Category: Football

MANCHESTER: Manchester City have condemned criminal damage to Liverpool’s team bus following Saturday’s clash between the Premier League rivals.

Greater Manchester Police confirmed they have opened an investigation over the incident which took place after City’s 4-1 win at the Etihad Stadium.

No injuries were suffered and the Liverpool bus was able to continue its journey back to Merseyside.

“Manchester City FC has been made aware that Liverpool FC’s coach sustained damage on its return journey,” City said in a statement.

“We understand an object was thrown towards the coach in a residential area.

“Incidents of this kind are totally unacceptable, and we strongly condemn the actions of the individual(s) responsible.”

City also said they were disappointed by chanting from the home fans that made reference to the Hillsborough disaster in 1989, which led to the death of 97 Liverpool fans.

“The club is disappointed to have heard inappropriate chants from home fans during the game,” City added in a statement.

“We regret any offence these chants may have caused and will continue to work with supporter groups and officials from both clubs to eradicate hateful chanting from this fixture.”

Clashes between City and Liverpool have become heated in recent years as they have consistently gone head-to-head for major honours.

City’s bus was damaged by thrown bottles on its approach to Anfield ahead of a Champions League clash between the sides in 2018.

In December, a 15-year-old girl suffered a head injury after a plastic cup filled with coins was thrown from the Liverpool support into the City end during a League Cup tie at the Etihad.

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ELCHE: Robert Lewandowski scored a brace as Barcelona wreaked havoc on bottom-placed Elche to win 4-0 and go 15 points clear of arch-rivals Real Madrid at the top of La Liga on Saturday.

The Catalan giants strengthen their position in the title race after this win while second-placed Real will look to keep their slim hopes alive with a win against Valladolid on Sunday.

League’s top scorer Lewandowski ended his goal drought after three goalless games when he opened the scoring in the 20th minute with a close-range finish after Ronald Araujo headed the ball down to him in front of the goal.

Ansu Fati doubled the lead in the 55th minute by receiving a pass from Ferran Torres in his own half, moving towards the outside of the box, and hitting low into the far corner for his first league goal since October.

Lewandowski scored his second of the night 10 minutes later after Gavi snatched the ball off Elche’s defence and set up brilliantly for the polish strike in the box.

Torres slotted the fourth goal of the visitors in the 70th minute to wrap up the game.

With the rout, Elche were pushed deep into the crisis with only 13 points from 27 games, 14 points away from the safety zone.

Earlier, Sevilla beat Cadiz 2-0 to go 13th in the standing on 31 points while the opponents were left stranded on the brink of the relegation zone.

Meanwhile, 14th-placed Getafe held Athletic Club to a nil-nil draw at home.

Girone edged past Espanyol, thanks to a late penalty scored by Christian Stunai two minutes before time, to jump to 10th place with 34 points.

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LAHORE: The Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) on Saturday announced a 22-member squad for the upcoming Paris 2024 Olympics Football Qualifiers, starting in Tajikistan next week. 

Goalkeeper-turned-midfielder Maria Khan, who replaced Hajra Khan as the national women’s team’s captain in August 2022, will continue to lead the side in the upcoming AFC Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament.

The squad comprises six forwards, seven midfielders, six defenders and three goalkeepers.

According to the details, the national women’s team will hold a three-day training camp in Dubai before flying out to Tajikistan on April 3 for the first round of the Olympic Qualifiers.

Pakistan will play their first match of the tournament against the Philippines on April 5. They face Hong Kong on April 8 before ending their campaign on April 11 with an encounter against home side Tajikistan.

26 Asian teams will participate in the first round of the Olympic qualifiers. They are divided into five groups of four and two groups of three teams.

The seven group winners from the first round will join Asia’s five highest-ranked teams – North Korea, Japan, Australia, China and South Korea – in the second round of the Paris 2024 Olympic women’s football qualifiers to be held in October.

The three group winners and one best-placed runner-up from the second round will play for the two spots for Paris 2024 Olympics in the final round to be held in November-December 2023.

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MALLORCA: 10-man Mallorca had to overcome the number disadvantage for the final 20 minutes to hold Osasuna for a goalless draw in the mid-table clash in the ongoing La Liga.

Osasuna finished in ninth place and Mallorca in 11th after the stalemate, which lacked clear scoring opportunities until the last minutes.

The goalless draw against Mallorca meant Osasuna failed to score in their last four La Liga fixtures.

