Day: January 24, 2022

Mario Balotelli will be joining 34 players for the Italian National Football Team’s three-day training camp this week in Florence, the team confirmed Monday.

 

Balotelli was called up to the Italian national team for the first time since September 2018, following his impressive form at Turkish Super Lig club Adana Demirspor.

 

The 31-year-old forward moved to newly promoted Super Lig side Adana Demirspor at the beginning of the season, helping the club become fourth with eight goals in 19 matches.

 

Having played 36 matches for Italy, Balotelli was part of Italy’s squad at two major tournaments including EURO 2012 and 2014 World Cup.

 

He made his last appearance for Italy in a 1-1 draw over Poland in the Nations League group stage in 2018.

 

Source: Anadolu Agency

Manchester City stayed atop the English Premier League over the weekend, as did Inter in Serie A, Real Madrid in La Liga, Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) in Ligue 1, and Bayern Munich in Bundesliga.

 

English Premier League

 

Leaders Manchester City drew 1-1 with Southampton in a week 23 game of the English Premier League on Saturday.

 

The runners-up Liverpool beat Crystal Palace 3-1 in an away game, while Chelsea defeated Tottenham 2-0 in a London derby.

 

Manchester City is at the top of the Premier League with 57 points in the standings, while Liverpool placed second with 48 and Chelsea third with 47.

 

Serie A

 

In Serie A, defending champions and leaders Inter Milan grabbed a 2-1 victory at home against Venezia on Saturday in its week 23 game.

 

In the derby of the week, Milan and Juventus settled with a goalless draw at Giuseppe Meazza on Sunday.

 

Napoli beat Salernitana 4-1 at home, while Lazio and Atalanta drew 0-0.

 

Inter lay atop the Serie A standings with 53 points and are followed by Napoli and Milan, both with 49 points each.

 

Atalanta placed fourth with 43 points, while Juventus are

 

La Liga

 

Real Madrid secured a 2-2 home draw with Elche at the last minute of a week 22 La Liga game on Sunday.

 

Elche enjoyed with their two-goal lead with Lucas Boye and Pere Milla’s scoring until minute 82, when Los Merengues got one back with Luka Modric’s penalty goal.

 

Eder Militao scored another in the 92th minute, saving Real Madrid from defeat.

 

La Liga runners-up Sevilla also drew 2-2 with Celta Vigo at home, while Barcelona beat Alaves 1-0 in an away match.

 

Real Madrid kept their top spot in La Liga with 50 points, while Sevilla stayed in second with 46 points.

 

Real Betis placed third with 40 points, Atletico Madrid are fourth with 36 points, and Barcelona are in the fifth spot with 35 points.

 

Ligue 1

 

Paris Saint-Germain passed Reims with 4-0 in a week 22 game of Ligue 1 on Sunday.

 

Nice defeated Metz 2-0, continuing their pursuit of the top spot.

 

Olympic Marseille defeated Lens 2-0, while Lille lost 2-0 to Brest in an away game.

 

PSG lead Ligue 1 with 53 points, while Nice are placed second with 42, Olympique Marseille third with 40, and defending champions Lille 10th with 32.

 

Bundesliga

 

Defending Bundesliga champions and leaders Bayern Munich defeated Hertha Berlin 4-1 in their week 20 game on Sunday.

 

Runners-up Borussia Dortmund passed Hoffenheim with a 3-2 victory and kept pushing for the top spot, while Bayer Leverkusen defeated Augsburg 5-1.

 

Bayern Munich stand atop Bundesliga with 49 points and are followed by Borussia Dortmund with 43, while Bayer Leverkusen are third with 35.

 

Source: Anadolu Agency

The Philadelphia 76ers beat the San Antonio Spurs 115-109 in NBA game on Sunday.

 

Joel Embiid rallied the Sixers with 38 points and 12 rebounds while his teammates Tyrese Maxey, Tobias Harris and Turkish guard Furkan Korkmaz all contributed by scoring more than 17 points at ATandT Center in San Antonio.

 

It was the 14th straight game for Embiid to score more than 25 points.

