Lorient stun 10-man PSG 3-1 in French league

Lorient's Senegalese forward Bamba Dieng (C) kicks to score his team's third goal during the French L1 football match between Paris Saint-Germain and FC Lorient at The Parc des Princes Stadium in Paris on Sunday. (AFP)
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Updated 01 May 2023
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Lorient stun 10-man PSG 3-1 in French league

  • PSG supporters were unhappy with the players’ lack of effort and booed them off the field at halftime and again after the final whistle
  • Second-place Marseille rallied past Auxerre 2-1 to cut PSG’s lead to five points

PARIS: Paris Saint-Germain will have to work harder — much harder — for a record 11th French league title after Lorient stunned the defending champions 3-1 on Sunday.

Second-place Marseille rallied past Auxerre 2-1 to cut PSG’s lead to five points with five games remaining.

“The title is in our hands, we mustn’t let it go like this, especially with such games at home. We must show more than that at home,” PSG defender Marquinhos told Canal Plus television. “We were not good in the duels, we were always late. In the rough moments, we mustn’t concede goals.”

PSG supporters were unhappy with the players’ lack of effort and booed them off the field at halftime and again after the final whistle.

The hosts were down to 10 men after Achraf Hakimi received a second yellow card for a stamp on Darlin Yongwa in the 20th minute. The Morocco right back also got booked for a late tackle on Romain Faivre in the fifth minute.

Lorient capitalized on a spell of possession to take the lead in the 15th with a sliding effort from Enzo Le Fee into the roof of the net.

Kylian Mbappe equalized with a poacher’s goal in the 29th when Yvon Mvogo had a lapse in concentration. The Lorient goalkeeper put the ball on the ground, thinking he had a free kick, but the referee had only waved to play on. Mbappe happily took a touch before tucking into an empty net to consolidate his spot as the top scorer in the league with 23 goals.

Faivre exposed the weakness of PSG in the 39th by strolling past Marco Verratti and Juan Bernat to cut the ball back for Yongwa, who slotted home for a 2-1 lead.

Substitute Bamba Dieng sealed the win by converting a rebound after a counterattack in the 88th.

PSG also produced unconvincing team performances in the past couple of games but was saved by the brilliance of Lionel Messi and Mbappe.

“We have too many players in this second half of the season who perform below par,” PSG coach Christophe Galtier said.

Lorient snapped a five-game winless streak to remain in the middle of the table.

Meanwhile, Marseille striker Alexis Sanchez scored the winner by beating the offside trap to fire through the legs of goalkeeper Ionut Radu in the 77th.

Birama Toure volleyed home from the edge of the box to put Auxerre ahead in the 33rd before Marseille winger Cengiz Under leveled with an angled strike in the 75th.

Arnaud Nordin notched two goals and an assist as Monaco’s hopes of qualifying for the Champions League took a hit after a 4-0 loss to Montpellier.

Fourth-place Monaco occupies the Europa League spot, five points behind Lens which has a game in hand, while Montpellier earned three precious points in its fight for safety to move 11 points above the relegation zone.

“We’ve been playing for the podium so far and it’s still possible if we turn things around. But we must act quickly,” Monaco coach Philippe Clement said.

Belgium international Jeremy Doku netted the last two goals to give Rennes a 4-2 win over bottom side Angers, officially relegated to the second division. Rennes stayed in the race for European spots, trailing fifth-place Lille by three points.

Forward Grejohn Kyei scored the lone goal as Clermont edged Reims 1-0 to climb to eighth place. Clermont also officially secured safety with that fifth straight win.

Nice beat relegation-threatened Troyes 1-0 with a goal from Hicham Boudaoui to snap a three-game losing streak.


Newcastle secure Champions League spot on final day

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Newcastle secure Champions League spot on final day

  • Magpies end up in fifth place, edging out Villa on goal difference

NEWCASTLE: Newcastle United squeezed into the Champions League places despite losing 1-0 to Everton at home in their final game of the Premier League season on Sunday, thanks to Manchester United’s 2-0 home win over Aston Villa.

The Magpies, who ended a 70-year domestic trophy drought by beating Liverpool to win the League Cup earlier in the season, ended up in fifth place on 66 points, edging out Villa on goal difference.

Newcastle dominated throughout but were undone by poor finishing and sloppy passing and they were punished for giving away the ball in the center of the pitch in the 65th minute, with Vitaliy Mykoloenko crossing for Carlos Alcaraz to score with a brilliant header.

The home side poured forward late in the second half as they sought to salvage some pride with an equalizer but Everton were in no mood to accommodate them and defended doggedly to the bitter end, finishing their season in 13th place on 48 points.

