Milan signed off the Serie A season with a 3-1 victory as Rafael Leao's double condemned Hellas Verona to a relegation play-off with Spezia.

The Rossoneri wrapped up a frustrating campaign on a winning note at San Siro, with a late Leao brace enough to seal three points.

Milan had already secured Champions League football for another term but struggled at times against the visitors, who cancelled out Olivier Giroud's first-half penalty through Marco Faraoni's 72nd-minute strike.

Yet Leao struck in the 85th minute and again seven minutes later, leaving Verona to face a relegation decider with Spezia, who succumbed to a late 2-1 loss at Roma.

 

Gabri Veiga scored twice as Celta Vigo clinched survival with a surprise 2-1 win over champions Barcelona on a dramatic final day of the season in LaLiga.

Starting the game in 17th, Celta knew a victory would preserve their top-flight status, and Carlos Carvalhal's men took charge as Veiga struck either side of the break. 

The 21-year-old drilled into the bottom-left corner to spark wild scenes at the Balaidos shortly before half-time, then saw a fortuitous 65th-minute cross sail in off the far post.

Celta clung on after Barca substitute Ansu Fati nodded home, clinching a 13th-placed finish as Real Valladolid went down, while Barca ended the campaign 10 points clear of runners-up Real Madrid.

Barca thought they had an 11th-minute lead when Franck Kessie latched onto a rebound to beat Ivan Villar, only for a VAR review to show the midfielder was offside.

Oscar Rodriguez skewed a first-time shot just wide as Celta went close, while Robert Lewandowski saw a curling effort clip the outside of Villar's left post.

The offside flag thwarted Rodriguez as he capitalised on Marc-Andre ter Stegen's error to flick home, but Celta did go ahead on the stroke of half-time when Veiga raced onto Haris Seferovic's pass to finish across goal.

With Barca struggling for momentum, Veiga put Celta 2-0 up when his mishit cross from the right swerved over substitute goalkeeper Inaki Pena, clipping the woodwork before nestling in the back of the net.

Fati ensured a nervous finish by heading in Ousmane Dembele's cross 11 minutes from time, but Celta clung on to ensure another season of top-flight football.

Elina Svitolina will take on Aryna Sabalenka in the French Open quarter-finals after continuing her brilliant return to grand slam tennis by beating Daria Kasatkina.

Svitolina will be the second Ukrainian opponent faced by Belarusian Sabalenka, who recovered from losing a 5-0 lead in the first set to beat Sloane Stephens 7-6 (5) 6-4 in the first night session women’s match.

Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz continued their march towards a probable semi-final meeting with identical 6-3 6-2 6-2 victories – Djokovic over Juan Pablo Varillas and Alcaraz against Lorenzo Musetti.

Picture of the dayTweet of the day

Djokovic had some help warming up for his match from his eight-year-old son Stefan.

Stat of the dayGreat Danes

The past and the present of Danish tennis met at Roland Garros on Sunday. Caroline Wozniacki is now a mother of two and is playing in a slam legends event for the first time.

Fallen seeds

Men: Lorenzo Musetti (17)
Women: Daria Kasatkina (9), Elise Mertens (28)

Who’s up next?

 

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Victories for Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff on Monday would set up a rematch of last year’s final.

Swiatek takes on Ukraine’s Lesia Tsurenko, who will be looking to join Svitolina in the last eight, while Gauff meets Slovakia’s Anna Karolina Schmiedlova.

In the men’s event, fourth seed Casper Ruud meets Nicolas Jarry and sixth seed Holger Rune plays Francisco Cerundolo, while Alexander Zverev features in the night session again, this time up against Grigor Dimitrov.

Malky Mackay was delighted to repay Ross County chairman Roy MacGregor’s faith by keeping the Staggies in the top flight following the craziest game of his managerial career.

County were 3-0 down on aggregate with 20 minutes left of their cinch Premiership play-off final second leg against Partick Thistle but ended up sealing a sudden-death penalty shoot-out victory three hours after kick-off in Dingwall.

Simon Murray netted 80 seconds after Yan Dhanda’s penalty to transform the complexion of the game and George Harmon put County 3-1 ahead on the day at the start of nine minutes of stoppage time.

