20/10/2026

SPORTS TUESDAY | OCT 20, 2026

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Scottish leaders Celtic hit seven to leave Hearts broken CELTIC crushed title rivals Hearts 7-1 as the Scottish Premiership leaders moved four points clear at the top with a statement victory yesterday. Martin O’Neill’s side scored five times in a scintillating first half dis play at Parkhead. Kieran Tierney and Benjamin Nygren struck in the opening 10 minutes before Callum Osmand one back for Hearts but Jamie McCart’s own goal was followed by second half strikes by Camilo Duran and Nygren. After second-placed Rangers were held to a 2-2 draw by Dundee on Saturday, Celtic seized control of the title race with their eighth win from nine league games. Third-placed Hearts are eight points adrift of Celtic following a painful return to the scene of one of the most bitter experiences in the club’s history. Hearts failed miserably in their bid for a small measure of revenge over Celtic in the first meeting between the clubs since the Hoops beat the Edinburgh team to the title with a 3-1 win over them on the final day of last sea son. That loss denied Hearts a first title since 1960 and extended the duopoly of Celtic and Rangers as Scotland’s only two champions in the last 41 years. Handing Hearts only their sec ond defeat in 14 games in all com petitions was a welcome boost for Celtic after the east end of Glasgow was engulfed by crisis talk in recent weeks. Last Friday’s 4-1 Europa League defeat by Benfica condemned Celtic to a fourth loss in their last five matches, while O’Neill report edly considered quitting only a couple of weeks ago. A section of Celtic’s fan-base are furious with the club’s hierar chy over their perceived failure to spend enough to establish the team as Champions League regu lars. Speaking after the 7-1 win, O’Neill said: “I’m absolutely delighted for us to beat Hearts in the manner that we did. “It’s gives us great confidence to try and, initially, carry that into Thursday evening, and secondly, try and continue that between now and the new year.” Now, attention turns to the third Uefa Europa League game, with Celta Vigo the visitors to Celtic Park on Friday, and the man ager added: “Thursday becomes really important because we want to try and make some sort of a mark on it and we want to try and qualify to the latter stages, which we did last year, so it’s all guns blazing on Thursday evening”. – AFP/Agencies bagged a brace as Celtic punished Hearts’ poor defending. Laurent Mendy pulled

Mbappe brace sets up El Clasico showdown

KYLIAN MBAPPE scored twice as Real Madrid closed the gap on La Liga lead ers Barcelona to six points with a 4-1 win over Sevilla at the Santiago Bernabeu yesterday, a week before the rivals meet. Real, who have won three straight games in all competitions following the international break, climbed to third on 21 points, one behind Atletico Madrid, while Sevilla are sixth on 14. Despite the suspended Vinicius Jr’s absence, Real produced the fluid attacking football that has

dominance we had against a good team, which we respected. It was a beautiful victory because we won, played well, and had many positive feelings.” “There is Champions League to play first, and it’s the only game we are thinking about.” Elsewhere, Osasuna withstood sec ond half pressure from Racing Santander to win 2-0 in Jagoba Arrasate’s first game back as manager. Two flying saves from Ionut Radu denied Alaves a point in a 2-1 defeat to Celta Vigo, while Real Sociedad won 5-2 at Malaga. – AFP/Agencies

standing ovation from a Bernabeu crowd that expressed their frustration with Tebas, Laporta, and the Negreira case. Los Blancos manager Jose Mourinho addressed the media after the match, said: “It was a good game globally for Real Madrid with many players at a high individual level. “We controlled it from the first to the last minute and scored quality goals. “We had a high percentage of pos session, which is something that doesn’t always give you a real picture of the game, but today it justified the

orchestrating their best work. The win was built on an excellent first half, featuring two museum-wor thy goals scored by Arda Guler and Mbappe. In the second half, Mbappe scored again, this time converting a Panenka style penalty that he earned himself. Manu Bueno reduced the deficit, and Diomande sealed the 4-1 victory with a brilliant solo effort capped off by a powerful strike from the edge of the box. In the final moments, Eder Militao made his return, having been side lined since April 21, and received a

been lacking of late with Arda Guler again

Lazio rock Turin … to move level on points with Serie A leaders Inter L AZIO scored a statement win yesterday, brushing aside Juventus 3-0 in Turin to move level on points with Inter Milan at the top of Serie A.