The visitors had the upper hand in the closing minutes and added time of the fixture and they did threaten but goalkeeper Predrag Rajkovic made back-to-back saves to deny Moncayola and Abde.

Earlier, Mallorca’s defender was given a straight red card for fouling Osasuna’s Ruben Garcia in the 69th minute, who only had to beat the goalkeeper.

Meanwhile, following their goalless stalemate against Mallorca, Osasuna will turn their focus back to Copa del Rey clash at Athletic Bilbao, leading 1-0 after the first leg.

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LAUSANNE: FIFA announced on Wednesday it had removed Indonesia as hosts of this year’s under-20 World Cup amid political turmoil over Israel’s participation.

“A new host will be announced as soon as possible, with the dates of the tournament currently remaining unchanged,” FIFA said in a statement.

Friday’s draw for the May 20-June 11 competition was scrapped by FIFA following protests over Israel’s involvement in the 24-team event.

In its statement, FIFA said Indonesia would no longer host the tournament “due to the current circumstances” without specifying details.

Indonesia and Israel do not have formal diplomatic relations, and support for the Palestinian cause in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation runs high, fuelling local opposition to hosting the Israeli team.

Indonesian officials said Bali’s governor calling for Israel to be thrown out of the cup because of its policies towards the Palestinians was likely behind the draw’s cancellation.

Around a hundred conservative Muslim demonstrators also marched in the capital Jakarta this month to protest Israel’s involvement.

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LONDON: Former Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson and ex-Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger on Wednesday became the first managers to be inducted into the Premier League Hall of Fame.

The two men locked horns during a period of intense rivalry starting in the 1990s, winning 16 English top-flight titles between them.

Ferguson, 81, is the most successful manager in Premier League history, guiding Manchester United to 13 titles, while Wenger won the competition three times with Arsenal, including going unbeaten in the 2003/04 season.

Ferguson, who managed United for more than 26 years, won the inaugural Premier League title in 1992/93 to deliver the Red Devils’ first league success since 1967.

Six players managed by Ferguson have already been inducted into the Premier League Hall of Fame — David Beckham, Eric Cantona, Roy Keane, Wayne Rooney, Peter Schmeichel and Paul Scholes.

“It’s an honour when you receive recognition like this,” said Ferguson, who retired in 2013 after winning his 13th title.

“However, it’s not just about me as a person. It’s about the job at Manchester United and the bond we had over many years, so I’m also proud for the club, the staff and my players.”

Wenger arrived at Arsenal in 1996 as one of the first foreign managers in the Premier League, staying at the club until 2018.

The Frenchman implemented a revolutionary football philosophy, bringing a focus on nutrition and sports science to the English game.

He was committed to playing attractive, attacking football, winning the title in 1997/98, his first full season with the club.

Wenger oversaw an astute transfer strategy, including scouting abroad for talent — fellow Hall of Fame members Thierry Henry and Patrick Vieira were two of his key players.

“To share this with Sir Alex is a great honour for me,” said the 73-year-old, who is currently FIFA’s football development chief.

“It’s like two boxers — you fight like mad and go the distance together. At the end of the day, you have respect and it will be a great opportunity to meet with him, share a good bottle of wine and memories of our old battles.”

Premier League chief executive Richard Masters said the two managers brought “unparalleled levels of success” to their clubs.

“The dominance of Manchester United under Sir Alex remains unmatched after he guided them to an incredible 13 titles across 21 Premier League seasons,” he said.

Masters added: “Arsene was an innovator who was well ahead of his time… and the Invincibles season is not only one of the greatest accomplishments in English football, but sport in general.”

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PARIS: France held on to beat Ireland 1-0 in Dublin on Monday to win their second Euro 2024 qualifier, while the Netherlands eased past Gibraltar 3-0.

Right-back Benjamin Pavard pounced with half an hour remaining at a sold-out Lansdowne Road before two superb Mike Maignan saves in the final two minutes.

With 30 seconds to play in Dublin, AC Milan’s Maignan, who has succeeded former captain Hugo Lloris as Les Bleus’ goalkeeper, tipped over team-mate Jules Kounde’s panicked header.

From the resulting corner Maignan saved the visitors’ skin as he made a similar save from Nathan Collins’ powerful effort.

“Mike’s stop allowed us to stay in the match and claim a clean sheet, so I’m going to say that he’s the man of the match,” Bayern Munich’s Pavard told television channel TF1.

