07/04/2026

SPORTS TUESDAY | APR 7, 2026

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Inter close in on Serie A title

SIDENETTING Monaco on a roll

INTER MILAN took a big step towards winning the Serie A title by thrashing sorry Roma 5-2 yesterday, ending a late-season wobble and moving nine points clear at the top of the table. Closest challengers AC Milan travel to champions Napoli over night with both bidding to see who might stop Inter from securing a 21st league crown. Inter had collected eight points from their five league matches played since Martinez suffered a calf injury against Bodo/Glimt in the

utes after the restart thanks to Martinez, stroking home his 16th league goal of the season in the 52nd minute and Thuram a perfect header from Calhanoglu’s corner moments later. Barella made the most of more sloppy Roma defend ing just after the hour, firing home the fifth in the 70th minute. At the other end of the table Cremonese slipped into the relega tion zone after being beaten 2-1 by Bologna while Pisa slid closer to the drop with a 1-0 home defeat against Torino. – AFP

captain Martinez, and the Argentina striker smashed Inter ahead from Marcus Thuram’s neat pass with barely a minute on the clock at the San Siro. Calhanoglu’s ferocious strike from more than 30 metres put Inter back ahead on the stroke of halftime, just as Roma seemed to be heading into the tunnel level follow ing Gianluca Mancini’s header in the 40th minute. That goal galvanised Inter who came out for the second half as fast as they did for the first, and the match was as good as over 10 min

Champions League. “Tonight was a big match for us… we had to come out with the right attitude and personality,” said Martinez. “I’m happy for my team mates, because it was the win we deserved.” Roma coach Gian Piero Gasperini said: “It was game of two halves, in the first I saw a lot of good things, even if the final result makes every thing look different. Losing in Milan to this Inter team can happen, even if it shouldn’t be by such a margin.” Inter are a different team with

MONACO earned their seventh successive win in Ligue 1 yesterday by beating Marseille 2-1 to surge to within one point of the automatic Champions League places. Aleksandr Golovin stabbed in a cross from Jordan Teze on the hour at the Stade Louis II before Folarin Balogun struck for the sixth match running with a sublime chip. Amine Gouiri reduced the deficit late on, but Monaco stretched their unbeaten league run to 10 matches to con tinue a remarkable revival that began in January. “It’s a fantastic streak we’re on and I hope we can keep it going,” Monaco goal keeper Lukas Hradecky told broadcaster Ligue 1+ . “We have the team, slowly we have no more injuries, and you start to see how much quality therle is in the team.” The principality side moved level on points with fourth-placed Marseille and just one behind Lille. Monaco also climbed above Lyon, who dropped to sixth and are winless in six matches following a 0-0 draw at Angers earlier. Lorient and Paris FC drew 1-1, while Le Havre and Auxerre also shared the points. Metz are closer to relegation after only managing a 0-0 draw at home to second-bottom Nantes. Paris Saint-Germain are on course for a 12th title in 14 years follow ing their 3-1 win over Toulouse on Saturday. Closest rivals Lens lost 3-0 at Lille on Saturday and are four points adrift of PSG. St Pauli stranded drop zone ST PAULI’S hopes of moving out of the Bundesliga relegation zone took a hit after they were were held to a 1-1 draw at Union Berlin yesterday. Mathias Pereira Lage’s first half stunner put St Pauli in front but it was can celled out when Andrej Ilic scored from a cor ner just after the break. The draw helped Union climb two spots up to 10th but left St Pauli still third from the bottom in the relegation playoff spot. St Pauli are two points behind 15th placed Cologne, who fought back from two goals down to draw 2-2 at Frankfurt later yes terday. PSV take Dutch title PSV EINDHOVEN were crowned Dutch cham pions yesterday for a third successive season when their nearest challengers, Feyenoord, failed to win at Volendam. The goalless draw left PSV, who had won 4-3 at home to Utrecht on Sunday, with an unassailable lead with five matches left in this season’s Eredivisie. PSV advanced to 71 points from 29 games on Sunday, meaning Feyenoord had to win to keep alive their slim hopes, but the draw at Volendam left them with 54 points – 17 points adrift. PSV’s triumph set off immedi ate celebrations in the streets of Eindhoven, where fans had been waiting in expectation of Feyenoord’s failure to win. It is the third time in the club’s his tory that PSV have won three cham pionships in a row. They won four in

The Bavarians arrive in top form as Real rely on thier Champions League magic Bayern bring the Kane

