SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2014 SPORTS Bayern increase Bundesliga lead

BERLIN: Reigning champions Bayern at home over hated rivals Dortmund. Munich extended their lead atop the Dortmund’s recent defensive struggles Bundesliga yesterday after winning at FC continued as goals from Joel Matip and Eric Cologne while Schalke 04 won the Ruhr Maxim Choupo-Moting left them trailing 2- derby against bitter rivals Borussia 0 by the midway point in the first half. Dortmund. Jurgen Klopp’s side did reduce the Bayern kept a clean sheet for their deficit shortly afterwards courtesy of a fourth straight Bundesliga match in a 2-0 Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang strike but they victory to move to 14 points, two clear of could not find an equaliser and have col- Borussia Moenchengladbach. lected only seven points from six games Pep Guardiola’s side opened the scoring this season, one fewer than Schalke. on 19 minutes as Mario Goetze struck his “It was an important victory, especially third goal in the last two matches. The visi- for our fans. It’s fantastic,” said Schalke tors continued to press Cologne and finally coach Jens Keller. “We play in three days (in doubled the lead midway through the sec- the Champions League against Maribor) so ond half as Daniel Halfar put through his we can’t really celebrate that much. But we own net. will enjoy it for a couple of hours,” said “They didn’t do anything. They just Matip. played in the back and tried to counter and Dortmund captain Mats Hummels, who never really came out. But I congratulate was in the starting line-up for the first time the team, we remained calm and did our this season, said his side cannot waste any job,” said Bayern winger Arjen Robben more time to catch up. Meanwhile, Gladbach won 2-1 at “Luckily the other teams have not really Paderborn thanks to early goals from had great starts. But now we need to really Patrick Herrmann and Raffael, with Jens find our rhythm,” said Hummels whose Wimmer getting one back for the promot- team is winless in their last three matches. ed club, who had been top before losing at Ivica Olic scored in the 57th minute to Bayern in midweek. Gladbach’s win took secure Wolfsburg a 2-1 victory at home them above Leverkusen, who had to play against Werder Bremen to jump to seventh more than an hour with 10 men but held place with eight points. After Ricardo on for a 0-0 draw away at SC Freiburg. Rodriguez pushed Wolfsburg ahead in the Leverkusen defender Emir Spahic was 15th minute, Marnon Busch equalised after sent off in the first half, although Freiburg 37 minutes. also finished the game a man down after Elsewhere, Hanover 96 went down 1-0 Pavel Krmas was dismissed. And the visitors at struggling VfB Stuttgart, Daniel Schwaab SPAIN: Barcelona’s Brazilian forward da Silva Santos Junior scores during the Spanish League football match against Granada. —AFP might have won it, Karim Bellarabi ham- scoring his team’s first goal at home this mering a shot off the crossbar in the 73rd season in the 69th minute. minute before Son Heung-Min also struck Mainz and Hoffenheim played out a Barca thrash Granada 6-0 the woodwork two minutes from time. “We scoreless draw on Friday, the result leaving were unfortunate today. They played really both teams with 10 points. Hamburg hope well and we just could not score,” said to finally exit the relegation zone on Leverkusen’s Oemer Toprak. Sunday as they host Eintracht Frankfurt Ronaldo scores in Real win In Gelsenkirchen, Schalke picked up after FC Augsburg welcome Hertha MADRID: Neymar scored a hat-trick and Lionel presented with an open goal, they took the lead verted from Karim Benzema’s pass to register his their second straight victory with a 2-1 win Berlin.