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Home  » Sports » Soccer: Antonio sets record as West Ham thrash Leicester

Soccer: Antonio sets record as West Ham thrash Leicester

August 24, 2021 11:04 IST
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West Ham United's Pablo Fornals celebrates scoring their first goal with teammates against Leicester City at London Stadium in London on Monday

IMAGE: West Ham United's Pablo Fornals celebrates scoring their first goal with teammates against Leicester City at London Stadium in London on Monday. Photograph: David Klein/Reuters

Michail Antonio became West Ham United's all-time Premier League top scorer after netting twice to help secure a resounding 4-1 home win on Monday over Leicester City, who had Ayoze Perez sent off late in the first half.

Pablo Fornals and Said Benrahma had opened the scoring for the Hammers, who made it two wins out of two and went top of the table on goals scored after a superb performance in a cracking atmosphere at the London stadium.

Having headed into the match tied on 47 league goals with West Ham's former stalwart Paolo Di Canio, Antonio was delighted to have surpassed the Italian as he celebrated by lifting a cardboard cut-out of himself at the side of the pitch.

 

"You have to try and be professional but I was trying to make history so it's always in the back of your mind," the 31-year old forward told Sky Sports.

"I've not been celebrating lately because of VAR, so I thought I had to make it special.

"The celebration was 'Save The Last Dance'... the lift from the end. That would have been proper embarrassing if it was ruled out by VAR. You always see me smiling so you'd probably see me laughing as well.

"The fans are still here singing 20 minutes later. The atmosphere is amazing. There's nothing better than scoring and hearing the roar of the fans."

Fornals fired the hosts ahead in the 26th minute as he started and finished a flowing move by steering Benrahma's low cross into the net before Perez was shown a red card in the 40th for stamping on the Spaniard as they tussled for the ball.

West Ham continued to dominate and Benrahma doubled their advantage in the 56th with a simple finish past a defender on the line after Antonio intercepted Caglar Soyuncu'a back pass and squared the ball to the Algerian forward.

Youri Tielemans pulled a goal back for Leicester in the 69th minute when he pounced on a loose ball in the penalty area and poked it past goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski from eight metres.

But Antonio made it 3-1 in the 80th when he took a Declan Rice cross in his stride and buried a low shot after turning Soyuncu before putting the icing on the cake four minutes later.

West Ham manager David Moyes said he was unhappy with Antonio's first-half performance but heaped praise on the striker for his contribution after the break.

"I was disappointed with the way he played in the first half but he did enough to shut the manager up after what I said to him at halftime," Moyes told the BBC.

"The first thing is to make sure we keep playing like this. I've challenged the players to find that extra two points that could have been enough to get us in the Champions League (last season).

"I could be asking far too much but what else am I going to do? Stand here and say we want to avoid relegation?"

Lamela's last-gasp goal gives Sevilla win at Getafe

Sevilla's Erik Lamela celebrates after scoring their team's first goal against Getafe CF during their LaLiga match at Coliseum Alfonso Perez in Getafe on Tuesday

IMAGE: Sevilla's Erik Lamela celebrates after scoring their team's first goal against Getafe CF during their LaLiga match at Coliseum Alfonso Perez in Getafe on Tuesday. Photograph: Angel Martinez/Getty Images

Erik Lamela continued his flying start to life with Sevilla as the Argentine struck a last-minute winner for the Andalusians to give them a 1-0 victory over Getafe in LaLiga on Monday.

Lamela, who netted twice on his debut last weekend after also coming off the bench, scored with almost the last kick of the game to give Sevilla reward for sustained late pressure.

The win means they join Atletico Madrid as the only two sides with a 100% LaLiga record after two weeks of the season.

A dull encounter sparked into life when Sevilla's Oussama Idrissi had the game's first effort on target after 70 minutes, and it was one way traffic from then on.

Defender Jules Kounde headed over before partner Diego Carlos was denied by a flying save from David Soria as Sevilla turned the screw.

Sevilla's Youssef En-Nesyri thought he had scored with eight minutes remaining but his lobbed effort was ruled out for offside, much to the relief of Soria who had slipped as he looked to narrow the angle against the Moroccan forward.

But there would be a twist in the fourth minute of stoppage time as En-Nesyri played in debutant Rafa Mir.

