thrash

Julian Alvarez scores twice as Atletico came from behind to inflict a first defeat of the season on city rivals Real.

Julian Alvarez scored twice as Atletico Madrid came from behind to thrash city rivals Real Madrid 5-2 in a pulsating derby that handed the La Liga leaders their first loss after a perfect start to the season.

The thrilling encounter at a raucous Metropolitano stadium saw Atletico fight back from 2-1 down to claim a memorable victory that lifted them to fourth place with 12 points.

Real Madrid remain top of La Liga on 18 points, two ahead of Barcelona, who have a game in hand.

Atletico’s aggressive start paid off when Robin Le Normand opened the scoring with a header in the 14th minute.

However, Kylian Mbappe burst through to level with an unstoppable strike from close range in a quick counter in the 25th minute, with Arda Guller netting a volley from a Vinicius Jr cross 11 minutes later to put the visitors in front.

Alexander Sorloth’s header in added time before the break gave Atletico a boost and they regained the lead five minutes into the second half when Alvarez converted a penalty after Guler’s high boot clipped rival Nico Gonzalez on the face inside the box.

After Alvarez extended their lead in the 64th minute with a sublime free kick into the top corner, substitute Antoine Griezmann sealed the win in a quick counter in added time.

Alvarez’s performance was sweet redemption after his controversial double-kick penalty contributed to Atletico losing to Madrid in last season’s Champions League.

Diego Simeone’s Atletico dealt Xabi Alonso his first loss of the season after Madrid had won all six La Liga games and its Champions League opener. Alonso’s only other loss since taking over as Madrid’s coach in the summer was against Paris Saint-Germain in the Club World Cup semifinals in July.

Barcelona can overtake leader Madrid with a win at Real Sociedad on Sunday.

Real Madrid coach Alonso admitted that his side deserved to lose the game.

“We were bad at everything. We couldn’t string passes together, we couldn’t win duels, we couldn’t create chances,” he said.

“We need to analyse what happened and get better, and we will.”

The Madrid coach tried to find positives from this painful defeat as he looked ahead to the rest of the season.

“This is a process,” he said. “We’re in a phase where we’re building an identity. We will get better, for sure.”

Spain cruise to 3-0 win in Bulgaria while Turkiye hold off Georgia fightback as Group E of World Cup qualifiers begins.

Spain kicked off their World Cup 2026 qualification campaign with an emphatic 3-0 win in Bulgaria.

The Euro 2024 champions eased to a comfortable victory on Thursday at the Vasil Levski Stadium in Sofia with first-half goals from Mikel Oyarzabal, Marc Cucurella and Mikel Merino.

Spain coach Luis de la Fuente was able to bring on Rodri Hernandez and Dani Carvajal for their first international appearances in several months after both recovered from severe knee injuries.

Spain, who won the World Cup for the first and only time in 2010, are expected to top Group E, which also contains Turkiye and Georgia, to reach the tournament in the United States, Canada and Mexico directly.

This was the first time Spain have faced Bulgaria in more than 20 years, with the last competitive meeting at the 1998 World Cup.

Oyarzabal leads the line again for Spain

Arsenal midfielder Martin Zubimendi set up his former Real Sociedad teammate Oyarzabal for the opener with a fine pass as Spain took the lead after five minutes.

Radoslav Kirilov hit the post for the hosts before Chelsea defender Cucurella thumped in to double Spain’s lead after the ball dropped into his path.

The game was effectively over before the break when Barcelona winger Lamine Yamal whipped in a corner, which Merino nodded home, reflecting Spain’s domination.

Arsenal midfielder Merino hit the crossbar in the second half as Spain continued to dominate. Teenager Yamal was bright and dangerous without scoring.

Man City midfielder Rodri and Real Madrid’s Carvajal made their long-awaited returns off the bench as De la Fuente shuffled his pack. They had missed seven and nine months each, respectively.

The coach also handed Jesus Rodriguez his international debut in the final stages, with the Como winger replacing Yamal to round off a fine evening for La Roja.

“We are incredibly demanding, [the players] most of all – they were disappointed with the second half,” said de la Fuente.

