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ITALY: Juventus’ defender from Switzerland Stephan Lichtsteiner (left) fights for the ball against Sampdoria’s forward from Colombia Luis Muriel during their Italian Serie A football match. — AFP Juventus win 31st Italian title

ROME: Juventus won the Italian title for the 31st time ready for this match so that we don’t regret anything.” Llorente before arriving at the midfielder. yesterday after Arturo Vidal’s first half strike saw Beating Madrid would set this season out from the Sampdoria were full of heart and kept pressing the Italian League result/standings Massimiliano Allegri’s side defeat Sampdoria 1-0. previous three title-winning campaigns, in which they away side, but they lacked invention and struggled to Sampdoria 0 Juventus 1 (Vidal 32) It was Juventus’ fourth league title in a row with as underwhelmed in Europe, and would be further vindi- break down Juve’s solid backline. Playing later many games to spare this season and set them up per- cation for Allegri, who was sacked by AC Milan midway It was Carlos Tevez who nearly doubled Juve’s lead Sassuolo v Palermo fectly for their upcoming Champions League semi-final through last season and panned by Juve fans when he with a smart snap shot that was brilliantly tipped away duel with Real Madrid. was announced as the replacement for the beloved by Viviano just before the hour mark. Five minutes later Italian Serie A table after yesterday’s early match (played, won, Chilean midfielder Vidal met Stephan Lichtsteiner’s Antonio Conte in pre-season. Gonzalo Bergessio wasted Samp’s only decent chance drawn, lost, goals for, goals against, points): deep floated cross with a perfectly placed header in the “My first few days here were good. I think I only had of the night, when he dithered on the ball with only Juventus 34 24 7 3 64 19 79 - champions Lazio 33 19 5 9 63 31 62 32nd minute to put Juventus 17 points ahead of sec- five or six players and we lost a friendly 3-2,” he joked. Buffon to beat and allowed Leonardo Bonucci to race Roma 33 16 13 4 46 25 61 ond-placed Lazio. “On Tuesday we need to have the same attitude but be back and block his goal-bound shot. Napoli 33 16 8 9 59 43 56 The Rome side travel to relegation-threatened even better than today, because we’ll have in front of That was that from Samp as a serious attacking Sampdoria 34 12 15 7 41 37 51 Genoa 33 13 11 9 49 38 50 Atalanta on Sunday with only 15 points available to us a team of amazing players to which you can’t con- threat, and all that remained was for Juve to shut up Fiorentina 33 13 10 10 46 41 49 them from their remaining five games. Juve needed just cede anything. shop and wait for the whistle that sparked somewhat Inter Milan 33 12 12 9 50 39 48 a point to finally end the one-horse race for the Serie A “The important thing will be going out onto the muted celebrations among the players and staff, who Torino 33 12 12 9 40 36 48 AC Milan 33 10 13 10 46 42 43 crown. Vidal’s first league goal since January was pitch knowing what we need to do against a team that already have one eye on Tuesday night’s date with des- Palermo 33 10 12 11 46 48 42 enough for them to both win the league and become can hurt you at any moment.” tiny. Chievo 33 10 10 13 25 33 40 the first side to win at Sampdoria this season despite Sampdoria started the match in fifth place, eyeing a “It’s amazing how great this title feels because we Verona 33 10 10 13 41 57 40 Empoli 33 7 17 9 38 42 38 resting Andrea Pirlo, Giorgio Chielini and Alvaro Morata spot in the Europa League, and the game got off to started in the middle of chaos, in the middle of a good- Udinese 33 9 11 13 37 45 38 ahead of their Champions League first leg clash with frantic start. However the best chance for the home bye that could have hurt us,” said Bonucci. Sassuolo 33 8 12 13 39 52 36 Real Madrid on Tuesday. side in the opening period was a long range shot from “But instead we got straight to work to help the new Atalanta 33 6 14 13 31 46 32 Cagliari 33 5 9 19 38 63 24 “You never get tired of winning. The older you get Pedro Obiang in the 10th minute that failed to trouble coach Allegri, and now we’ve obtained our first of three Cesena 33 4 12 17 31 58 24 the more titles satisfy you, because they could be the Buffon. goals (Juve are also in the Italian Cup final).” Parma 33 6 5 22 27 62 16 - relegated last titles you win,” said Juve captain Gianluigi Buffon. Juve’s first clear sight of goal was Vidal’s winner, “We’ll enjoy this victory but tonight when we arrive Note: Parma deducted three points and four points for finan- cial irregularities and non-payment of salaries. “The thought of Real Madrid has pulsed around the which he expertly flashed back across Sampdoria keep- in Turin we need to think immediately about Tuesday, Top two qualify automatically for the Champions League, third place for some days now, so it’s inevitable that while the er Emiliano Viviano and off the post after racing on to a because we want to make sure that this season is an goes into the play-offs. Fourth and fifth carry Europa League joy is there for having closed the league, we need to be Lichtsteiner cross that evaded striker Fernando unforgettable one.” — AFP places. The bottom three sides are relegated. Ronaldo hits hat-trick, Leverkusen defeat Bayern

