Category: Football

SAN SEBASTIAN: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s early goal proved enough as Barcelona sealed a 1-0 win over Real Sociedad on Thursday to tighten their grip on a top-four finish in La Liga.

But Barca’s run-in could be hampered after their defence was almost completely wiped out by injuries at Anoeta, with Dani Alves, Ronald Araujo and Gerard Pique all going off with problems while Jordi Alba appeared to play on in discomfort.

Barcelona relied on a combination of poor finishing from Real Sociedad and excellent saves from Marc-Andre ter Stegen to secure a big win in the chase for Champions League qualification.

Barcelona go back to second, six points clear of Real Betis in fifth, with a game in hand, and two ahead of Atletico Madrid in fourth. Atletico were held to a goalless draw by Granada on Wednesday.

Sevilla sit third after they held on for a 3-2 win away at Levante, Tecatito scoring twice in Valencia.

Real Sociedad might have had an outside chance of joining the race for the top four if they had beaten Barcelona but defeat surely leaves them looking to secure a spot in the Europa League. They are six points behind Atletico in fourth.

Xavi challenged his players on Wednesday to escape the “negative dynamic” after back-to-back defeats by Eintracht Frankfurt in the Europa League and Cadiz at Camp Nou.

There was controversy off the pitch too, as Pique found himself in the middle of a media storm this week after leaked audio messages revealed unseemly conversations with the president of the Spanish football federation, Luis Rubiales.

Pique’s early touches were whistled by the Real Sociedad crowd, who jeered again when the 35-year-old was substituted in the 82nd minute.

Alves had already gone off in the 66th and Araujo in the 55th, with Barca now crossing their fingers the problems are not serious.

The decisive moment, though, came in the 11th minute as Ousmane Dembele hit the post when left free in the area. The ball cannoned out and La Real looked safe to clear until Gavi robbed the ball back, chipped it to Ferran Torres, whose looping ball across allowed Aubameyang to nod in.

Real Sociedad might easily have grabbed an equaliser but kept running into the Marc-Andre ter Stegen, who enjoyed an inspired night in the Barcelona goal.

Alexander Isak went close while Alexander Sorloth missed La Real’s best chances, firing wide at the back post from Nacho Monreal’s cross and then taking too long after being picked out in the area by Adnan Januzaj.

Sorloth had another sight of goal late on, but his finish from the angle was brilliantly stopped by Ter Stegen, this time his left foot allowing Barca to hold on for an important victory.

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KARACHI: The league’s favourite Pakistan Army won the Naya Nazimabad Floodlights Ramadan Cup Football Tournament on Tuesday night, defeating Madhu Mohammadan 3-1 in the final.

In the final of the competitive league, Madhu Mohammadan were off to a flying start as the side pulled ahead in the fifth minute of the game with Shah Jehan netting a fine strike.

The side then managed to keep things tight for the Army and did not let the opposition strike back till the first half and maintained a 1-0 lead.

Shortly after the breather Army’s striker, Qadeer Khan levelled the scores with one of the best fielding efforts. Whereas, their skipper Ansar Abbas’s valiant effort put the side into the lead in the 76th minute.

Matin Khan then stretched Army’s lead to 3-1 briefly after four minutes. Whereas, Madhu Mohammadan despite some terrific efforts failed to cut the margin and the Army, in the end, clinched the victory.

Shah Jahan, who played with Madhu Mohammadan, was named player of the tournament. Abdul FC won the fair play award, and Mohammad Asif of Abdul FC was the top scorer with four goals. Army’s Fahim Khan was named the best goalie.

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LONDON: Eddie Nketiah boosted Arsenal’s bid for a top-four finish in the Premier League as the striker’s double inspired a dramatic 4-2 win against Chelsea on Wednesday.

Nketiah was released by Chelsea as a 16-year-old in 2015 and he exacted a measure of revenge with his first league goals this season.

The 22-year-old put Arsenal ahead early on at Stamford Bridge before Timo Werner equalised.

Mikel Arteta’s side regained the lead through, Emile Smith Rowe, only for Cesar Azpilicueta to draw Chelsea level again.

Nketiah settled a pulsating London derby when he punished shambolic Chelsea defending in the second half and Bukayo Saka bagged the fourth with a stoppage-time penalty.

