Bundesliga: Bayern crush Augsburg, Leipzig win
BERLIN: Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich demolished Augsburg 6-0 with forward Robert Lewandowski scoring a hat-trick to beat bottom club Darmstadt 98 4-0 on Saturday. The Bavarians, who face Real Madrid in the Champions League quarters, remained firmly on track for a record-extending fifth consecutive Bundesliga crown with yet another dominant performance. Lewandowski beautifully controlled a Thiago Alcantara pass with his right foot and turned to shoot Bayern ahead after 17 minutes. Thomas Mueller, who earlier hit the woodwork twice, put the ball over the line with his knee in the 36th and Poland forward Lewandowski slotted in 10 minutes after the restart to kill off the game. Thiago grabbed a deserved goal to make it 4-0 before Lewandowski completed his hat-trick and Mueller earned his second goal to lift Bayern to 65 points. Leipzig are second on 52 after their win, Naby Keita scoring twice against Darmstadt who collapsed following the sending-off of Sandro Sirigu in the 72nd minute. (Reuters)
La Liga: Late comeback lifts Espanyol over Real Betis
Cornella de Llobregat (Spain): RCD Espanyol scored a pair of goals in the final three minutes to post a 2-1 victory over Real Betis as they jumped a place to be provisionally eighth in the La Liga football championship here. The Friday’s triumph sustains Espanyol’s hopes of snagging a Europa League berth, while leaving Betis mired in the bottom half of the La Liga table, safe from relegation yet far from contention, reports Efe. Betis were the more determined side in the opening minutes, but the hosts gradually asserted control of the flow of play. Despite having their way with the Betis defence, Espanyol were plagued by an inability to finish. The visitors showed more of their early initiative after the restart, winning corner kicks, even as Espanyol flagged. (IANS)
Paes in line for title at Leon Challenger
Leon (Mexico): Leander Paes, named a reserve in India’s Davis Cup team for the Uzbekistan tie, is in line to win his first title of the season, albeit on the Challenger Tour, with Canadian partner Adil Shamasdin. Paes and Shamasdin, seeded third, beat the giant-killing Australian pair of Luke Saville and John-Patrick Smith 6-7 (1) 6-4 10-5 in the semifinals of the USD 75,000 hard court event. They will meet Luca Margaroli of Switzerland and Caro Zampieri of Brazil in the final. (PTI)