Barca rout Cordoba 8-0 BERLIN: Bayer Leverkusen fired two goals and Thiago Alcantara started on the substi- MADRID: A Cristiano Ronaldo hat- Sevilla were handed a route past Germany’s World Cup hero Manuel tutes’ bench. Arjen Robben and Franck trick maintained Real Madrid’s La back into the game when Sergio Neuer yesterday to stop the goalkeeper Ribery are already injured. Liga title aspirations as they ended Ramos upended Vidal inside the claiming a slice of Bayern Munich history The 2-0 win took Leverkusen, now unbeat- Sevilla’s 34-game unbeaten run at area in first-half stoppage time and and boost their Champions League hopes. en in 10 league games, into third place one home with a 3-2 win yesterdy. Carlos Bacca converted from the Neuer went into the game seeking one point ahead of Borussia Moenchengladbach Victory kept the European penalty spot. more clean sheet to beat Oliver Kahn’s and into one of the three automatic qualifying champions just two points behind Ronaldo looked to have sealed record of 19 Bayern games in a season places for next season’s Champions League. Barcelona with three games to play the three points with a stunning without conceding a goal. But Bayern soon Moenchengladbach play at Hertha Berlin on after Luis Suarez scored his first hat- header from Gareth Bale’s cross regretted fielding a weakened side as they Sunday. trick for the Catalans in a 8-0 humil- midway through the second-half. prepare for a Champions League semi-final Second placed Wolfsburg gave up a two iation of relegated Cordoba. However, Vicente Iborra reduced on Wednesday against Barcelona. goal lead against relegation threatened Sevilla ‘keeper Sergio Rico made the deficit once more from as he Leverkusen’s Turkish international Hanover 96 to drop points. Wolfsburg’s an incredible save from point-blank swept home Vidal’s cross to set up a SPAIN: Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo (center) tries to score Hakan Calhanoglu fired a direct free kick German Cup final opponents Borussia range to prevent Ronaldo opening grandstand finish. against Sevilla’s Sergio Rico (right) during a Spanish La Liga soc- from 25 metres through the Bayern wall Dortmund also drew 1-1 at Hoffenheim. the scoring early on from Marcelo’s And Madrid’s hearts were in cer match. — AP and past Neuer. Dutch international Bas Dost got his 14th fine cross. their mouths five minutes from return to the top flight after just Pep Guardiola and German cham- In the second half, Karim Bellarabi tore league goal of the season to put Wolfsburg Iker Casillas then had to be quick time when Barcelona loanee Denis one season. pions Bayern Munich in their through the Bayern defence in a brilliant ahead at home to Hanover with a volley off his line at the other end to pre- Suarez’s trickled an attempt inches “Until the first goal we had cre- Champions League semi-final, first- length of the field run before passing to that hit the face of goalkeeper Ron-Robert vent Aleix Vidal putting Sevilla in past the post. Ronaldo’s 29th ated a lot of chances and were fear- leg, Enrique named his strongest Julian Brandt who claimed an easy goal on Zieler and nearly knocked him out. front. However, the game swung Madrid hat-trick took him onto 42 ing it wouldn’t be our day,” said available side. The league leaders his 19th birthday. Croatian international midfielder Ivan massively in Madrid’s favour in the La Liga goals for the campaign, two Barca boss Luis Enrique. made the breakthrough in style The result was a new disappointment Perisic doubled the lead with a stunning 30 space of two minutes whilst Sevilla ahead of Lionel Messi who netted “The goals from Ivan (Rakitic) when Messi’s lovely cushioned pass for Bayern after their midweek loss in the metre left foot shot that gave former were down to 10 men as Grzegorz twice as Barca condemned and Luis helped us and in the sec- picked out Rakitic and he crashed a German Cup semi-final. But coach Pep Manchester United reserve keeper Zieler Krychowiak was off the field receiv- Cordoba to relegation in embar- ond-half we were very effective in shot into the roof of the net. Guardiola already has the Bundesliga title no chance. ing treatment for a facial injury. The rassing fashion. front of goal. I am happy because Suarez made it 2-0 just before wrapped up and wanted to rest key players Hanover fought back though. French World Player of the Year headed Cordoba, who haven’t won since they are three very important the break when he latched onto a for the Champions League campaign. striker Jimmy Briand scored two minutes home expertly from Isco’s cross and January, held out for 42 minutes, points.” similar pass from Andres Iniesta to Guardiola left top scorer Robert into the second half. Perisic hit the crossbar then prodded in from Javier but a four-goal blitz in 11 minutes Despite Wednesday’s looming sneak the ball between Carlos’s Lewandowski, Thomas Mueller and Jerome with a shot but within minutes Hanover Hernandez’s flick-on moments later. either side of half-time ended their meeting with former Barca boss legs. — AFP Boateng out of the squad and Xabi Alonso were level. —AFP