World Sports News in Brief

Liverpool romping clear as City lose at United

Liverpool took a giant step towards their first title since 1990 on Saturday when their 3-0 win at Bournemouth combined with Manchester United’s 2-1 victory at Manchester City to leave the champions 14 points adrift of the Premier League leaders.

Soccer Football - Premier League - AFC Bournemouth v Liverpool - Vitality Stadium, Bournemouth, Britain - December 7, 2019  Liverpool's Mohamed Salah shoots at goal (Photo: Reuters)
Soccer Football - Premier League - AFC Bournemouth v Liverpool - Vitality Stadium, Bournemouth, Britain - December 7, 2019 Liverpool's Mohamed Salah shoots at goal (Photo: Reuters)

On a dramatic league day, individual honours went to Tottenham Hotspur’s Son Heung-min, who dribbled almost the length of the pitch to score in his side’s 5-0 rout of Burnley, and Everton caretaker manager Duncan Ferguson who inspired a 3-1 win over Chelsea in his first game in charge.

* Lionel Messi celebrated his sixth Ballon D'Or award with a brilliant hat-trick as Barcelona moved back top of La Liga with an emphatic 5-2 victory over Real Mallorca on Saturday. Real Madrid had climbed three points clear after beating Espanyol, but Ernesto Valverde's side were at their vibrant best as they dispatched visitors Mallorca at the Camp Nou.

* Lazio came from behind to beat Juventus 3-1 and hand the Turin side their first defeat of the season on Saturday, scoring the two decisive goals in the final 20 minutes after their opponents had Juan Cuadrado controversially sent off. Juventus stayed second, two points behind Inter Milan, with 36 points from 15 games while Lazio, who are third, closed the gap on their opponents to three points after their seventh successive league win.

* Troubled Napoli extended their winless run to nine matches in all competitions, piling more pressure on beleaguered coach Carlo Ancelotti, when they were held to a 1-1 draw by lowly Udinese in Serie A on Saturday.

* Paris St Germain's formidable attacking trio sprang to life after the break to give the Ligue 1 leaders a 3-1 comeback win at 10-man Montpellier on Saturday. Neymar, Kylian Mbappe and Mauro Icardi found the back of the net in the space of eight minutes after Montpellier's Pedro was sent off in the 72nd minute, as the French champions extended their lead over second-placed Olympique de Marseille to eight points.

* Borussia Moenchengladbach's Ramy Bensebaini scored twice, including a stoppage-time penalty, for a 2-1 comeback win at home to champions Bayern Munich on Saturday which kept them top of the Bundesliga. Gladbach are now on 31 points with Bayern, who suffered their second consecutive league loss, dropping to seventh on 24. RB Leipzig are second on 30, after beating Hoffenheim 3-1 with two goals from Timo Werner.

* Qatar's Education City Stadium will not host matches during the FIFA Club World Cup this month after the official opening of the venue was postponed until early 2020, soccer's world governing body said in a statement on Saturday. FIFA said the construction of the stadium was complete and the venue was operational but the necessary certification processes took longer than expected and the stadium was unable to host test events.

* Struggling Watford snapped a string of three straight defeats with a 0-0 draw against Crystal Palace in a scrappy Premier League clash at Vicarage Road on Saturday.

* Atalanta's Berat Djimsiti scored in the last minute to grab a 3-2 win at home to Verona as they twice came from behind in a see-saw Serie A match on Saturday.

Reuters