LONDON: Ryan Giggs saw his first match as interim Manchester United manager end in a 4-0 thrashing of Premier League strugglers Norwich City at Old Trafford on Saturday.
Wayne Rooney and substitute Juan Mata scored two goals apiece as the soon-to-be-dethroned English champions left the Canaries just a point above the relegation zone with two games remaining.
Giggs, who decided against naming himself in the starting side or on the bench, saw Rooney give United the lead with a 41st-minute penalty after Danny Welbeck went down in the box.
England striker Rooney made it 2-0 seven minutes after the break with a curling shot from outside the box as Norwich’s defense backed off.
Mata put the result beyond doubt in the 63rd minute when he turned in Phil Jones’s cross before adding a second goal 10 minutes later as Norwich retreated again.
United great Giggs, previously a player-coach, was put in caretaker charge for the final four games of the season when former manager David Moyes was sacked on Tuesday.
Moyes was dismissed just 10 months after replacing the retired Alex Ferguson following a 2-0 defeat by Everton — his former club — made it mathematically impossible for United to qualify for next season’s Champions League.
Earlier, Everton suffered a huge blow in their own quest to join European club football’s elite after a pair of own-goals saw them beaten 2-0 away to Southampton.
Everton remain a point behind Arsenal, who currently occupy the fourth and final Champions League spot, ahead of the Gunners’ match at home to Newcastle United on Monday.
But Everton manager Roberto Martinez insisted the Merseysiders, whose final two league games of the season are against title contenders Manchester City and FA Cup finalists Hull City, had not given up on a Champions League place.
“Not at all, from our point of view it doesn’t change at all,” Martinez told BT Sport. “Today was a real setback, but we’ll be ready for next Saturday.” Everton fell behind in under a minute at St. Mary’s when Antolin Alacaraz headed a cross from Southampton’s Rickie Lambert past goalkeeper Tim Howard.
And the visitors went 2-0 down in the 31st minute when Seamus Coleman diverted Nathaniel Clyne’s cross into his own net.
Fulham missed the chance to climb out of the relegation zone after Hull came from 2-0 down to secure a 2-2 draw at Craven Cottage.
Ashkan Dejagah curled in a 55th-minute shot and the west London side then doubled their lead through Fernando Amorebieta’s header three minutes later.
Nikica Jelavic pulled a goal back for Hull in the 75th minute and they equalized three minutes from time when Shane Long headed in Sone Aluko’s cross.
“It was very disappointing,” said Fulham manager Felix Magath. “If you are leading 2-0 at home, you have to see it through.” West Bromwich Albion moved five points clear of the relegation zone with a 1-0 win at home to West Ham United.
Saido Berahino scored the only goal at The Hawthorns when he turned in Morgan Amalfitano’s center in the 11th minute.
“I think that we need to win one of our final three games to be safe,” said West Brom manager Pepe Mel.
Aston Villa were left just four points above the drop after a 4-1 loss away to Swansea City.
Wilfried Bony opened the scoring for Swansea before Gabriel Agbonlahor briefly drew visitors Villa level in south Wales.
However, midfielder Jonjo Shelvey restored Swansea’s lead in the 26th minute with a stunning volley from inside the center circle that dipped over the head of back-pedalling Villa goalkeeper Brad Guzan.
Pablo Hernandez made it 3-1 before Ivorian striker Bony converted a late penalty for his 24th goal of the season.
Tottenham Hotspur moved to within three points of fifth-placed Everton with a 1-0 win at Stoke City, courtesy of Danny Rose’s 33rd-minute header.
Stoke were reduced to 10 men in the second half when Ryan Shawcross was sent off after receiving a second yellow card for a studs-up challenge on Rose.
The race for the title will intensify on Sunday when leaders Liverpool face second-placed Chelsea, five points behind, at Anfield.
Third-placed Manchester City, six points off the summit but with a game in hand on the top two, are away to Crystal Palace.
At the other end of the table there is a relegation clash when bottom of the table Sunderland host fellow strugglers Cardiff City.
Giggs gets United reign off to winning start
Giggs gets United reign off to winning start
Italian gymnastics ex-coach stands trial for bullying
ROME: The former coach of Italy’s rhythmic gymnastics team goes on trial Tuesday accused of bullying athletes, fueling questions over the treatment of young athletes as the country hosts the Winter Olympics.
Emanuela Maccarani, a former national team gymnast herself, faces charges of abuse of minors at a court in Monza near Milan, which is hosting part of the Games.
The trial was sparked by explosive claims three years ago by two promising Italian gymnasts, Nina Corradini and double world champion Anna Basta, who claimed they quit the sport while still teenagers as a result of psychological abuse by Maccarani.
Corradini and Basta are civil parties along with two other gymnasts, Beatrice Tornatore and Francesca Mayer, and Change The Game, an Italian association campaigning against emotional, physical and sexual abuse and violence in sports.
Maccarani has denied the charges. Five gymnasts who trained with her submitted statements in her defense at a preliminary hearing in September.
Change The Game founder Daniela Simonetti told AFP the trial throws into “question methods that often cause pain, devastation, and significant consequences for boys and girls in general.”
“This trial is linked to a way of thinking, a way of understanding sport, a way of managing young athletes.
“The expectation is that there will be a real debate around this, whether these methods are right or wrong,” she said.
Episodes of alleged abuse in the discipline have come under growing scrutiny, particularly following a sexual abuse scandal in the late 2010s, which saw former Team USA doctor Larry Nassar convicted of molesting girls.
Vulnerable
The Olympics Committee has given more attention to mental health in recent years in a bid to protect athlete wellbeing.
While the discipline is not featured at the Winter Games, the world’s top gymnasts are preparing for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
Coach Maccarani, 59, led Italy to the top of a sport traditionally dominated by countries from the former Soviet bloc.
But during her near three-decade reign at the Italian team’s National Training Center in Desio, not far from Monza, days began with gymnasts being weighed in front of one another.
Often a long way from their families and barely out of childhood, they were vulnerable.
Some took laxatives and weighed themselves obsessively. One world champion reported being berated for eating a pear.
The affair appeared to be over in September 2023 when Maccarani was given a simple warning by the disciplinary tribunal of the country’s gymnastics federation (FGI) and handed back the reins of the national team, nicknamed the “Butterflies.”
But in March last year the FGI, under new president Andrea Facci, sacked Maccarani.
The FGI’s official explanation to AFP at the time of her dismissal was that the organization wanted to “open a new cycle in preparation for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.”
Corradini, whose testimony led the Monza prosecutor’s office to open an investigation, told AFP last year she was happy for “the young athletes who will now join the national team and who will surely have a different experience.”
