Chelsea’s Palmer Comes Back to Haunt Man City in Thrilling 4-4 Draw 

Football - Premier League - Chelsea v Manchester City - Stamford Bridge, London, Britain - November 12, 2023 Chelsea's Cole Palmer celebrates scoring their fourth goal with Nicolas Jackson. (Reuters)
Football - Premier League - Chelsea v Manchester City - Stamford Bridge, London, Britain - November 12, 2023 Chelsea's Cole Palmer celebrates scoring their fourth goal with Nicolas Jackson. (Reuters)
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Chelsea’s Palmer Comes Back to Haunt Man City in Thrilling 4-4 Draw 

Football - Premier League - Chelsea v Manchester City - Stamford Bridge, London, Britain - November 12, 2023 Chelsea's Cole Palmer celebrates scoring their fourth goal with Nicolas Jackson. (Reuters)
Football - Premier League - Chelsea v Manchester City - Stamford Bridge, London, Britain - November 12, 2023 Chelsea's Cole Palmer celebrates scoring their fourth goal with Nicolas Jackson. (Reuters)

Former Manchester City player Cole Palmer scored a penalty in the fifth minute of stoppage time as Chelsea came back to draw 4-4 with the defending Premier League champions on Sunday.

Palmer left City for Chelsea in a deal worth around $52 million in September and showed supreme composure to fire past Ederson in the dying stages of a thrilling match at Stamford Bridge.

Rodri had looked like securing a win for Pep Guardiola's team with a deflected effort with four minutes left of regulation time.

But referee Anthony Taylor pointed to the spot when Ruben Dias slid into substitute Armando Broja in the box. After a delay, Palmer swept his shot into the corner to stop City moving three points clear at the top.

Chelsea dented Tottenham’s title ambitions with a wild 4-1 win against Ange Postecoglou’s team on Monday and proved a challenge for City, too, by coming back from behind on three occasions.

Erling Haaland fired City ahead from the penalty spot in the 25th after VAR adjudged Marc Cucurella to have fouled the Norwegian.

Thiago Silva evened the score four minutes later with header from Conor Gallagher’s corner.

Another former City player, Raheem Sterling, put Chelsea 2-1 up in the 37th by tapping in Reece James' cross after a sweeping attack,

The score was even again in first-half stoppage time when Bernardo Silva crossed for Manuel Akanji to head in.

City re-took the lead two minutes after the break, with Haaland the goal scorer again — sliding in to convert from close range.

Chelsea pushed again for an equalizer and Palmer was close to scoring when running from deep into the box and forcing a one-on-one save from Ederson.

Chelsea's third goal eventually came from Nicolas Jackson in the 67th. The striker fired in from the rebound after Gallagher’s long shot was parried.

Malo Gusto wasted a golden chance to put Chelsea ahead again by firing over from inside the box when he had the whole goal to aim at. And that miss proved costly when Rodri came up with what looked like the winner.

The Spain midfielder’s powerful effort from the edge of the box took a big deflection off Thiago Silva to send Chelsea goalkeeper Robert Sanchez the wrong way as the ball flew into the opposite corner.

It looked like being a cruel way to decide such a thrilling contest until Palmer's late intervention.



Uruguayan Football Player Juan Izquierdo Dies Days After Collapsing During Game in Brazil 

Nacional's defender Juan Manuel Izquierdo poses for the team photo during the Copa Libertadores third round second leg football match between Uruguay's Nacional and Bolivia's Always Ready at the Gran Parque Central stadium in Montevideo, on March 14, 2024. (AFP)
Nacional's defender Juan Manuel Izquierdo poses for the team photo during the Copa Libertadores third round second leg football match between Uruguay's Nacional and Bolivia's Always Ready at the Gran Parque Central stadium in Montevideo, on March 14, 2024. (AFP)
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Uruguayan Football Player Juan Izquierdo Dies Days After Collapsing During Game in Brazil 

Nacional's defender Juan Manuel Izquierdo poses for the team photo during the Copa Libertadores third round second leg football match between Uruguay's Nacional and Bolivia's Always Ready at the Gran Parque Central stadium in Montevideo, on March 14, 2024. (AFP)
Nacional's defender Juan Manuel Izquierdo poses for the team photo during the Copa Libertadores third round second leg football match between Uruguay's Nacional and Bolivia's Always Ready at the Gran Parque Central stadium in Montevideo, on March 14, 2024. (AFP)

Uruguayan football player Juan Izquierdo died Tuesday at a hospital in Brazil five days after collapsing during a game at Sao Paulo. He was 27.

