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Ice Hockey-Finland Beat Slovakia to Reach Gold Medal Final

Patrik Rybar of Slovakia and Martin Marincin of Slovakia in action as Sakari Manninen of Finland shoots to score their first goal. (Reuters)
Patrik Rybar of Slovakia and Martin Marincin of Slovakia in action as Sakari Manninen of Finland shoots to score their first goal. (Reuters)
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Ice Hockey-Finland Beat Slovakia to Reach Gold Medal Final

Patrik Rybar of Slovakia and Martin Marincin of Slovakia in action as Sakari Manninen of Finland shoots to score their first goal. (Reuters)
Patrik Rybar of Slovakia and Martin Marincin of Slovakia in action as Sakari Manninen of Finland shoots to score their first goal. (Reuters)

Finland claimed a 2-0 win over Slovakia to reach the men's ice hockey final at the Beijing Games on Friday helped by Sakari Manninen's first period goal and Harri Sateri's shutout netminding.

With Slovakia pulling their netminder for an extra-attacker late on in a bid to draw level, Harri Pesonen scored into an empty net with 39 seconds left to wrap up the victory.

Finland now await the winners of the second semi-final later on Friday between defending gold medalists the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) and Sweden.

The Finns had easily handled Slovakia in their tournament opener, easing to a 6-2 win, but this time faced much more determined opponents battling for a place in Sunday's gold medal game.

Finland scored the only goal of an opening period that produced few scoring chances.

But Manninen made one of Finland's seven shots count by pouncing on a rebound and lifting it over sprawling netminder Patrik Rybar for a 1-0 lead.

The rest of the game featured a goaltending duel between Rybar and Sateri, who made 28 saves to earn the shutout, with Pesonen finding the net to round off the win for Finland.

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Mbappé Scores as Madrid Moves Closer to Barcelona in Spanish League

Real Madrid's French forward #09 Kylian Mbappé (R) celebrates scoring the opening goal with Real Madrid's Brazilian forward #07 Vinícius Júnior and Real Madrid's Turkish midfielder #15 Arda Guler (L) during the Spanish league football match between Club Deportivo Leganes SAD and Real Madrid CF at the Estadio Municipal Butarque in Leganes on November 24, 2024. (AFP)
Real Madrid's French forward #09 Kylian Mbappé (R) celebrates scoring the opening goal with Real Madrid's Brazilian forward #07 Vinícius Júnior and Real Madrid's Turkish midfielder #15 Arda Guler (L) during the Spanish league football match between Club Deportivo Leganes SAD and Real Madrid CF at the Estadio Municipal Butarque in Leganes on November 24, 2024. (AFP)
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Mbappé Scores as Madrid Moves Closer to Barcelona in Spanish League

Real Madrid's French forward #09 Kylian Mbappé (R) celebrates scoring the opening goal with Real Madrid's Brazilian forward #07 Vinícius Júnior and Real Madrid's Turkish midfielder #15 Arda Guler (L) during the Spanish league football match between Club Deportivo Leganes SAD and Real Madrid CF at the Estadio Municipal Butarque in Leganes on November 24, 2024. (AFP)
Real Madrid's French forward #09 Kylian Mbappé (R) celebrates scoring the opening goal with Real Madrid's Brazilian forward #07 Vinícius Júnior and Real Madrid's Turkish midfielder #15 Arda Guler (L) during the Spanish league football match between Club Deportivo Leganes SAD and Real Madrid CF at the Estadio Municipal Butarque in Leganes on November 24, 2024. (AFP)

Kylian Mbappé scored and Real Madrid moved within four points of Spanish league leader Barcelona with a 3-0 win at Leganes on Sunday ahead of its eagerly awaited Champions League match against Liverpool.

Federico Valverde and Jude Bellingham also scored to close the gap on Barcelona, which conceded two late goals in a 2-2 draw at Celta Vigo on Saturday.

Madrid has played one game less than Barcelona after its match at Valencia was postponed because of the deadly floods in October.

Madrid will make the trip to England to face Premier League leader Liverpool on Wednesday in the Champions League, and is hoping to recover from a demoralizing 3-1 home loss against AC Milan in the previous round of matches.

Madrid's attack worked well against Leganes with Vinícius Júnior playing inside and Mbappé more on the flank. The France striker scored after going four straight games without finding the net for the Spanish powerhouse.

“We switched their positions and the team was able to stay in control during the whole match,” Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said.

Mbappé said he is fine playing wherever Ancelotti puts him.

“I've said it on the first day that I can play in several different positions,” Mbappé said. “All I want is to keep playing well and scoring goals.”

Athletic wins Basque derby

Oihan Sancet scored a 26th-minute winner as Athletic Bilbao defeated Real Sociedad 1-0 in the Basque Country derby.

It was Athletic's fourth straight home win against Sociedad in the derby.

The victory moved Athletic to fifth place and left Sociedad in 10th position.

Villarreal recovers late

Fourth-place Villarreal scored an equalizer in stoppage time to salvage a 2-2 draw at sixth-place Osasuna.

Ante Budimir scored twice in the first 20 minutes for Osasuna. Villarreal, which was coming off three straight victories in all competitions, scored through Álex Baena in the 67th and a penalty kick converted by Gerard Moreno three minutes into injury time.

Osasuna, sitting three points behind Villarreal, was coming off a 4-0 loss at Madrid.

Also Sunday, Sevilla ended a two-game losing streak in the league with a 1-0 win against Rayo Vallecano, which played the entire second half with 10 men after Unai López was sent off for a hard foul.

Djibril Sow scored Sevilla's goal in the 27th.