24/02/2026

SPORTS TUESDAY | FEB 24, 2026

29

FOLLOW

ON TWITTER Malaysian Paper

@thesundaily

B ARCELONA cruised to a 3-0 victory over Levante to reclaim pole position in La Liga yesterday. After Real Madrid fell to a 2-1 defeat at Osasuna on Sunday, Hansi Flick’s side moved a point clear of their bitter rivals with a comfortable victory at Nou Camp against the team in 19th. Marc Bernal and Frenkie de Jong gave Barca a commanding first-half lead and Fermin Lopez wrapped up the win with a sensational drive late on. Barcelona were glad to get back to winning ways after a 4-0 thrashing by Atletico Madrid in the Copa del Rey semifinal first leg the previous week and then a 2-1 defeat by Girona last Monday in La Liga. “It was a really bad moment for us but in the end today we gave a good response,” Flick told reporters. “It’s important now to be on top of the table but in the end there’s a long way to go.” Despite Flick’s calls for improvement in defence, Barca were as open as ever, although Levante’s poor finishing meant they could not capitalise.

Barcelona back on top Catalans defeat Levante to reclaim La Liga lead

him with an excellent reflex save, after first thwarting Raphinha. Flick was able to bring back midfielder Pedri as a substitute after a month out with a hamstring injury, with the Spaniard likely to be key in the testing weeks ahead. Defeat leaves Levante seven points from safety. “In the first half we had some chances that, if we put them away, could have got them to doubt themselves,” said Levante midfielder Carlos Alvarez. “If we’d have gone in front, who knows what could have happened.” Earlier Sevilla earned a 1-0 win at Getafe, while Celta Vigo defeated Mallorca 2-0, leaving the islanders 18th. Valencia are 16th, two points above the drop zone after they lost 2-1 in an east coast derby clash at Villarreal, third. – AFP

carved out the second for De Jong with a similar ball in from the left. De Jong delivered the finishing touch to give Barca a two-goal lead at the break. “Joao today he showed his strength, his posi tive things, he gave us a lot of moments, great chances, for me it was a really good game from him and this is what I want to see,” said Flick. Garcia should have expanded Barcelona’s advantage early in the second half but nodded wide from Jules Kounde’s tempting cross. Eventually substitute Lopez got a spectacular third, rattling home a long-range effort in off the post. The midfielder might have added a fourth late on but Levante goalkeeper Mathew Ryan denied

Bernal sent Barca ahead after good work by Joao Cancelo, who impressed on a rare start after his arrival on loan in January, and Eric Garcia. It was Bernal’s second goal since returning from a long-term knee injury, which kept the 18 year-old out of action for over a year. “I thought of my father (in my celebration) and my physio – he told me I would score and he has helped me a lot in this process,” Bernal told Movistar . Veteran Polish forward Robert Lewandowski could have doubled Barca’s advantage but fired into the ground and over the bar when well placed. Cancelo hit the post with a cross aimed at Lewandowski, before the Portuguese defender

Milan beaten as Napoli rage

Strasbourg snap Lyon winning run STRASBOURG beat Lyon 3-1 to end the visitors’ seven-match winning streak in Ligue 1 yesterday, a result that dampens their outside shot at the title. Lyon had won 13 consecutive games in all competitions but failed to equal the club record set in 2006. Paulo Fonseca’s side remain third on 45 points and nine back of league leaders and European champions Paris Saint Germain. Lens are two points off the pace. Lyon had early chances to take the lead but home side Strasbourg struck first when Martial Godo fired in his seventh goal of the season late in the first half. They doubled that lead on 52 minutes with a long-range strike from Diego Moreira that took a wicked deflection. Corentin Tolisso pulled one back for Lyon on the hour, but Strasbourg put the match to bed with Joaquin Panichelli’s penalty seven minutes from time – the Argentine forward’s 13th league goal this term. “It’s a shame. We knew we had a huge opportunity tonight if we won. But we can’t afford to play like that if we want to win games, especially here,” Tolisso told broadcaster Ligue 1+ . Veteran striker Olivier Giroud’s penalty gave Lille a 1-0 win at Angers which put them fifth and snapped a six-match winless streak in Ligue 1. The 39-year-old former Arsenal and Chelsea forward fired a spot-kick into the bottom corner before the break to score his fifth league goal of the season. A first win of 2026 sent Lille to within three points of Marseille and eight behind Lyon in the third and final direct Champions League qualifying spot. “Above all it’s three points but that will do us all a lot of good mentally,” Lille captain Benjamin Andre said. – AFP

