Romelu Lukaku scored in either half as Inter on Saturday claimed a 3-0 win against Genoa to move second in Serie A behind Juventus, who were to play yesterday.
Antonio Conte’s title ambitions took a knock with back-to-back stalemates against AS Roma and ACF Fiorentina, but Inter pulled back ahead of Atalanta BC and within four points of leaders Juventus, who were to play UC Sampdoria after press time last night, with a win to give them their 36th scudetto.
“The problem is how you see the glass, whether half full or half empty,” said Conte of second position. “There are vintages where you sow little and you reap a lot and others in which you sow a lot and reap little, like this one, but there are numbers that speak clearly, that comfort. I think these lads are doing very good things. Of course, we can and must improve.”
Photo: AP
“We won’t win the league, but we have to be hungry to finish as high as possible,” he said.
Lukaku nodded in Cristiano Biraghi’s cross after 34 minutes, with the former Manchester United forward accelerating to finish off an individual effort three minutes into injury time.
The 27-year-old Belgian brought his tally to 23 league goals this season and 29 in all competitions.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Alexis Sanchez, on-loan from United, was also on target with eight minutes to go, picking up a Victor Moses cross to volley in for his fourth league goal this season.
In Naples, SSC Napoli beat US Sassuolo 2-0, with the visitors having four goals ruled offside — two in either half.
Albanian defender Elseid Hysaj opened the scoring for Napoli after eight minutes.
Filip Djuricic then had two goals ruled out as did Francesco Caputo and Domenico Berardi following VAR viewings before Brazilian Allan sealed the points for the hosts three minutes into injury time.
Elsewhere, Parma saw off relegated Brescia 2-1.
Meanwhile, Bologna manager Sinisa Mihajlovic said that he would prefer to not play at all next season rather than continue behind closed doors, competing in “frigid football.”
“Playing without a crowd is not nice and you get tired of it,” Mihajlovic said. “I know this was the only way to finish the championship, but I hope that from September people can return to the stadium.”
“If I had to choose between not playing next season or playing behind closed doors I prefer not to play,” he said.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but