Man City leave it late to beat Everton and reach Cup semis

The visitors joined Southampton in the semi-finals after the south-coast side earlier beat local rivals Bournemouth 3-0 away. Manchester United visit Leicester City on Sunday with Chelsea hosting Sheffield United.

* France bathed in pride and joy on Saturday after beating Wales 32-30 to stay on course for a first Six Nations title in 11 years at the end of an exhilarating test that coach Fabien Galthie compared to a boxing match. France’s win also denied Wales a second Grand Slam in three years with Les Bleus now hoping to beat Scotland by at least 21 points with a bonus point to secure the title in Paris on Friday in their rescheduled game.

* Goalkeeper Bono was Sevilla’s unlikely hero as they snatched a 1-1 draw at struggling Real Valladolid in La Liga on Saturday thanks to his strike deep in stoppage time. Sevilla stay fourth and move to 55 points, 10 ahead of fifth-placed Real Sociedad who host Barcelona, in third on 59 points, on Sunday.

* Newcastle United remain outside the Premier League’s bottom three but the abject nature of Saturday’s 3-0 defeat by fellow strugglers Brighton & Hove Albion did not bode well for their hopes of avoiding the drop. The visitors failed to register a shot on target and are now six games without a league win, leaving them in 17th place, two points above third-from-bottom Fulham.

* Robert Lewandowski’s hat-trick helped 10-man Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich stay in the driving seat to retain the title with a 4-0 drubbing of Vfb Stuttgart, while Borussia Dortmund lost ground in the top-four race with a draw at Cologne on Saturday. The result left Bayern on 61 points from 26 games, four ahead of closest rivals RB Leipzig.

* Prolific striker Erling Haaland continued his rich vein of form as he netted twice including a late equaliser to salvage a 2-2 draw for Borussia Dortmund at Cologne in the Bundesliga on Saturday. The result left fifth-placed Dortmund losing ground in the hunt for a top-four finish as they have 43 points from 26 games, four less than Eintracht Frankfurt in fourth who celebrated a 5-2 home win over Union Berlin.

* Third-placed Vfl Wolfsburg, who are 10 points behind Bayern and four ahead of Frankfurt, stayed firmly on course to secure a Champions League berth with a 2-1 win at Werder Bremen. Schalke suffered yet another setback to their slim hopes of avoiding relegation as a 3-0 home defeat by Borussia Moenchengladbach left them rooted to the bottom 12 points adrift of the safety zone.

* Championship leaders Norwich City were held to a 1-1 draw at home by Blackburn Rovers on Saturday as second-placed Watford closed the gap at the top to eight points with a convincing 3-0 victory over relegation-threatened Birmingham City. Wayne Rooney’s Derby County lost 1-0 at Stoke City, as Jacob Brown bagged the winner with 15 minutes left.

* Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane sung the praises of Karim Benzema after the French forward’s two goals helped his side to a 3-1 win over Celta Vigo on Saturday and continued a prolific goalscoring run stretching to six consecutive games. Benzema has scored eight goals in his last six matches in all competitions and is the third top scorer in La Liga, with 17 strikes.

* Russian Aslan Karatsev continued his breakthrough year as he claimed his first ATP Tour title by beating Lloyd Harris 6-3 6-2 in the Dubai Championships final on Saturday. The 27-year-old wildcard overpowered his South African opponent with a barrage of winners to take his record to 12-2 for the season, having only won three Tour-level matches prior to this year.

* Spezia secured a huge win for their Serie A survival hopes by beating relegation rivals Cagliari 2-1 on Saturday, but the visitors were left devastated when a last-minute equaliser was ruled out by VAR. Earlier, bottom side Crotone squandered a golden chance to move closer to safety when they threw away a 2-0 halftime lead to lose 3-2 at home to Bologna.

* An unstoppable Barcelona won their 20th game out of 20 on Saturday, thrashing Rayo Vallecano 4-0 away from home to continue their record-breaking run in Spanish women’s soccer’s top flight. Barca broke the previous record of 14 straight wins in the Spanish women’s league last month and their 20th consecutive victory meant they increased their lead at the top over nearest challengers Levante to 12 points, with two games in hand.

* Belgian Jasper Stuyven won the Milan-Sanremo one-day race, the first ‘Monument’ classic of the season, with a late, unexpected attack at the bottom of the final hill on Saturday. Australian Caleb Ewan took second place, with Belgian Wout van Aert finishing third.

* The French sports ministry on Saturday opened the door for foreign players in Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 to join their national teams for World Cup qualifiers outside the European Union, allowing them to forgo a quarantine upon their return.

* China’s Wang Kaihua produced the third-fastest 20 km race walk in history at the national championships in Huangshan on Saturday, romping to victory in one hour, 16 minutes and 54 seconds to book his spot at the Tokyo Olympics. The Asian Games champion paced himself perfectly from start to finish at the event, which also served as an Olympic qualifier, taking 42 seconds off the national record previously held by 2016 Rio Games champion Wang Zhen.

* Leeds United’s record goalscorer Peter Lorimer died aged 74 following a long-term illness, the Premier League club said on Saturday. The attacking midfielder, who earned the nicknames “HotShot Lorimer” for his powerful strikes, scored 238 goals for Leeds across two spells at the club.

* Six women’s soccer clubs in England will receive 680,000 pounds (US$943,432) in support grants from the British government’s winter survival package, amid the COVID-19 crisis, the Sports Ministry said. The grants will help cover essential costs due to the lack of spectators in stadiums and allow the clubs to complete their respective seasons.

* Leicester City defender Ricardo Pereira will miss Sunday’s FA Cup quarter-final at home to Manchester United due to a minor hamstring strain, manager Brendan Rodgers said. The Portugal international sustained the injury during last week’s 5-0 Premier League win over Sheffield United.

Source: Nhan Dan Online