SPORTS THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2013 Champions League standings PARIS: Champions League standings after yesterday’s matches (played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against, points): Group A Manchester United 5 3 2 0 11 3 11 Shakhtar Donetsk 5 2 2 1 7 5 8 Bayer Leverkusen 5 2 1 2 8 10 7 Real Sociedad 5 0 1 4 1 9 1 Group B Real Madrid 5 4 1 0 18 5 13 Juventus 5 1 3 1 9 8 6 Galatasaray 5 1 1 3 7 14 4 FC Copenhagen 5 1 1 3 4 11 4 Group C PSG 5 4 1 0 15 3 13 Olympiakos 5 2 1 2 7 7 7 Benfica 5 2 1 2 6 7 7 Anderlecht 5 0 1 4 3 14 1 Group D Bayern Munich 5 5 0 0 15 2 15 Manchester City 5 4 0 1 15 8 12 CSKA Moscow 5 1 0 4 7 15 3 Viktoria Plzen 5 0 0 5 4 16 0 Group E Chelsea 5 3 0 2 11 3 9 Basel 5 2 2 1 5 4 8 Schalke 04 5 2 1 2 4 6 7 Steaua Bucharest 5 0 3 2 2 9 3 MANCHESTER: FC Viktoria Plzen’s Czech forward Stanislav Tecl (right) scores his team’s second goal during the UEFA Champions League group D football match between Group F Manchester City and Viktoria Plzen at The Etihad stadium in Manchester yesterday. — AFP Arsenal 5 4 0 1 8 3 12 Dortmund 5 3 0 2 9 5 9 Napoli 5 3 0 2 8 9 9 Negredo keeps City in hunt for top spot Marseille 5 0 0 5 4 12 0 Group G MANCHESTER: Alvaro Negredo came off the bench to rassing blunder which sent City crashing to defeat at alarming ease. City finally took the lead in the 33rd minute Atletico Madrid 5 4 1 0 13 3 13 spare Manchester City’s blushes as the Spanish striker’s late Chelsea. The 26-year-old languished on the bench for the when Rajtoral raised his arm to block a cross from Aguero. Zenit St. Petersburg 5 1 3 1 4 5 6 goal inspired a 4-2 win over Viktoria Plzen in the next five matches as Costel Pantilimon performed well in Turkish referee Firat Aydinus pointed to the spot and FC Porto 5 1 2 2 4 5 5 Champions League yesterday. Manuel Pellegrini’s team his place, with only a solitary appearance for England in Aguero stepped up to stroke home the penalty for his 16th Austria Vienna 5 0 2 3 1 9 2 were in danger of blowing their slender chance of finishing their friendly defeat against Germany to sustain him. On goal of the season. But Pellegrini, perhaps vexed by City’s top of Group D after twice surrendering the lead against his return here, Hart made two fine saves to keep City in sloppy defending, still looked less than happy on the Group H the Czech minnows at Eastlands. Sergio Aguero had put the game and couldn’t be faulted for either of Plzen’s goals. bench. Pellegrini’s fears were confirmed in the 43rd minute Barcelona 5 3 1 1 10 4 10 City ahead with a first-half penalty, but Tomas Horava City had hit 18 goals in their last three matches on home as City’s back four crumbled, this time backing off en AC Milan 5 2 2 1 8 5 8 equalised before half-time. Samir Nasri restored the hosts’ turf, with Tottenham the latest victims in a 6-0 demolition masse before Horava drove a superb strike from the edge Ajax 521258 7 advantage, only for Plzen to hit back again through on Sunday. of the area past Hart. Aguero came off at half-time, but Celtic 5 1 0 4 2 8 3 Stanislav Tecl. But this was far less convincing stuff from Pellegrini’s Toure was sent on in the second half and the Ivorian mid- Substitute Negredo finally tipped the balance in City’s team, who were alarmingly careless at the back. With City fielder was instrumental when City regained the lead in favor with 12 minutes left and Edin Dzeko sealed the already through to the knock-out stages, Pellegrini made the 65th minute. points in the final moments. City’s victory means they seven changes, but still sent out a strong side featuring the Jesus Navas took Toure’s pass and whipped over a pin- Juventus oust remain three points behind group leaders Bayern Munich likes of Aguero and Nasri, as well as the returning Hart. point cross which was volleyed home by Nasri. Hart then and could finish top if they beat the holders at least 3-0 in Nasri almost opened the scoring when he exchanged pass- made a brilliant one-handed save from Daniel Kolar’s pow- the Allianz Arena on December 10. With star midfielder es with Fernandinho before slamming a fierce 25-yard shot erful strike. He was beaten again in the 69th minute when Copenhagen Yaya Toure now suspended for the trip to Germany, that against the