Meanwhile, Chelsea booked their place in the Champions League as Levi Colwill sealed a 1-0 win that shattered Nottingham Forest’s bid for a top-five finish.

Colwill struck early in the second half at the City Ground to ensure Enzo Maresca’s side returned to Europe’s elite club competition after a two-year absence.

The Blues finished fourth in the Premier League, four points above seventh-placed Forest, who were consigned to the UEFA Conference League after failing in their attempt to play in the Champions League for the first time since 1980-81.

Chelsea won five of their last six league games to earn their Champions League berth despite criticism of Maresca’s conversative tactics from frustrated fans.

With their Champions League fate successfully resolved, Chelsea can focus on winning their first trophy since the Club World Cup in 2022 when they face Real Betis in the UEFA Conference League final on Wednesday.

Leading Chelsea to Champions League qualification and silverware would be a fitting riposte to Maresca’s doubters after a turbulent debut season in charge for the Italian.

Chelsea had won only seven of their previous 18 away league games, in contrast to their impressive record of 12 wins from 19 at Stamford Bridge.

But they rose to Maresca’s challenge after he urged them to prove they could cope with the pressure of a must-win match on the road.

Forest, who were third for several weeks, paid the price for failing to win any of their last four home games.

Despite missing out on the Champions League, Forest’s highest finish since coming third in 1994-95 was an impressive achievement for a club that battled to avoid relegation on the final day of last season.

Forest’s players were greeted by hundreds of fans waving red flares and balloons when they stepped off the team bus, setting the tone for a raucous atmosphere that peaked when Taiwo Awoniyi came onto the pitch just before kick-off.

Awoniyi sustained a serious abdominal injury after colliding with a post against Leicester and has been recovering after being placed in an induced coma following surgery.

Nuno Espirito Santo had urged Forest to use the Nigerian striker’s recovery from his horrific injury as their inspiration.

There was no lack of endeavour from Nuno’s team as they worked tirelessly to rattle Chelsea, but chances were at a premium in a tense clash.

It took Chelsea half an hour to create a chance of note when Pedro Neto shot wastefully over from five yards after Cole Palmer’s cross picked out the winger.

Forest striker Chris Wood squandered a similar opportunity just before half-time as he met Ola Aina’s cross with a volley that flashed over from close range.

With an average age of 24 years and 36 days, Chelsea’s starting line-up was the youngest over the course of an entire season in the Premier League era.

Chelsea’s lack of experience has been an issue at times in a rocky season, but they got the job done in the 50th minute.

Neco Williams’ weak attempt to head clear was seized on by Neto and his low cross reached Colwill for a tap-in at the far post.


PSG beat Reims to win French Cup ahead of Champions League final

Updated 25 May 2025
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PSG beat Reims to win French Cup ahead of Champions League final

  • PSG have now won the French Cup a record 16 times, including eight times in the last decade

PARIS: Paris Saint-Germain warmed up for their Champions League final showdown with Inter Milan by winning the French Cup on Saturday as Bradley Barcola scored twice in a comfortable 3-0 win against Reims.
Barcola netted two goals in the space of four minutes early on to quickly extinguish whatever hopes Reims had of causing an upset at the Stade de France, and Achraf Hakimi added another goal before half-time.
It was exactly the kind of smooth preparation coach Luis Enrique would have been hoping for ahead of the season-defining game against Inter in Munich next weekend, when PSG will be hoping to win the Champions League for the first time.
“It was a really great evening. We got the job done quickly and we are pleased with the victory,” Barcola told broadcaster France 2.
“We knew we had to do the job in order to prepare in the best way possible for the (Champions League) final, we did it, and now we can go into the next match full of confidence.”
However, one minor issue to come out of the evening was the late withdrawal from the team of Khvicha Kvaratskhelia.
The Georgian winger was replaced in the starting line-up by Desire Doue and returned home early due to a headache, according to a source close to the team.
PSG’s victory, watched by a crowd of over 77,000 at the national stadium, allowed them to complete a clean sweep of the domestic honors for the second time in as many seasons since Luis Enrique became coach in 2023.
They added the French Cup to the Ligue 1 title as well as the Champions Trophy, France’s equivalent of a Super Cup.
PSG have now won the French Cup a record 16 times, including eight times in the last decade. The next most successful club in the history of the competition are Marseille, who won the last of their 10 titles in 1989.