—AFP Messi got his 400th career goal as Barcelona on 26 minutes as Neymar was gifted the ball eighth goal in a week. stormed back to the top of with a 6-0 inside the Granada half and surged forward “We’ve won a difficult game against a team German League results/standings thrashing of Granada yesterday. before seeing his effort deflect pass the helpless that played well and caused us problems,” said Real Madrid remained just four points adrift Roberto via Jean-Sylvain Babin. Messi then Real boss Carlo Ancelotti. of the leaders as ’s hot scoring increased his number of assists already this sea- “But the team controlled the game. We suf- Schalke 04 2 (Matip 10, Choupo-Moting 23), Borussia Dortmund 1 (Aubameyang 26); SC Freiburg 0, Bayer Leverkusen 0; VfB Stuttgart 1 (Schwaab 69) Hanover 96 0; FC Cologne 0, Bayern Munich 2 (Goetze streak continued in a 2-0 win at Villarreal. son to seven as he crossed right-footed for fered when we had to, played when we had to 19, Halfar 66-og); SC Paderborn 1 (Wemmer 70), Borussia Moenchengladbach 2 (Herrmann 8, Raffael 14); Barca stretched their run of consecutive clean Rakitic to head home and Neymar tapped into and I think in the end we showed a good atti- VfL Wolfsburg 2 (Rodriguez 15, Olic 57), Werder Bremen 1 (Busch 37). sheets to seven games, but rediscovered their an empty net to make it 3-0 after Roberto had tude and deserved to win.” scoring touch after being held to a 0-0 draw at denied Munir. The match started at a high pace with atten- Played Friday Malaga in midweek as Messi and Neymar shone. Barca continued to dominate after the break tion from the action on the pitch only momen- Mainz 05 0, Hoffenheim 0. The Brazilian opened the scoring with a and Alves provided Messi with the kind of serv- tarily distracted by a banner from a Manchester deflected effort before Messi provided the sec- ice he has been handing out in recent weeks United fans group begging Ronaldo to return to German league table after yesterday’s matches (played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against, ond with an inch-perfect cross for Ivan Rakitic to with a fine cross that the four-time World Player Old Trafford. Ronaldo and his team-mates had points): head home. of the Year headed home. Messi returned to more pressing matters at hand as Villarreal Bayern Munich 6 4 2 0 11 2 14 Borussia Dortmund 6 2 1 3 9 11 7 Neymar made it three just before half-time being the provider for Neymar to complete his threatened to go in front as Ikechukwu Uche’s Borussia M’gladbach6 3 3 0 8 3 12 Eintracht Frankfurt 5 1 3 1 7 7 6 and Messi registered his 400th goal for club and hat-trick with a cut-back that the former Santos low effort was well saved by Iker Casillas, whilst Bayer Leverkusen 6 3 2 1 11 9 11 FC Augsburg 5 2 0 3 7 8 6 country with a simple header from Dani Alves’s man dispatched low past Roberto. Argentine youngster Luciano Vietto sliced wide Hoffenheim 6 2 4 0 9 5 10 FC Cologne 6 1 3 2 2 3 6 cross. And the Argentine rounded off a fine after- when well-positioned inside the box. Mainz 05 6 2 4 0 9 5 10 Hertha Berlin 5 1 2 2 8 11 5 Hanover 6 3 1 2 5 4 10 VfB Stuttgart 6 1 2 3 4 9 5 The two then combined as Messi squared for noon by robbing the Granada defence of pos- However, the hosts’ profligacy in the final VfL Wolfsburg 6 2 2 2 10 8 8 SC Freiburg 6 0 4 2 6 9 4 Neymar to complete his hat-trick before the session and running through to slot home his third contrasted with Madrid’s killer instinct and Schalke 04 6 2 2 2 10 10 8 Werder Bremen 6 0 3 3 9 15 3 Argentine rounded off the scoring himself nine fifth goal of the season. Ancelotti’s men went in front when Modric SC Paderborn 6 2 2 2 8 8 8 Hamburg 5 0 2 3 0 6 2 minutes from time. Ronaldo, meanwhile, is now onto 13 goals smashed home his first goal of the season from Barca boss Luis Enrique had changed his from nine matches this season as Real won for outside the box on 32 minutes. And the visitors entire defence from the one that started in mid- the third consecutive league match at Villarreal. doubled their advantage five minutes before week and the hosts were nearly punished for a Real survived an early onslaught from half-time thanks to a classic counter-attack as slow start as Youssef El-Arabi clipped the bar. Villarreal and won the game with two goals in James Rodriguez picked out the run of Benzema However, Barca were soon into their stride eight minutes before the break as Luka Modric and the Frenchman brilliantly teed up Ronaldo and, after had miscued when drilled home the opener before Ronaldo con- to slot home. —AFP