After losing their last three games, Nketiah’s crucial contribution lifted Arsenal back into the race to qualify for next season’s Champions League via a top-four finish.

The Gunners are in fifth place, behind fourth-placed Tottenham on goal difference with both teams having six games to play.

Arsenal’s hopes of returning to the Champions League for the first time since 2017 face another vital test against sixth-placed Manchester United on Saturday.

FA Cup finalists Chelsea remain in third place, but they are now only five points ahead of Arsenal and cannot take a top-four place for granted.

Chelsea have conceded 11 goals in their last three home games and Azpilicueta’s frustration boiled over in an angry exchange with a fan after the final whistle.

Blues boss Thomas Tuchel admitted he could empathise with the fan’s angst.

With Thiago Silva and Antonio Rudiger absent from the start, Chelsea’s defending was extremely unconvincing and Arsenal took the lead in the 13th minute.

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ANGERS: Star Argentine footballer Lionel Messi, who is representing Paris Saint-German (PSG) in the ongoing Ligue 1 has suffered an Achilles tendon injury, which may keep him out of action from the league’s next matches.

Messi suffered the injury ahead of his side’s clash with the home side Angers and is doubtful for the next matches as well. The PSG reported on Tuesday that the striker will undergo more tests in the next 48 hours.

Messi could only manage to represent his side PSG only once out of the 11 matches this season. Either be it due to COVID-19, national duty, or an injury.

It is pertinent to mention here that PSG have thumped Angers 3-0 as Kylian Mbappe, Sergi Ramos, and Marquinhos netted the ball once each. The club, despite lacking the services of Messi, is comfortably sitting at the top position in the points table with 77 points in 33 matches.

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BARCELONA: Barcelona’s place in La Liga’s top four looks much less secure after they suffered a surprise 1-0 defeat at home to relegation-battling Cadiz on Monday.

Lucas Perez’s close-range finish early in the second half condemned Barca to a second consecutive defeat, on the back of their shock exit at the hands of Eintracht Frankfurt in the Europa League on Thursday.

Barcelona stayed second but are level on points with both Sevilla in third and Atletico Madrid in fourth while Real Betis in fifth are only three points behind. Xavi Hernandez’s team do have a game in hand over the trio below them.

But the loss means Barca have won only one of their last four matches, that victory coming via an injury-time winner against 19th-placed Levante.

Any hopes they had of making leaders Real Madrid feel uncomfortable are surely over, with Madrid 15 points clear at the top, having played a game more.

Cadiz climb out of the relegation zone to 16th, two points clear of the bottom three.

The defeat by Frankfurt on Thursday was a particularly bitter pill to swallow, given the Catalans effectively ceded their home advantage by allowing more than 20,000 away fans into Camp Nou.

Xavi said on Saturday Barca had felt “robbed in their own home” and one of the club’s prominent fan groups boycotted the Cadiz game in protest, with the section behind the goal at one end empty.

Controversy surrounded Gerard Pique on Monday too, after a report by El Confidencial said the defender’s company, Kosmos, are to receive 24 million euros for their part in moving the Spanish Super Cup to Saudi Arabia. Pique was not involved against Cadiz as he had a hamstring injury.

As well as issues around the Frankfurt fans and Pique, Xavi finds himself confronting the team’s first real dip since he was appointed in November.

Barcelona can ill-afford to miss out on Champions League qualification, with the club’s debts at the start of the season amounting to more than a billion euros.

Cadiz should have been in front at half-time but Perez shot wide after being given a simple finish by Ruben Sobrino.

Ousmane Dembele had Barcelona’s best chance but the Frenchman was unable to finish off a driving run, his shot straight at Cadiz goalkeeper Jeremias Ledesma.

Cadiz continued to create the better chances and two minutes into the second half, they took the lead. Jordi Alba lost the ball in midfield and Alex’s cross found Sobrino, whose header was parried by Marc-Andre ter Stegen, only for Perez to follow in.

Alex should have put Barca out of sight but fired wide from Ivan Alejo’s pull-back before Barcelona’s Luuk de Jong, on as a substitute, headed straight at Ledesma.

Sergio Busquets tested Ledesma with a late strike from a distance before Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang volleyed straight at the goalkeeper late on, Gavi unable to reach the rebound.

