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Barcelona overcomes 10-man Atletico and boosts La Liga lead after Real Madrid loses

MADRID (AP) — Barcelona came from behind away from home to beat 10-man Atletico Madrid 2-1 and take a big step toward winning La Liga after Real Madrid lost at Mallorca on Saturday.

It was the first of three matches between the teams in 10 days. Barcelona and Atletico will meet twice more in the quarterfinals of the Champions League. They also met in the semifinals of the Copa del Rey in February and March when Atletico advanced to the final 4-3 on aggregate. The Spanish rivals will face each other five times in less than two months.

“We are happy with the victory,” Barcelona’s Dani Olmo said. “We hadn’t forgotten the last Copa match here … we wanted to win and get the three points, which were very important.”

Robert Lewandowski scored the decider in the 87th minute with his shoulder from a parried save by the Atletico goalkeeper.

Barcelona, which has won eight of its last nine games in all competitions, has a seven-point lead over Madrid, which lost at Mallorca 2-1 earlier.

Atletico, 19 points off the lead in fourth place, opened the scoring at Metropolitano Stadium through Giuliano Simeone in the 39th. Marcus Rashford equalized in the 42nd, and Atletico went a man down in first-half stoppage time when Nico González was sent off for a second yellow card.

“We played a good game,” Atletico coach Diego Simeone said. “We have to focus on the Champions League game now.”

The winning goal was almost by accident. João Cancelo made a nice run through the left side of the area with a couple of cutback moves to get past defenders but his shot was parried by keeper Juan Muso and rebounded in off Lewandowski’s shoulder.

Barcelona has 301 official goals in 107 matches under coach Hansi Flick.

Atletico has lost three in a row in all tournaments and stayed one point behind third-placed Villarreal, which visits Girona on Monday.

Barcelona defender Gerard Martín was sent off in the second half but the decision was overturned by video review.

Madrid’s loss

Real Madrid dropped further behind Barcelona after conceding in stoppage time.

Host Mallorca opened the scoring thanks to Manu Morlanes in the 42nd minute. Madrid equalized in the 88th through Éder Militão, who was back after an injury layoff of nearly four months.

The winner came from Vedat Muriqi one minute into added time.

Mallorca has risen out of the relegation zone after its second win in three league matches. It moved to 17th place, two points clear of the bottom three.

Madrid suffered its third defeat in its last six league matches. The club has five league losses all season.

Also, Real Sociedad beat Levante 2-0 at home, and Real Betis drew 0-0 with Espanyol, which has yet to win in 13 games this year.

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Ryan Fox wins first career major at 2026 Open Championship

CNN
(CNN) — Ryan Fox took home the Claret Jug after draining a birdie putt on the 18th hole to win the 2026 Open Championship at Royal Birkdale on Sunday.The 39-year-old Fox beat out American Cameron Young to win his first career major title, becoming only the third New Zealander to win a men’s major golf championship.Fox came into the final hole tied with Young, after the 29-year-old finished the round at 6-under 64 a few hours before.The Kiwi powered his drive into the middle of the fairway and then set up the biggest putt of his golf career so far with an approach shot that landed about 12 feet from the pin.As the putt fell into the hole, the crowd in Southport, England, gave Fox a rousing ovation as he raised both arms in the air to celebrate the achievement.The putt capped off four birdies in the last six holes for Fox.Fox was at a loss for words while speaking to the NBC Sports broadcast after the win.“I don’t really know what to think at the moment. I’ve got a lot of people to thank. First of all, my family. My wife and kids are in Florida at the moment. I spoke to my kids last night and they said, bring back a trophy. I think that’s a pretty cool one to bring back for them,” Fox said. “My family back in New Zealand and all my supporters back there. I know it’s been a long night for them, but I’m glad it was worthwhile.”Fox finished with a 2-under 68 after trailing Sam Burns, who held a two-stroke lead coming into Sunday’s final round.Fox also becomes the third-oldest major winner in the last 10 years, trailing only Phil Mickelson at the 2021 PGA Championship and Tiger Woods at the 2019 Masters.“Just an unbelievable week. The golf course was fantastic. The English weather was fantastic. You guys out there were fantastic. The support was amazing. This is pretty cool. I’m sorry if I’ve forgotten anyone, but thank you very much,” Fox added.It is another disappointment for Young, who is still looking for his first career major title despite winning The Players earlier this year. Young finished one shot back of the win at the 2022 Open Championship at St. Andrews and held the lead heading into the final round at the Masters back in April.It is also another let down for Burns, another golfer looking for his maiden major win.The Louisiana State University alum came into the round ahead by two strokes but quickly lost it and went birdie-free for the final 12 holes.“(Fox) is a well-earned champion and hats off to him,” Burns said. “He did what he needed to do down the stretch and ultimately just came up a couple short today.”Defending champion Scottie Scheffler stayed within striking range throughout the round, but wound up with a 3-under 67 on Sunday to finish tied for fourth with Tommy Fleetwood.After a drama-filled tournament, Bryson DeChambeau finished tied for 14th while Rory McIlroy, who has been critical of the LIV Golfer all tournament long, ended tied for 40th.Fox’s journey to first major winFox’s road to his first career major title wasn’t the easiest. It came with many bumps and U-turns.While speaking to CNN’s Don Riddell ahead of the Desert Classic in Dubai in early 2025, Fox opened up about his mental health issues, including being an older rookie after spending years on the DP World Tour and the PGA Tour of Australia.“I think being a rookie at 37 years old on the PGA Tour was, I probably wasn’t quite prepared for what that was again,” Fox told CNN.“I knew all the golf courses, knew how to travel work, knew where to stay, and everything was new on the PGA Tour, and that was probably a shock to the system more than anything.”Fox comes from a lineage of athletes within his family tree, including his father, Grant Fox, who was a main kicker for the New Zealand national rugby team and his grandfather, Merv Wallace, a former New Zealand cricketer who later coached the national team.Fox spoke out on the “pressure” a golfer faces, mentioning the 2024 death of former PGA Tour golfer Grayson Murray, whose parents later confirmed it was death by suicide.“It can be a stressful life. It’s all performance-based. There’s a lot of pressure on – Looking after your mental health is really, really important, and having people to talk to and all of that is part of that,” Fox said.“It’s a shame it got to that point with Grayson that, you know, we’ve had to have those, those pretty tough conversations now, but it will help – hopefully it helps someone else in a similar situation going forward because we certainly don’t want to see it again.”CNN’s Kyle Tatelbaum and Don Riddell contributed to this reporting This write has been updated with additional reporting The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
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