“I had the chance to play, it was succesful, I scored, even if a defender’s main objective is to defend well,” he added.

In Rotterdam, Manchester City centre-back Nathan Ake scored twice in a little over half an hour as the Netherlands overcame 10-men Gibraltar, 200th in the FIFA rankings.

Atletico Madrid forward Memphis Depay opened the scoring in the first half with a towering header before veteran Liam Walker was shown a red card the other side of the break.

Oranje captain Virgil van Dijk bemoaned a lack of goals at De Kuip from his team, who lost heavily to France in their Group B opener on Friday.

“You score three goals, but you have to score many more,” van Dijk said.

“This is a game where you can hardly ever get it right. You have to win 10-0, so to speak,” he added.

Gregoritsch’s ‘rollercoaster’

In Group F, Sweden bounced back from a heavy opening defeat to Belgium by hammering Azerbaijan 5-0 in Solna.

Emile Forsberg, Viktor Gyokeres, Jesper Karlsson and Anthony Elanga netted for the hosts and Bahlul Mustafazade scored an own goal.

Austria avoided an upset at home to beat Estonia 2-1 despite trailing after 25 minutes from a Rauno Sappinen effort.

Cologne winger Florian Kainz opened his account for his country with 22 minutes to play before Michael Gregoritsch completed the comeback with two minutes to go.

Real Madrid’s David Alaba came off the bench after 46 minutes after Gregoritsch has missed a first half penalty.

“I’ve had enough of rollercoaster rides,” Gregoritsch told broadcasters ORF.

“I also have to apologise to the team for letting them worry for so long,” he added.

Dominik Szoboszlai superb free-kick set Hungary on their way to a 3-0 success over Bulgaria as they started their campaign clinically.

Elsewhere in Group G, Dusan Vlahovic’s double were more than enough as Serbia beat Montenegro 2-0 in only their third meeting since Montenegro declared independence in 2006.

In Group E, the Czech Republic were held 0-0 by lowly Moldova as Karol Swiderski scored his ninth goal in 21 internationals as Poland beat Albania 1-0 after losing to the Czechs on Friday.

On Tuesday, the pick of the ties is in Group A as Spain head to Scotland with the next international window in June.

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LUXEMBOURG: Cristiano Ronaldo remains a “very important” player for Portugal, coach Roberto Martinez said on Sunday after the veteran striker scored a second successive brace in Euro 2024 qualifying against Luxembourg.

The 38-year-old opened the scoring for the Euro 2016 winners by turning in Nuno Mendes’ header and slotted home another in the 31st minute as Portugal won 6-0.

Ronaldo, who also netted twice against Liechtenstein on Thursday, increased his records of most men’s international appearances and goals to 198 and 122 respectively.

“Cristiano is a unique player in the world, with the highest number of international caps,” said Martinez, who has restored Ronaldo to the starting line-up after he was dropped during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

“The experience he has for the dressing room is very important.

“All players have an important role. The younger ones due to their willingness to play and players like Cristiano Ronaldo, Rui Patricio and Bernardo Silva bring experience.

“It’s important to have a complete dressing room.”

Martinez joined Portugal after the World Cup, replacing Fernando Santos who had been in charge since 2014.

The Spaniard has enjoyed a fine start, with his team already two points clear at the top of Group J having scored 10 goals without reply.

Joao Felix, Bernardo Silva, Otavio and Rafael Leao were all also on the scoresheet in Luxembourg.

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LONDON: Gareth Southgate hailed “ruthless” Bukayo Saka as the England forward’s breathtaking goal inspired a 2-0 win against Ukraine that maintained his side’s perfect start to their Euro 2024 qualifying campaign on Sunday.

Southgate’s team followed an impressive victory against Italy in their Group C opener with another composed display highlighted by Saka’s brilliance and the latest example of Harry Kane’s predatory instincts.

Saka has been one of the standout performers in Arsenal’s climb to the top of the Premier League this season and the forward was at his very best once again at Wembley.

It was Saka’s pin-point cross that allowed Kane to give England the lead in the first half as the Three Lions captain extended his record tally for his country.

Kane wrote himself into the record books against Italy, scoring his 54th international goal to surpass Wayne Rooney as England’s all-time leading goalscorer.

Surrounded by his wife and children, the Tottenham striker was presented with a golden boot before kick-off, but quickly got back down to business with goal number 55.