“We’re happy, but we have to keep taking steps forward.

Up next for Spain is another away game, a trip to Turkiye on Sunday, while Bulgaria travel to face Georgia the same day.

“[Turkiye] will be a higher-level game and more demanding,” the Spanish coach added. “We have to look to be better every day.”

Turkiye given last scare by Georgia

Turkiye won 3-2 away to Georgia earlier on Thursday in the other Group E match, but only after surviving a late scare.

The away side had been reduced to 10 men when Baris Alper Yilmaz was shown a straight red card in the 71st minute.

By that point, they already led through Kerem Akturkoglu’s strikes either side of the interval and a third-minute header from Mert Muldur.

Zuriko Davitashvili had pulled one back for the home side in the 63rd minute, but Khvicha Kvaratskhelia’s effort eight minutes into injury time meant a more nervous finish than Turkiye had anticipated.

Australia thrashed South Africa by 276 runs in the final one-day international in Mackay to avoid a first whitewash in an ODI series on home soil.

The hosts amassed their second-highest ODI total as they finished on 431, with their top three all scoring centuries.

They went on to secure their second-biggest ODI victory, with South Africa all out for 155 in 24.5 overs as Cooper Connolly – two days after his 22nd birthday – took five wickets for just 22 runs.

South Africa, who suffered their heaviest ODI defeat in terms of runs, had already clinched the series by winning the first two contests.

“A pretty crazy day, wasn’t it?” said Australia captain Mitchell Marsh.

“A full performance from the lads. Shame it was a little bit too late but full credit to South Africa. They played outstandingly well in the first two games.”

Marsh, Travis Head and Cameron Green each scored hundreds for Australia – with Green’s ton coming off only 47 balls.

In response, South Africa fell to 50-4 in the ninth over and were unable to recover.

“We were under the pump from the first ball,” South Africa captain Temba Bavuma said.

“They put us under pressure. They made it look like a very good surface, and they were far better than us today.”

South Africa’s Keshav Maharaj was awarded player-of-the-series for his six wickets.

Australia’s highest ODI total came against South Africa in 2006, when they scored 434.

Sam Curran stars as he takes three wickets and completes a run-out to wrap up a dominant victory for Oval Invincibles against Southern Brave to move the two-time defending champions four-points clear of The Hundred table.

MATCH REPORT: Curran shines as Invincibles thump Brave

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Yorkshire and Gloucestershire produced dominant displays as both made it two wins out of two to begin their respective Metro Bank One-Day Cup campaigns.

Pakistan batter Imam-ul-Haq struck a superb 159, his highest List A score, to set up a comprehensive Yorkshire victory over Northamptonshire by 202 runs in Group B.

Also on Friday, Surrey suffered a second successive Group A defeat, Ben Charlesworth hitting 80 as Gloucestershire triumphed by 85 runs in Guildford.

At Wantage Road, Ul-Haq’s innings propelled Yorkshire to a mammoth 374-5, their highest ever team total against Northamptonshire in List A cricket – and just five runs short of their highest against any first-class county.

Facing 130 balls, he hit 20 fours and two sixes, beating his previous highest score of 151 against England in 2019, and following up the half-century that steered Yorkshire to victory against Warwickshire at Scarborough on Tuesday.

He was well supported in stands of 83 with Will Luxton (41), 158 with James Wharton (66) and 75 with a belligerent Matt Revis who smashed 69 from 33 balls.

In reply, Northamptonshire were never in the chase, all out for 172 inside 39 overs.

George Bartlett (30) and Justin Broad (24) forged an enterprising stand of 49 in eight overs but no one else contributed anything of substance. Dan Moriarty (4-38) was the pick of Yorkshire’s attack.

Elsewhere, Ollie Sykes struck a defiant 97 off 94 balls but Surrey were still overpowered by a far more experienced Gloucestershire.

Charlesworth hit four sixes and top-scored with his 83-ball 80 in Gloucestershire’s 293-9, before Josh Shaw spearheaded an excellent collective display with the ball to restrict Surrey to 208 all out in reply.

Match report details supplied by ECB Reporters’ Network, supported by Rothesay