AC MILAN slumped to a sur prise 1-0 home loss to Parma yesterday to leave city rivals Inter 10 points clear at the top of Serie A, after Napoli lashed out at the refereeing following defeat at Atalanta. Parma defender Mariano Troilo’s late header condemned second-placed Milan to a dam aging loss in the title race, cap ping a week in which they also dropped points in a draw with Como. Massimiliano Allegri’s side had seen Inter stretch their lead with a 2-0 win over Lecce on Sunday, but could not respond as they suffered their first league defeat since the opening weekend of the season. “We are not happy, obvi ously,” assistant coach Marco Landucci, standing in for the suspended Allegri, told Sky Sport . “Parma played very well and the ball just didn’t want to go in for us tonight. We wanted the three points, so of course we feel let down, but we go again.” Milan, who lost Matteo Gabbia to a muscle problem in the warm-up, suffered another blow early on at the San Siro when Ruben Loftus-Cheek had to be stretchered off with a head injury. The England midfielder was carried from the field wearing a neck brace after colliding with Parma goalkeeper Edoardo Corvi. Italian media reported that Loftus-Cheek would need den tal treatment and undergo tests

in hospital for possible head trauma. Milan almost found a break through in the 36th minute when Alexis Saelemaekers picked out Christian Pulisic, but the American winger’s shot was kept out by Corvi. Pulisic fired a better chance narrowly wide on the stroke of halftime. Milan pushed for a winner in the second period but strug gled to create clear-cut chances. Parma caught them cold in the 80th minute as Troilo headed in, although the goal was initially disallowed for a foul by Lautaro Valenti on goal keeper Mike Maignan. But after a lengthy VAR review, the referee overturned his decision to leave Milan’s title hopes hanging by a thread. Napoli hit out at “shameful” refereeing after slipping to a 2-1 loss at top-four rivals Atalanta. The reigning champions were incensed after having a penalty award overturned and then a goal disallowed in the first half. “Where is the foul? The VAR called him on the penalty, why not on this? It’s embarrassing,” Napoli sporting director Giovanni Manna told DAZN . “There has to be a review of this because every week a club ends up here protesting about decisions. “All we want is what is right, what is ours, but this is not right, and it is not football. It’s shameful, I have no more words.” – AFP

Atalanta’s Mario Pasalic celebrates with teammates after scoring their first goal during the Serie A match against Napoli at New Balance Arena in Bergamo, Italy yesterday. – REUTERSPIC

Undav snatches Stuttgart point at lowly Heidenheim

DENIZ UNDAV scored with two minutes remaining to grab Stuttgart a 3-3 draw at last-placed Heidenheim in the Bundesliga yesterday. Heidenheim were leading 3-2 and on track for a vital win but Undav blasted home while unmarked in the box. The point leaves Stuttgart fourth, two points ahead of RB Leipzig while Heidenheim remain stranded six points from safety at the bottom of the table. Stuttgart looked leggy after their 4-1 Europa League win at Celtic on Thursday but Heidenheim gifted them the opener, passing straight to Chris Fuehrich to cut home with five minutes gone. Eren

through to the last 16 of the Europa League, remain six points behind the guaranteed European places. St Pauli’s 2-1 win over Werder Bremen means free-falling Gladbach are now just two points above the relegation playoff spot. Pauli’s win, thanks to goals from Hauke Wahl and Joel Chima Fujita, helped them leapfrog Bremen out of the automatic relegation spots. Bremen are now winless in 13 matches, a club record. Captain Marco Friedl, who has been at the club since 2018, told DAZN : “It hurts extremely badly. We need a breakthrough, something we should have managed weeks ago.” – AFP

rebound with 82 minutes gone but Undav had the final say, scoring late to grab Stuttgart a share of the spoils. In earlier matches, goals from Matthias Ginter and Igor Matanovic took Freiburg to a 2-1 home win over an out-of-sorts Borussia Moenchengladbach. Former Gladbach defender Ginter scored from a corner before half-time and Matanovic tapped in a rebound midway through the second period, with Haris Tabakovic grabbing a late consolation for the visitors. The victory takes Freiburg past Eintracht Frankfurt into seventh but the Black Forest club,

Dinkci pulled one back for the hosts with 20 min utes played. Ermedin Demirovic looked to have Stuttgart back in front when he scored but VAR found a foul on Dinkci at the other end of the pitch, handing Heidenheim a penalty which Arijon Ibrahimovic converted. Stuttgart were level at half-time when Maximilian Mittelstaedt converted a penalty of his own. Midway through the second half, Demirovic scored again but his goal was rubbed out for a nar row offside. Heidenheim’s Sirlord Conteh tapped in a