soccer
barcelona powers on with shutout of real madrid
MADRID — Barcelona has almost ended Real Madrid’s defense of its Spanish league title, and there’s still half a season to go.
Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez left Madrid staring at a 14-point deficit after leading Barcelona to a 3-0 win at the Santiago Bernabeu on Saturday.
Madrid has a game in hand, but the gap already looks too big as La Liga approaches its midway point.
"It is a loss that hurts," Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane said.
Barcelona increased its lead to nine points over second-place Atletico Madrid, which lost at Espanyol on Friday. Valencia’s 1-0 loss to Villarreal at home on Saturday left it 11 points back.
Suarez struck in the 54th minute, and Messi added a penalty 10 minutes later after Madrid’s Dani Carvajal received a direct red for stopping a goal-bound header by Paulinho.
Messi also set up substitute Aleix Vidal to round off the commanding win in stoppage time.
Despite the standings, Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde and his players aren’t excluding a Madrid comeback. "We took another step forward in the league, but I don’t rule out Madrid," midfielder Andres Iniesta said. "This is a long-distance race."
England: Premier League leader Manchester City surged to a 17th successive victory with Sergio Aguero scoring twice in a 4-0 victory over visiting Bournemouth. Visiting Manchester United conceded a stoppage-time equalizer against 10-man Leicester and ended with a 2-2 tie that further dented its faint title hopes. Second-place United is 13 points behind City. Harry Kane scored a hat trick for Tottenham in a 3-0 win at host Burnley to equal Alan Shearer’s 1995 league record of 36 goals in a calendar year. Tottenham has one more game this year, against Southampton on Tuesday.
golf
Tiger decides to be his own swing coach
Tiger Woods is embarking on his latest comeback without a swing coach.
Woods said on Twitter he is parting ways with Chris Como after three years because he believes it’s best to continue on his own to relearn his body and golf swing after fusion surgery on his lower back in April.
"I’m grateful to Chris Como for his past work, and I have nothing but respect for him," Woods said.
Como said he’s proud of what the two have accomplished and he believes Woods is about to have an incredible run next year.
Como was not in the Bahamas when Woods returned to competition this month at the Hero World Challenge. Woods had plenty of speed and power in his swing in his first event in 10 months, shot three rounds in the 60s and tied for ninth in an 18-man field, 10 shots behind Rickie Fowler.
Woods has not said where he will play first in 2018.
et cetera
high school football: The grandson of Cowboys owner Jerry Jones became the first quarterback to throw for more than 500 yards in a Texas state title game as he led Highland Park to a 53-49 win over Manvel in the Class 5A Division I finale at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, the Cowboys’ home. John Stephen Jones, who has received scholarship offers from Texas Tech, Arkansas and SMU, had 564 yards and four touchdowns on 37 of 58 passing, capping it with a 16-yard touchdown pass with 34 seconds left for the win.
Times wires