Lyon suffer first home loss, Monaco stroll

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Paris (AFP) – Ten-man Lyon crashed to a “nightmarish” first home defeat at Parc OL as Bordeaux came from behind to claim a 3-1 victory, while Monaco are the early season pacesetters after crushing Lille 4-1.

Aldo Kalulu marked his first appearance of the season for Lyon with the opening goal inside two minutes, but Brazilian teenager Malcom replied for Bordeaux on the half hour.

Lyon captain Maxime Gonalons was sent off for a reckless challenge on the Bordeaux goalscorer midway through the second half and the visitors took full advantage as Gregory Sertic headed the visitors in front.

Jeremy Menez then sealed a third victory in four games for Jocelyn Gourvennec’s side in the dying stages with his first goal for his new club.

For Lyon, who were without Clement Grenier, Mathieu Valbuena and Nabil Fekir, it was their first loss at their new home since it opened in January and a second straight in the league following a shock 4-2 defeat at promoted Dijon last time out. 

Last year’s runners-up were then hit with the news that Alexandre Lacazette will miss Wednesday’s Champions League group game against Dinamo Zagreb after he limped off.

“The result and the circumstances are nightmarish because we’ve lost our first game at Parc OL, we’ve lost Maxime Gonalons to a red card and Alexandre Lacazette who is injured,” bemoaned Lyon coach Bruno Genesio.

“I’m responsible for leaving (Lacazette) on the pitch, and I’ll live with that. He’s a player who has been injured and sometimes there can be a relapse.”

Lacazette, who hobbled off at half-time during the Dijon debacle, had originally shaken off a knee injury to feature in a front three that included Rachid Ghezzal for the first time this term after a summer of stalled contract extension talks and rumours of a move.

– PSG suffer late draw –

The hosts enjoyed a dream start as Kalulu was the beneficiary of a fortunate deflection, the youngster tapping in after Sergi Darder’s attempted pass rolled invitingly into his path.

Mouctar Diakhaby, deputising in central defence, went close to doubling Lyon’s lead on 22 minutes when Cedric Carrasso tipped the youngster’s acrobatic effort onto the crossbar.

But Malcom drove a left-footed strike from the edge of the area to draw Bordeaux level on 33 minutes.

The 19-year-old was then left writhing around in agony after Gonalons caught him badly with a poor challenge that prompted the Lyon midfielder’s dismissal on 67 minutes.

And Bordeaux were ahead just four minutes later as Sertic glanced home a free-kick for his first goal in over two years, having missed most of the last campaign through injury.

The afternoon lurched from bad to worse for Lyon when Lacazette, the league’s leading scorer, limped off with more injury problems, and Menez completed a miserable afternoon for Lyon in the 90th minute as his deflected strike looped in. 

Monaco go into their midweek Champions League tie with Tottenham Hotspur in buoyant mood as goals from Djibril Sidibe, Adama Traore, Fabinho and Kamil Glik powered them past Lille, for whom Julian Palmieri scored a late consolation.  

On Friday, Paris Saint-Germain conceded an injury-time equaliser as they warmed up for their European clash next week against Arsenal with a disappointing 1-1 home draw with Saint-Etienne.

The big-spending Parisians looked set for all three points thanks to a second-half Lucas penalty, but Robert Beric popped up in the second minute of added-on time to somehow eke out an unlikely point for the visitors.

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PSG suffer late heartbreak in home draw

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Paris (AFP) – Paris Saint-Germain conceded an injury-time equaliser as they warmed up for their Champions League clash next week against Arsenal with a disappointing 1-1 home with Saint-Etienne on Friday.

The big-spending Parisians looked set to top Ligue 1 thanks to a fortuitous second-half Lucas penalty, but Robert Beric popped up in the second minute of added-on time to somehow eke out an unlikely point for the visitors.

The French champions gave a first start this season to international midfielder Blaise Matuidi after the former Saint-Etienne player saw a proposed transfer to Italian champions Juventus fall through.

He was involved in the major talking point of a tepid first-half when he appeared to have his legs swept out from underneath him when well placed in the box, but the referee waved away furious home appeals for a penalty.