There was VAR drama throughout the 90 minutes and chances at either end in extra time before both sides missed penalties in the shoot-out and sudden death. Josh Sims eventually sealed a 5-4 penalties win after Ross Laidlaw had saved Ross Docherty’s spot-kick.

Mackay said: “I actually had the Carling Cup final with Cardiff against Liverpool that went to penalties, and that was a mental game. But this was something else.

“This, being a two-legged play-off and having the responsibility of keeping this club in the Premiership, means a hell of a lot.

“Honestly, I never thought we wouldn’t win. Even at half-time I thought we could score three goals. If we got a goal, I thought they would take a step back and creak, and we would get the momentum, and that’s what happened.”

Mackay added: “As a manager it’s a huge achievement, because we’re a tiny club in the Premiership.

“I’ve read a lot of stuff, and there have been a lot of questions about how brilliant Partick Thistle have been, and they have done terrifically well. It’s quite clear that it would have been lovely for a Glasgow club to go into the Premiership and teams not to have to travel on the A9.

“I get that, but this is a great place and a great club. When players come up they realise what a great place it is and how good the people are running it.”

Mackay held talks with owner MacGregor after a 6-1 defeat by Hearts left County four points adrift at the bottom of the Premiership going into the split.

“My commitment to Roy is as much as his commitment is to me,” he said.

“He could quite easily have decided after the Hearts game that enough was enough, but we had a conversation about how I felt about the run in, and I told him I had the shoulders to carry it. I believed that this group of players could stay in the Premiership, and we’ve done well.”

Thistle had won their previous five play-off games, netting 18 goals in the process, and bounced back from the late blow to produce the better football and the best chance of extra time, which Stuart Bannigan missed.

Manager Kris Doolan said: “I’m devastated as you would imagine. I’m gutted for everyone to be honest because we put so much into the games.

“Half the country was probably behind us, not just Partick Thistle fans. Football is cruel and I know it’s cruel but to go out on penalty-kicks is worse because you feel as if you were so close.”

Three VAR reviews all went against Thistle. They had a penalty claim denied despite Nick Walsh being called to the monitor to view Nohan Kenneh felling Ross Docherty. Brian Graham was penalised after the ball hit his arm, and County captain Keith Watson had a red card rescinded after bringing down Thistle’s goalscorer, Scott Tiffoney.

“The one on Docherty, I couldn’t understand why it wasn’t given,” Doolan said. “From where we were it was blatant penalty.

“When he is brought over to the monitor you assume, it’s pretty blatant because it has been flagged up so I couldn’t understand why it wasn’t given.

“I don’t want to make excuses just on VAR, I feel like you would always be picking on VAR when we lost control of the game at times, five to 10 minutes when they score really quickly. We could have done better.

“Even in extra time we had a couple of chances which we could have scored and I was confident we would have taken one of them. It wasn’t to be, it just wasn’t our day.”

Somerset maintained their 100 per cent Vitality Blast record with victory over Essex, while Sue Redfern became the first female umpire to officiate on-field in the competition in Gloucestershire’s win over Middlesex.

Matt Henry and Ben Green took three wickets each as Somerset defended a seemingly under-par score to triumph by 11 runs at Taunton.

The hosts could muster only 150 all out in their sixth contest under cloudless skies on a pitch that looked full of runs. Sean Dickson top-scored with 42 on his T20 debut for the club, while Daniel Sams claimed four wickets for 20.

In reply, Essex slumped from 130 for six to 139 all out after Michael Pepper’s 63 off 43 balls, Henry finishing with three for 17 and Green taking his wicket tally in the competition to 14 with three for 24.

Redfern wrote her name into the history books as she stood along with Alex Wharf at Bristol, where all-rounder Ollie Price led the way for Gloucestershire.

The 21-year-old top-scored with 46 and shared in crucial partnerships of 60 with Miles Hammond and 52 with Zafar Gohar as the hosts chased down a target of 140 with 10 balls to spare to register their second triumph in three days.

Surrey beat Kent by five wickets after a nerve-shredding run chase at Canterbury that went all the way to the final ball.

The visitors seemed to be cruising to their target of 174 after Laurie Evans hit 52, but a cluster of wickets kept the Spitfires in contention until Jamie Smith and Sean Abbott took charge.

Michael Hogan was left to defend nine off the final over but Surrey tied the scores with one ball remaining and Jack Leaning just failed to cling on to a thunderous hit from Smith off the last delivery.