Reims were appearing in their first French Cup final since 1977 and were looking to win the trophy for the third time, with their last success coming during their glory days in the 1950s.
They held PSG to draws twice during the league campaign but any prospect of them winning this time probably ended a week ago.
That was when they slumped into the relegation play-off place on the final night of the Ligue 1 campaign, forcing them into a two-legged tie against second-tier Metz which they must win to remain in the top flight next season.
The first leg of that tie ended in a 1-1 draw on Wednesday, and Reims must now prepare for the decisive return match at home next Thursday.
PSG wasted little time in putting their struggling opponents to the sword as Barcola’s quickfire brace effectively decided the final before the midway point in the first half.
Doue’s through-ball sent Barcola in behind to open the scoring in the 16th minute, and Doue then latched onto a Marquinhos pass before squaring for Barcola to tap in and make it 2-0 on 19 minutes.
The double took Barcola to 21 goals for the season in all competitions, a tally bettered only in the PSG squad by Ousmane Dembele with 33.
They had chances to score again in this one-sided contest before Hakimi made it 3-0 two minutes prior to the interval, arriving at the back post to cushion in a Barcola cross, finishing off a great move.
That was the end of the scoring as Luis Enrique — who gave Matfey Safonov a start in goal ahead of Gianluigi Donnarumma — took the chance to ring the changes after the break.
However, Barcola was only a denied a hat-trick by a good save from Reims goalkeeper Yehvann Diouf, who also turned a Dembele cross-cum-shot onto the post.


Ruthless Stuttgart beat Arminia Bielefeld 4-2 in German Cup final

Updated 24 May 2025
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Ruthless Stuttgart beat Arminia Bielefeld 4-2 in German Cup final

  • Enzo Millot scored twice and Germany forward Nick Woltemade and Deniz Undav got the others
  • Bielefeld, the third-division champion, were playing in the final for the first time

BERLIN: Stuttgart ruthlessly capitalized on errors in Arminia Bielefeld’s defense to win the German Cup with a 4-2 victory in the final on Saturday.

Enzo Millot scored twice and Germany forward Nick Woltemade and Deniz Undav got the others as Stuttgart claimed their fourth German Cup win and the first since 1997.

Bielefeld, the third-division champion, were playing in the final for the first time as only the fourth representative from that division to ever reach German soccer’s end-of-season showpiece.

But there was no fairytale ending for the team’s American captain, Mael Corboz, after he helped the team knock out defending champion Bayer Leverkusen in the semifinals and a host of Bundesliga clubs en route to the final.

Substitute Julian Kania scored a late consolation goal, a minute before Josha Vagnoman’s own goal, to get the Bielefeld fans singing again before the end.

Both sets of supporters displayed huge choreographies before the match in front of 74,000 spectators at Berlin’s Olympiastadion, where they repeatedly ignored appeals to stop setting off pyrotechnics.


Arsenal stun Barca to win Champions League with late Blackstenius goal

Updated 24 May 2025
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Arsenal stun Barca to win Champions League with late Blackstenius goal

  • Arsenal withstood a flurry of Barca chances before Blackstenius broke the deadlock in the 75th minute
  • The Arsenal players stood arm-in-arm in front of their red-clad fans after the final whistle singing along to Queen’s “We are the Champions“

LISBON, : Arsenal forward Stina Blackstenius struck a late winner as the London team shocked holders Barcelona 1-0 on Saturday to claim their second Women’s Champions League title and first in 18 years to the delight of their 5,000 traveling fans.

Arsenal withstood a flurry of Barca chances before Blackstenius broke the deadlock in the 75th minute.

The Sweden international latched onto fellow substitute Beth Mead’s reverse pass in a crowded area and fired a low diagonal shot past goalkeeper Catalina Coll at the Estadio Jose Alvalade.


Renee Slegers’ Gunners, making their second appearance in the final having won Europe’s top club competition in 2007, held on to win against a Barca side going for a third straight Champions League title.

“Amazing,” Arsenal forward Alessia Russo told TNT Sports through tears. “We had to suffer a lot.

“They’re a top side. We knew coming into this game that we’d have to suffer and there would be moments when we wouldn’t have the ball and we would have to be content and happy with not having the ball knowing our moment would come.

“Our squad just wanted it so badly.”

The Arsenal players stood arm-in-arm in front of their red-clad fans after the final whistle singing along to Queen’s “We are the Champions.”

The win comes against a mighty Barcelona team considered on paper to be the best in the world.

Barca midfielder Aitana Bonmati called the loss “absolutely devastating.”

“I don’t believe it,” the 2023 and ‘24 women’s Ballon d’Or winner told Catalan TV. “I just want to start the game again and do it differently. Personally, this hurts me a lot.”

Barcelona were playing in their sixth final in seven years and had hoisted the trophy in three of the past four campaigns. Saturday’s reverse was just their fourth loss of the season across all competitions.