Kane had been more instrumental than most in England’s progress to major tournaments in his career, scoring 34 times in just 29 qualifying group matches.

Aged 29, Kane is at his peak, while the 21-year-old Saka is only just starting to explore the vast depths of his potential, as he showed with his superb long-range goal.

“Once he receives inside and turns you know there’s a chance that might happen. It’s a top-level finish,” Southgate said.

“That’s really the ruthless part he’s added to his game in the last 18 months.

“There were times where you weren’t certain he was going to finish, and now you’ve got real confidence when he’s through on goal.

“Everyone can see technical quality. It is the mentality that is the outstanding part.”

England’s 2-1 victory over European champions Italy on Thursday — their first success on Italian soil since 1961 — was a significant statement of intent in their bid to finally win a first major trophy since 1966.

Dismissing Ukraine in business-like fashion ensured the positive mood will continue while England wait to resume their qualifying campaign against Malta and North Macedonia in June.

“I’m really pleased. We made a difficult game look straightforward,” Southgate said.

“To back up the Italy result was important but there is still room to grow.”

Patient England

It was an emotional occasion for more than 1,000 Ukrainians and their host families, who were invited to the game as special guests of England’s Football Association having been displaced by the war with Russia.

Showing solidarity with Ukraine, England’s players joined their opponents before kick-off behind a Ukrainian flag with “Peace” written across it.

“It was amazing to see so many Ukrainian fans here. We knew it was going to be emotional and we all have tremendous sympathy with what’s going on. Everyone’s supporting Ukraine,” Southgate said.

Beaten in the 2018 World Cup semi-finals and the European Championship final two years ago, England are still chasing their trophy holy grail.

In their first home game since last year’s World Cup campaign ended in a painful quarter-final defeat against France, Southgate’s men showed their hunger has not been dulled by so many agonising near-misses.

England had been patient against Ukraine’s massed defence and, while their build-up might have looked ponderous at times, it was a steady approach that paid off in the 37th minute.

Saka whipped a perfectly-weighted cross towards the far post and when Oleksandr Karavaev couldn’t get enough power on his attempted clearance, Kane stuck out a boot to deflect it in from close range.

Having provided the assist for Kane, Saka got on the scoresheet himself three minutes later.

Taking possession 20 yards from goal, the Arsenal forward easily evaded Mykola Matviyenko and curled a sublime strike over Anatoliy Trubin into the far corner for a jaw-dropping goal that brought the previously subdued Wembley crowd to their feet.

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TANGIERS: Morocco stunned Brazil 2-1 in a friendly international on Saturday as the north African side recorded a first-ever win over the five-time world champions.

Midfielder Sofiane Boufal, a former Southampton star, but now playing with Al Rayyan in Qatar, gave Morocco the lead after 29 minutes, scoring with a powerful turn and drive from a pass by Bilal El Khannous.

Brazil skipper Casemiro levelled in the 67th minute when his weak shot was fumbled by goalkeeper Yassine Bounou.

But on-loan Sampdoria midfielder Abdelhamid Sabiri struck the winner with a volley in the 79th minute as Morocco showed that becoming the first Arab or African nation to reach the World Cup semi-finals last year was no fluke.

“I wouldn’t say we lacked understanding, it’s about putting into practice the ideas of a new coach,” said Manchester United’s Casemiro.

“I think we played a good game and did everything as far as possible to win.”

Only 10 of the 23-man squad that took Brazil to a disappointing quarter-final exit at the World Cup made the trip to Morocco for the game.

The injured Neymar was again missing with his number 10 shirt passing to Real Madrid youngster Rodrygo.

Brazil also had a new manager in the dugout with interim coach Ramon Menezes having replaced Tite who stepped down after the World Cup last-eight exit at the hands of Croatia.

The Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) hopes to be able to announce the name of its new coach before the start of qualifying for the 2026 World Cup in September.

According to Brazilian media, the CBF’s first choice is Carlo Ancelotti, currently in charge of Real Madrid.

However, he is not expected to make a decision on his future before the end of the European season.

Before kick-off at the Ibn Batouta stadium, both teams paid tribute to Pele, who died last December at the age of 82.

Until Saturday, Morocco had suffered defeats in their only two other meetings with Brazil — 2-0 in a 1997 friendly and 3-0 in the group stages of the 1998 World Cup in France.

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