 

Austrian center Jakob Poeltl’s 25 points and 10 rebounds performance was not enough for the Spurs to hold the 76ers at the bay.

 

The Philadelphia 76ers lays 6th in the Eastern Conference standings with 27 wins and 19 loses while the San Antonio Spurs placed 13th in the Western conference with 17 wins and 30 loses.

 

Results:

 

Miami Heat – Los Angeles Lakers: 113-107

 

Orlando Magic – Chicago Bulls: 114-95

 

Toronto Raptors – Portland Trail Blazers: 105-114

 

Charlotte Hornets – Atlanta Hawks: 91-113

 

San Antonio Spurs – Philadelphia 76ers: 109-115

 

Dallas Mavericks – Memphis Grizzlies: 104-91

 

Minnesota Timberwolves – Brooklyn Nets: 136-125

 

Denver Nuggets – Detroit Pistons: 117-111

 

Golden State Warriors – Utah Jazz: 94-92

 

Source: Anadolu Agency

Romanian tennis star Simona Halep is out of the Australian Open after losing to world no. 61 Alize Cornet on Monday.

 

Cornet from France made it to the quarterfinals after beating two-time Grand Slam champion with the sets of 6-4, 3-6, and 6-4 in two hours and 33 minutes at Melbourne’s Road Laver Arena.

 

Meanwhile, Danielle Rose Collins from the US defeated Elise Mertens of Belgium 4-6, 6-4, and 6-4 in the fourth round of the tournament.

 

Collins will face Cornet in the quarterfinals.

 

In the men’s singles, Daniil Medvedev advanced to the quarterfinals after a 6-2, 7-6, 6-7, and 7-5 win over Maxime Cressy in Margaret Court Arena.

 

The match lasted for three hours and 30 minutes.

 

Ranked ninth, Felix Auger-Aliassime from Canada beat Marin Cilic with the sets of 2-6, 7-6, 6-2, and 7-6.

 

Aliassime will take on Medvedev from Russia in the quarterfinals.

 

Source: Anadolu Agency

Stefanos Tsitsipas beat Taylor Fritz in the fourth round of men’s singles in 2022 Australian Open on Monday.

 

After the end of almost 3,5 hours of match, world no. 4 passed US player with 4-6, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 and 6-4 sets.

 

Greek star will take on Italian Jannik Sinner in the quarterfinals.

 

In another fourth round game on the same day, women’s world no. 2 Aryna Sabalenka got a surprise defeat in the hands of Kaia Kanepi.

 

Belarusian player defeated with 7-5, 2-6 and 6-7 sets by the Estonian.

 

Kanepi, 36, had been nicknamed ‘giant-killer’ by the press after she had eliminated three-time grand slam winner Angelique Kerber in the first round of the tournament.

 

Kaia Kanepi will play against 2020 French Open winner Iga Swiatek of Poland in the quarterfinals.

 

Quarterfinal draws:

 

Men’s:

 

Gael Monfils – Matteo Berrettini

 

Denis Shapovalov – Rafael Nadal

 

Jannik Sinner – Stefanos Tsitsipas

 

Felix Auger – Aliassime-Daniil Medvedev

 

Women’s:

 

Ashleigh Barty – Jessica Pegula

 

Barbora Krejcikova – Madison Keys

 

Danielle Collins – Alize Cornet

 

Iga Swiatek – Kaia Kanepi

 

Source: Anadolu Agency

Gambia on Monday advanced to the quarterfinals of the Africa Cup of Nations with a 1-0 win over Guinea.

 

Musa Barrow’s goal in the 71st minute gave Gambia a narrow victory in the last 16 clash at Kouekong Stadium in Bafoussam, Cameroon.

 

Both sides finished the match with 10 men after Gambia’s Yusupha Njie and Guinea’s Ibrahima Conte were shown red cards near the end of the clash.

 

Having competed at AFCON for the first time, Gambia joined Burkina Faso and Tunisia to enter the quarterfinals of the tournament.

 

Source: Anadolu Agency