Sports
Leverkusen Defeat Freiburg, Extend Unbeaten Run To 38 Matches
Florian Wirtz scored after 84 seconds as Bayer Leverkusen made it 38 games unbeaten in all competitions with a 3-2 victory in Freiburg on Sunday.
Leverkusen’s seventh league win on the bounce kept them 10 points clear of serial champions Bayern Munich with eight games to play in their quest for the club’s first ever Bundesliga crown.
“It was a good performance, a deserved victory. It’s not easy to win in Freiburg but we keep going,” Leverkusen coach Xabi Alonso told DAZN before praising the performance of his playmaker Wirtz.
“It’s not just the goal he scored, he has a super game. He has real quality and I am very happy for his development.”
Wirtz, one of Leverkusen’s key performers this season, got things moving in style. The Germany forward cut in from the left and unleashed a perfect shot with his right foot, chalking up his seventh league goal of the campaign.
The early goal stunned Freiburg, who came into the game fresh from a 5-0 thrashing at the hands of West Ham in the Europa League, with Leverkusen to face the Londoners in the quarter-final of the competition next month.
Freiburg responded against the run of play though, with Japan forward Ritsu Doan exchanging passes neatly with Lucas Hoeler to drill a low shot beyond the unsighted Lukas Hradecky.
Leverkusen put their noses back in front before half-time though, with Adam Hlozek tapping into an empty net after a mistake by Freiburg goalkeeper Noah Atubolu.
Patrik Schick put the gloss on another convincing victory for Alonso’s team, with a sensational finish to a scintillating Leverkusen counter-attack.
Jeremie Frimpong’s cross from the right was caressed into the top corner by the Czech striker, who was the Leverkusen hero on Thursday with two stoppage-time goals against Qarabag in Europe.
Yannik Keitel pulled one back for Freiburg but the damage was already done, leaving the hosts in ninth and with European qualification slipping away.
In the final game of the weekend, Borussia Dortmund left it late against Eintracht Frankfurt but eventually secured a 3-1 win to stay a point ahead of RB Leipzig in the race for fourth spot.
Dortmund, who beat PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League last week to set up a quarter-final showdown against Atletico Madrid, fell behind to a breakaway Frankfurt goal by former hero Mario Goetze in front of the Yellow Wall.
But the hosts struck back through Karim Adeyemi before the break.
Mats Hummels’ diving header from Julian Brandt’s free-kick put Dortmund ahead for the first time in the 81st minute, with Emre Can’s stoppage-time penalty adding the gloss.
“We’ve now won our last four games and go into the international break with a much better feeling than we had two weeks ago,” Hummels said.
“We’re all very satisfied to be in the quarter-finals of the Champions League but, in the Bundesliga, of course we’re lagging behind.”
AFP
Sports
Meet New Head Coach As Chelsea Sack Liam Rosenior
Chelsea have sacked Liam Rosenior as manager after just 107 days in charge, as a result of a poor run of performance that saw the club suffer five consecutive Premier League defeats without scoring.
The club confirmed the decision in a statement on Wednesday, saying it was not taken lightly but was necessary due to “recent results and performances” falling “below the necessary standards”.
“Chelsea Football Club has today parted company with Head Coach Liam Rosenior.
“On behalf of everyone at Chelsea FC, we would like to place on record our gratitude to Liam and his staff for all their efforts during their time with the Club.
“Liam has always conducted himself with the highest integrity and professionalism following his appointment midway through the season,” the statement read.
Chelsea added that the former Strasbourg manager leaves with the club still competing in the FA Cup and chasing European qualification.
“Liam has always conducted himself with the highest integrity and professionalism following his appointment midway through the season,” the statement read.
Chelsea added that the former Strasbourg manager leaves with the club still competing in the FA Cup and chasing European qualification.
“Everyone at Chelsea FC wishes Liam every success in the future,” the statement added.
Rosenior, who was appointed in January on a six-year contract to replace Enzo Maresca, departs with Chelsea seventh in the Premier League and seven points off the Champions League places.
Meanwhile, Calum McFarlane will now take charge of the team as interim head coach until the end of the season, beginning with Sunday’s FA Cup semi-final against Leeds at Wembley, with support from existing backroom staff.
“As the club works to bring stability to the head coach position, we will undertake a process of self-reflection to make the right long-term appointment,” Chelsea said.
Rosenior’s exit comes after a run that included defeats to Newcastle, Everton, Manchester City, Manchester United, and Brighton, with Chelsea failing to score in all five games.
Sports
Man City Defeat Burnley To Top EPL Table
Manchester City defeated Burnley 1-0 in the English Premier League (EPL) encounter at Turf Moor on Wednesday night.
