The big story: Barcelona beat Athletic Bilbao 3-0

Barcelona moved to within one point of Real Madrid at the top of the La Liga table with a convincing 3-0 victory over Athletic Bilbao on Saturday.

Paco Alcacer scored his first La Liga goal after making a start in place of Luis Suarez. Alcacer tapped in from a pin-point cross from Neymar to hand the Catalans the lead in the 18th minute.

Lionel Messi made it 2-0 from a delightful free-kick five minutes before the half-time break. A brilliant solo run by Aleix Vidal in the second-half completed the rout.

The three-goals saw Barcelona became the first team from Europe to score 100 times in all competitions this season.

Other top stories:

Football:

  • A brace from Fernando Torres saw Atletico Madrid defeat Leganes 2-0 to earn them their first win in five games. Atletico remain fourth in the La Liga table, seven points behind leaders Real Madrid. 
  • Atletico Madrid defender Lucas Hernandez was arrested on Friday for allegedly assaulting his girlfriend. She was admitted to hospital with wounds.
  • Real Madrid’s La Liga game at Celta Vigo on Sunday has been postponed after Estadio Municipal de Balaidos was damaged following a heavy storm.
  • Bayern Munich extended their lead at the top of the Bundesliga despite being held by Schalke, as title rivals RB Leipzig lost 0-1 at Borussia Dortmund.
  • Chelsea maintained their nine-point advantage at the top of the Premier League table with a comfortable 3-1 win over Arsenal on Saturday.
  • Jose Mourinho on Saturday admitted that the Premier League title was beyond Manchester United’s reach while bemoaning a lack of winners in his squad. “We cannot win the Premier League, that is very obvious,” said Mourinho. Asked if he had enough winners in the squad, Mourinho said,”Of course we don’t have enough. And the ones with a history of success where that belongs to their natural habitat, Wayne Rooney, Michael Carrick, who else? Zlatan Ibrahimovic, but not in our club, Antonio Valencia and not much.”
  • Mohun Bagan eked out a narrow 3-2 win over Aizawl in a thrilling I-League encounter in Kolkata on Saturday.
  • Minerva Punjab registered their first ever win of the I-League after beating Mumbai FC 2-1 at the Guru Nanak Stadium in Ludhiana on Saturday.

Cricket:

  • South Africa beat Sri Lanka by seven wickets in the third One-Day International at the Wanderers on Saturday. The match was held up for an hour after bees swarmed onto the ground.
  • Ross Taylor scored his 16th ODI century, equalling Nathan Astle’s record for most ODI hundreds for New Zealand to set Australia a target of 282 to chase in the third ODI in Hamilton on Sunday. The hosts lead the three-match series 1-0.
  • A majority of the International Cricket Council Board members on Saturday voted in favour of a restructured revenue sharing model despite opposition from Board of Control for Cricket in India representative Vikram Limaye, PTI reported.
  • India skipper Virat Kohli will feature on the cover of the 2017 Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack, reported the Wisden website.
  • The International Cricket Council on Saturday mooted an idea to suspend a venue for two years if it accumulated 10 demerit points for substandard pitches and outfields during international matches, IANS reported.
  • Cricket South Africa on Saturday announced the launch of a new eight-team franchise-based T20 League. 
  • The auction for the tenth edition of the Indian Premier League will take place on February 20 in Bengaluru, confirmed the Board of Control for Cricket in India.
  • An unbeaten 99 by Prakash J helped India defeat Sri Lanka by nine-wickets in the T20 World Cup for the Blind at the Sardar Patel Stadium on Saturday.

Tennis:

  • Leander Paes was denied a chance to enter the record books as New Zealand’s Artem Sitak and Michael Venus prevailed over Paes and partner Vishnu Vardhan in the Davis Cup doubles rubber at the Balewadi Stadium in Pune on Saturday.
  • Viktor Troicki and Nenad Zimnojic led Serbia into the Davis Cup quarter-finals for the third straight year with a 6-3, 7-6(3), 6-7(5), 6-4 win over Russia’s Konstantin Kravchuk and Andrey Kuznetsov.
  • Australia took an unassailable 3-0 lead over the Czech Republic to move into the quarter-finals of the Davis Cup. Meanwhile, France also led Japan by a similar margin to book their place in the last-eight.

Golf:

  • India’s Aditi Ashok stumbled to tied-sixth place at the RACV Gold Coast Challenge on Saturday after a rough final day that saw her card three-over 76, PTI reported.
  • India’s Anirban Lahiri and Rayhan Thomas made the cut at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic golf tournament in Dubai on Saturday. SSP Chawrasia missed the cut.
  • India’s Shubhankar Sharma finished tied-fourth with compatriot Chiragh Kumar at the Bashundhara Bangladesh Open on Saturday.
  • Tiger Woods has withdrawn from the Dubai Desert Classic because of a back problem. The 14-time major winner returned to the course after 15 months out following two back operations.

Table Tennis:

  • Top seed Sharath Kamal eased into the pre-quarterfinals of the men’s singles at the Senior Table Tennis Nationals in MAnesar on Saturday.