Matches on TV (Local Timings)

English Albion v Burnley 18:00 beIN SPORTS 1 HD beIN SPORTS 11 HD beIN SPORTS 1 HD

Spanish League Getafe v Malaga 13:00 beIN SPORTS 2 HD Coruna v Almeria 18:00 beIN SPORTS 2 HD Sociedad v Valencia 20:00 COLOGNE: Bayern’s Robert Lewandowski from Poland (left) heads the ball during the German First Division Bundesliga soccer match against Cologne. —AP beIN SPORTS 2 HD Cordoba v Espanyol 22:00 beIN SPORTS 2 HD

Celtic secure scrappy win Italian League Serie A GLASGOW: John Guidetti grabbed a double the season, Celtic boss Ronny Deila made just Sassuolo v Napoli 13:30 to secure Celtic a narrow 2-1 win over second two changes with Mubarak Wakaso and beIN SPORTS 3 HD bottom St Mirren in a scrappy Scottish Eoghan O’Connell replacing the injured Kris beIN SPORTS 2 HD FR Premiership encounter at New St Mirren Park Commons and Jason Denayer. A lot of the ear- beIN SPORTS 2 FR yesterday. ly pressure came from Celtic but it was Reilly, Inter v Cagliari 16:00 Thomas Reilly came close to marking his on a rare start for St Mirren, who came closest beIN SPORTS 3 HD first start in over a year for St Mirren with a to breaking the deadlock in the fourth minute. beIN SPORTS 2 HD FR goal when his 30-yard effort hit the bar early The midfielder, who hadn’t started for the beIN SPORTS 2 FR on. However, it was Celtic who grabbed the Buddies since the opening day of last season, Torino v Fiorentina 16:00 opener in the 42nd minute when Guidetti let fly with a right foot dipping shot from 30 beIN SPORTS 8 HD FRANCE: Toulouse’s Colombian midfielder Abel Aguilar vies with Paris Saint- bundled a Scott Brown pass over the line yards that cannoned off the crossbar. Germain’s French defender Lucas Digne during the French L1 football match. —AFP under pressure from Jim Goodwin and keeper Chances were few and far between in a Cesena v Milan 16:00 Marian Kello. scrappy first half but Stokes wasn’t far away beIN SPORTS 2 HD St Mirren were back on level terms four when he cut in from the left and tried his luck Genoa v Sampdoria 21:45 PSG drop points again minutes after the break when a howler from with a curling shot that bounced just wide of beIN SPORTS 3 HD Celtic stopper Craig Gordon allowed Kenny the post. It looked like the first half was going PARIS: Paris Saint-Germain were held to a played. When he was short with a pass McLean to fire home an equaliser, the Buddies’ to end goalless before Celtic made the break- 1-1 draw at Toulouse in Ligue 1 yesterday, back towards Salvatore Sirigu, the lively first goal at home this season. The home side’s through with a scruffy goal in the 42nd Roma triumph once again failing to convince as a Ben Yedder pounced in between the goal- joy was short-lived as Swedish striker Guidetti minute. Champions League clash with Barcelona keeper and David Luiz before converting grabbed his third goal in two games to restore Emilio Izaguirre released Scott Brown who looms on the horizon. from a tight angle. Celtic’s advantage in the 63rd minute and got in behind the St Mirren defence to square over Verona Laurent Blanc’s reigning champions It was the little striker’s ninth goal in his spare his keeper’s blushes. the ball into the six-yard box where Guidetti remain unbeaten this season, but they had last 11 Ligue 1 games, and Toulouse should The win is their first away from home since slid in under pressure from Goodwin to knock ROME: Roma went into a provisional three-point lead in Serie A to come from behind to claim a fourth have gone on to increase their lead soon the opening day of the campaign and means the ball in off the keeper. A mistake from with a tough 2-0 win over Verona while Juventus can pull level draw in their last five matches in all