LOYAL RETURN TO PLAY WITH WIN OVER REAL MONARCHS

The San Diego Loyal returned to the soccer pitch on Saturday with a 1-0 USL Championship victory over Real Monarchs SLC at Major League Soccer’s Rio Tinto Stadium.

It was the first league match since play stopped due to the co- ronavirus pandemic.

It was the second road win for coach Landon Donovan’s squad, which now sports a 2-0-1 record.

In 96-degree weather, Grant Stoneman scored the only goal of the contest. Stoneman scored when he got a piece of a Jack Metcalf corner kick and sent it into the right side of the net at the 17-minute mark.

The Loyal will return for a home match next Sunday against Galaxy II at USD’S Torero Stadium. Fans won’t be allowed to attend.

More soccer

Norwich finally succumbed to relegation, a fate its own manager and many others expected at the start of the English Premier League. Fewer, though, would have predicted Liverpool losing its perfect home record against Burnley.

Certainly, the relegation picture looked a lot clearer, with Norwich guaranteed to return to the second-tier Championship after one season after losing to West Ham 4-0 at home.

At the other end of the table, Liverpool has just records to chase after clinching a first league title in 30 years, and one of them fell by the wayside.

The Reds will not become the first team in the Premier League era (since 1992) to win all of its home games in a single campaign, after drawing with Burnley 1-1. They won their previous 17 games at Anfield, and had just Chelsea left to play there.

• Arturo Vidal scored for

Barcelona to beat a feisty Valladolid 1-0 and keep the pressure on leader Real Madrid as the Spanish league approaches its climax. Barcelona closed to within one point of Madrid, which has a game in hand, as it tries to defend a title it has won for two consecutive years. Vidal scored in the 15th minute after being set up by Lionel Messi, who, like most of his teammates, had a discreet outing at Valladolid’s empty Jose Zorilla Stadium.

Madrid plays at Granada on Monday. Its final two matches are against a Villarreal fighting for a Champions League berth and a Leganes fighting to avoid relegation. Barcelona has games against Osasuna and Alaves. Madrid holds the tiebreaker if they finish level on points.

• Lazio’s once-promising bid for a first Serie A title in two decades has been decimated during the Italian league’s restart. The Roman squad conceded a stoppagetime winner in losing to Sassuolo 2-1 at home for its third straight defeat. Lazio was left trailing eight-time defending champion Juventus by seven points ahead of the Bianconeri’s late game at high-flying Atalanta. A Juventus victory would leave Lazio 10 points behind, while an Atalanta win would mean the Bergamo squad would leapfrog it into second place. Six rounds remain. Entering the restart, Lazio trailed Juventus by only one point.

Death

Jack Charlton, an uncompromising central defender who won the 1966 World Cup with England alongside his brother, Bobby, before coaching Ireland to its first major tournaments, has died. He was 85.

Nicknamed “Big Jack,” and celebrated for his earthy “beer and cigarettes” image, Charlton was Footballer of the Year in England in 1967.

He spent all his club career at Leeds from 1952-73, tying its all-time record of 773 appearances. He won every domestic honor, including the league title in 1969.

Charlton died at home on Friday in his native Northumberland in northeast England, surrounded by his family.

NHL

Roman Polak of the Stars and Mike Green of the Oilers are opting out of playing, and Lightning captain Steven Stamkos will try to play after recovering from injury. In the aftermath of a deal being struck to resume the NHL season, Aug. 1, Green, Polak and three other players joined Calgary defenseman Travis Hamonic in choosing not to participate in the expanded 24-team playoffs.

Boston’s Steven Kampfer, Montreal’s Karl Alzner and Vancouver’s Sven Baertschi also decided to opt out. Kampfer, who played 10 games with the Bruins this season, said his wife and son have a congenital defect that could cause complications with the virus and called it “one of the hardest decisions” he has had to make.

Also

Duke has turned to Boston Celtics assistant coach and former WNBA All-star Kara Lawson, 39, to lead its women’s basketball program. The school announced the hiring in a social media post, a little more than a week after Joanne P. Mccallie announced she wouldn’t return for a 14th season as she entered the final year of her contract.

• Art Collector ($6.60) took a big step toward the Kentucky Derby, pulling away from the filly Swiss Skydiver in the stretch in the Grade II Blue Grass at Keeneland in Lexington, Ky., for his first graded stakes victory.

Landon Donovan