Hospital Albert Einstein in Sao Paulo said in a statement that the Nacional defender died at 9:38 p.m. local time following “cardiorespiratory arrest associated with his cardiac arrhythmia.”

Izquierdo was taken to the hospital after he collapsed late in a Copa Libertadores soccer match at Sao Paulo’s Morumbi Stadium last Thursday.

The Uruguayan club posted a statement on social media saying Izquierdo’s death is felt “in deep pain and impact in our hearts” and “all Nacional is in grief for his irreplaceable loss.”

South American soccer’s governing body also posted a tribute. CONMEBOL president Alejandro Domínguez said he’s “deeply sorry about the early departure of Juan Izquierdo.

“South American soccer is in mourning,” he said. Other federations, including Uruguay, Brazil and Argentina, also expressed their condolences.

In a statement Monday, doctors at the hospital said Izquierdo was put into neurological critical care because of increased intracranial pressure. He had been on a ventilator since Sunday.

Uruguayan media said Izquierdo’s parents and Nacional executives were at the hospital in Sao Paulo. Izquierdo was married and had two children — the youngest, a boy, was born earlier in August.

Uruguayan national team players were among those expressing their condolences.

“Pain, sadness, it is hard to explain,” Inter Miami striker Luis Suárez said. “May he rest in peace. I wish a lot of strength for his family and friends.”

Uruguay’s first- and second-division soccer leagues were postponed last weekend due to concerns over Izquierdo’s health. Sao Paulo players wore a shirt in support of the Uruguayan footballer before the team’s 2-1 Brazilian league win against Vitoria on Sunday.

The Brazilian club also posted a message after Izquierdo's death.

“We had days of prayers, union and hope, and today we are in deep sadness with the news of the death of Juan Izquierdo,” Sao Paulo's club statement said. “Our condolences to family, friends, teammates, Nacional fans and all the Uruguayan people in this moment of grief.”

Izquierdo’s professional career began in 2018 at local club Cerro. He joined Peñarol the following year, but didn’t get much playing time.

“Peñarol is deeply sorry about the passing of Juan Manuel Izquierdo. We express our heartfelt condolences and we embrace his family, his friends and Nacional in this moment of so much pain," Peñarol said in its social media channels.

After leaving Peñarol, Izquierdo moved to Montevideo Wanderers.

His athletic form and sharp tackles caught the attention of Mexico’s San Luís in 2021, but he quickly returned to the Montevideo Wanderers. Izquierdo was signed by Nacional in 2022, played one match and then was transferred to the local Liverpool club.

The defender was one of Liverpool’s best players in the campaign that led to a Uruguayan league title in 2023, the club’s first in more than a century.

Izquierdo returned to Nacional this year and was vying for a position in the starting lineup with veteran Sebastián Coates, who played for Uruguay’s national team. He played 23 matches this year and scored one goal.

Almost two decades ago, Sao Caetano defender Serginho died hours after collapsing at Morumbi Stadium during a Brazilian league match against Sao Paulo. Doctors tried to resuscitate him on the pitch, as tens of thousands of fans watched in shock and players wept and prayed on the sidelines.

Serginho's death forced Brazilian soccer executives to change health protocols to allow defibrillators in every stadium. Doctors used a defibrillator on Izquierdo as he was being rushed to the nearby Hospital Albert Einstein.

“Such sadness, 20 years later,” former Sao Caetano player Anderson Lima said on Instagram. “May God comfort his family in this sad moment.”