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9-man Real Madrid crumble at home as Celta Vigo claim 2-0 win
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Real Madrid crashed to a damaging 2-0 home defeat by Celta Vigo on Sunday in La Liga, finishing the game with nine men after red cards for Fran Garcia and Alvaro Carreras.
Williot Swedberg struck twice in the second half for Celta, with Madrid’s second league defeat of the season leaving rivals Barcelona four points clear at the top of La Liga.
Xabi Alonso’s side, second, also lost defender Eder Militao to injury on a difficult night in the Spanish capital.
Madrid were playing their first match at home following six on the road across all competitions after hosting an NFL match at the Bernabeu, coinciding with a poor run of form, having now won just one of their last five league games.
With a juicy Champions League clash against Manchester City and Erling Haaland approaching on Wednesday, Alonso chose to rest centre-back Antonio Rudiger, starting with Alvaro Carreras in the heart of defence.
Rudiger’s break did not last long, with the German defender coming on midway through the first half after Eder Militao pulled up injured.
Raul Asencio started at right-back, after Trent Alexander-Arnold was sidelined for two months with a thigh injury, continuing a tough start to life in the Spanish capital for the former Liverpool defender.
Celta Vigo goalkeeper Ionut Radu made a handful of good saves in the first half, keeping out a Jude Bellingham header and Arda Guler’s drive from range.
Madrid were struggle to create serious danger as Celta set up in a tough-to-crack low defensive block, denying dangerous forwards Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Junior space.
Guler missed Madrid’s best chance of the first half, with the Turkish playmaker sending a shot wide on the swivel after Mbappe teed him up.
Radu also thwarted Vinicius after Aurelien Tchouameni chopped a ball in behind the defence for the Brazilian to run onto, a rare crack in Celta’s armour.
Celta’s Romanian goalkeeper turned away a fierce Fede Valverde effort from distance early in the second half, before Celta stunned the hosts.
Bryan Zaragoza crossed from the left for Swedberg, who produced a gorgeous flicked finish to beat Thibaut Courtois to send the Galicians ahead.
Madrid were wounded, literally in the case of Bellingham, with blood running down his face from a cut sustained in a tussle with Celta target man Borja Iglesias.
Adding insult to injury Fran Garcia earned two yellow cards inside a minute, the second for a clumsy foul on Swedberg, to leave Los Blancos with 10 men for the final third of the match.
Mbappe sent a lob over Radu but down onto the roof of the net and substitute Gonzalo Garcia headed just wide as Madrid searched for an equaliser, which did not come.
Carreras was dismissed in stoppage time as Madrid lost their heads, for dissent as he protested a decision by referee Alejandro Quintero.
With Madrid down to nine and in disarray, Celta wrapped up their win as Swedberg rounded Courtois and ran the ball home.
– Espanyol flying –
Espanyol continued their superb start to the season with a 1-0 win over Rayo Vallecano to climb up to fifth.
Roberto Fernandez netted a first-half penalty for Manolo Gonzalez’s team at the RCDE Stadium in Cornella as they won a third straight league game.
Espanyol trail fourth-place Atletico Madrid by four points, having played one game fewer than Diego Simeone’s team.
Rayo midfielder Unai Lopez was sent off after the break for a second yellow card, and the hosts spurned several opportunities to expand their lead.
Both teams finished the match with 10 men after Espanyol’s English winger Tyrhys Dolan picked up a second yellow card in the final stages.
Alexander Isak struck twice inside the opening nine minutes as Liverpool secured their first English Premier League victory of the season with a 2-0 win over Ipswich Town on Friday.
The Swedish forward put the visitors in control almost immediately, ending a tense opening spell with two clinical finishes that gave Liverpool a comfortable cushion before the hosts could settle.
Liverpool needed only six minutes to break the deadlock. Cody Gakpo created the opportunity with his effort forcing a save, but Isak reacted quickest to the rebound and fired home.
Three minutes later, Gakpo again turned provider, picking out Isak on the left. The striker made no mistake, sending a low effort into the bottom corner to double Liverpool’s advantage.
The two goals took Isak’s season tally to three in as many league appearances, already matching the number he managed throughout the whole of the previous campaign.
With the visitors firmly in command, Ipswich struggled to create clear-cut opportunities, while Liverpool concentrated on protecting their advantage after the interval.
The Reds appeared to have earned a chance to extend their lead when they appealed for a penalty in the second half, but the decision was overturned after a VAR review found an offside in the build-up.
Ipswich pushed forward late in search of a way back into the contest, but Liverpool’s defence held firm and the hosts were unable to produce the finishing touch required to trouble the visitors.
The victory extended Liverpool’s unbeaten run at Portman Road to seven matches and delivered their first clean sheet of the campaign.
The result also gave coach Andoni Iraola his first clean sheet since taking charge during the summer.
Liverpool’s three points moved them into fifth position in the Premier League standings with five points from three matches.
An F-4 Phantom military aircraft crashed Saturday at a base outside Athens during an airshow, Greek news agency ANA reported.
The circumstances of the crash were unclear, as was the fate of the two pilots aboard, local media said.
The aircraft had just taken off when it suddenly lost altitude and crashed, said a journalist from public broadcaster ERT who was at the scene.
There was an explosion immediately after the crash, which happened before thousands of visitors watching the annual “Athens Flying Week”.
A fire service helicopter was dispatched to the scene to extinguish the blaze caused by the crash, ERT reported.
Defence Minister Nikos Dendias cancelled a trip to Thessaloniki’s International Fair to visit the scene of the accident.
Serena and Venus Williams electrified Arthur Ashe Stadium but fell to Chan Hao-ching and Maya Joint in three thrilling sets in their return to the US Open women’s doubles on Friday.
The superstar sisters, whose 14 Grand Slam doubles titles include two US Opens, rallied from a break down in the third set and led the deciding 10-point tiebreaker 5-0 but fell 6-3, 6-7 (6/8), 7-6 (10/7).
Venus, 46, and Serena, 44, hadn’t played Grand Slam doubles since the 2022 US Open and last won a title together at Roland Garros in 2018.
They showed flashes of their brilliant best, Serena proving particularly dangerous patrolling the net but struggling with her serve.
After recovering from losing the first set to level the match in the second-set tiebreaker.
They belted no fewer than 20 winners in the set, holding serve throughout, and leveled the match when Joint smacked an overhead long to roars from the crowd.
Chan and Joint regrouped to seize a 4-2 lead in the third. The sisters rallied, but get to the finish line as Taiwan’s Chan and Joint fought back superbly to clinch the victory.
The 44-year-old had returned to major singles play as a Wimbledon wild card four years after “evolving away” from the game.
At the All-England club, she lost to Joint in a Centre Court clash that captured the imagination of both diehard and casual tennis fans.
Even that experience didn’t prepare Joint for the atmosphere on the cavernous Ashe Stadium.
The sisters received a thunderous ovation when they took court, all business in understated white outfits.
Every blistering volley and overhead smash from the Americans received raucous cheers, and when they sprinted to the lead in the decisive 10-point tiebreaker, the noise was deafening
“The atmosphere was surreal,” Joint said. “Being able to play against such legends of the game is super special.”
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