compe- after. However, Aleksandar Pesic somehow the Hoops have won back-to-back games for Gordon allowed St Mirren to haul themselves late yesterday with maximum points at Atalanta. titions, Jean-Christophe Bahebeck can- contrived to miss with the goal gaping only the second time this season. level in the 49th minute. The keeper’s terrible Rudi Garcia’s men made it a perfect five wins from five, but celling out ’s opener. after Sirigu had beaten out a Pavle Ninkov Celtic manager Ronny Deila wasn’t happy throw out went straight to Sean Kelly who were pushed all the way by the visitors before Italian international The result ended PSG’s run of 10 succes- shot. with his side’s performance. “I’m not very rolled a pass to John McGinn. His drilled cross Alessandro Florenzi struck a sweet opener with 15 minutes sive wins over Toulouse and left them two PSG recovered to draw level just after pleased with the performance but we won in into the box was met by Jason Naismith who remaining. Mattia Destro then fired home a long range shot with points adrift of Ligue 1 leaders , the half-hour mark when Marco Verratti the end and that’s good,” the Norwegian said. saw his shot saved by Gordon but the keeper four minutes left as Verona suffered their first defeat of the season who could increase that advantage if they found Bahebeck with a quickly-taken free- “There were some positive things but there could do nothing to prevent McLean firing the after opening with two wins and two draws. They remain sixth, record a sixth consecutive win when they kick over the home defence, and the for- were some things that just weren’t good rebound past him into the net. Celtic upped but are now seven points behind Roma in their quest to win a first host Saint-Etienne on Sunday evening. ward slotted past Zacharie Boucher to enough today.” St Mirren manager Tommy the tempo and Callum McGregor saw his effort Italian title since 1985. Florenzi, who was left out of Cesare Paris were again without Zlatan score his first Ligue 1 goal for the club. Craig felt his side deserved more from the deflected over before Marian Kello comfort- Prandelli’s World Cup squad in Brazil, scored with a low right foot Ibrahimovic, who sat out a second game in However, the visitors rarely really looked game. ably dealt with a raking shot from Stokes. shot from the edge of the box that flew into Pierluigi Gollini’s bot- a row with a nagging heel injury, and Blanc like winning the game and the perform- “I think over the piece if we had picked up a On-loan Manchester City striker Guidetti tom corner. Gollini had 23 shots bombarded on his besieged made half a dozen changes to the team ance raises further doubts as to their point it would have been just rewards. “They restored Celtic’s advantage in the 63rd minute. goal, but the Roma fans were made to wait until the final quarter that had won 2-0 at Caen in midweek. prospects in Europe before Barcelona come worked tremendously hard, played some good Deila’s decision to move Stokes in from the left hour when Florenzi eased their nerves and then Destro put the One of those changes saw Serge Aurier to the Parc des Princes on Tuesday. football at times and at times matched Celtic to a more central role soon paid off as the Irish result beyond doubt. A busy slate on Sunday features six match- return to the starting line-up against the “We started badly. I don’t know if it in terms of strength and power and I was dis- striker slipped a superb pass through to es, including fourth placed at home to rock bottom club he left on loan in the summer, and the was the kick-off time or the heat,” captain appointed to come away with nothing.” After Guidetti who drilled a low shot through the Cagliari, while Udinese, who came into the weekend in third spot, Ivorian defender was at fault as the hosts for the day Blaise Matuidi told Canal chopping and changing his side for most of legs of Kello.—AFP are not in action until Monday when they host Parma. —AFP took the lead with just eight minutes Plus.—AFP