crossbar. Plzen were already out of the race for more soft City defending allowed Kolar to feed Tecl for a outcome is unlikely, so the more significant aspect of this a last 16 place, but they caused City plenty of problems clinical finish. But, with City’s hopes of top spot fading, TURIN: Arturo Vidal scored a hat-trick, including two from match for City’s long-term prospects will be the return of and should have taken the lead when Frantisek Rajtoral Negredo came to the rescue with a tap-in from Navas’s the penalty spot, as Juventus relaunched their hopes of England goalkeeper Joe Hart from his spell in exile. surged into the penalty area, only to miscue his cross-shot. perfect cross in the 78th minute. Even then City still rode qualifying for the last 16 of the Champions League with a Hart had been dropped by Pellegrini after a series of Moments later Michal Duris dragged a low effort wide their luck and it took a good save from Hart to deny rousing 3-1 win over Copenhagen yesterday. With Real error-prone performances hit a new low with an embar- from 12 yards as City’s defence was carved open with Rajtoral and preserve the win. — AFP Madrid securing first place in Group B after a 4-1 win at home to Galatasaray, Juventus replaced the Turks in second place on six points and now hold a two-point lead on both Galatasaray and Copenhagen. PSG sink Sitting bottom of the group with no wins from four games, Juventus’s backs were firmly against the wall. Antonio Conte’s side ideally required a win against the Olympiakos Danes to relaunch what has been an uninspiring campaign, and after being frustrated on their way to a 1-1 draw in Copenhagen the Italian champions did not disappoint. PARIS: Paris Saint-Germain qualified for the last 16 of the Juventus dominated Stale Solbakken’s men from the outset, Champions League as winners of Group C after beating pinning Copenhagen back in their own half for most of the Olympiakos 2-1 at the Parc des Princes yesterday. PSG only opening period. needed a draw to secure top spot in the section and Zlatan And after half-chances by Paul Pogba and Carlos Tevez Ibrahimovic gave them a dream start, opening the scoring went begging, Juve’s nerves were settled when Swedish inside seven minutes. The sending-off of Marco Verratti referee Jonas Eriksoon pointed to the spot for a blatant early in the second half left the hosts down to 10 men, and handball by Copenhagen captain Lars Jacobsen just before Olympiakos profited from their man advantage to draw the half hour as Pogba looked to collect Pirlo’s flighted level through Kostas Manolas with nine minutes remain- cross. Vidal made no mistake from the spot, beating Johan ing. Wiland to the keeper’s right hand side. Juve looked danger- However, Edinson Cavani’s 90th-minute strike handed ous for the remainder of the half but Pirlo failed to threaten adidas and FIFA extend PSG the win as they progress while Olympiakos are left to with two free kicks from distance and when Kwadwo fight it out with Benfica for the second qualifying berth in Asamoah collected deep on the left and laid off for Pogba, the last round of games next month after the Portuguese the Frenchman could only hit the side-netting. partnership until 2030 outfit won 3-2 away to Anderlecht. This was a meeting of Juve were in panic two minutes after the restart when a two in-form teams, with PSG defending a record of 34 loose ball ricocheted close to goal before being cleared. games unbeaten stretching back nearly nine months and Copenhagen had evidently emerged with more purpose KUWAIT: One of the longest and most successful part- Both partners will continue to provide FIFA Goal Olympiakos having lost only once this season. However, nerships in modern sports marketing history will con- balls for this program as part of the extended partner- and were soon level but before then the Asamoah-Llorente- that defeat was a 4-1 reverse at the hands of PSG when the tinue. Yesterday, FIFA and adidas formally announced ship. At the same time, adidas will continue to support Tevez trident threatened again before the Argentinian fired clubs last met in Piraeus in September, so the Greek cham- an extension of their long-term partnership agreement FIFA in its Football for Hope adidas Exchange Program over.