SOCCER
Leicester, Saints draw
Leicester City manager Brendan Rodgers said that fatigue amid a tight fixture schedule could have played a part in their inability to push for victory over 10-man Southampton on Friday. Leicester needed a 68th-minute Jonny Evans header to cancel out a penalty by the Saints’ James Ward-Prowse and secure a point after defender Jannik Vestergaard was shown a red card early on in their 1-1 Premier League match. “We’re obviously disappointed with the result considering the circumstances of the game,” Rodgers told reporters. “We’re normally very good in those situations [against 10 men], but I didn’t think we were fast enough in the game and we didn’t play with the intensity we wanted to. The guys have given everything. It was the fourth game in 13 days so maybe that had something to do with it, but no excuse, we have to give credit to Southampton, they made it incredibly difficult.”
SOCCER
Leipzig reach final
RB Leipzig substitute Emil Forsberg scored in extra time to send his team into the final of the DFB-Pokal after beating Werder Bremen 2-1 on Friday. Hwang Hee-chan, who scored Leipzig’s opening goal in the third minute of extra time, headed Kevin Kampl’s cross back across goal for Forsberg to volley past Bremen goalkeeper Jiri Pavlenka.
SOCCER
Marseille’s hopes end
Olympique de Marseille’s hopes of squeezing into the Europa League next season were shattered on Friday when they were held to a 1-1 draw by RC Strasbourg Alsace in Ligue 1. The result left Marseille in sixth place on 56 points and with no chance of making the top four.
SOCCER
Celta Vigo defeat Levante
RC Celta de Vigo on Friday beat Levante UD 2-0 in La Liga, dealing the visitors a fourth consecutive loss. Brais Mendez struck in the 51st minute when the midfielder chipped a pass by Iago Aspas to gently lift it around goalkeeper Daniel Cardenas. Augusto Solari scored in the 74th minute when he finished off a team buildup by rifling in a cross from Aaron Martin.
RUGBY UNION
England earn strange win
England on Friday celebrated a bizarre 17-15 win over France in a women’s Test match after they were declared winners following a floodlight failure midway through the second half at the Stadium Lille Metropole in Villeneuve-d’Ascq, France. The visitors were declared winners after a 20-minute delay, during which both sets of players wandered around the pitch, because more than 60 minutes of the Test had taken place.
MOTORSPORT
Hamilton fastest in Portugal
Lewis Hamilton on Friday posted the fastest time in the second practice for the Portuguese Grand Prix, giving Mercedes a 1-2 after his teammate Valtteri Bottas topped the first session. The seven-time F1 champion was 0.143 seconds ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, and 0.344 clear of Bottas in Portugal’s Algarve region. Hamilton, who is aiming for his 100th pole and 97th win, said that the conditions made it difficult to get proper grip on the track. “Everybody was struggling with balance and sliding around,” he said. “This afternoon it got warmer and windier, so it seemed to make it harder for people to find time and work on their balance. I think it’ll be a close one this weekend.”
Spain are the favorites to win the UEFA Women’s Euro 2025, but star player Aitana Bonmati’s illness ahead of the tournament raises another question mark around a side which, despite their obvious quality, are not unstoppable. Having claimed the last two Ballon d’Or awards, Barcelona midfielder Bonmati is the game’s biggest star at present, so her absence in the final days before the start of Euro 2025 is a major setback. The 27-year-old came down with a fever in training last week, and was subsequently hospitalized and diagnosed with viral meningitis. Bonmati was discharged on Sunday and joined up with
HSIEH ADVANCES: In the women’s doubles, Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei was to play in the second round last night, but Taiwan’s Ray Ho exited in the men’s doubles It is more than 10 years since Grigor Dimitrov reached his sole Wimbledon semi-final and back then it still seemed a reasonable bet that the Bulgarian once dubbed “Baby Federer” would win a Grand Slam title. There were semi-final runs at the US Open and Australian Open after that, but it has never quite happened and despite him still being ranked No. 21, it most likely never will. Dimitrov, 34, remains one of the most stylish players on the circuit though, with his elegant single-handed backhand and smooth all-court game a rare reminder of how tennis was before the power merchants turned
TAIWANESE WIN: Chan Hao-ching and Wu Fang-hsien and their partners won their first-round matches in the women’s doubles at the All England Lawn Tennis Club Late-night finishes and five-set matches are becoming a habit for Taylor Fritz at Wimbledon this year. On Wednesday, he wrapped up his win over Gabriel Diallo before the match was suspended — making sure the fifth-seeded American would not have to come back on court for a fourth straight day. Fritz overcame a bloodied elbow to win 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/0), 4-6, 6-3 on No. 1 Court a day after he finished off another five-set win over Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard in a match that was halted on Monday at about 10:15pm after Fritz forced a fifth set with Wimbledon’s 11pm curfew looming. He
Real Madrid’s FIFA Club World Cup quarter-final against Borussia Dortmund had taken three crazy turns during nine minutes of second-half stoppage time when Marcel Sabitzer chested the ball and sent a right-footed volley toward Thibaut Courtois’ post. Courtois leapt to his right, extended the long arm on his 2m frame and just managed to get his gloved fingertips on the ball, knocking it down. Courtois hit the ground as the ball bounded up. He looked skyward, planted his right hand to regain his balance, grabbed the ball with both hands on the second bounce and fell onto it with his chest. Sabitzer turned
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