02/09/2025

SPORTS TUESDAY | SEP 2, 2025

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Guirassy brace blasts Dortmund past Union A goal in each half from Serhou Guirassy and a late Felix Nmecha rocket lifted Borussia Dortmund to a 3-0 home win over Union Berlin yesterday. we have to follow that path.” Promoted Cologne continued their impressive return to the top flight, thumping Freiburg 4-1 at home in yesterday’s late match. Having won at Mainz in their season opener the previous week, Cologne dominated their opponents, who play in the Europa League after a fifth-placed finish last season.

Debt-ridden Lyon share summit with PSG A late own goal gifted Lyon a 1-0 win over 10-man Marseille yesterday lifting them level on points with Paris Saint-Germain in the French top flight. Condemned to relegation due to debts two months ago before a reprieve on appeal, Lyon have now won all three of their league games, with only PSG ahead of them on goal difference.

scored a late winner for the hosts in a 3-2 battle on the south coast. Monaco are now fourth on six points. Their coach Adi Hutter said his team had sent out the wrong signal despite the win “We should have won 4-0, we should have killed it. We deserved the win but we made it difficult for ourselves,” said the Austrian. Ligue 1 newcomers Paris FC had lost their two openers but came good against fellow promoted side Metz. Algerian forward Ilan Kebbal scored twice as Paris FC fought back to beat Metz 3-2 in their first Ligue 1 home match at a lively Jean-Bouin stadium. Backed by the LVMH-owning Arnault family Paris FC picked up their first points after two defeats and Kebbal said the win would kick start their season. “This takes off the pressure and we can play our game freely now, try more stuff,” said the 27-year old. – AFP

INTER MILAN slumped to a shock 2-1 home defeat to Udinese yesterday to lose early ground on Serie A leaders Napoli and rivals Juventus, who won 1-0 at Genoa thanks to Dusan Vlahovic. Cristian Chivu’s team trail by three points the champions, Juve, Roma and promoted Cremonese who all have two wins from their opening two fixtures of the new season. “We started well but we weren’t fluid. We didn’t make the right plays and we struggled to create,“ said Chivu to DAZN . Inter looked on their way to a thumping victory in the 18th minute when Denzel Dumfries ended a confused passage of play by tapping into an empty net. However, Dumfries was then at fault for handling in the area, giving Keinan Davis a chance to score from the penalty spot in the 29th minute which he did not waste. And France’s Arthur Atta stunned the San Siro five minutes before half-time with a beautiful curling strike, his first in Serie A, which would give Udinese a win few would have predicted prior to kickoff. Federico Dimarco was denied a thumping leveller shortly after half-time when Marcus Thuram was caught offside and after that the hosts huffed and puffed to little effect against Udinese’s resilient defence, even with four strikers on the pitch. “The first thing that went against us was the penalty and we lost our heads a bit from that point on,“ added Chivu. “We were better in the second half, there was more desire, determination and better quality play, but we couldn’t take advantage of the chances we had nor create any more.” Thus weekend Inter travel to face their fiercest rivals Juve, who squeezed past Genoa with Vlahovic netting for the second time in as many games after being taken off the transfer list. Juve were struggling to break down spirited Genoa until substitute Vlahovic headed home Filip Kostic’s corner when left completely unmarked in the 73rd minute. The Serbia striker looked destined to be sold in the summer as Juve brought in Jonathan David and pushed to sign Randal Kolo Muani from Paris Saint-Germain. But on Thursday sporting director Damien Comolli said that there was a “99% chance” that Vlahovic would stay at Juve and the 25-year-old rewarded the Turin giants with the winning goal at the Stadio Liuigi Ferraris. “People are always going to talk, all I can do is to train as best I can. I’m very happy to have helped the team and I hope it will be the same in the future,” said Vlahovic to DAZN . “Honestly I don’t know what’s changed. I just want to train well and make myself available to the team.” Lazio hammered sorry Verona 4-0 while Fiorentina played out a drab goalless draw at Torino in the other of the day’s early kickoffs. – AFP Guirassy scored either side of half-time to put Dortmund in control and he has now scored in each of their past nine matches. Nmecha ensured there would be no repeat of the previous week’s late collapse at St. Pauli, blasting in on the volley with nine minutes remaining. After struggling against third-tier Essen in the German Cup and falling to a disappointing draw at St. Pauli in their season opener, the match was a welcome return to form for coach Niko Kovac’s side. Kovac extended his deal at the club by a year until 2027 last week. “We had to react because we played a bad game at St Pauli. Of course, it’s much easier to play in front of our fans,” Guirassy told DAZN , adding “today we played a good game. Now Udinese stun mighty Inter

