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‘Big brother’ Giroud strikes late to lift Lille past Monaco | The Express Tribune
MARSEILLE:
Even though he is about to turn 39, Olivier Giroud promised “this is only the beginning” after striking in added time on Sunday to give Lille a 1-0 Ligue 1 win over visiting Monaco.
Giroud, the French national team’s all-time leading scorer, was brought in by Lille in part to replace Jonathan David, who was making a scoring Serie A debut for Juventus on Sunday night.
“It was a challenge I thought I could take on,” said Giroud. “I’m a man who likes a challenge.
“I’m enjoying myself, even if it’s a little harder to recover with age.”
Giroud had scored 11 minutes into his first outing for Lille as they drew 3-3 at Brest in the first round.
Sunday’s was a far cagier match, before Giroud broke the dull deadlock in the 91st minute.
Receiving the ball with his back to goal, the centre forward spun, glanced towards the far post and then, with goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky moving the wrong way, thumped a shot into the middle of the net.
“This is only the beginning,” said Giroud. “There will also be moments that are a little less cool, but we’ll deal with those too.”
With Monaco pressing, Lille won a penalty on the counter-attack but Giroud swerved his spot-kick over the bar. A “slight blemish”, he said.
“We needed this victory to get our season off to a flying start,” said Giroud.
“I’m going to continue… in this big brother role, which I quite enjoy.
“We have young players pushing behind us, and at some point they will also be able to contribute.”
Coach Bruno Genesio was impressed that Giroud did his damage in the closing minutes, praising the striker’s “technical mastery at the end of the match, despite his fatigue”.
“We played a real team game and he contributed a lot by keeping possession,” he added.
Earlier, Rennes had two players sent off in the first 10 minutes and four seconds at Lorient and went on to lose 4-0.
The week before Rennes had played an hour a man short but still beat Marseille 1-0.
“We need aggression,” said Rennes coach Habib Beye. “Last year we didn’t have enough, now we have too much.”
For Rennes the trouble once again started before kick-off.
Last week, central defender Mikayil Faye overslept and missed the season-opening win over Marseille in which another defender Abdelhamid Ait Boudlal was sent off. He was suspended for Sunday’s game.
With right-back Przemyslaw Frankowski injured, Mousa Al-Tamari was due to take over at wing-back. But the Jordanian arrived late for a pre-match meeting and was dropped by Beye.
Mahdi Camara, a summer arrival from Saint-Etienne, stepped in for his Rennes debut. It lasted four minutes.
Camara caught Lorient’s Dermane Karim in the head with a boot and was sent off.
In the 10th minute, Christopher Wooh brought down Aiyegun Tosin who was running at goal. Wooh was sent off.
“Unfortunately, both red cards were deserved,” said Beye.
Statistical service Opta said its Ligue 1 records went back to 1992 and it could find no previous instance of two players from the same team being sent off so soon after the opening whistle.
After an hour’s practice playing short-handed last week, the nine men held out until the fourth minute of first-half added time when Sambou Soumano gave the hosts the lead.
The visitors then unravelled. Tosin added a second two minutes into the second half, Pablo Pagis struck in the 65th minute and Theo Le Bris pounced four minutes later.
“Once we were down to nine men, it was a match we could no longer control, a match where we unfortunately had to shut up shop,” said Beye.
Twenty men have been charged in a point-shaving scheme involving more than 39 college basketball players on more than 17 NCAA Division I teams, leading to more than 29 games being fixed, according to a federal indictment unsealed Thursday in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
Fifteen of the defendants played college basketball during the 2023-24 and/or 2024-25 seasons, according to the indictment. Some have played this season. Two of the players named in the indictment, Cedquavious Hunter and Dyquavian Short, were sanctioned in November by the NCAA for fixing New Orleans games.
At least two of the defendants, Shane Hennen and Marves Fairley, were also charged in a federal indictment in the Eastern District of New York centered on gambling schemes in the NBA.
Former NBA player Antonio Blakeney was named but not charged in the indictment. The indictment describes Blakeney as being “charged elsewhere.”
The scheme, according to the indictment, began around September 2022 and initially was focused on fixing games in the Chinese Basketball Association. The group later targeted college basketball games, offering bribes to college players ranging from $10,000 to $30,000 to compromise games for betting purposes, according to the indictment.
“In placing these wagers on games they had fixed, the defendants defrauded sportsbooks, as well as individual sports bettors, who were all unaware that the defendants had corruptly manipulated the outcome of these games that should have been decided fairly, based on genuine competition and the best efforts of the players,” the indictment said.
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USAA on Thursday announced the three finalists for the NFL’s Salute to Service Award, and a dynasty in San Francisco could be on the rise.
After 49ers star George Kittle took home the award last year, Christian McCaffrey is among three finalists for the league’s award, along with Dallas Cowboys tight end Jake Ferguson and Minnesota Vikings running back Aaron Jones as the finalists — Jones was a finalist last year, as well.
“The finalists for the 15th Annual Salute to Service Award presented by USAA have used their platforms to be exceptional advocates for the military community, reminding us that service doesn’t stop when the uniform comes off,” Maj. Gen. (Ret.) Bob Whittle, Senior Vice President and Head of Military Affairs at USAA, said in a release.
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Christian McCaffrey, Jake Ferguson and Aaron Jones are this year’s Salute to Service Award finalists. (, G Fiume, and John Fisher/Getty Images)
“The NFL and USAA applaud Jake Ferguson, Aaron Jones, and Christian McCaffrey as deserving finalists who have demonstrated exactly what the award stands for — using the power of football to connect with, empower, appreciate and uplift our service members, veterans and their families.”
McCaffrey launched 23 and Troops in 2021 to focus on post-traumatic stress and athlete-level care for veterans. The foundation has raised $700,000 for military support and paid off holiday layaway for 515 military families.
San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey (23) celebrates his touchdown against the Atlanta Falcons in the first half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Oct. 19, 2025, in Santa Clara, California. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)
Ferguson has partnered with USAA to visit local military bases and supported the National Medal of Honor Museum, including an event in 2024 in which 900 students joined in person and thousands more virtually.
Jones grew up in a military household. His father, Alvin, served 29 years in the Army, while his mother, Vurgess, served for 27. Jones’ older brother, Xavier, serves in the Air Force. Jones and his twin brother, Alvin Jr., founded the A&A All the Way Foundation in 2020 to support the youth of military families.
The winner will be announced at NFL Honors in San Francisco on Feb. 5, the same night the MVP, Offensive and Defensive Players and Rookies, and Coach of the Year will be crowned.
George Kittle of the San Francisco 49ers celebrates after a touchdown with Christian McCaffrey of the San Francisco 49ers during the fourth quarter in the game against the Seattle Seahawks at Levi’s Stadium on Dec. 10, 2023, in Santa Clara, California. (Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
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Whittle and Kittle will be among those on the judging panel for the award.
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Monday night’s game featuring hometown Miami and championship-starved Indiana is one of the toughest tickets in sports.
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