Atlanta Hawks Return to Victory. Andy Murray receives a wild card for the Australian Open. Ferran Torres joins Barça from Manchester City. The most important sports news at a glance.
Alpine skiing: Janka back in Bormio
In Bormio, Carlo Janka is supposed to intervene again in the racing scene.
(sda) The chances are good that Carlo Janka can make his World Cup debut in Bormio this winter.
In any case, the former overall World Cup winner is part of the 14-strong Swiss-Ski line-up for the downhill and next week’s two Super-G.
Janka missed the start of the season in North America due to back problems and was last unable to compete in Val Gardena due to a positive corona test. Who will start in the downhill (Tuesday) and who will start in the Super-G (Wednesday and Thursday) will be decided on site.
Still not there is Mauro Caviezel, who is still suffering from the consequences of a training crash last January.
Soccer: Benfica clearly loses to arch rivals Porto
Haris Seferovic cannot bring about the turnaround against Porto after being substituted on.
(sda) Benfica Lisbon with the Swiss international Haris Seferovic suffered a hefty rejection in the round of 16 of the Portuguese Cup. Benfica lost 3-0 at arch-rivals FC Porto.
After just seven minutes, the guests from Lisbon were down 2-0 at the Estadio Dragão, after half an hour the Brazilian Evanilson, who had scored the opening goal after just 31 seconds, scored at the end of the game.
Benfica were unable to react, although they played in the second half after the yellow-red card against Evanilson seconds before the break. Seferovic came on after just under an hour.
Basketball: Atlanta Hawks win without Capela – Curry towers in the Golden State Warriors
The Atlanta Hawks return to victory without Clint Capela.
(sda) After four losses in their last five games, the Atlanta Hawks celebrate another win in the NBA. The team from the state of Georgia prevails in the Philadelphia 76ers 98:96.
Clint Capela, who tested positive for the corona virus, was one of seven absent from the guests from Atlanta. With 15 wins from 31 games, the Hawks are 10th in the Eastern Conference.
Stephen Curry stood out in the 113-104 win of the Golden State Warriors against the Memphis Grizzlies. The guard scored 46 points and at the end had a throw rate of 59 percent. Curry, the best three-point shooter in NBA history, hit 8 out of 14 attempts behind the three-point line.
Tennis: Wild Card for Andy Murray in Melbourne
(sda) The organizers of the Australian Open in Melbourne are providing Andy Murray with a wild card for the main tableau again. The Scot, who fell back to 134th place in the world after a hip operation, reached the final five times at the first Grand Slam tournament of the year and lost it each time, most recently in 2016. Last year, the three-time Grand Slam winner was absent due to a corona disease .
Soccer: Ferran Torres of Manchester City for Barcelona
Ferran Torres celebrates his goal for the Spanish national team.
(sda) Ferran Torres’ move from Manchester City to FC Barcelona seems sealed. This is reported by numerous English and Spanish media. The 21-year-old Spanish international is moving from the English champions to the Catalans, who are in difficulties athletically and financially, for a transfer fee of around 55 million euros.
Torres joined Manchester City from Valencia in the summer of 2020. This season he played only four championship games for Pep Guardiola’s team, the last time the striker was absent due to a broken foot.
The transfer and the high transfer fee are surprising, since FC Barcelona are in debt of 1.35 billion euros. In the Spanish championship, the team of coach Xavi Hernandez is only in seventh place, the gap to leader Real Madrid is already 18 points.
Soccer: Real Madrid extend the championship lead
Karim Benzema gives Real an early lead.
(sda) Real Madrid extend their lead at the top of the Spanish league in their last game of the year. After the disappointing 0-0 draw against Cadiz at the weekend, Carlo Ancelotti’s team prevailed 2-1 at Athletic Bilbao.
After a spectacular start, the final result was already clear after ten minutes. Karim Benzema put the guests in front with a double (4th / 7th), cementing the lead at the top of the top scorer classification with his 14th and 15th goals of the season. Oihan Sancet scored the next goal for the Basques almost immediately (10th).
Athletic Bilbao had to do without four professionals after positive corona tests, and Real were even missing eight players, including Luka Modric and David Alaba. In the table, Los Blancos are now eight points ahead of Sevilla FC, although they have played one game more than the Andalusians.
Alpine skiing: Foss-Solevaag wins in Madonna di Campiglio because Noël is eliminated at the last goal
Clément Noël would have won if he hadn’t been eliminated on the last goal.
(sda) World champion Sebastian Foss-Solevaag from Norway won the night slalom in Madonna di Campiglio and celebrated his second World Cup victory. The Norwegian won ahead of the Frenchman Alexis Pinturault and the Swede Kristoffer Jakobsen. Clément Noël, who was clearly in the lead after the first run, fell on the final goal with the superior victory in mind.
The best of the Swiss slalom group, which disappointed as a team, was Loïc Meillard. The Romand made up 23 places in the second run with the best time and moved up to 6th place in the final classification.
In the second run there were only Luca Aerni and Ramon Zenhäusern next to Meillard. The Berner Aerni took 17th place ahead of the Walliser Zenhäusern. Daniel Yule, who had won the slalom in Madonna di Campiglio twice in the past, was one of the five Swiss who missed the qualification for the second run.