Troubled Marseille, second last year, now have just three points and a recent dressing room fight led to the transfer listing of French international Adrien Rabiot and the sale of Jonathan Rowe. Yesterday Roberto De Zerbi’s Marseille had English defender CJ Egan-Riley sent off for a bad tackle on 29 minutes. And to add to the sense of inner discord, they lost the match due to an own goal from Argentine defender Leonardo Balerdi on 88 minutes. PSG and Lyon both have nine points with Lille in third on seven after a 7-1 win at Toulouse on Saturday. Elsewhere, Strasbourg rallied from a 2-0 deficit at Monaco to no avail as Takumi Minamino

Cologne won thanks to goals from Jakub Kaminski, Marius Buelter, Jan Thielmann and Said El Mala. Elsewhere, Mainz scored a last-gasp penalty to snatch a 1-1 draw at Wolfsburg. Germany midfielder Nadiem Amiri equalised from the spot with 90 minutes played to cancel out Aaron Zehnter’s ninth minute strike. Wolfsburg were reduced to 10 men in stoppage time when Mattias Svanberg picked up two yellow cards in the space of 60 seconds. – AFP

Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal (left) fights for the ball with Rayo Vallecano’s Pep Chavarria during their La Liga match. – AFPPIC

First slip for Barca for Barca La Liga champions have keeper to thank for draw against Rayo

C HAMPIONS Barcelona dropped their first points of the La Liga season with a 1-1 draw at Rayo Vallecano yesterday. The Catalan giants had

could not communicate with his VAR colleagues over a potential review. Rayo coach Inigo Perez said he would not blame the referee but was upset with the “inefficiency”. Dani Olmo should have doubled Barca’s lead before half-time but fired over the bar after Batalla pushed the ball back into his path, with the goal gaping. Barca stopper Garcia, having a superb night, denied Isi Palazon early in the second half before Rayo levelled. After a corner found its way past those in the middle Perez slammed home off the bar. Garcia made an excellent save from Jorge de Frutos as the forward ran through on goal and then again from Palazon after 85 minutes. Ratiu turned home after Rayo kept the chance alive but it was disallowed for offside. “We totally (could have won), we controlled the game,” said Palazon. “It didn’t happen for us, we had so many chances… but we have to be happy with the work we put in today.” Barcelona left with a point, largely thanks to the superb work of goalkeeper Garcia, as despite Flick’s changes they showed the same defensive deficiencies on show during last weekend’s comeback win at Levante. “We’re working (on our high defensive line) but I don’t think that’s the reason we conceded – the goal came from a set piece,” added Yamal. “We have to continue with our game and our ideas until the end, and try to win.” – AFP

mistakes, too many errors and this is why they come back and this was not a good match for us.” Barca’s teenage star Yamal said his team had to come back strongly in a fortnight when La Liga resumes. “We have to learn from this after the international break, and come back with the intensity that we had last year, and start to win every time we can,” Yamal told DAZN . Flick shuffled his pack, bringing Dani Olmo and Andreas Christensen into the starting line-up among several changes, with Marcus Rashford dropping to the bench. Garcia, who arrived from neighbours Espanyol this summer, made a superb save to thwart Andrei Ratiu early on. Even though Rayo’s pitch at their humble Vallecas stadium was dry and scruffy, the game flew end-to-end in entertaining fashion.

goalkeeper Joan Garcia to thank for earning them that as he made several fine saves on a testing night in the Spanish capital. Barca took the lead through a contested Lamine Yamal penalty, at a time in the match VAR was not working, but Fran Perez

levelled after the break for the hosts, who could have gone on to win. After leaders Real Madrid won their third game on Saturday and Athletic Bilbao followed suit earlier on Sunday, Barcelona are fourth and trail the leaders by two points. “We didn’t deserve more – in the end we had a fantastic goalkeeper,” said Barca coach Hansi Flick. “We made too many

Flick

Barca took the lead in the 40th minute from the spot as 18-year-old Yamal sent Augusto Batalla the wrong way, although Rayo were unhappy with how the Spain international won the penalty. Yamal fell after a collision with Pep Chavarria in the area, which Rayo felt the teenage winger forced, and to make matters worse because of technical difficulties the referee