It was a disappointing afternoon for Worcestershire, whose unbeaten start was brought to an end by Northamptonshire, who triumphed by six wickets at New Road.

Worcestershire had been bidding to win their opening five games in the tournament for the first time, but Steelbacks spinner Freddie Heldreich bowled an inspired spell which brought him the wickets of Adam Hose, Brett D’Oliveira and Kashif Ali in the space of three overs.

Then Saif Zaib (70 not out from 35 balls)  produced the fireworks with the bat for the visitors, smashing successive sixes in the final over from Pat Brown to see his side home with two balls to spare.

Derbyshire’s Wayne Madsen nearly achieved a global milestone but fell six runs short of becoming the first man in T20 history to score six successive fifties as his side were comfortably beaten by seven wickets by a revitalised Yorkshire at Headingley.

Madsen’s 44 off 26 in the Falcons’ 166 for eight batting first meant he remains one of just seven players worldwide to have scored five fifties in a row in this format.

England batter Dawid Malan then starred in the chase with a superb 81 not out off 57 balls, with Yorkshire winning with 10 deliveries to spare.

Leicestershire ended a five-game losing run to secure their first win of the campaign, beating Durham by seven wickets at Seat Unique Riverside.

Josh Hull was the star with the ball in just his second game for the Foxes, claiming three wickets for 35 to help limit the home side to 168 for nine from their 20 overs.

Nottinghamshire put themselves back on course for the quarter-finals with a second win inside 24 hours as Matt Carter’s three wickets set up a five-wicket win over Lancashire.

The off-spinner bounced back from conceding 57 in four wicketless overs in the victory over Birmingham Bears on Saturday evening with figures of three for 26 as the home side won with seven balls to spare at Trent Bridge.

Glamorgan made it four wins out of five as they beat Sussex by 32 runs at the 1st Central County Ground.

The Sharks, chasing a huge victory target of 220, never looked in the contest despite a plucky innings from Tom Alsop, who scored 58 from 41 deliveries, and slumped to a third straight defeat.

The first-place Arizona Diamondbacks have given manager Torey Lovullo a contract extension through the 2024 season.

The deal, which was announced Sunday, is the third straight one-year extension for Lovullo.

A year after finishing in fourth place in the NL West and two years removed from a 110-loss season, the Diamondbacks enter play Sunday with a 35-24 mark to tie the Los Angeles Dodgers for the best record in the league.

It’s the first time Arizona has 35 wins through 59 games since 2007, when the team won the NL West with a 90-72 record and reached the National League championship series.

 

With their 5-4 walkoff win over the Rockies today, the Diamondbacks ended a streak of 69 consecutive home series of four or more games without a sweep.

That was the longest such streak by an NL team since the Boston Braves (also 69, 1937-1946). pic.twitter.com/nOi9XpTlul

— OptaSTATS (@OptaSTATS) June 1, 2023

 

Ross County came from three goals down against Partick Thistle to retain their cinch Premiership status with a sudden-death penalty shoot-out victory following an epic play-off final.

Aidan Fitzpatrick put Thistle three ahead on aggregate two minutes before half-time in the second leg in Dingwall and they were in control until the 71st minute when Yan Dhanda’s penalty and Simon Murray’s close-range finish turned the game on its head inside 80 seconds.

County completed their comeback just after the 90-minute mark when George Harmon netted to send the game into extra time.

There were chances and VAR controversy throughout and the penalty shoot-out was just as dramatic as the game before Josh Sims finally settled matters three hours after kick-off to seal a 5-4 shoot-out victory.

Malky Mackay’s side extended their four-year stay in the top flight while Thistle, who went down through the play-offs in 2018 and have been to League One and back to the Championship since, will eventually find encouragement from their form under Kris Doolan once their shock subsides.

It was only a second defeat in 19 games under their manager, who suffered the loss of his father during a play-off campaign which saw Thistle win five matches and score 19 goals.

County made four changes, two of them enforced through suspension, as Ben Purrington came in for his first start since suffering a serious ankle injury in October. Doolan named the same team for a fifth game in a row.

County’s only real first-half pressure came courtesy of Thistle goalkeeper David Mitchell failing to deal with two high balls, Purrington seeing a header cleared off the line after the second blunder.