Lazio’s Josip Sutalo (top) and Juventus’ Francisco Conceicao vie for the ball during the Serie A match at the Allianz Stadium in Turin yesterday. – AFPPIC

through leading scorer Patrik Schick to beat Freiburg 2-1 on Sunday and move into the top four of the Bundesliga standings. Czech striker Schick, who became the first Leverkusen player to score in each of the first six matches of a season, tapped in after superb work from Ibrahim Maza, as his team moved to 13 points, behind Freiburg on goal difference. Bayern Munich moved top of the standings with 14 points after thrashing RB Leipzig 6-1 on Sunday, while Borussia Dortmund sit second on the same tally. Freiburg, who suffered their first loss of the season across all competitions and face Bayern next week. we lacked ideas,” said coach Luciano Spalletti. “It’s hard to understand.” AC Milan held off visiting Atalanta 3-2 to end the weekend fourth, four points off the lead. Young Slovenian Relja Obric made a nightmare debut for Atalanta. The 20-year-old came on for injured Sead Kolasinac after 19 minutes but his first touch in Serie A five minutes later was a handball as he instinctively moved his arm into the path of a shot from Yunus Musah. Milan’s club-record signing Goncalo Ramos placed the penalty inside Marco Carnesecchi’s left-hand post. Then Obric allowed a shot from France mid fielder Adrien Rabiot through his legs as Milan doubled their lead before halftime. Danish central defender Thomas Kristensen gave away a carbon copy handball penalty after 65 minutes. Ramos went the other way but Carnesecchi saved it. The reprieve was short-lived. Rabiot nodded on the corner and Mario Gila headed in from point-blank range at the far post. Gianluca Gaetano and Nikola Krstovic pulled two back for the visitors in the second half but it was too little, too late for Atalanta as they suc cumbed to a fourth defeat of the campaign. “Usually, we struggle at the start of the match and play better in the second half. It was the oppo site today; we need to find the right balance, but these are three important points in our season,” said Rabiot. Como won 3-1 at struggling Fiorentina to rise to fifth. First half goals by Mattia Liberali and Nico Paz put Como in charge, before Marin Pongracic halved the deficit shortly before the interval. Anastasios Douvikas netted early in the second period to keep the hosts locked in the relegation zone on four points. For Como, it was a first win in four matches, going back over the international break to mid September. “We played a very complete game,” coach Cesc Fabregas said. “There are risks when you play the way we do. There’s no such thing as perfect tac tics.” Earlier, Lecce won 3-0 at Udinese, with Kialonda Gaspar, Konan N’Dri and Jamil Siebert all finding the net. – AFP

Lazio trail the defending champions on goal difference, but 19 points is their highest total after seven league games, surpassing the 17 accumu lated by Sven Goran Ericsson’s team to open the 1999-2000 season.

That side went unbeaten for their first nine games and ended up winning their second, and most recent, Serie A title, by one point from Juventus. “We may

well be the sur prise package of this league, but we mustn’t change our

Kounde will also miss the PSG game with an ankle sprain, but could return against Real. Gerard Martin who exited Sunday’s 5-2 win over Real Betis at halftime, but was not included in the club’s medical update. Andreas Christensen is already out injured, leaving only Martin and Pau Cubarsi as natural options at centreback for the PSG game. Schick’s strikes end Freiburg’s unbeaten run BAYER LEVERKUSEN netted a 76th-minute winner approach, we need to take each match as it comes and work hard,” said Lazio coach Gennaro Gattuso. Lazio took control with a Danish double. Oliver Provstgaard, a 1.93m centreback, leapt high above the home defence after 37 minutes and guided a header inside the far post. After 66 minutes, winger Gustav Isaksen, faced by a backpedalling fullback, drifted inside and placed a low shot inside the far post. With three minutes left, substi tute Fisayo Dele-Bashiru picked up the ball in his own half and cantered unhindered into the Juventus penalty area before sliding home his shot. Juventus, who were booed off by their fans, have won just one of their last five league matches and are eighth, eight points adrift. “We were clearly outplayed, we were slow,

SIDENETTING

Flick faces defensive SOS BARCELONA coach Hansi Flick was dealt a double blow ahead of a crucial week after the club con firmed injuries to defenders Jules Kounde and Eric Garcia on social media yesterday. The Catalan side visit Paris St Germain in the Champions League tomorrow (3am Malaysian time) and host Real Madrid in El Clasico next Monday. Garcia was ruled out for three to four weeks with a thigh injury and