Meanwhile goalkeeper Kevin Trapp had to be at his best to thwart the away side when he was down smartly to his left to save from close range at the Parc des Princes.

PSG, runaway league winners last term, had plenty of the ball in the second period but did little with it, with coach Unai Emery calling for winger Angel Di Maria off the bench shortly before the hour in the hope he would inject some badly needed pace and guile.

They finally made the breakthrough in the 67th minute thanks to a penalty from the Brazilian winger Lucas, after Matuidi again took a tumble, although there was a large slice of fortune in it with the contact clearly outside the box.

The Parisians were cruising to victory, before Beric neatly chested down a deep cross late on and knocked the ball into the ground and over the stretched arms of Trapp.

PSG, now without defender David Luiz following his return to Chelsea and sitting third in Ligue 1 after two wins, one defeat and one draw, host Premier League Arsenal on Tuesday. 

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Andrew Benintendi robs home run with great catch (Video)

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Andrew Benintendi made a spectacular catch on Monday to rob Steven Souza Jr. of what would have been a two-run home run.

Souza Jr. smashed a ball off David Price in the eighth inning with a runner on in a 3-0 game. The blast would have made it a one-run game, but Benintendi’s catch helped keep the Red Sox up 3-0 over the Tampa Bay Rays.

“I think that’s the best catch I’ve made. I’ve never really had the opportunity to do that,” Benintendi said after the game. “I knew that it was going to go out. I was just trying to time it and I was fortunate enough to finish with it.”

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Brazil on brink of more home humiliation

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Rio de Janeiro (AFP) – Brazil face another embarrassing exit from a tournament on home soil after Neymar slumbered through a second 0-0 draw of Rio 2016 against Iraq.

The Olympic hosts need to beat group leaders Denmark on Wednesday to win to avoid a stunning exit, just two years after their devastating 7-1 World Cup defeat by Germany.

Neymar was expected to ease Brazilian football’s wounded pride by delivering a first ever Olympic gold for the five-time world champions.

However, the Barcelona star was eclipsed. And just as in their opening stalemate against South Africa, Brazil were booed from the field in Brasilia on Sunday as they paid for their profligacy in front of goal.

Portugal and Nigeria were the first sides to seal their places in the quarter-finals with victories over Honduras and Sweden respectively.

There were also wins for Argentina, Denmark and Mexico.

In contrast to his display against South Africa when he was labelled “greedy”, Neymar was a peripheral figure against Iraq and lost his cool when he fired the ball at Sherko Kareem in the second-half as the Iraqi prevented him from taking a quick free-kick.

– Caught dozing –

Manchester City’s £27 million ($ 36 million) signing Gabriel Jesus had another night to forget. After claiming he “wouldn’t sleep” after missing an open goal against the South Africans, he skewed an golden chance wide inside two minutes before being hooked off by coach Rogerio Micale early in the second-half.

Iraq could even have snatched a shock win when Mohanad Abdulraheem’s first-half header came back off the inside of the post.

Renato Augusto had Brazil’s best chance when he shot over the gaping goal deep into seven minutes of stoppage time.

Romanian referee Ovidiu Hategan waived away strong claims for a penalty moments later when Gabriel Barbosa tumbled inside the area.

Atletico Madrid’s Angel Correa scored and set up Jonathan Calleri’s winner as 10-man Argentina got their challenge for a third Olympic gold back on track with a 2-1 win over Algeria in Rio.

Argentina coach Julio Olarticoechea was put in charge for the Games just weeks before their opening 2-0 defeat to Portugal. Olarticoechea took over from Gerardo Martino who quit after a second Copa America final defeat to Chile in as many years.

Olarticoechea’s options were slashed by a number of high-profile pullouts and European clubs not releasing their players so close to the start of the season.

However, it was Calleri, called in at the last minute to replace Luciano Vietto, who bundled home the winner 20 minutes from time.

Argentina still need to beat Honduras in their final Group D game on Wednesday to qualify for the quarter-finals.

Portugal are assured of their place in the last eight after beating Honduras 2-1.

