Sunday's Sport Recap - 22/12/2024

Sunday 22nd December was home to some magnificent fixtures across all sports from 9 goals being scored in the Tottenham Vs Liverpool match to Tiger Wood's son making his first hole in one. Here's a brief insight on what Sunday entailed:

La Liga Football

Real Madrid Vs Sevilla (4-2)

Real Madrid scored key points to increase pressure on the leaders in the La Liga title race as they beat Sevilla 4 goals to 2.

By the 20th minute of the game, Madrid had a goal lead with both Kylian Mbappe and Federico Valverde scoring long-range beauties from 20+ yards.

Before the break, Rodrygo Silva de Goes scored to bring the hosts dominance to 3-0, but Sevilla were immediately able to secure a goal as Isaac Romero scored a header.

But Sevilla's hopes of a comeback against 2nd in the league were diminished slightly after Brahim Diaz scored a 4th for the leaders.

In the 65th minute Jesus Navas was substituted off the bench to make his final appearance of his career, retiring mid-season due to a chronic hip injury he had developed. This departure signified the end of his 20-year partnership with Sevilla, surely marking him as a club legend.

The game ended 4-2 to Real Madrid after Dodi Lukebakio scored a late 85th minute goal for Sevilla.

Premier League Football

Fulham Vs Southampton (0-0)

With Southampton's new manager, Ivan Juric, being confirmed on Saturday, this game was set to be a testament to his determination on turning Southampton's results around.

However, Juric had to wait till the 56th minute to witness his team's first attempt on target.

Southampton goalkeeper, Aaron Ramsdale, winning player of the match after making 5 saves against Fulham whilst wearing special tailored 4-fingered gloves, which allowed him to play after breaking his finger.

With Fulham now 8th in the league, this victory would've been key at boosting their chances to overtake Manchester City.

Manchester United Vs Bournemouth (0-3)

Manchester United suffered a humiliating defeat at home by Bournemouth as fans booed Ruben Amorim's team off.

Marcus Rashford was left out of the squad for the third consecutive game, having last played on 12th December.

Amorim's men conceded in the first 29 minutes as Dean Huijsen headed the ball into the back of the net, but seemingly never recovered.

Bournemouth proceeded to secure their victory with 2 goals being produced in the space of 2 minutes. The first a penalty after Noussair Mazraoui upends Justin Kluivert inside the box. The second by Antoine Semenyo from Dango Ouattara's cross.

This loss marks the 3rd loss in 4 Premier League games and the 4th match this season where Manchester United conceded 3+ goals: 3-0 Liverpool, 3-0 Tottenham, 3-0 Bournemouth and 3-2 Nottingham Forest.

Bournemouth will celebrate being 5th in the league for Christmas whereas the red devils find themselves in 13th.

Chelsea Vs Everton (0-0)

Jordan Pickford and Robert Sanchez both made equally crucial saves, ultimately leading to the draw.

Nicholas Jackson's attempt was kicked away by a falling Pickford and the Chelsea full-backs follow up header flies over the bar. 6 minutes later the Englishman makes another impressive save as he puts a two-footed tackle against Malo Gusto after Jackson's header hits the post.

While down the other end of the pitch, an outstretched Sanchez denies Orel Mangala's low strike towards the end of the first half.

Following the goalless draw, Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca was unhappy with his teams clear lack of "clinical" finishing as the blues helped extend Arne Slot's red lead at the top of the table.

Leicester City Vs Wolves (0-3)

Vitor Pereira's first match after replacing Gary O'Neil as head coach for Wolves ended in great success, ending their 4 straight defeats with a 3-0 victory against Leicester.

The 3 goals came from Goncalo Guedes, Rodrigo Gomez and Matheus Cunha across a 25 minute period within the first half, which sealed an impressive win for the Portuguese manager.

Liverpool Vs Tottenham (6-3)

Liverpool will celebrate Christmas at the top of the Premier League table 4 points clear with a game in hand over Chelsea.

The game was an exhilarating watch with end to end action, the first half resulted in a 3-1 dominance for the reds. Luis Diaz, Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai secured Liverpool's lead while James Madison scored one back in the 41st minute to reduce Slot's advantage.

By the 60th minute, Mohamed Salah increased the amount of goal needed for Spurs to come back into the game, adding an additional 2 goals to Liverpool's score.

However, Dejan Kulusevski in the 72nd minute and Dominic Solanke in the 83rd minute responded with the hope of a devilous comeback for Tottenham.

But it was Luis Diaz scoring his 2nd of the match that secured the red's memorable victory.

World Darts Championship

Joe Cullen flees post-match press conference after his 3-0 victory against Wessel Nijman.

Cullen, who claimed a straight-sets win and averaged 98.18 in one of his best performances of the year, had previously been considered an outsider for the win by the bookies and the press.

On stage he kept his interview very short and later fled early from his post-match press conference after declaring "The media attention that Wessel has got - again this is not a reflection on him - he seems like a fantastic kid."

"The way I have been treated with the media and things like that. I know you guys have no control of the bookies, but I've been shown no respect so I won't share any respect to any of you guys tonight. I'm going to go home. Cheers."

Believing that the extent of painting him as an outsider was incredibly disrespectful to him as a person and as a professional player.

Golf

PNC Golf Championship

Tiger Woods' son, Charlie Woods who is only 15 years old, hit is first hole-in-one in the PNC golf Championship, a tournament that features 20 major champions competing with a family member

The hole-in-one was achieved in the final round of the Championship, but unluckily the Woods were beaten to the title in a play-off by the two Germans, Bernhard and Jason Langer, who celebrated their 2nd consecutive trophy and making it their 4th overall.

AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open Title

John Parry claimed his second DP World Tour title after a burst of brilliance on the back 9, 14 years since his last victory on this tour.

Parry who had previously started the day 5 shots from the leader, rose to take the title after an eagle and multiple birdies on his back 9 as he finished with a score of 114-under-par. The victory was won by 2 shots after the South African golfers Dylan Naidoo and Christo Lamprecht shared 2nd place.

Rugby Gallagher Premiership

Saracens Vs Northampton Saints (39-24)

Saracens beat the Northampton Saints with a 6 try victory.

The first half showcased Saracens dominance with 2 tries from Fergus Burke, 1 from Rhys Carre and 1 from Theo Dan as they entered the break with a 24-0 lead over the visitors.

After the break, Tommy Freeman and Tom Pearson hit back with a try each, encouraging the Saints come back into the game.

However, additional tries from Jamie George and Ben Earl secured the hosts their bonus point win, moving them up into 3rd.

Northampton remain 8th, after earning a late bonus point.

Cricket

Men's ODI Squad for India Tour

Ben Stokes is missing from England Ashes squad for the Champions Trophy following a hamstring injury he gained in the 3rd test match against New Zealand.

Whilst Joe Root secures a return to the squad after not being included since last year's World Cup, however he is missing from the T20 squad who are set to face India.

England Women's Ashes Call-Ups

Ahead of their Australian tour next month, England have named their Ashes squad with 4 potential debutants. These being Freya Kemp, Linsey Smith, Bess Heath all earning their first Ashes squad role whilst Ryana MacDonald-Gay maintains her place.

With Heather Knight as captain across the series, the squad also includes both Kate Cross and Danielle Gibson after they have each recovered from their own injuries.