Speed’s death weighs on players

Liverpool holds City to 1-1 draw


LONDON (AP) ― The death of Wales manager Gary Speed cast a shadow over the English Premier League games on Sunday.

Liverpool and Manchester City observed a moment of silence before their 1-1 draw at Anfield hours after news broke that Speed had been found dead at age 42. Asked to do the same, the fans at Swansea’s 0-0 draw with Aston Villa instead opted for an impromptu minute’s applause and chanted Speed’s name.

Villa goalkeeper Shay Given was in tears thinking of his former Newcastle teammate, while Wales striker Craig Bellamy was so upset he was left off Liverpool’s squad.

“It is a devastating loss for football and my heart goes out to Gary Speed’s family,” Villa manager Alex McLeish said. “We would have understood if Swansea had wanted to cancel the game. We would certainly have agreed with that.”

Four members of Speed’s Wales squad were involved at Swansea’s Liberty Stadium in south Wales. Ashley Williams, Neil Taylor and Joe Allen started for the home side and James Collins lined up for Villa.

“We decided from our end that we wanted to play as a mark of respect for Gary because he was a great man of football,” Swansea manager Brendan Rodgers said. “It is just so sad. He had been doing a fantastic job for Wales, and it’s a sad day for football.”

The game at Anfield was more eventful as Liverpool did old rival Manchester United a favor by becoming only the second team this season to stop unbeaten City from winning in the Premier League.

Vincent Kompany put City ahead in the 31st minute when he glanced a header into the top corner from David Silva’s corner kick, but Joleon Lescott’s outstretched leg deflected Charlie Adam’s shot past goalkeeper Joe Hart for an own goal that tied it just two minutes later.

Mario Balotelli received the third red card of his City career, but Hart made a couple of strong stops to keep the game tied. Silva could have won it for 10-man City but his shot was blocked on the line by one of a trio of covering defenders.

Spain

Real Sociedad defender Inigo Martinez converted a spectacular last-minute shot from inside his own half on Sunday to give his team a 3-2 win at Real Betis in the Spanish league.

The game looked to be headed for a draw but Martinez pushed forward and caught Betis goalkeeper Casto Espinosa off his line with a perfectly placed left-footed lob from near halfway out on the left.

“The ending to the game was just cruel,” said Betis coach Pepe Mel, whose team has lost eight of the last nine matches after a strong start to the season.

Martinez scored a similar goal from the halfway line in a 2-1 loss to Athletic Bilbao earlier this season.

The game in Seville came alive following a scoreless first half. Antoine Griezmann missed a penalty kick for Sociedad before visiting Basque went in front on Imanol Agirretxe’s 56th-minute header and Carlos Vela’s goal in the 76th.

Germany

Bayern Munich wasted a chance to go top of the Bundesliga after losing at Mainz 3-2 on Sunday.

Andreas Ivanschitz, Marco Caligiuri and Niko Bungert scored for the home side, with Daniel van Buyten scoring twice for Bayern. The Bayern defender almost completed a hat trick in injury time but fired wide from close range.

Bayern slipped to third after its second straight loss, one point behind defending champion Borussia Dortmund. Dortmund beat Bayern last weekend and leads Borussia Moenchengladbach on goal difference.

Ivanschitz opened the scoring in the 11th minute when Nicolai Mueller split the Bayern defense with a perfect ball for the Austrian, who slotted it in from a narrow angle.

Italy

Inter Milan needed a last-minute goal from Luc Castaignos to beat 10-man Siena 1-0 on Sunday and move further away from the Serie A relegation zone.

Inter’s second straight league win lifted it to 15th in the standings, four points off the bottom three. Inter leapfrogs Fiorentina, which lost 2-0 at Palermo on goals from Fabrizio Miccoli and Josip Ilicic. Fiorentina had Cesare Natali sent off in the final minutes after he picked up a second yellow card for dissent.

Also Sunday, Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored his 100th Serie A goal to help AC Milan crush Chievo 4-0 and keep the pressure on Serie A leader Juventus.