V INCENT KOMPANY’S Bayern Munich visit Real Madrid tomorrow (3am Malaysian time) in the Champions League quarterfinals high on confidence and looking like Europe’s most complete

added that he had “a feeling” that the England striker would be ready. With Michael Olise and Luis Diaz joining Kane in attack, Kompany’s side play an aggressive, high-pressing style which helped them demolish Atalanta in the last 16, 10-2 on aggregate. Bayern came from two goals down to beat Freiburg and match-winner Lennart Karl said that fighting spirit was crucial heading into the Madrid clash. “It gives us a lot of confidence. It was very important – we actually feel unbeatable at the moment,” he said, with Bayern’s last defeat coming in January, 14 matches ago. In that same period Madrid have lost four times, with coach Alvaro Arbeloa struggling to find the right balance when all his superstars are fit, just like Xabi Alonso and Carlo Ancelotti before him. “They’re not playing the best football, but they’re outstanding in terms of experience,” noted Hoeness. Madrid fell to a disappointing defeat at Mallorca in La Liga on Saturday, leaving them seven points behind rivals Barcelona in the Spanish title race. “I know what my players are capable of, I know they understand the importance of Tuesday’s game,” Arbeloa told reporters. “The demand on the team will be maxi mum and I know the support that Madrid fans will offer us – with them, everything is easier.” Bayern are well aware of the impact of Madrid’s supporters on big European nights at the Bernabeu, which, along with the weight of history and sublime individual quality, helps Los Blancos pull off remarkable results even when the odds are against them. “It’s the stadium and the fans who, together with the team, transform into a hur ricane that sweeps over the opponent,“ said Bayern powerbroker Karl-Heinz Rummenigge. “You need nerves of steel, you have to stay calm, and you have to be mentally prepared... it’s not just an ordinary game. It will be the toughest test.” No teams have faced each other more in the competition, with tomor row’s match the 29th occasion Madrid will meet Bayern. The German giants last eliminated Los Blancos in 2012 but believe they finally have the quality this year to rewrite the narrative of the last decade. – AFP

striker Harry Kane. Record 15-time winners Madrid have endured a difficult season, plagued by incon sistency, but have made a habit of pulling off the unexpected in this competition. Just as it seemed their well of Champions League magic was running dry, Madrid pro duced their best performance of the sea son to crush Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City in the last 16. Despite Madrid’s prestige and troupe of attacking stars – Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Junior, and Jude Bellingham included, as well as City hattrick hero Federico Valverde – Bayern are arguably favourites to lift the trophy. “It would be presumptu

side, bolstered by the likely return of superstar

ous to assume that we’ll definitely advance,” said honorary Bayern presi dent Uli Hoeness. “But we haven’t had such great chances in terms of the playing quality as we have this year in a long time.” Kane, who has scored 48 goals in 40 appearances across all competitions this season, missed Bayern’s battling 3-2 Bundesliga win at Freiburg on Saturday with an ankle issue. “He’d play in a wheelchair,” said Bayern mid

fielder Joshua K immi c h , w h i l e Kompany

a row between 1986 and 1989 and again four on the trot between 2005 and 2008 and now have a total of 27 league titles, bettered only by Ajax Amsterdam’s tally of 36. PSV will compete in the

Bayern’s Harry Kane suffered a minor ankle injury during England training on March 29,

forcing him to miss the Bundesliga clash against Freiburg but likely to return against Real

Champions League group phase for the fourth suc cessive campaign next season.

tomorrow. – REUTERSPIC

RCB’s six-hitting machine David hits the roof

TIM DAVID showed exactly why Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) retained his services for the 2026 season with a scintillating power-hitting display for the defending Indian Premier League (IPL) champions on Sunday. The 30-year-old Australian clob bered eight sixes in his unbeaten 70 off 25 balls as Bengaluru scored a 43-run win over Chennai Super Kings to make it two wins from two. In an innings of huge hits, David

champions Chennai managed 207 before being bowled out with two balls left in their innings. “If you look at the score, we were ahead of them up to about five overs to go,” Chennai head coach Stephen Fleming said. “And then they just went like a rocket. So that’s really where the game was lost for us.” It was a third straight defeat for Chennai, who slipped to the bottom of the table. – Reuters

plundered 30 runs from a Jamie Overton over that included four sixes, said the captain’s approach helped set the platform for his late burst. “Rajat was absolutely smoking it and I was taking balls off him so to be able to get us to a score and obviously put a lot of pressure on the opposition,” he added. Chasing 251 for victory, five-time

match out of the middle, help it up on the roof, it was good fun.” Bengaluru top the early-season standings with a net run rate superior to that of Rajasthan Royals, Delhi Capitals and Punjab Kings, who also began with back-to-back wins. Bengaluru’s Rajat Patidar thumped 48 not out off 19 balls and David, who

drew gasps with a monstrous 106m strike that landed on the roof of the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. “I’ve been getting in trouble during training with the boys,” Player of the Match David said of the six. “We have competitions to try and hit them on the roof and we’re obviously on the side pitches. So, to get one during a