26/04/2026

theSun on Sunday APR 26, 2026

SPORTS 13

Napoli make Inter wait for Serie A glory

SHORTS LEIPZIG TIGHTEN TOP-FOUR GRIP

RB Leipzig defeated Union Berlin 3-1 in the Bundesliga yesterday, handing coach Marie-Louise Eta her second defeat in as many games in charge. Max Finkgrafe, Romulo and Ridle Baku scored as Leipzig earned a fifth straight victory, in a game overshadowed by sexism allegations over a social media post. Eta, who is the first female coach in the Bundesliga, has been the subject of a torrent of sexist abuse on social media. Leipzig were accused of joining in on Thursday when they responded to a post on X from Union saying it was a “nice city”. RB Leipzig’s account posted photos of Eta posing with former Leipzig coach Marco Rose and former players Dominik Szoboszlai and Emil Forsberg. The caption read: “Your head coach didn’t just find the city pretty nice…” Finkgrafe opened the scoring in the 22nd minute by thumping Leopold Querfeld’s headed clearance inside the right post. Brazilian forward Romulo shrugged off Querfeld’s weak challenge to score three minutes later, and Union suffered another blow when keeper Frederik Rønnow had to go off injured, replaced by Carl Klaus. Though her team improved after the break, Eta made three changes around the hour mark, only for Yan Diomande to set up Baku for the third. Danilho Doekhi scored Union’s consolation with a header in the 77th minute, and substitute Ilyas Ansah thought he scored another in stoppage time, only to have it ruled out for offside. LENS RALLY BUT TITLE BID FADES Lens came back from 3-0 down at mid-table Brest to rescue a 3-3 draw, but still handed reigning champions Paris Saint-Germain an advantage in the title race. Daouda Guindo’s arrowed low drive from distance gave Brest an early lead, which Lucas Tousart doubled with a towering header midway through the first half. Eric Junior Dina Ebimbe slotted home a third before halftime, leaving Lens staring down the barrel just days after they had booked their place in the French Cup final. Florian Thauvin capitalised on a loose pass to haul Lens back into the contest on the hour, before Abdallah Sima swept home a cross just four minutes later to continue the revival. Lens snatched a dramatic equaliser deep into stoppage time when Alain Saint?Maximin unleashed a 20-yard strike. The visitors almost completed an improbable turnaround with the final kick of the game, but Saud Abdulhamid blazed over after Odsonne Edouard’s header had been saved by Brest goalkeeper Gregoire Coudert. “I’ll admit that I had some very harsh words at halftime,” said Lens coach Pierre Sage. The draw leaves Lens four points adrift of leaders PSG, who have two games in hand. Lens host PSG on May 13 but, barring an unlikely collapse from the European champions, they appear destined to finish runners-up for the second time in four seasons in Ligue 1. “As long as it’s not mathematically over, we’ll fight for the title until the very end, but it’s clear they (PSG) are pulling away tonight,” said Sage. VAR: CLEAR AS MUD Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin said yester that he often struggles to understand the interpretation of the rules of football since the implementation of VAR. “Sometimes the supporters can’t understand some interpretations of the rules. I can’t understand it many times,” Ceferin said during a conference in Madrid. “For example, the handball, nobody understands it. Is it a penalty? Is it not a penalty? Nobody knows. It was intentional, how do you know? You’re not a psychiatrist.” The head of the governing body of European football also bemoaned the length of time some VAR interventions take on the pitch. “We try to explain to the referees that the referee on the pitch is the one that decides,” Ceferin said. “And only if it’s a clear and obvious mistake, you intervene. And even interventions should be fast, not just in Spanish league. I saw it in Premier League, sometimes 10-15 minutes of watching something.” He also called for a greater harmonisation of the interpretation of the rules across Europe’s different domestic leagues. “I see that sometimes referees who are refereeing on the European level are refereeing differently than in their own leagues,” the Slovenian said. Ceferin added that the best way to avoid mistakes was to “strictly try to obey” the International Football Association Board (IFAB) rules.