The home side survived a lengthy VAR review after Greg Aitken called referee Nick Walsh to his monitor after Ross Docherty went down under Nohan Kenneh’s challenge as he ran into the box. Walsh had a long look while County boss Mackay told him “it’s a dive”, and the referee decided against awarding the penalty despite definite contact.

The visitors soon took the lead after Tiffoney reacted quickest to a loose ball and drove it across the box. Fitzpatrick took a touch as David Cancola dived in, and the Thistle wide man reversed a finish past Ross Laidlaw.

The noisy visiting fans chanted “Thistle are back” and Alex Samuel missed an excellent chance to give the home support hope just after the break following a slip in the Jags defence. Mitchell made a good stop and a grounded Aaron Muirhead completed the clearance.

Thistle looked comfortable and Connor Randall cleared off the line from Steven Lawless as they looked to put the game out of sight.

But the complexion of the tie was transformed with 19 minutes of the 90 remaining when Aitken alerted Walsh to the ball hitting Graham’s arm in the Thistle box and Dhanda converted the resulting spot-kick.

Thistle then conceded a throw-in from the restart and Samuel capitalised on some hesitation from Darren Brownlie and drove in a cross which substitute Murray converted.

Jordan White and Brian Graham missed chances at either end before more VAR drama when County captain Keith Watson was shown a straight red card for hacking down Tiffoney from behind as the forward was about to thread a team-mate through. Walsh downgraded to a yellow after being called to the monitor.

The fourth official signalled for nine minutes of stoppage time just as Dhanda crossed for substitute Harmon to volley in off the post to make it 3-3 on aggregate. A VAR check for offside prolonged the tension.

There were further opportunities at either end and Murray missed a glorious chance with the last kick of normal time when he volleyed over from seven yards.

Samuel headed against the bar but Thistle had the better of extra time and Stuart Bannigan blazed over the best chance after being set up by Graham inside the six-yard box.

The shoot-out was just as tense.

Kevin Holt and Jack Baldwin saw penalties saved for either team before Harmon’s pressure kick took it into sudden death. Bannigan hit the post before Watson blazed over, and Laidlaw saved from Docherty before Sims netted to spark a pitch invasion from the home fans.

New mother Elina Svitolina continued her incredible grand slam return by defeating Daria Kasatkina to reach the quarter-finals of the French Open.

The Ukrainian gave birth to daughter Skai in October and played her first tournament in more than a year at the beginning of April.

She arrived in Paris on the back of a WTA title in Strasbourg and, watched by husband Gael Monfils, extended her winning run to eight matches with a 6-4 7-6 (5) success against ninth seed Kasatkina.

“Definitely I wouldn’t dream about this when I was giving birth in October last year,” said Svitolina.

“It’s unbelievable for me to be able to compete here and to get to the quarter-final is special. Hopefully I can push further. I’m really motivated to give my everything for the next matches.”

The former world number three, who can match her best ever grand slam run by making the semi-finals, overcame nerves at the end, twice failing to serve it out, before clinching victory in a tie-break.

Svitolina spent four years in the top 10 and is enjoying being able to play without so much expectation, saying: “I think this is one of the things that I noticed that right now I don’t have that pressure that I used to have before.

“Of course, me personally I put pressure for myself because I want to win a slam. This is the ultimate goal for me.

“But definitely not the pressure from outside. No one expects that I’m going to come into Roland Garros and make quarter-final at the beginning of the tournament.

“That’s why I feel like this really helps me. I feel almost like I’m 17 again coming on the tour fresh. I’m not defending any points. Not here, not next week. I feel more free.”

Kasatkina has been the most outspoken Russian player against the invasion of Ukraine and earned praise from Svitolina ahead of the contest.

 

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She knew Svitolina would stick to the Ukrainians’ policy of not shaking hands with Belarusian and Russian opponents, though, and gave a quick thumbs-up before heading straight to her chair.

One Russian is through to the last eight, with Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova arguably even more of a surprise than Svitolina.

The 31-year-old achieved the best result of her career here two years ago by reaching the final but underwent knee surgery last year and is ranked down at 333.

She recently lost 6-0 6-0 to Iga Swiatek in Rome but took out her third seed of the week with a 3-6 7-6 (3) 6-3 victory over Elise Mertens.