Manchester City took control of the EPL title race thanks to Erling Haaland’s early goal against the Clarets, who are relegated to the English Championship with the defeat.
Manchester City took the lead in five minutes when Haaland darted through Burnley’s defence to meet Jeremy Doku’s through ball and expertly chipped the goalkeeper for his 24th league goal of the season.
The Norwegian striker also went close later but was denied by the post, and City went into the break with only a one-goal lead.
Burnley improved in the second half with Lyle Foster’s deflected strike inches wide of the post, before Quilindschy Hartman tested Gianluigi Donnarumma with a powerful effort.
The visitors, however, weathered the storm and regained control, but efforts from Doku, Haaland, Rayan Cherki, and Nico O’Rilley all went close but were all denied.
They, however, held on to take all three points and stretch their unbeaten run to 11 matches, while Burnley are winless in nine games.
Pep Guardiola’s side return to the top of the table for the first time since the first week of the season, ending Arsenal’s 200 days at the top.
Both teams are on the same 70 points and the same goal difference, but City has scored more goals to claim the top spot.
Burnley, however, return to the Championship after only one season in the top flight, and are the second team after Wolverhampton Wanderers to confirm their relegation status.
Sports
Finally, former Premier League champions Leicester relegated to English division three
Former Premier League champions Leicester were relegated to the third tier for only the second time in their history after a 2-2 draw against Hull on Tuesday.
Gary Rowett’s side needed a victory at the King Power Stadium to keep alive their slender hopes of avoiding relegation.
But the Foxes were denied by Oli McBurnie’s second-half equaliser, which condemned them to League One just 10 years after they were crowned English champions in a fairytale triumph.
Liam Millar put Hull ahead in the 18th minute before Leicester equalised through James Justin’s 52nd-minute penalty.
Luke Thomas put Leicester ahead two minutes later, but McBurnie extinguished their dreams of a great escape with his 63rd-minute leveller.
Second-bottom Leicester are seven points from safety with just two games left.
Leicester will play in the third tier for the first time since 2008-09 following an astonishing decline over the last five years.
“We have to learn. I think the club have to accept this is the horrible part of the journey of a football club,” Rowett said.
“This club won the Premier League not too many moons ago. That was an incredible high at the time for the fans, for everyone associated with the club.
“I think everyone saw that as an amazing achievement. I think we can be equally as disappointed with how poor this moment is.”
It is a third relegation in four seasons for Leicester, who dropped out of the Premier League in 2023 and 2025.
After Jamie Vardy, Riyad Mahrez, N’Golo Kante and company defied 5,000-1 odds by winning the Premier League in 2016, Leicester reached the Champions League quarter-finals the next season and won the FA Cup in 2021.
But Leicester’s golden era is a distant memory as they face the unpalatable prospect of playing the likes of Bromley, Mansfield and Wycombe next season.
“The bigger picture is you don’t get relegated over three or four games, you get relegated over a season,” Rowett said.
“The club has to rise again but it has to learn its lessons because it’s certainly been a season of an awful lot of regret.”
Crashing out of the Premier League in limp fashion three years ago should have been a wake-up call for Leicester’s Thai owner Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha and much-maligned sporting director Jon Rudkin.
But Leicester’s hierarchy were painfully slow to address numerous flaws on the pitch, while the club’s ruinous finances have cost them with a six-point deduction this season for breaching spending rules.
Vardy’s departure at the end of last season severed the last tie with the title-winning squad.
Marti Cifuentes, hired to lead a promotion push, struggled to rebuild an unbalanced and inexperienced squad before his sacking in January.
Interim boss Andy King was unable to turn the tide and relegation fears began to mount after Leicester blew a 3-0 half-time lead in a dismal 4-3 defeat against Southampton.
By the time Rowett was hired in February, the Foxes were two points from safety and the former Leicester defender has mustered only one win from his 12 matches since.
Boardroom blunders have been the defining influence on Leicester’s plummet towards League One.
Claudio Ranieri, architect of their title-winning campaign, was sacked just months after lifting the trophy, with Craig Shakespeare and then Claude Puel proving inadequate replacements.
Brendan Rodgers, who masterminded the club’s FA Cup triumph and two fifth-placed finishes in the Premier League, was dismissed as relegation beckoned in 2023.
Elsewhere on Tuesday, Coventry clinched the Championship title with a 5-1 rout of Portsmouth.
Frank Lampard’s side had sealed promotion back to the top flight after a 25-year absence with a draw at Blackburn on Friday.
Millwall climbed to second place with a 3-1 win at Stoke, while fourth-placed Southampton’s bid for automatic promotion was dented by a 2-2 draw against Bristol City.
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