In cycling, the Dutch Lotte Kopecky and Mathieu van der Poel won Paris-Roubaix this weekend while the Ethiopians Mulugeta Uma and Mestawut Fikir proved to be the best in the Paris marathon. Here’s what to remember from the sports weekend.
The sporting events that should not be missed, the summary of the five major football championships and the image of the weekend… Here is the France 24 sports recap.
The world champions shine in Paris-Roubaix: Lotte Kopecky and Mathieu van der Poel won Paris-Roubaix on Sunday, wearing the rainbow tunic of world champions. The Dutchwoman and the Dutchman tamed the cobbles of the Hell of the North to win respectively ahead of Elisa Balsamo and Jasper Philipsen.
Max Verstappen, untouchable again: two weeks after his retirement in Australia, the Dutchman won without trembling the Japanese Formula 1 Grand Prix on Sunday at Suzuka, ahead of his Mexican teammate Sergio Pérez. The Red Bull team, absent from the podium in Melbourne against all expectations, took its revenge by achieving its third double of the year and confirmed its overwhelming superiority over its competitors.
Ethiopia reigns over the Paris marathon: runner Mulugeta Uma and her compatriot Mestawut Fikir created a surprise by signing an Ethiopian double on Sunday during the Paris marathon. They beat all the favorites despite their little experience over this distance.
The French Sevens Rugby continues: without Antoine Dupont, the French men’s rugby sevens team failed in the final of the Hong Kong tournament against New Zealand on Sunday, but signed a third podium in three competitions, after its victory during the Hong Kong tournament. Los Angeles. Among the women, France lost in the small final against Australia.
Morocco and Nigeria take an option in the African football TQO: the two countries respectively beat Zambia (1-2) and South Africa (1-0), in the first leg of the 4th and final round of qualifying for the Olympic Games. Super Falcons goalkeeper Chiamaka Nnadozie is touching her dream.
Revamped PSG held in check before Champions League
Paris Saint-Germain, completely overhauled by Luis Enrique, was surprised and slowed down by bottom-placed Clermont (1-1) on Saturday, four days before the Champions League quarter-final first leg against Barcelona.
Clermont was not far from creating a huge surprise and winning at the Parc des Princes, like last year, but the Auvergnats collapsed at the very end of the match (85th) in the face of multiple Parisian opportunities. PSG was saved by scorer Gonçalo Ramos and Kylian Mbappé following a good sequence between the two players.
They avoided the first Parisian defeat since November and above all bad vibes before the most important match of the season on Wednesday.
AC Milian and AS Roma win ahead of their Europa League clash
AC Milan scored a fifth consecutive victory against Lecce (3-0) on Saturday in Serie A. The team thus reduced its gap on Inter Milan to eleven points and has the performance of a champion in power, with 32 points out of 39 possible since the start of the return phase. But her coach Stefano Pioli has no more illusions of catching up with her rival who will play her match on the 31st day on Monday against Udinese.
There remains the Europa League to console ourselves. The Lombard club hosts AS Roma on Thursday in the quarter-final first leg, also victorious this weekend against Lazio, in Serie A (1-0).
In the derby against Lazio, the only goal of the match was scored just before the break with a header by Gianluca Mancini (42nd). This allows his team to consolidate its 5th place, potentially qualifying for the C1.
Lazio, however, dominated the debates in the second half, in a match choppy with fouls and altercations between players, including one between Matteo Guendouzi and Paulo Dybala: the Argentinian provoked the Frenchman by showing him one of his shin guards where he reproduce the World Cup won in 2022 by Argentina against France in the final.
Bayer Leverkusen 3 points from the title
In numerical superiority just before the break, Bayer Leverkusen won on the pitch of Union Berlin on Saturday (1-0) and now finds itself three points from the title, after the shipwreck of Bayern on the pitch of Heidenheim ( 3-2).
On the evening of the 28th day of the Bundesliga, Xabi Alonso’s men are 16 points ahead of the Munich team (76 against 60) and can mathematically secure a first German championship title in the event of a home victory against Bremen, next Sunday.
The title could even be assured the day before, if Bayern continues a third consecutive defeat in the Bundesliga on Saturday against Cologne, after defeats against Dortmund and at Heidenheim.
“Obviously the situation is great. We don’t want to celebrate yet. Maybe we will have something to celebrate next Sunday. Before that, there is a Europa League match. Nothing is sealed and we have to just a little more to wait,” Leverkusen coach Xabi Alonso said at a press conference.
Suspense at its height between Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City
Liverpool slipped in the title race on the ground of their worst enemy, Manchester United (2-2), and abandons the throne to Arsenal seven days from the finish, because of an unfavorable goal difference.
The “Reds” have not said goodbye to the final coronation, but the two points dropped at Old Trafford could cost them dearly against the “Gunners” who have returned to the top with 71 points, like them. Manchester City, the three-time defending champion, finds itself in ambush with only one unit less, watching for the slightest enemy misstep in a home straight without direct confrontation between the three rivals.
The day before, Arsenal had delivered a new brilliant offensive score and a new “clean sheet” extended their unbeaten streak to eleven matches in the league in 2024, with a total of 38 goals scored and only 4 conceded.
For its part, the three-time defending champion, Manchester City, did the job suffered in sequences at Crystal Palace (4-2).
The show le café des sports © FMM graphic studio
48:31 Café des Sports © France 24
Despite the war raging between Israel and Hamas and the invasion of Gaza, Nader Jayousi, technical director of the Palestinian Olympic committee, hopes that the Paris Games will be “historic”. He explains to France 24 how the institution and its athletes are adapting as best they can to the ongoing conflict. He hopes that the presence of a Palestinian delegation on July 26, during the opening ceremony, will be a “message of peace” and “inspiration” for Palestinian children. Interview.
Read alsoDespite the war, “we will be at the Olympics”, assures the Palestinian Olympic committee
No La Liga this weekend due to the Copa del Rey final. Athletic Bilbao ended forty years of drought, by winning the Copa del Rey, after overcoming Mallorca on penalties (4-2, 1-1 after extra time), Saturday in Seville, theater of a long-undecided finale.
Athletic Bilbao won the 2024 Copa del Rey. © Javier Sorano, AFP