“I had a fear and doubts that maybe I will never win a match again,” said Pavlyuchenkova. “Maybe I will never get my good form back or I will never be fit again. What if I start playing again and the pain comes back and my knee is bad again?

“But I guess this motivation and this desire of coming back and competing again and being on these big stages again and playing three-hour matches like today, there was a lot more weight on that. So that kind of pushed me.

“I believed, I worked so hard and, even with all the failures that I had this year – and there were sometimes ridiculous matches that I lost – still kept on believing, working hard, and just persistence and patience.”

Pavlyuchenkova will next meet Czech Karolina Muchova, who reached her first French Open quarter-final with a 6-4 6-3 win over Elina Avanesyan.

Atletico Madrid missed the chance to leapfrog Real Madrid and finish second in LaLiga on the final day of the season, as Jorge Pascual scored Villarreal's last-gasp equaliser in a 2-2 draw.

Antoine Griezmann laid on two goals for Angel Correa after Nicolas Jackson put Villarreal ahead early on, but Axel Witsel's red card saw Diego Simeone's side come under mounting pressure, which told when Pascual converted two minutes into stoppage time.

That meant Atleti finished the season one point adrift of their city rivals in third, despite Los Blancos labouring to a 1-1 draw with Athletic Bilbao on Sunday.

Pablo Barrios' error was punished as Villarreal went ahead after nine minutes, the teenager's miscued header teeing up Jackson for a powerful finish across goal. 

Atleti levelled when Correa turned Griezmann's clever free-kick home nine minutes later, and the France international teed up Correa again with the latter rounding Filip Jorgensen to put the visitors 2-1 up after the break.

With Atleti seemingly heading for second place, Witsel was dismissed for fouling Giovani Lo Celso as the last man, and Villarreal made their numerical advantage count in the season's dying moments, Pascual converting a rebound to condemn Simeone's side to third.

Matt Henry and Ben Green took three wickets each as Somerset maintained their 100 per cent Vitality Blast South Group record with an 11-run win over Essex at Taunton.

The hosts could muster only 150 all out in their sixth contest under cloudless skies on a pitch that looked full of runs.

Sean Dickson top-scored with 42 on his T20 debut for the club, while Daniel Sams claimed four wickets for 20.

In reply, Essex were bowled out for 139, despite a bristling 63 off 43 balls from Michael Pepper, Henry finishing with three for 17 and Green taking his wicket tally in the competition to 14 with three for 24.

Sue Redfern wrote her name into the history books when she became the first female umpire to officiate on-field in a Blast fixture for Gloucestershire’s emphatic seven-wicket victory over Middlesex.

Redfern stood along with Alex Wharf at Bristol’s Seat Unique Stadium, where all-rounder Ollie Price led the way for the home side.

The 21-year-old top scored with 46 and shared in crucial partnerships of 60 with Miles Hammond and 52 with Zafar Gohar as Gloucestershire chased down a target of 140 with 10 balls to spare to register their second win in three days.

Surrey beat Kent by five wickets after a nerve-shredding run chase at Canterbury that went all the way to the final ball.

The visitors seemed to be cruising to their target of 174 after Laurie Evans hit 52, but a cluster of wickets kept the Spitfires in contention until Jamie Smith and Sean Abbott took charge.

Michael Hogan was left to defend nine off the final over but Surrey tied the scores with one ball remaining and Jack Leaning just failed to cling on to a thunderous hit from Smith off the last delivery.

It was a disappointing afternoon for Worcestershire Rapids, whose unbeaten start was brought to an end by Northamptonshire Steelbacks who triumphed by six wickets at New Road.

Worcestershire had been bidding to win their opening five games in the tournament for the first time, but Steelbacks spinner Freddie Heldreich bowled an inspired spell which brought him the wickets of Adam Hose, Brett D’Oliveira and Kashif Ali in the space of three overs.

Then Saif Zaib (70 not out from 35 balls)  produced the fireworks with the bat for the visitors, smashing successive sixes in the final over from Pat Brown to see his side home with two balls to spare.

Derbyshire’s Wayne Madsen nearly achieved a global milestone but fell six runs short of becoming the first man in T20 history to score six successive fifties as his side were comfortably beaten by seven wickets by a revitalised Yorkshire at Headingley.

