Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) have shown the team do not need star power to win trophies and with the French Ligue 1 title won with six games to spare, the French champions would look to finish the season without losing, manager Luis Enrique said on Saturday.
A 1-0 victory over Angers SCO at the Parc des Princes helped PSG win their fourth straight Ligue 1 title and a record-extending 13th overall.
PSG can still break Nantes’ 30-year-old record of 32 games unbeaten. Although Nantes lost one game en route to the title, no French club has ever gone an entire league campaign without losing.
Photo: Reuters
“Celebrating a title in early April shows that we’ve reached a very high level this season. We’ve achieved this target, but we have more games to play,” Luis Enrique told reporters.
“We are motivated to try and finish this season unbeaten,” he said. “Nobody has done that in France before, so that’s something that we want to achieve. That would help us in the [UEFA] Champions League and the Coupe de France.”
LA LIGA
Photo: Reuters
AFP, MADRID
Barcelona failed to break down a frantic Real Betis defense as they were held to a 1-1 draw in Spanish La Liga on Saturday, but still gained ground on Real Madrid who earlier conceded deep into added time to lose 2-1 at home to Valencia.
Barcelona moved four points ahead of Real Madrid atop La Liga. Both teams face UEFA Champions League first-leg ties this week, Real visit Arsenal tomorrow and Barcelona play in Borussia Dortmund the following evening.
Barcelona cut open Betis in the seventh minute and Gavi slid the ball past goalkeeper Adrian from inside the six-yard box.
However, the hosts were unable to turn a series of lively attacks into goals. Instead, the visitors hit back after 16 minutes when center back Natan Souza escaped the clutches of his defender to head home a Giovani Lo Celso corner.
Barcelona besieged the Betis goal in the second half, but were denied by a combination of dogged defending, strong goalkeeping from Adrian and some agonizing near misses.
“La Liga is more complicated, but we have to fight until the last game,” Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said.
“They didn’t need to do much to score two goals,” he said. “We took risks at the end and found ourselves hit on the counter-attack.
“We’ve had deserved defeats this season, but I don’t think we lacked attitude today,” he added. “It’s not a deserved defeat. We created lots of chances, but lacked a little effectiveness.”
The victory lifted Valencia to 15th, seven points clear of the bottom three.
PREMIER LEAGUE
AFP, LONDON
Arsenal’s faint hopes of catching Premier League leaders Liverpool are almost over after their 1-1 draw at Everton, while Wolverhampton Wanderers pushed Ipswich Town closer to relegation with a 2-1 win on Saturday.
Leandro Trossard’s opener for the Gunners was canceled out by Iliman Ndiaye’s penalty to leave Arsenal trailing 11 points behind Liverpool.
With just two wins in their last six league matches, Arsenal have tamely surrendered in the title race and are destined to go another year without their first English crown since 2004.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta had said the best preparation for his side’s UEFA Champions League quarter-final first leg against Real Madrid would be to win at Goodison Park.
However, the Spaniard showed he had one eye on the visit of the European champions with his team selection.
Bukayo Saka was forced to wait for his first start since December last year as the England international was left on the bench alongside Martin Odegaard, Gabriel Martinelli, Jurrien Timber and Thomas Partey.
Wolves effectively sealed their survival and left Ipswich on the brink of relegation with a 2-1 win at Portman Road.
Vitor Pereira’s side trailed to Liam Delap’s 16th-minute goal as the striker swept in Dara O’Shea’s knockdown.
However, Pablo Sarabia drilled into the bottom corner to haul Wolves level in the 72nd minute, before Jorgen Strand Larsen prodded home on 84 minutes for his fourth goal in his last three games.
Crystal Palace beat Brighton & Hove Albion 2-1 despite finishing with nine men in a bruising battle featuring three red cards at Selhurst Park.
Evanilson scored twice as AFC Bournemouth drew 2-2 with West Ham United at the London Stadium.
Aston Villa defeated Nottingham Forest 2-1 in Saturday’s late game.
FRUSTRATION: Alcaraz made several unforced errors over four sets against Bosnian Damir Dzumhur, who had never made it past the third round in a major competition Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz reached the fourth round of the French Open after laboring past Damir Dzumhur 6-1, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 in the Friday night session. The second-seeded Spaniard had never before played Dzumhur, a 33-year-old Bosnian who had never been past the third round at any major tournament. “I suffered quite a lot today,” Alcaraz said. “The first two sets was under control, then he started to play more deeply and more aggressively. It was really difficult for me.” Dzumhur hurt his left knee in a fall in the second round, and had treatment on Friday on his right leg during the
‘DREAM’: The 5-0 victory was PSG’s first Champions League title, and the biggest final win by any team in the 70-year history of the top-flight European competition Paris Saint-Germain won the Champions League for the first time as Luis Enrique’s brilliant young side outclassed Inter on Saturday in the most one-sided final ever with teenager Desire Doue scoring twice in an astonishing 5-0 victory. Doue supplied the pass for Achraf Hakimi to give PSG an early lead and the 19-year-old went from provider to finisher as his deflected shot doubled the advantage in the 20th minute. Doue scored again just after the hour mark, ending any doubt about the outcome before Khvicha Kvaratskhelia ran away to get the fourth and substitute Senny Mayulu, another teenager, made it five. Inter were
The Greek basketball league finals between Panathinaikos and Olympiakos were suspended by the government on Monday following on-court scuffles involving rival security teams. The best-of-five series is at 1-1. The third game, scheduled for today, has been postponed. The owners of both clubs were summoned to meet with the country’s sports minister. They “will be asked to provide explicit guarantees that this situation will be brought to an end. If not, this year’s championship will be definitively canceled,” government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis said. “There can be no tolerance for such pathological phenomena of violence and delinquency.” In online posts, the owners of Panathinaikos and
The Edmonton Oilers on Thursday defeated the Dallas Stars 6-3 to book their place in the Stanley Cup Finals, setting up a repeat of last year’s NHL showpiece against reigning champions the Florida Panthers. The Oilers, bidding to become the first Canadian team to win the NHL’s championship series since the 1993 Montreal Canadiens, head to Florida for Game 1 of the best-of-seven series set for Wednesday. Florida, who are to play in the NHL showpiece for the third straight season, won last year’s title 4-3 to extend Canada’s decades-long Stanley Cup drought. Connor McDavid led Edmonton back to the championship series on
RSS