Author: Reuters

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European football: Atlético capitalise after Betis’ Isco stuns Real Madrid

  • Atlético 1-0 Athletic Bilbao | Real Betis 2-1 Real Madrid
  • Napoli 1-1 Inter | Mourinho’s Turkish suspension halved

Real Madrid stumbled in the three-way race for the La Liga title as Isco guided Real Betis to a 2-1 comeback win over the defending champions on Saturday, enabling Atlético Madrid to overtake their neighbours by winning the late kick-off against Real Betis.

Atlético won thanks to a second-half strike from the substitute Julián Álvarez. Atletico came close to taking the lead in the first half through Alexander Sørloth, who missed a header from Antoine Griezmann’s pass. Álvarez, who came on for Sørloth just before the hour mark, gave Atlético the winner in the 66th minute with a precise left-foot shot after being played through by Marcos Llorente.

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European football: Coman seals comeback win for Bayern at Stuttgart

  • Bayern now 11 points clear of second-placed Leverkusen
  • Robin Gosens’ winner moves Fiorentina up to sixth

Bayern Munich fought back from a goal down to maintain their place at the top of the Bundesliga with a 3-1 victory at Stuttgart. The win keeps Bayern comfortably atop the Bundesliga with 61 points, 11 more than Bayer Leverkusen, though they have played one match more.

Stuttgart took the lead in the 34th minute through Angelo Stiller, who struck a left-footed shot into the top corner from the edge of the box. In first-half stoppage time, Bayern equalised as Michael Olise made a perfectly timed run and finished with ease.

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European football: Fiorentina’s Moise Kean discharged from hospital after collapse

  • Italy striker suffered blow to head on pitch
  • Napoli’s loss at Como lets Atalanta back into title race

Moise Kean has been discharged from hospital less than 24 hours after he collapsed during Fiorentina’s defeat by Hellas Verona on Sunday. The former Everton and Juventus forward appeared to pass out following an earlier blow to his head.

Italy international Kean had been involved in an accidental collision with Pawel Dawidowicz and Diego Coppola midway through the second half, taking a knee in the face which left him with a cut above his eye. Although Kean returned to the pitch following treatment with his head bandaged, the 24-year-old soon fell, initially appearing unresponsive, before being taken off on a stretcher in the 67th minute.

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European football: Barcelona march on at top of La Liga as Inter scrape by Genoa

  • Barça beat Las Palmas 2-0 and Atléti stay on their heels
  • Inter move top of Serie A with Napoli to play on Sunday

Dani Olmo and Ferran Torres came off the bench to rescue a 2-0 win for Barcelona at Las Palmas on Saturday that sent them back to the top of the La Liga table after a game that is unlikely to live long in the memory.

Barcelona now lead on 54 points, one ahead of Atlético Madrid. Real Madrid are third on 51 but have a game in hand and will host Girona on Sunday.

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Jack Draper falls to Andrey Rublev in Qatar Open final

  • British No 1 beaten 7-5, 5-7, 6-1 but up to 12th in rankings
  • Andreeva, 17, becomes youngest WTA 1000 title winner

Andrey Rublev was tested early on but finished in style to beat Britain’s Jack Draper 7-5, 5-7, 6-1 and win the Qatar Open on Saturday.

“It feels amazing. It’s the first time I’ve won the same title twice,” the delighted Russian said. “I’m really happy. I don’t know what else to say.”

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Draper battles into Qatar final, Andreeva’s run rolls on but Zverev stunned in Rio

  • British No 1 recovers to beat Jiri Lehecka 3-6, 7-6 (2), 6-3
  • World No 2 Zverev shocked by Francisco Comesano

The British No 1, Jack Draper, produced another gutsy display to defeat Jiri Lehecka in three sets at the Qatar Open and reach the fifth ATP Tour final of his career, while world No 2 Alexander Zverev tumbled out of he Rio Open against Francisco Comesana.

Lehecka had stunned Carlos Alcaraz in the quarter-finals in Doha and looked on course to claim another scalp when he won the first set. Draper required a tie-break to get the match back on level terms before he showed his class in the decider to take victory by a 3-6, 7-6 (2), 6-3 score.

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Champions League roundup: PSV’s Ryan Flamingo dumps out Juventus

  • PSV beat Juventus 3-1 after extra time in playoff
  • PSG and Borussia Dortmund stroll into last 16

Ryan Flamingo scored in extra time to give PSV Eindhoven a 3-1 home win on Wednesday in the second leg of their Champions League knockout phase playoff against Juventus, overturning a first-leg deficit and putting them into the last 16.

The tie was level at 3-3 on aggregate after 90 minutes and went into extra time before Flamingo poached a 98th-minute winner as Juventus became the third Italian side eliminated from the competition, after Milan and Atalanta on Tuesday.