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AUCKLAND: The New Zealand Football (NZF) announced that the Kiwis will lock horns with Costa Rica on June 14 for a spot in the upcoming FIFA World Cup, scheduled to be held in Qatar.

The intercontinental playoff was set to take place in Doha in mid-June, but there was no set date. New Zealand Football, on the other hand, announced the date for the crucial match against Costa Rica on Twitter.

“The date has been set for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Intercontinental Play-Off,” New Zealand Football wrote.

The date has been set for the @FIFAWorldCup Qatar 2022 Intercontinental Play-Off 💪🇳🇿🇨🇷 pic.twitter.com/dhp3LjN8zS

— New Zealand Football 🇳🇿 (@NZ_Football) April 20, 2022

The winner of the match will join former champions Germany and Spain, as well as Japan, in Group E of the World Cup in Qatar.

The Kiwis are striving to qualify for the World Cup for the third time, having previously appeared in the tournament in 1982 and 2010.

The upcoming FIFA World Cup Qatar will roll into action on November 21.|

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SEVILLE: Karim Benzema completed another incredible Real Madrid comeback on Sunday as they fought from two goals down to defeat Sevilla 3-2 in La Liga.

After trailing Chelsea 3-0 on Tuesday only to secure their place in the Champions League semi-finals, Madrid stunned Sevilla to seal the victory that has surely won them La Liga.

Defeat would have given fresh hope to the chasing pack, with Sevilla and Barcelona both beginning the day 12 points behind, Barca with two games in hand.

Instead, goals in the second half from Rodrygo, Nacho Fernandez and Benzema in the 92nd minute mean Madrid extend their advantage to 15 points with six games left to play.

An Ivan Rakitic free-kick and Erik Lamela’s smart finish had put Sevilla two up at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan.

Benzema’s goal finished Chelsea off on Tuesday after Rodrygo had forced extra-time at the Santiago Bernabeu and those two, along with Vinicius Junior, were crucial again.

Benzema now has 44 goals in 46 appearances this season and 15 in his last 10.

Rakitic gave Sevilla the lead in the 25th minute, curling a free-kick into the corner after Luka Modric had brought down Papu Gomez.

Lamela doubled the advantage four minutes later, slotting after Tecatito drew out Thibaut Courtois and left the net open.

But a superb Vinicius backheel for Dani Carvajal allowed Rodrygo to pull a goal back in the 50th minute.

Vinicius thought he had made it 2-2 in the 74th minute, only for the goal to be ruled out, the referee deciding the Brazilian had controlled with his arm and not his chest.

Madrid though were undeterred as Rakitic headed away a corner, only for Carvajal to drive to the line and pull back for Nacho to finish.

And then in the 92nd minute, Benzema completed another remarkable revival, collecting Rodrygo’s pass, controlling and firing past three Sevilla defenders on the line.

Ten-man Atletico Madrid left it late too as Yannick Carrasco scored the winning penalty with the last kick of the game for a 2-1 win over Espanyol.

Atletico looked set to drop another two points at the Wanda Metropolitano when Geoffrey Kondogbia was sent off in the second half and then three minutes later Raul de Tomas cancelled out Carrasco’s opener, his free-kick squirming through the fingers of Jan Oblak.

But De Tomas handballed deep into added time, the referee awarding the spot-kick after a long consultation with VAR before Carrasco held his nerve. The ball hit the net with the clock approaching 100 minutes.

Atletico stay three points clear of Real Betis in fifth and level on points with third-placed Sevilla.

After losing away at Mallorca last weekend and then being knocked out of the Champions League by Manchester City in midweek, Diego Simeone’s side could ill-afford another dent to their morale.

The significance of the win was demonstrated by the Argentinian celebrating Carrasco’s winning penalty by sprinting down the touchline, before joining his relieved players in the corner.

Atletico cut Espanyol open in the 52nd minute as Matheus Cunha, on at half-time, slipped in Carrasco, who turned inside and drove through Diego Lopez at the near post.

But the game turned in Espanyol’s favour in the 71st minute when Kondogbia was shown a second yellow card for blocking Sergi Darder’s shot with his hand and then from the resulting free-kick, De Tomas equalised.

The usually reliable Oblak was at fault as the goalkeeper fumbled a simple save, the ball hitting the post and dribbling in.

With a man extra, Espanyol wanted a winner but Atletico found a way back.