Madsen’s 44 off 26 in the Falcons’ 166 for eight batting first meant he remains one of just seven players worldwide to have scored five fifties in a row in this format.

England batter Dawid Malan then starred in the chase with a superb 81 not out off 57 balls, with Yorkshire winning with 10 deliveries to spare.

Leicestershire Foxes ended a five-game losing run to secure their first win of the campaign, beating Durham by seven wickets at Seat Unique Riverside.

Josh Hull was the star with the ball in just his second game for the Foxes, claiming three wickets for 35 to help limit the home side to 168 for nine from their 20 overs.

Notts Outlaws put themselves back on course for the quarter-finals with a second win inside 24 hours as Matt Carter’s three wickets set up a five-wicket win over Lancashire Lightning.

The off-spinner bounced back from conceding 57 in four wicketless overs in the victory over Birmingham Bears on Saturday evening with figures of three for 26 as the home side won with seven balls to spare at Trent Bridge.

Glamorgan made it four wins out of five as they beat Sussex by 32 runs at the 1st Central County Ground.

The Sharks, chasing a huge victory target of 220, never looked in the contest despite a plucky innings from Tom Alsop, who scored 58 from 41 deliveries.

Instead, the eighth-placed South Group Sussex slumped to a third straight defeat, and a fourth in five games.

Karim Benzema marked his Real Madrid farewell with a goal in a 1-1 draw with Athletic Bilbao, as Los Blancos clung onto second place on the final day of the LaLiga season.

The veteran forward – who is expected to head to Saudi Arabia after announcing his departure on Sunday – converted a penalty as Madrid fought back to clinch a point at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Athletic had been denied an early opener when Thibaut Courtois kept out Mikel Vesga's spot-kick, but Ernesto Valverde's visitors struck first through Oihan Sancet after half-time.

Benzema's equaliser however cost them a spot in the Europa Conference League, with Carlo Ancelotti's men clinging onto second following Atleti's 2-2 draw with Villarreal elsewhere.

Athletic had the chance to go ahead from the spot when Toni Kroos handled Inaki Williams' header 10 minutes in, but Courtois sprung to his right to push Vesga's tame kick away.

Unai Simon subsequently tipped Vinicius Junior's drive wide as Madrid's threat grew, and the Athletic goalkeeper remained alert to prevent Rodrygo from rounding him as an open first half ended goalless.

Athletic saw another bright start rewarded in the second half though with Ander Herrera dispossessing Dani Ceballos to tee up Sancet, who squeezed his shot beyond Courtois at the second attempt.

Madrid reaped a penalty of their own however after Yuri Berchiche caught Eder Militao in the face, and Benzema made no mistake from the spot, before he was substituted to a standing ovation.

Los Blancos were unable to find a winner without their talisman however, with Rodrygo missing a glaring chance, but their point nevertheless preserved second to end the season.

Victor Osimhen reached another milestone as Napoli concluded their Scudetto-winning campaign with a 2-0 victory over Serie A's bottom side Sampdoria.

Osimhen sealed the Capocannoniere with his second-half penalty taking his tally for the Serie A campaign to 26 goals, while it was also his 50th overall in the competition.

Substitute Giovanni Simeone's wonderful individual effort secured victory as the Partonopei lifted the Serie A trophy at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, where Luciano Spalletti was overseeing his final match in charge before taking a year-long sabbatical.

The Partenopei finished their memorable season on 90 points, their second-highest tally in Serie A – having collected one more under Maurizio Sarri five years ago.

Napoli created the first opportunity inside three minutes when Khvicha Kvaratskhelia fed Piotr Zielinski, who fired over from a tight angle.

At the other end, two former Partenopei players almost combined to thwart their old club, but Fabio Quagliarella squandered a great opportunity by heading Manolo Gabbiadini's inviting cross wide from inside the six yard box.

Koray Gunter produced a wonderful last-ditch intervention to deny Eljif Elmas a clear sight on goal after Osimhen had neatly cushioned a lofted ball into his team-mate's path.

Sampdoria went close after the break when substitute Lorenzo Malagrida shot straight at Alex Meret, but the hosts broke through in the 64th minute.

After Nicola Murru brought him down in the penalty area, Osimhen picked himself up and confidently swept the spot-kick into the bottom-right corner.

