San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
LIVERPOOL SETBACK: DRAWING WITH SPURS AIDS CITY’S BID
There was frustration from Jurgen Klopp at dropping vital points but no moaning.
His Liverpool’s 1-1 draw with a tactically disciplined and defensively robust Tottenham handed Manchester City an even greater initiative in the English Premier League title race.
The damage would have been greater had Luis Diaz’s deflected strike not canceled out Son Heung-min’s tap-in for the fifthplaced visitors.
“I’m really proud of the performance,” Klopp said. “The mentality we showed.”
It’s the mentality that might yet propel the Champions League and FA Cup finalists, who have already collected the League Cup, to a treble.
A quadruple of trophies could soon become out of reach.
Liverpool is back in first place in the league but City can pull three points clear with three games remaining by beating Newcastle today.
“The boys are more disappointed than I am,” Klopp said.
It’s a testament to Liverpool’s recovery this season that the title race is going this close to the wire. Being held by Tottenham was only the second time in 14 matches that Liverpool has dropped points, and the other time was against City.
While Tottenham is the only team unbeaten against City and Liverpool this season — with eight points from a possible 12 — drawing at Anfield also hurts Spurs’ bid to qualify for the Champions League.
Arsenal in fourth place can pull four points ahead of Tottenham by beating Leeds today ahead of a north London derby meeting on Thursday.
More soccer
After going down 10 men in the second half, San Diego Loyal SC allowed a stoppage time goal to slip through resulting in 1-1 draw against host New Mexico United in
USL Championship play. The draw gives the Loyal (6-2-2) their 20th point in the Western Conference standings through 10 games, its best start in franchise history. Kyle Vassell scored for San Diego.
• Nantes earned its first trophy in 21 years after winning the French Cup final against Nice 1-0 at the Stade de France. Ludovic Blas converted the penalty that lifted Nantes to a fourth French Cup success and first trophy since the league title in 2001.
• Jordi Alba scored a last-gasp winner to snatch Barcelona a 2-1 win at Real Betis in the Spanish league. The loss deals a blow to Betis’ hopes of qualifying for the Champions League.
Lacrosse
Austin Staats had two goals and three assists to lead the Seals to a first-round 9-8 NLL playoff victory over the visiting Philadelphia Wings.
Tennis
Rafael Nadal one day. Novak Djokovic the other. The list of victims of Spanish teenager Carlos Alcaraz keeps growing. And so does the hype over tennis’ newest sensation. The 19-year-old Alcaraz rallied to beat top-ranked Djokovic 6-7 (5), 7-5, 7-6 (5) in more than 31⁄2 hours to reach the Madrid Open final. In the women’s final, Ons Jabeur of Tunisia won her biggest career title by defeating Jessica Pegula of the U.S. in three sets.
Local colleges
Palomar College came back to win Game 3 of the CCCAA baseball playoffs with Pasadena City College, 17-4, to win the series 2 games to 1. The Comets lost Game 2 earlier 9-7.
Palomar advances and will face Santa Ana next weekend after the Dons finished a sweep of Santa Barbara City. Grossmont College was eliminated by Riverside City 9-5 on Saturday.
• The Palomar College softball team trailed Ventura 3-0 with two out in the sixth inning and nobody on when the Comets collected six straight hits and went on to win 4-3, completing a two-game sweep. The Comets visit Cypress next weekend after the Chargers beat Imperial Valley in Game 3 of their series 3-1. IVC had won Game 2 earlier, 1-0.
• The Cal State San Marcos baseball team (18-32, 14-26 CCAA) closed its season with an 8-4 victory at Stanislaus State (15-31, 1228) to earn the series win.
• San Diego State (34-13, 17-3 Mountain West) saw its sevengame softball winning streak snapped in a 3-1 loss to Utah State at home.
• TJ Fondtain tossed a complete-game shutout, the first of his career, allowing just four hits and no walks against seven strikeouts as the San Diego State baseball team beat Air Force 12-0 at home.
• Caleb Ricketts and Chase Meidroth launched a pair of home runs to complement solid outings on the mound from Brycen Mautz and Ian Churchill, earning University of San Diego baseball (2916, 15-8 WCC) a 9-6 win at Pacific (14-30, 5-15).
• The top-seeded Cal State San Marcos softball team fell 8-6 to fifth-seeded Cal State Monterey Bay in the CCAA Tournament’s second elimination game in Seaside.