In the 95th minute, De Tomas went to clear Antoine Griezmann’s flicked header but got his angles wrong and instead the ball caught his elbow. In the 100th minute, Carrasco made no mistake.

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BURNLEY: Premier League Club Burnley announced on Friday they had sacked long-serving manager Sean Dyche with eight games of the Premier League season remaining.

The Clarets are 18th in the English top-flight four points adrift of safety after just four league wins all season.

“Results this season have been disappointing and, while this was an incredibly difficult decision, with eight crucial games of the campaign remaining, we feel a change is needed to give the squad the best possible chance of retaining its Premier League status,” chairman Alan Pace said in a club statement.

Pace said he wanted to “place on record our sincere thanks to Sean and his staff for their achievements at the club over the last decade”.

The 50-year-old Dyche, who signed a new contract due to run until 2025 in September, had been the longest-serving manager of any club in the Premier League, having taken charge in October 2012.

He twice led the Clarets to promotion from the Championship and brought European football to Turf Moor in 2018 despite a limited budget, but his side has been in the bottom three virtually all season and last week’s 2-0 defeat at fellow strugglers Norwich was a major setback in their survival bid.

Pace, whose ALK Capital group took over at Turf Moor in December 2020, said club captain Ben Mee would be part of the coaching staff for Sunday’s trip to West Ham.

Burnley have 24 points after 30 games, four behind Frank Lampard’s Everton, who are in 17th place.

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MADRID: Manchester City secured the goalless draw they needed to edge out Atletico Madrid and advance to the Champions League semi-finals on Wednesday.

Kevin De Bruyne’s first-leg strike last week at the Etihad Stadium proved enough for City to claim a 1-0 victory on aggregate in Madrid, although the Belgian had to go off with an injury which, if significant, would be a hammer blow to their hopes of winning the treble.

Kyle Walker also hobbled off in the second half.

The City will now face Real Madrid, with Liverpool up against Villarreal in the other semi-final to complete an all Spanish-English line-up in the last four.

Simeone was widely criticised for Atletico’s negative tactics in the first leg and there was only a minor shift here, with the plan still to keep the game tight ahead of a final push.

Atletico came close, spurning a number of late chances, but instead, City advanced to the semis for a second consecutive year, in sight again of their first Champions League triumph.

After a rousing ceremony before kick-off that saw the words “Pride, Passion, Feeling” spelt out across the crowd, Atletico made a stirring start, harrying City high up the pitch and snapping at their heels in midfield.

Foden was clattered by Felipe, Stefan Savic bulldozed Ilkay Gundogan over and Walker poked a ball out of play, under stress from the Atletico press.

But City survived the early, physical onslaught and established control, even if Atletico looked a threat on the break, failing only with their final pass.

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ANFIELD: Liverpool booked a Champions League semi-final showdown against Villarreal as the quadruple chasers survived a late collapse in Wednesday’s 3-3 draw against Benfica.

Jurgen Klopp’s side already had one foot in the last four after winning 3-1 in the quarter-final first leg in Lisbon.

Despite two late goals from Benfica at Anfield in the second leg, Liverpool advanced 6-4 on aggregate thanks to Roberto Firmino’s double and Ibrahima Konate’s opener.

Liverpool were on cruise control for long spells in the second leg here but had to hold their nerve before advancing 6-4 on aggregate after an uncharacteristic meltdown in the closing stages.

Ibrahima Konate put Liverpool ahead before Goncalo Ramos equalised late in the first half.

When Roberto Firmino netted twice after the interval, the tie looked all but over.

However, Roman Yaremchuk and Darwin Nunez struck for Benfica to briefly give the visitors hope of an astonishing escape act, before Liverpool finally restored order.

The Reds will face Spanish side Villarreal in the semi-finals as they look to reach their 10th Champions League final and claim the seventh title in the competition.

Despite Villarreal’s impressive wins over Bayern Munich and Juventus in the last two rounds, Liverpool will be firm favourites to make a third Champions League final in the last five seasons.

Liverpool sit one point behind Premier League leaders Manchester City after Sunday’s draw against their title rivals.

In the midst of a run that will define Liverpool’s season, Klopp was able to keep Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Virgil Van Dijk fresh as he started with his stars on the bench ahead of Saturday’s FA Cup semi-final against Manchester City.

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