World Sports News in Brief

Tielemans stunner earns Leicester first FA Cup win

A magnificent long-range strike from Youri Tielemans gave Leicester City their first FA Cup triumph with a 1-0 victory over Chelsea at Wembley on Saturday (May 15).

Soccer Football - FA Cup Final - Chelsea v Leicester City - Wembley Stadium, London, Britain - May 15, 2021 Leicester City players celebrate winning the FA Cup with the trophy. (Photo: Pool via Reuters)
Soccer Football - FA Cup Final - Chelsea v Leicester City - Wembley Stadium, London, Britain - May 15, 2021 Leicester City players celebrate winning the FA Cup with the trophy. (Photo: Pool via Reuters)

The final whistle prompted emotional celebrations from Leicester, the 2016 Premier League winners who enjoying the most successful period in their history.

* West Ham United's fading hopes of finishing in the Premier League's top four suffered another setback when they were held to a 1-1 draw at lowly Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday. The result left West Ham sixth on 59 points from 36 games, five adrift of fourth-placed Chelsea with two matches left and one behind fifth-placed Liverpool who have a game in hand.

* Juan Cuadrado scored a double as Juventus kept their Champions League qualification hopes alive with a 3-2 win over Serie A champions Inter Milan on Saturday despite spending most of the second half with 10 men. The result lifted Andrea Pirlo's side into fourth place with one game remaining, although Napoli will knock the Turin club back into fifth if they beat Fiorentina on Sunday.

Atalanta secured Champions League qualification for a third consecutive season with a 4-3 win over Genoa on Saturday that left the Bergamo club second in Serie A with 78 points. Atalanta will finish as runners-up in Serie A if they beat Milan at home on the final day of the season next Sunday, marking their highest finish ever.

* A long-range screamer from AS Roma substitute Pedro crowned a 2-0 Rome Derby win on Saturday that mathematically ended Lazio’s hopes of a top-four finish in Serie A. Lazio have another two games to play before the season ends next Sunday, but the sixth-placed side are eight points behind Juventus in the fourth and final Champions League place.

* Champions League hopefuls Eintracht Frankfurt crashed to a 4-3 defeat at relegated Schalke 04 on Saturday to all but dash their hopes of a top-four finish with one game left in the season. Eintracht are in fifth place on 57 points, with Borussia Dortmund fourth on 58 and in action against Mainz 05 on Sunday.

* Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane has told his players he will leave the La Liga club at the end of the season, Spanish media reported late on Saturday.

* Besiktas seized the Turkish Super Lig title for the 16th time on Saturday with a 2-1 win away to Goztepe, clinching the title on goal difference ahead of their Istanbul rivals Galatasaray in a tense end to the season. The win lifted Besiktas to 84 points, level with Galatasaray who beat Yeni Malatyaspor 3-1. Besiktas's goal difference of 45 was one better than their rivals. Third-placed Fenerbahce ended on 82 points.

* World leader Trayvon Bromell put up another blistering sub-10-second performance to win the Track Meet 100 metres in Irvine, California, on Saturday, an auspicious sign as he prepares for next month's US Olympic trials. The 25-year-old Bromell outclassed the competition with a time of 9.92 to win by three-tenths of a second, just short of his season best of 9.88.

* Defending champion Novak Djokovic and Rafa Nadal will clash for the Italian Open title after the top two seeds advanced to the final of the Masters tournament on Saturday.

* French Open champion Iga Swiatek won her Italian Open quarter-final and semi-final matches in straight sets on Saturday to set up a title clash with ninth seed Karolina Pliskova.

* Richard Bland won his first European Tour title at the 478th attempt after beating Guido Migliozzi in a playoff at the British Masters on Saturday. Bland, 48, and Migliozzi finished on 13 under par after 72 holes at The Belfry to force the playoff in which the Englishman parred the first extra hole while his Italian opponent made a bogey.

* Victor Lafay of Cofidis claimed his first stage victory as a professional when he won stage eight of the Giro d'Italia on Saturday while Caleb Ewan, who won two stages this week, was forced to abandon the race due to pain in his knee. Frenchman Lafay, 25, was among a group of nine in the breakaway on the final climb of the 170km stage and held off a late surge from Eolo-Kometa's Francesco Gavazzi who finished second with Team DSM's Nikias Arndt third.

* Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski on Saturday equalled Gerd Mueller's 49-year-old German league goal record when he scored with a 26th minute penalty against Freiburg to take his season tally to 40 goals. The Poland striker is already second on the all-time scorers list in the Bundesliga, with 276 goals now, behind only Mueller's 365.

* Fabio Quartararo took his third straight pole position of the season at his home French Grand Prix ahead of his Yamaha team mate Maverick Vinales in a damp and windy qualifying session at Le Mans on Saturday. Six-times MotoGP world champion Marc Marquez nearly clinched pole in what was initially a front row lockout for the Hondas before the two Yamahas went faster in the dying seconds of the session, while Ducati's Jack Miller will start third on the grid.

* Striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic is out of Sweden's plans for the Euro 2020 tournament due to a knee injury sustained while playing for AC Milan against Juventus, Sweden boss Janne Andersson has said.

* Mateusz Klich, Jack Harrison and Rodrigo were all on target as a rampant Leeds United trounced hapless Burnley 4-0 at Turf Moor in the Premier League on Saturday. Both sides are safe from relegation and the win kept Leeds in 10th place on 53 points, two behind ninth-placed Arsenal, while Burnley stay 15th on 39 points.

* Patrick Kluivert is to step in as acting coach for Curacao in World Cup qualification next month, with Guus Hiddink ruled out as he recovers from COVID-19, the country’s football association said.

* The Scottish Cup final between St Johnstone and Hibernian, which was originally scheduled to have 600 fans, has been moved behind closed doors due to COVID-19 curbs in Glasgow, organisers said. The final is set to be played on May 22 at Hampden Park.

Reuters