Sevilla’s Diego Carlos and Luuk de Jong got on the scoresheet on Monday to secure a fifth La Liga win in a row as their side enjoyed a 2-0 victory against CA Osasuna to move above Barcelona into third place and join the title race.
Osasuna defender Oier Sanrujo almost got the hosts off to a perfect start when he sent a header crashing against the post in the opening minutes, but it was Sevilla defender Carlos who broke the deadlock, outjumping two Osasuna players to meet an out-swinging corner from Joan Jordan to head past goalkeeper Sergio Herrera.
De Jong put the visitors further ahead early in the second half with a backheel to guide a low cross from Munir el-Haddadi into the net.
Photo: AFP
Sevilla are four points behind second-placed Real Madrid, with a game in hand.
“We played well in every aspect, we were solid defensively against a team that plays with a lot of intensity and pace while not altering our usual attacking style,” Sevilla manager Julen Lopetegui said. “Apart from their early clear chance, we were superior to them throughout the game.”
SERIE A
Photo: EPA-EFE
AP, TURIN, Italy
Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice on Monday as Juventus got back to winning ways by beating bottom club Crotone 3-0 in Serie A.
Ronaldo could even have had a hat-trick in the first half.
Weston Mckennie sealed the result after the break.
Juventus moved up to third on the table, eight points behind Serie A leader Inter with a game in hand.
It was Crotone’s fifth successive defeat and left them eight points from safety.
Ronaldo had not scored for Juventus since the start of the month. He came close on a couple of occasions before breaking the deadlock in the 38th minute when he headed in an Alex Sandro cross.
Ronaldo doubled his tally in first-half stoppage-time with another impressive header, this time from an Aaron Ramsey cross.
The 36-year-old Ronaldo should have had a hat-trick moments later, but he fired Ramsey’s pass narrowly wide of the right post.
PREMIER LEAGUE
Reuters
Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson on Monday said that he owes no apologies for his side’s 2-1 victory against Brighton & Hove Albion after Christian Benteke’s 95th-minute volley secured the three points, despite the visitors being second-best for much of the match.
Palace, who had three attempts on goal compared with Brighton’s 25, opened the scoring through Jean-Philippe Mateta before Joel Veltman equalized for Brighton.
Hodgson said the only stat that mattered was goals.
“The game is not about touches in the opposition box,” he said. “The statistic that counts at the end of the day is the score. They had the better of the possession, that’s for sure, they had the ball in our box more often, they had more quality, but I’m not going to apologize for coming away with what we consider to be a very good victory.”
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
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