HUGE UNDERDOGS

Arsenal might have arrived as huge underdogs but had proved in their comeback win over Lyon in the semifinals — they lost 2-1 at home before roaring back with a 4-1 away victory in the second leg — that they were not afraid of that tag.

They almost went ahead in the first half when Frida Maanum sprang free on the right wing and Barca defender Irene Paredes slid to divert her low cross into the net for an apparent own goal. However, a VAR check showed Maanum was offside.

Arsenal’s defense stood strong as Barcelona had 20 attempts to the Gunners’ eight, including two long-range Ona Batlle shots that sailed just over the bar, as well as 12 corners to two.

“We knew it was going to be a game of momentum shifts because we respect Barcelona, we know how good they are on the ball but we also know how good we are,” Slegers told TNT, through a voice hoarse from celebrating.

“So we knew that momentum was going to shift. Maybe other people were thinking something else, but that’s what we believed. In all the phases that happened in the game, the mentality we showed, the resilience we showed, the effectiveness in all our actions, our belief, it was incredible.”

Blackstenius almost struck a couple of minutes before her goal but Coll stuck out a leg to stop her shot from 12 meters.

Leah Williamson, who was outstanding in defense, was a mascot at Arsenal’s 2007 victory over Sweden’s Umea.

“A lot of this team have been together for a long time and to be able to do it on the biggest day, some people had the game of their lives,” she said. “I’m so happy. I’m trying not to swear or cry.”


Mbappe double as Real Madrid wave goodbye to Ancelotti, Modric

Updated 24 May 2025
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Mbappe double as Real Madrid wave goodbye to Ancelotti, Modric

  • “It has been an honor and a pleasure to coach this club, this team,” Ancelotti told fans
  • Modric will play at the Club World Cup for Madrid but this was his final game at the Santiago Bernabeu

MADRID: Kylian Mbappe virtually wrapped up the European Golden Shoe award with a brace as Real Madrid beat Real Sociedad 2-0 on Saturday, on an emotional home farewell to Carlo Ancelotti and Luka Modric.

The Italian is leaving to coach the Brazilian national team, drawing a curtain on his second spell at the club where he won a 15 trophies during a total of six years in charge.

“It has been an honor and a pleasure to coach this club, this team,” Ancelotti told fans at the end of game. “I want to thank, first of all, my dear president Florentino (Perez). It has been fantastic to coach this group of footballers of extraordinary quality. It has been fantastic to share all these moments with you.”

“I also can’t forget every day I’ve spent here,” he added. “I love you very much.”

Madrid fans displayed banners showing their affection for Ancelotti and Modric and sang both names.


Modric will play at the Club World Cup for Madrid but this was his final game at the Santiago Bernabeu. He was given a guard of honor when he replaced late on.

The Croatian midfielder also returned to the pitch to address fans after the game.

“The moment I never wanted to come has arrived,” he said. “It has been a long journey, but a wonderful one.”

“I have won many trophies, but the biggest one is the love and affection you have given me over all these years. There are no words to thank you for everything you’ve given me over the years. I want to say a phrase that I like a lot: ‘Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened’.”

He then set out with his family on a lap of honor to end an emotional afternoon for Los Blancos.

It was a profitable one for Mbappe, who scored twice to take the lead in the Golden Shoe standings from Sporting Lisbon’s Viktor Gyokeres.

Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah could yet claim the prize, if he scores four goals against Crystal Palace on Sunday in the final round of Premier League matches.

Mbappe was denied early on by Unai Marrero and then fired another decent opportunity over.

Madrid goalkeeper Andriy Lunin made a good save from Sergio Gomez, who should have scored as he ran clean through but his effort was tame.

Pablo Marin handled as Arda Guler tried to flick the ball past him and Madrid were awarded a penalty after a VAR review.

Mbappe’s poor penalty was saved by Marrero but the French superstar turned home the rebound for his 30th league goal.

Ancelotti brought on Vinicius Junior after an injury to Brahim Diaz, who picked up a knock as Madrid looked to sign off a disappointing season, without winning a major trophy, in style ahead of the Club World Cup in the United States.

Madrid wide man Lucas Vazquez, out of contract this summer after spending his whole career at the club, bar one season on loan at Espanyol, was given an ovation as he was substituted.

Mbappe netted his second after Vinicius teed him up to move six goals clear of Barcelona’s Robert Lewandowski in the battle to be La Liga top scorer.

Many at the Bernabeu were in tears when Modric departed late on, embraced by former Madrid midfield partner Toni Kroos on the touchline.

Madrid finish the season second in La Liga, behind champions Barcelona, who also beat them in the Copa del Rey and Spanish Super Cup finals. The champions face Athletic Bilbao on Sunday in their last La Liga game.