Martin Turk denied Frank Anguissa and Gianluca Gaetano with smart reflex saves, but was helpless when Simeone arrowed a stunning 25-yard effort into the top corner to seal the points five minutes from time.

Lando Norris wanted to turn the air blue following his accident with Lewis Hamilton at the Spanish Grand Prix – but stressed his compatriot did not do anything wrong.

Norris started third after a fine performance in qualifying, but his race was over inside two corners when he drove into the back of Hamilton’s Mercedes.

Norris was forced to pit for a new front wing, relegating him to the back of the field. The 23-year-old Briton eventually took the chequered flag in 17th place. Hamilton continued without damage, finishing runner-up to Max Verstappen.

Asked what went through his mind following his first-lap prang, Norris said: “F***. Max [Verstappen] went off the track and a bit wide, so he had to bounce over the kerb at Turn 2. Everybody checked up and I was too close to Lewis to react and brake so it was just unlucky in my opinion, and a racing incident.

“Lewis didn’t do anything wrong. I touched his wheel, nothing happened to him, maybe it made him quicker today.”

Following a brief resurgence, McLaren are on something of a downward spiral. Norris has scored only a dozen points from the opening seven rounds, leaving him 11th in the standings.

And the highly-rated Briton, who is under contract with McLaren until the end of 2025, painted a gloomy picture for the remainder of the campaign.

“The pace was as expected as it was today which was bad,” he said. “I don’t think we expected anything else.

“We were slow and we have been all year. Yesterday was a special day. Some of the good teams struggled and some of the worst teams did a better job. People made mistakes and we capitalised on that.

“But we are clearly nowhere near as quick as the top-five teams so there is no point thinking about finishing in the points because we are not quick enough.

“There are no new parts on the car. We had a upgrade in Baku and that was about it. It maybe brought us half-a-tenth to a tenth.

“A lot of teams have brought upgrades to the last few races and we haven’t. We are not expecting anything more than we are doing and if we get in the points it is an amazing day but the expectation is that we won’t.”

A Josh Griffin hat-trick denied Warrington the chance to go back to the top of the Betfred Super League table as they were beaten 30-18 in a tight clash by Hull.

A thrilling final match at Magic Weekend saw Wolves open well, but Hull’s stellar start to the second half which saw them score three tries in 11 minutes turned the game around.

It was a missed opportunity for Warrington, who now sit just behind Catalans Dragons in the table, while Hull continued their good run as they made it four wins in their last five league games.

A persistent spell of pressure inside the Hull 10 metre area saw Warrington draw first blood just three minutes in. A neat high kick from George Williams was held by Connor Wrench and the winger was able to reach over the line to ground the ball, with Stefan Ratchford adding the extras.

The Wolves’ speed on the attack was rewarded in the 12th minute when Williams pounced on a loose pass, scooping the ball up and sprinting to touch down between the posts.

Hull continued to battle and a great move saw Tex Hoy kick across goal, the ball parried down for Danny Houghton to latch on to in mid-air to cross before Jake Clifford converted.

Matt Dufty regained possession for Warrington with an excellent run from a Hull kick, but the Wolves were kept at bay by a solid Hull defence, who made some great last-ditch blocks on their own try-line.

The Black and Whites were unable to make the most of some good chances in the final minutes of the first half, but they were straight on the attack after the restart and nearly had a try through Griffin, who fell just short.

Their energetic start saw Hull score again in the 43rd minute when Clifford’s grubber-kick was chased down by Adam Swift on the wing and he did well to hang on to the ball to cross in the left corner.

The tries began to flow as Hull added another two minutes later after an excellent move saw Griffin find a gap to cut in from the left and go over, giving Hull the lead for the first time in the game.

The second rower then struck again in the 51st minute, getting on the end of Jake Truman’s cross-field kick and spinning around to touch down.

Warrington responded five minutes later with a good string of passes towards the right and Wrench made no mistake charging forward to ground in the corner for his second try of the game.

Griffin completed his hat-trick following a fine team move which saw Hoy break forward from a Warrington kick to reach the halfway line before offloading to Swift, who found Griffin and he powered over.

Hull’s defence continued to show resilience on the try-line to deny Warrington in the final 10 minutes before Hoy added a fifth try for the Black and Whites, bursting through the Warrington defence to seal victory.

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