Goals from Tobias Figueiredo and Goncalo Paciencia cancelled out Alberth Elis’s first minute opener.

World champions Germany also dug themselves out of trouble as a stoppage-time equaliser from Arsenal winger Serge Gnabry salvaged a thrilling 3-3 draw against South Korea in Salvador.

Germany lie in third place in Group C, two points behind Mexico and South Korea.

They face the prospect of having to beat Fiji by at least four goals in their final group game to progress, if South Korea’s final match with Mexico also ends in a draw.

Defending champions Mexico needed a second-half fightback to stave off one of the biggest shocks in Olympic football history to beat Fiji 5-1.

Fiji benefited from New Zealand’s disqualification for fielding an ineligible player to qualify for the Olympics at last year’s Pacific Games. They were thrashed 8-0 by South Korea on their debut on Thursday.

However, they led 1-0 at half-time in Salvador thanks to Roy Krishna’s opener.

Erick Gutierrez was Mexico’s saviour as he struck four times in the second-half.

Sadiq Umar headed 1996 winners Nigeria into the quarters with a 1-0 win over Sweden.

Colombia hold a one point advantage over Japan and Sweden in the fight for second place after their second 2-2 draw  against Japan in the Amazonian city of Manaus.

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West Ham at home already, Europa woe for Eder

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London (AFP) – Cheikhou Kouyate scored twice as West Ham United beat Slovenians NK Domzale 3-0 to reach the Europa League play-off round in their first game at their new ground.

Trailing 2-1 from the first leg, Slaven Bilic’s side won 4-2 on aggregate at London Stadium courtesy of Senegalese midfielder Kouyate’s first-half double and Algerian winger Sofiane Feghouli’s late strike.

Elsewhere, Portugal’s Euro 2016 final hero Eder was brought down to earth with a bump as his side Lille were eliminated by Qabala of Azerbaijan.

Formerly known as the Olympic Stadium, West Ham’s new 60,000-seater ground hosted the athletics events at the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

It has been converted to a football stadium at a cost of 272 million pounds ($ 362.7 million, 325.8 million euros), partly funded by the British taxpayer.

Thursday’s game was West Ham’s first as hosts since leaving Upton Park — their home for 112 years — at the end of last season.

They are due to officially open the stadium in a glamour friendly against Italian champions Juventus on Sunday.

With the stadium due to continue being used as an athletics venue, a retractable bottom tier of seating will be moved into place for West Ham’s matches and green fabric placed over the running track.

West Ham, missing the rested Dimitri Payet, took an eighth-minute lead when Kouyate flicked home left-back Sam Byram’s low cross from close range.

It made the Senegal international the first scorer at the ground and he added another in the 25th minute, toeing the ball in from Andy Carroll’s knock-down to register his first career brace in his 321st match.

– Spartak stunned –

Feghouli, a close-season signing from Valencia, made it 3-0 in the 81st minute by beating Domzale goalkeeper Axel Maraval at his near post.

West Ham open their Premier League campaign away to Chelsea a week on Monday.

In Baku, capital of Azerbaijan, Eder’s efforts to repeat his Euro 2016 heroics fell flat as Lille lost 1-0 to Qabala for a 2-1 aggregate defeat.

Lille had been held to a 1-1 draw at home in last week’s first leg with Eder watching on from the stands.

On Thursday he was handed a start by coach Frederic Antonetti, just 25 days after coming off the bench to score Portugal’s dramatic extra-time winner against hosts France in the European Championship final.

He played the full 90 minutes, but could not make his presence count as the Croatian Filip Ozobic got the only goal in the 34th minute for Qabala, who finished third in the Azerbaijan Premier League last season.

Eder, 28, spent the second half of last season on loan at Lille from Swansea City before making the move permanent in May.

An 89th-minute goal by Ivan Trickovski earned Cypriots AEK Larnaca a shock 2-1 aggregate win over Russian giants Spartak Moscow, who had been poised to go through on away goals.

Finland international Teemu Pukki scored a hat-trick as Danish side Brondby overturned a 1-0 first-leg deficit with a 3-1 home win over German representatives Hertha Berlin.

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