NAPOLI cruised to a 4-0 win at home to Cremonese yesterday, a result which means Serie A leaders Inter Milan will have to wait at least another week to celebrate the title win and leaves the visitors in serious relegation trouble. Napoli are second in the standings on 69 points, nine behind Inter who are away to Torino on Sunday and three points ahead of AC Milan who host Juventus. Cremonese are third from bottom, level on 28 points with Lecce who are in the safety zone ahead of a trip to Hellas Verona this morning. Verona are second from bottom on 18 points and look Serie B bound along with bottom club Pisa. With their title defence all but over, Napoli were still keen to impress after a dismal performance last weekend when they failed to register a single shot on

wrongfoot Audero and Napoli finished the game off in stoppage time before the break. After McTominay made an acrobatic pullback from the byline to keep the ball in play, De Bruyne battled to win pos session from Youssef Maleh in the area and drilled his shot beyond Audero. Napoli continued where they left off after the interval. Keeper Vanja Milinkovic-Savic threw the ball to Alisson Santos who ran the length of the pitch unchallenged before firing home from the edge of the area. Amir Rrahmani rattled the Cremonese crossbar and Audero denied McTominay from the penalty spot late on as Napoli failed to add to their goal tally, but Conte, and the home fans, will be more than happy with an impressive performance. – Reuters

target in a 2-0 home loss to Lazio. “After Lazio, we spoke, I coach intelli gent guys and they understood what didn’t work,” Napoli boss Antonio Conte told DAZN before kickoff. “Today we have to get back on track.” Scott McTominay was denied by the onrushing keeper Emil Audero in an early attack but his opening goal quickly followed in the third minute. McTominay collected Kevin De Bruyne’s pass, took one touch to control before rifling a low shot to the bottom corner of the net for his ninth league goal of the season. Napoli created plenty of chances before doubling their lead on the stroke of halftime with an own goal. Rasmus Hojlund slipped as he got his shot away but the ball took a wicked deflection off Filippo Terracciano to

Madrid denied at death

Madrid players react at the final whistle of their La Liga match against Real Betis at La Cartuja Stadium yesterday. – REUTERSPIC

Late goal by Bellerin dents Los Blancos ’ title chase, handing title boost to Barca

FORMER Barcelona defender Hector Bellerin snatched Real Betis a late point in a 1-1 La Liga draw against Real Madrid yesterday to do his for mer side a favour in the Spanish title race. Alvaro Arbeloa’s Madrid seemed set to chop down Barca’s lead but the Catalans sit provisionally eight points ahead of Madrid after Bellerin can celled out Vinicius Junior’s opener. Vinicius’s 17th-minute strike seemed set to bring his team victory and boost their slim chances of over hauling the leaders and finishing the season with a trophy. However, Madrid were rocked in stoppage time as Bellerin finally pro vided the breakthrough his side’s per formance had deserved. “We suffered another blow in the final minutes, as has already hap pened to us many other times, and we end up with a result I don’t think we deserved, because we had chances (to win),” Arbeloa told reporters. The Madrid coach complained about refereeing decisions which “heavily influenced the game”, although Betis arguably had the more legitimate grievances. The hosts, fifth, appealed in vain

Hernandez’s powerful effort over and defender Dean Huijsen blocked well from Antony. Madrid forward Mbappe appeared to ask for a substitution with 10 min utes remaining, creating worry over a possible injury for the French striker ahead of the World Cup. Betis snatched a point right at the death, with Bellerin in the right place at the right time to smash home a loose ball in the area after Antonio Rudiger blocked a cross. “In these situations you have very little time to think,” Bellerin told DAZN of his goal. “We had a lot of chances, during the game I had the feeling that we had a lot of control and we were get ting opportunities and we didn’t have the luck of them going in – and then look, it happened to me.” Betis trail Atletico Madrid, fourth, by seven points having played one extra game. However Diego Simeone’s side are focused on the Champions League and have played the reserves in many of their recent Liga games, giv ing the Andalusians a glimmer of hope of overhauling them to finish in the top four. – AFP

for a penalty against Brahim Diaz early on, after the Madrid midfielder appeared to touch the ball with his hand in his own box as he tried to control it. A few minutes later the visitors took the lead, when Betis goalkeeper Alvaro Valles could only push Federico Valverde’s drive back into Vinicius’s path and the Brazilian swept home. England international Jude Bellingham almost doubled Madrid’s advantage but Valles did well to tip over his fierce effort. Betis earned a foothold in the game and Madrid had their goal keeper Andriy Lunin, playing in place of the injured Thibaut Courtois, to thank for getting them in ahead at halftime. Lunin pushed Antony’s low strike around the post and then denied the Brazilian winger again, having just thwarted Cedric Bakambu as he ran through on goal. Alvaro Fidalgo also lashed nar rowly over as Betis pushed Madrid back, albeit without finding a way through. Lunin was the hero again for Madrid as he pushed Cucho