Watford 1
‧ Huddersfield 0, Burnley 0
‧ Bournemouth 2, Everton 1
‧ Newcastle 0, Brighton 0
INTO THE SEMIS: Top seed Tai Tzu-ying hit two stunning backhands in quick succession while on the floor in her quarter-final, prompting disbelieving gasps and cheers Taiwanese badminton stars Lee Yang and Wang Chi-lin yesterday advanced to the gold medal match of the men’s doubles, while Taiwanese top seed Tai Tzu-ying got off to a rough start in a nail-biting women’s singles quarter-final against Thailand’s Ratchanok Intanon, but rallied with a series of flash backhand smashes. Lee and Wang beat Indonesia’s Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan 21-11, 21-10 in their men’s doubles semi-final to set up a shot at the gold medal against China’s Li Junhui and Liu Yuchen, who had a 24-22, 21-13 win over Malaysia’s Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik. Tai rallied from a game
‘BOSS CHARACTER’: Lee Yang and Wang Chi-lin said they had ‘crawled out of hell’ and have nothing to lose in a match against the world’s No. 2 pairing Badminton duo Lee Yang and Wang Chi-lin made history in Tokyo yesterday by becoming the first Taiwanese shuttlers to advance to an Olympics semi-final after they edged their Japanese rivals in the quarter-finals of the men’s doubles. The world No. 3 Taiwanese duo defeated Hiroyuki Endo and Yuta Watanabe 21-16, 21-19 in 44 minutes at the Musashino Forest Plaza. By reaching the final four, the pair have recorded Taiwan’s best ever showing in Olympic badminton, surpassing a quarter-finals finish by Lee Sheng-mu and Fang Chieh-min in the men’s doubles at the London Games in 2012. After clinching the hard-earned victory, Lee dropped to
Weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz, who won the Philippines’ first-ever Olympic gold medal this week, on Thursday said that she has fond memories of training in Kaohsiung in 2019 and feels like she has family there. In an online interview organized by the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines, Diaz said she visited Taiwan twice in 2019 so she could concentrate on her training without being distracted by friends and invitations to socialize. “I feel like I have also family there,” she said, adding that she did her training sessions at Gushan Senior High School in Kaohsiung. Diaz, who claimed gold in the under-55kg class
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying had just lost a heartbreaker in her Olympic badminton gold medal match final on Sunday, but comforting words from fellow shuttler P.V. Sindhu of India helped her work through a cauldron of emotions. In a Facebook post late on Sunday, Tai wrote that she was feeling reasonably satisfied with her performance after losing to China’s Chen Yufei 18-21, 21-19, 18-21 in the women’s singles final, when Sindhu, who won bronze, sought her out after the medal ceremony. Sindhu, who lost to Tai in the semi-finals on Saturday, hugged the Taiwanese athlete. “You performed very well. Today just wasn’t your day,”
RSS