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Tour of Algarve’s opening stage is scrapped after peloton goes wrong way

  • Filippo Ganna’s win for Ineos Grenadiers cancelled
  • Lead car went awry at roundabout to cause chaos

The opening stage of the Tour of Algarve ended in chaos on Wednesday when most of the peloton took the wrong road just before the finish, and race organisers later cancelled the results.

When the riders came through a roundabout just before the home straight, the lead car went the wrong side of the barriers and the majority of the bunch followed suit, leaving the crowd bewildered as they watched two races unfurl.

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Atalanta’s Lookman hits out at manager’s ‘hurtful’ jibe after penalty is saved

  • Gasperini calls him ‘one of the worst penalty takers’
  • Striker’s spot-kick saved as side were beaten by Brugge

The Atalanta striker Ademola Lookman said comments by his coach, Gian Piero Gasperini, describing him as “one of the worst penalty takers” he had ever seen after Tuesday’s Champions League exit were “deeply disrespectful” and hurtful.

Club Brugge stunned Atalanta 3-1 in the second leg of their playoff to dump the Italian side out with a 5-2 aggregate win and reach the last 16. Lookman pulled back one goal for Atalanta when they were 3-0 down. However the London-born Nigeria forward, who has scored 15 times this season, then had a penalty saved by Simon Mignolet, after which Gasperini said Lookman was not supposed to take the spot-kick.

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Geraint Thomas to retire from cycling at end of season: ‘It’s not been a bad run, eh?’

  • 2018 Tour de France winner also won double Olympic gold
  • ‘You can’t do it forever, I’m getting a few grey hairs’

Tour de France winner and two-time Olympic gold medallist Geraint Thomas will retire as a racing cyclist at the end of the season, the Briton said in a social media post on Monday.

Thomas, 38, won the Tour de France in 2018, after securing gold for Britain in the team pursuit in the 2008 and 2012 Olympics. He was also part of the British team pursuit trio that won three golds in the Track Cycling World Championships between 2007 and 2012.

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European football: Bellingham says his red card was wrong after Madrid draw

  • Carlo Ancelotti also unhappy after Osasuna claim point
  • Napoli and Atalanta held, Milan win, PSG march on

Jude Bellingham said that he was wrongly sent off and Carlo Ancelotti was left fuming over several refereeing decisions after Real Madrid drew 1-1 at Osasuna, extending the visitors’ winless La Liga run to three games.

Bellingham said of the 39th-minute incident: “I do not want to go into the details of what was said, but I didn’t insult the referee and I hope they review the footage because it was a misunderstanding, but I am here to apologise to the team anyways.”

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Champions League: Guirassy cuts down Sporting, Juventus edge ahead of PSV

  • Dortmund win 3-0 in Portugal; Mbangula lifts Juve
  • Dembélé takes Brest apart to show PSG are contenders

Serhou Guirassy scored one and set up another in Borussia Dortmund’s 3-0 victory at Sporting in their Champions League playoff first leg to put last year’s finalists in the driving seat for a spot in the last 16.

The top scorer in this season’s Champions League headed in his 10th goal of the competition on the hour mark before providing Pascal Gross with a perfect assist to double the lead in the 68th minute.

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European roundup: Harry Kane scores twice as Bayern make it seven in a row

  • Bayern go nine points clear at top of Bundesliga with win
  • Kolo Muani seals late Juventus victory against Como

Bayern Munich eased past Werder Bremen 3-0 on Friday with two goals from Harry Kane for their seventh league win in succession, to move nine points clear at the top of the Bundesliga.

The Bavarians, who face Celtic in their Champions League playoff first leg next week for a spot in the round of 16, had their best chance of the first half through Kane but his stoppage-time header narrowly missed the target.

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Teams pull out of Étoile de Bessège cycling race after car enters course

  • Ineos Grenadiers among teams to withdraw in France
  • Vehicle came towards the peloton at a roundabout

Several teams have pulled out of the Étoile de Bessèges cycling race in France after a car came towards the peloton at a roundabout during the third stage on Friday.

Ineos Grenadiers said: “The safety of our riders and staff is of paramount importance. Following multiple incidents of public vehicles entering the race course our riders, together with other teams, have decided not to complete today’s stage at #EDB2025.”

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Jalibert at fly-half as France make two changes to starting XV against England

  • Ntamack’s three-match ban prompts team tweaks
  • Penaud returns for role on the wing after toe injury

France’s Matthieu Jalibert will start at fly-half against England in the Six Nations on Saturday in place of the suspended Romain Ntamack, one of two changes from the team that beat Wales in the opening game.

Jalibert asked to be sent back to his club, Bordeaux-Begles, when he was left out of the 23 to face the All Blacks having been second in the pecking order at flyhalf to Thomas Ramos during last November’s autumn series but the France head coach, Fabien Galthié, said there was no grudge held against the 26-year-old.

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