English Premier League newcomers Wolverhampton Wanderers turned party-pooper on the day Alex Ferguson made an emotional return to Old Trafford.
The most successful coach in British soccer history was back at his former stamping ground on Saturday for the first time since undergoing emergency brain surgery in May.
However, Manchester United were unable to mark the occasion with a win, being held by Wolverhampton to 1-1.
Photo: EPA
Ferguson received a standing ovation from the crowd of 74,000 when he took his seat in the directors’ box before the game. He reacted with a wide grin and by raising his arms to salute the crowd.
“It’s great to be back,” the 76-year-old Scot said. “It’s obviously been a long journey, but I’m making steps forward, doing what my son tells me and what the doctors tell me.”
“It was important getting the right time and the right rest before coming to a game,” Ferguson said.
“The number of e-mails, texts and personal cards that came to the house, it was just amazing. I’m overcome by it and overwhelmed by it,” he said.
Ferguson retired from coaching in 2013 after amassing 38 trophies in almost 27 years at United.
Meanwhile, Liverpool moved alone to the top of the standings and stayed perfect after beating Southampton 3-0 for a sixth win in six matches.
Manchester City were second overall after routing Cardiff 5-0, but could be leapfrogged by Chelsea, who were to play West Ham United yesterday.
Crystal Palace defender Aaron Wan-Bissaka was hit by a bottle in a goalless home draw against Newcastle United.
Tottenham Hotspur overcame Brighton & Hove Albion 2-1 in the rain and Burnley ended their worst start to a top-flight campaign in nearly a century by crushing top-five side AFC Bournemouth 4-0.
LA LIGA
AP, MADRID
It took some help from video review to put Real Madrid on top in La Liga.
Marco Asensio’s first-half winner to beat RCD Espanyol 1-0 on Saturday was initially called offside, but eventually stood after assistance from the VAR, which is making its La Liga debut this season.
“In the end there was justice. I’m glad the VAR worked,” Asensio said. “I had already told [the referee] I didn’t think I was offside.”
Madrid rested regulars such as Gareth Bale and Marcelo following their opening win against AS Roma in the Champions League on Wednesday last week.
Thibaut Courtois, playing in goal after Keylor Navas started in the Champions League, saved Madrid in one of the few good chances created by Espanyol in the first half, while Borja Iglesias almost equalized, but struck the crossbar in the second half after a mistake by Sergio Ramos.
“We knew how to suffer and we knew how to close out the match to get the three points,” Madrid coach Julen Lopetegui said.
Taiwanese tennis veteran Hsieh Su-wei (謝淑薇) and her Latvian partner Jelena Ostapenko finished runners-up in the Wimbledon women's doubles final yesterday, losing 6-3, 2-6, 4-6. The three-set match against Veronika Kudermetova of Russia and Elise Mertens of Belgium lasted two hours and 23 minutes. The loss denied 39-year-old Hsieh a chance to claim her 10th Grand Slam title. Although the Taiwanese-Latvian duo trailed 1-3 in the opening set, they rallied with two service breaks to take it 6-3. In the second set, Mertens and Kudermetova raced to a 5-1 lead and wrapped it up 6-2 to even the match. In the final set, Hsieh and
Taiwanese tennis veteran Hsieh Su-wei and her Latvian partner, Jelena Ostapenko, advanced to the Wimbledon women’s doubles final on Friday, defeating top seeds Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic and Taylor Townsend of the US in straight sets. The fourth-seeded duo bounced back quickly after losing their opening service game, capitalizing on frequent unforced errors by their opponents to take the first set 7-5. Maintaining their momentum in the second set, Hsieh and Ostapenko broke serve early and held their lead to close out the match 6-4. They are set to face the eighth-seeded pair of Veronika Kudermetova of Russia and Elise Mertens
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Switzerland’s Riola Xhemaili on Thursday scored a last-gasp goal to salvage a dramatic 1-1 draw with Finland that sent the joyous hosts through to the quarter-finals at Euro 2025, and heartbroken Finland home. Switzerland, who needed only a draw to advance based on goal-difference, finished second in Group A behind Norway to go through to the knockout round for the first time and are to face the winners of Group B, which would be world champions Spain as things stand. “I think we set ourselves a goal on the pitch, to write history, to go into the knockout stages, which we’ve never
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