The substitute's effort hit the woodwork, however former Tottenham Hotspur forward Lamela was on hand to steer the rebound into an empty net and secure all three points.

Sevilla visit Elche next Saturday as they look to make it three from three, while Getafe will seek their first points of the campaign when they travel to Barcelona on Sunday.

Nice and Marseille summoned to disciplinary hearing after abandoned match

Nice and Olympique de Marseille have been summoned to a disciplinary hearing on Wednesday after their weekend Ligue 1 match had to be abandoned due to crowd trouble, the French professional league (LFP) said on Monday.

The game at Nice's Allianz Riviera was abandoned in the 75th minute on Sunday after Marseille players clashed with home fans who pelted them with missiles and stormed onto the pitch.

Marseille midfielder Dimitri Payet was struck by a bottle thrown by Nice supporters as he was about to take a corner. After he hurled the bottle back at them, a full-scale brawl ensued when some of the fans rushed onto the field.

The south stand, where police said the trouble was concentrated, will be shut for the next four matches and anti-projectile netting erected in front of it, the most senior interior ministry official for Nice and the surrounding region said in a statement.

"Those fans should clearly never have been allowed to get onto the pitch," French Sports Minister Roxana Maracineanu told BFM TV, adding that the trouble was all the more regrettable given how sports venues had been empty for several months due to COVID-19 health protocols.

"These incidents are an insult for sport and football."

The trouble was also condemned by Christian Estrosi, the mayor for the city of Nice.

"This violence is unacceptable. Sanctions must be taken by the French football league once they have found out who was responsible," he said.

A judicial probe is under way into Sunday's trouble, added local French media reports.

The clashes marred the image of France's top-flight just as the league was hoping to win more viewers across the world following the arrival of Argentina great Lionel Messi at Paris St Germain.

Players from Nice and Marseille retreated to the tunnel and play was held up for 90 minutes before referee Benoit Bastien declared the match abandoned.

Nice players had returned to the pitch shortly before the match was called off but Marseille's team refused to join them.

Nice president Jean-Pierre Rivere had appealed for calm over the stadium's public address system during the delay but angry Marseille players and staff refused to carry on.

Marseille president Pablo Longoria said the club had decided not to continue with the match despite a decision by the soccer authorities that play should resume.

Revere partially blamed Payet and his team mate Alvaro Gonzales for the chaos after they retaliated by hurling bottles back at Nice fans and accused Marseille staff of hitting some of the home players.

However, Benoit Payan, the mayor for the city of Marseille, backed his club's decision not to resume the match.

"Proud of my team for not being prepared to take part in this masquerade," wrote Payan on Twitter.

Mourinho makes light of new Serie A record

Jose Mourinho took reaching another managerial milestone in his stride as the AS Roma coach moved on to 50 Serie A wins in the fastest time with a 3-1 success over Fiorentina on Sunday.

Back in Italy for a second spell, having steered Inter Milan to the treble in 2010, the victory in his first Roma match means Mourinho has reached 50 Serie A successes in the fastest time for a coach in the three points for a win era - since 1994-95.

His record of 50 wins in 77 Serie A matches is bettered by his return in Spain's LaLiga - 50 victories from 62 games - and England's Premier League - 50 successes in 63 outings. He holds the fastest to 50 record in all three leagues, but chose to make light of his achievement.

"Please don't show my negative records, just the good ones," he posted on Instagram in response to a tweet from Opta, a British sports analytics company, highlighting Mourinho's record.

The Portuguese took over from Paulo Fonseca in the Italian capital in the close season, and got off to a winning start thanks to a double from French midfielder Jordan Veretout on Sunday.

"It was a real game, entertaining, even though we didn't play very well," Mourinho told DAZN after the win.

"We have many different solutions but at this moment what I like is the spirit of the team; the defensive organisation is getting there."

Mexican President uses Ronaldo in campaign to fight obesity

The Mexican President, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, used Portuguese striker Cristiano Ronaldo as a symbol and an example at his country's campaign to fight obesity, during a news conference he gave.

AMLO, as the Head of State is known for his initials, showed a video of Ronaldo's news conference at UEFA Euro 2020 where he removed a pair of Coca Cola bottles and promoted the consumption of water.

Lopez Obrador asked his fellow citizens to "not eat junk food, drinks with excess of sugar".

According to the laTest data from the World Health organization, Mexico is only behind the United States at the obesity rankings.

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