COPPA ITALIA
Dallinga scores brace
A Thijs Dallinga double on Tuesday helped Bologna to a 3-0 win against Empoli in the first leg of their Coppa Italia semi-final as the visitors remained on course to end their more than 50-year wait to lift the trophy. The relegation-threatened hosts were outclassed by UEFA Champions League-chasing Bologna, who took the lead in the 23rd minute when Jens Odgaard crossed from the left to find Riccardo Orsolini unmarked. The visitors doubled their advantage six minutes later with Dallinga tucking away a perfect through-ball from Dan Ndoye and six minutes after the interval the pair combined again with Dallinga sliding in to finish off Ndoye’s pass across goal.
Photo: Reuters
COUPE DE FRANCE
PSG avoid upset
Paris Saint-Germain avoided a huge upset on Tuesday when they rallied from two goals down to beat second-tier USL Dunkerque 4-2 and reach the Coupe de France final. It seemed a mismatch between unbeaten Ligue 1 leaders PSG and Dunkerque, who are fifth in Ligue 2, but PSG’s fourth goal only came deep into stoppage-time and on the counterattack with Dunkerque pushing hard for an equalizer. The final is scheduled for May 24, with the other semi-final — to be played after press time last night — between AS Cannes and Stade de Rennais.
Photo: AFP
BUNDESLIGA
Supporters buy stake
St Pauli supporters have raised more than 27 million euros (US$29.1 million) for a majority stake in the club’s stadium after taking part in German soccer’s first fan cooperative, the Hamburg-based club said on Tuesday. More than 21,000 people joined the fundraising cooperative after its near five-month subscription period ended at a minute to midnight the night before, the club said. St Pauli said there had been a “huge rush” of people buying shares to be part-owners of the Millerntor Stadium in the final hours. They each spent 850 euros for each share they bought, with 100 euros of that going on fees and contributions. Each purchase entered the buyer in a draw for prizes including a dinner with team captain Jackson Irvine, VIP packages, signed jerseys and more.
ARGENTINA
Maradona’s heart explained
Experts involved in Diego Maradona’s autopsy on Tuesday testified at the trial of seven health professionals accused of negligent homicide that the star had an abnormally large heart, suffered from cirrhosis and showed no traces of alcohol or drugs at the time of is death. Forensic expert Alejandro Ezequiel Vega told the court that Maradona’s heart was “enlarged” and weighed about 503g, when the average weight is between 250g and 300g. Maradona, who led Argentina to the World Cup title in 1986, died on Nov. 25, 2020. He was 60. Vega said that the examination of Maradona’s heart showed that the former star had “ischemia,” with “lack of blood flow and oxygen.” The autopsy concluded that Maradona died of acute pulmonary edema secondary to congestive heart failure.
The Rakuten Monkeys on Sunday downed the CTBC Brothers 2-1, handing the hosts their second consecutive loss in the best-of-seven CPBL Taiwan Series at the Taipei Dome. Monkeys’ ace starter Pedro Fernandez of the Dominican Republic dominated on the mound, cruising through six scoreless innings before giving up a run on a wild pitch in the bottom of the seventh inning. He gave up only three hits and walked two batters in a 93-pitch outing, giving his Taoyuan-based team an edge. Offensively, the Monkeys’ leadoff batter Lin Li hit Brothers starter Brandon Leibrandt’s pitch over the center-field wall in the game’s first at-bat,
The tiny village club of Mjallby AIF on Monday won the top tier Swedish soccer league with a 2-0 away win at IFK Gothenburg, sealing the title with three rounds of matches remaining. Jacob Bergstrom and Tom Pettersson scored the goals in Mjallby’s 20th win in 27 league games. Mjallby has a population of fewer than 1,400 people and plays in an outdated 6,000-seat stadium with stands weathered by the winds of the Baltic Sea. “It’s a huge relief to experience this now, a relief with three games to go,” said Anders Torstensson, a former army officer and secondary-school teacher who coaches the
Jahmyr Gibbs was offered oxygen on the bench after a 78-yard run. He turned it down. Clearly, he was not out of breath. Gibbs on Monday scored on a long sprint in the second quarter, a five-yard spinning plunge in the third and accounted for a career-high 218 yards from the scrimmage to lead the Detroit Lions in a 24-9 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. “You felt like this was coming,” Detroit coach Dan Campbell said. “This has been building.” The Lions (5-2) bounced back from a loss as they have done flawlessly for nearly three years, extending their NFL-long streak of 51 games
Rafael Leao on Sunday shot AC Milan to the top of Serie A with a brace in a 2-1 win over ACF Fiorentina who were enraged by the “scandalous” awarding of the penalty that decided the game. Portugal winger Leao pushed Milan one point ahead of local rivals Inter, SSC Napoli and AS Roma with a coolly taken spot-kick, given for what looked like a soft foul on Santiago Gimenez by Fabiano Parisi, with four minutes remaining. That goal capped a fine first league start of the season for Leao and came after he drew the hosts level with a brilliantly struck
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