SPORTS THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2013 Hulk catches Porto napping to seize Zenit an equalizer

ST. PETERSBURG: Hulk missed a penalty fans for inconsistent performances and giv- but scored the equaliser as Zenit St ing away soft goals. Those voices are cer- Petersburg secured a 1-1 home draw tain to be heard again as they gifted Zenit against Porto yesterday to stay favorites for the leveller with hesitant defending. Brazil’s the runners-up spot in Champions League Hulk caught two defenders and keeper Group G. Helton napping, pouncing on a seemingly The Brazilian dented his former club’s harmless ball to score his second goal of hopes as Zenit moved on to five points the competition. But Porto coach Paulo with two matches remaining, one above Fonseca remained optimistic. “I think we the Portuguese champions, who are third. were better than them over the two match- Porto captain Lucho Gonzalez opened es despite the defeat and the draw,” he said. the scoring with a fine header after 23 min- “We played a great first half, at times utes before burly forward Hulk punished had 69 percent of possession and finished lax defending to level. the game with 22 shots on goal.” Hulk, who Helton saved a Hulk penalty in the sec- spent four seasons at Porto, downplayed ond half, awarded for a Nicolas Otamendi his celebrations out of respect for his for- handball.“The result leaves a bitter taste mer club but he wasted a penalty with a because of our good first half. We had tame shot after 52 minutes. come here to get a win,” UEFA man-of-the “I scored an important goal but I did not match Gonzalez told Portuguese television celebrate because Porto and that whole Sport TV. “But, mathematically, we still have city is in my heart. I could have taken that a chance to go through.” penalty better though,” Hulk said. The visitors saw more of the ball early Zenit keeper Yuri Lodyg saved fierce on and drew first blood as Zenit seemed shots from Porto forwards Jackson happy to sit back and try to catch Porto on Martinez and Silvestre Varela and the the break. Russians champions were wasteful. The 32-year-old Lucho, playing his ninth Substitute Andrey Arshavin forced GERMANY: Dortmund’s midfielder Sven Bender (center) vies for the ball with Arsenal’s Spanish midfielder Mikel Arteta (left) andrsenal’s A Champions League campaign, made his Helton go down to his feet to parry a close- English defender Kieran Gibbs (right) during the UEFA Champions League Group F football match. — AFP experience count, applying a textbook range shot after a neat flowing move. header from a pinpoint Danilo cross that Hulk thought he had a strong case for bounced off the ground and into the bot- another penalty but his appeals were tom corner. The Portuguese champions waved away by the referee. “Arshavin came Arsenal down Dortmund were held to a disappointing draw by in strong and we had a few chances later Belenenses in the championship over the on but this was a positive result in the end,” weekend and have been criticised by their said Hulk. — Reuters to avenge London defeat

DORTMUND: Premier League leaders Arsenal Last season’s Champions League finalists when he fired wide with the goal at his mercy. avenged their Champions League home defeat to Dortmund, second in the , drop to third And Germany winger Marco Reus hit the back of Borussia Dortmund a fortnight ago with a 1-0 victo- with six points ahead of their tricky remaining the Arsenal net in the second half, but the goal was ry in Germany yesterday. games at home to Napoli and away to Marseille. In ruled offside. Arsenal’s Poland goalkeeper Wojciech Having lost 2-1 at London’s Emirates Stadium, the build-up, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger had Szczesny had a frantic start to the first half as the Gunners claimed revenge at Borussia’s targeted Robert Lewandowski-who has said he will Dortmund turned up the pressure, but it was the Westfalenstadion as Welshman Aaron Ramsey leave at the end of the season when his contract Gunners who broke the deadlock. headed the only goal of the game. expires-as Dortmund’s main threat but the Poland Arsenal scored on their first purposeful attack “It’s a difficult place to get a result, but the fans striker had a quiet night by his standards. when Ramsey headed home on 62 minutes. were magnificent,” said the goal-scorer Ramsey. Towering centre-back Per Mertesacker was Arsenal’s Germany midfielder Mesut Ozil swung in “They got behind us and we managed to get the tasked with containing the Polish hot-shot and the the ball on the right edge of the penalty area and win for them. “We were very good defensively and German international rarely let Lewandowski out of France’s Olivier Giroud headed into Ramsey’s path we were also very patient. “It was a great away per- his sight. Dortmund’s heavy metal-loving coach for the in-form Arsenal midfielder to sneak in ahead formance and a great result.” Arsenal deserved the Jurgen Klopp had compared Wenger’s Arsenal as a of Dortmund’s Nuri Sahin to head home. victory having taken their chance during a bright finely-tuned “orchestra”, while the Frenchman had The goal energised Arsenal’s attack as second-half spell, having absorbed huge amounts said the game promised to deliver a “great sympho- Mertesacker headed over just moments later. Klopp of first-half pressure from the hosts who had pep- ny” but it was the Gunners who ultimately had threw on pacy winger Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang pered the Gunners’ goal. Their victory means Dortmund dancing to their tune. for the final 15 minutes in a bid to force a crucial Arsenal remain top of Group F on goal difference, Dortmund’s attacking midfielder Henrikh equaliser while Lewandowski had a clear penalty level on nine points with second-placed Napoli. Mkhitaryan squandered a clear first-half chance appeal turned down in the dying stages. —AFP Sio salvages point for Basel

BASEL: Giovanni Sio scored a stoppage-time draw left Basel, who began their campaign Mohamed Salah had a couple of chances equaliser to give FC Basel a 1-1 draw at home with a spectacular 2-1 win at Chelsea, with to equalise, though Steaua were closer to a ST. PETERSBURG: Porto’s Silvestre Varela (left) is challenged by Zenit’s Cristian to Steaua Bucharest after the Romanians had five points from four games in Group E. second when a Florin Gardos close-range Ansaldi during the Champions League Group G soccer match. — AP been cruising towards a comfortable Steaua, who extended their winless run in header was superbly saved by Yann Sommer. Champions League win yesterday. the competition to 21 games, have two Apart from those efforts, the Egyptian was Schone goal revives Ajax hopes The Ivorian turned in ’s points. Steaua went ahead in the 17th minute largely kept quiet by a dogged Steaua cross to cancel out an early goal by Italian when Lukasz Szukala sent a long pass over defence. The 1986 champions appeared to AMSTERDAM: Lasse Schone scored at the tary Ajax defender on a swift counter attack Federico Piovaccari, who has spent most of the Basel defence and Piovaccari broke clear have the points in the bag until Sio escaped end of a sweeping move early in the sec- but Forrest fluffed his attempted pass to his career playing for Italian lower league to fire the ball into the roof of the net from the attention of the defence and stretched to ond half to earn Ajax Amsterdam a 1-0 win Stokes who would have needed just to clubs and is on loan from Sampdoria. The close range. meet Stocker’s cross. — Reuters over Celtic in the Champions League yes- place the ball into the net for the equaliser. terday and a first success for the Dutch club Ajax had an in-swinging corner cleared off in Group H. the line by fullback Emilio Izaguirre. The victory revived Ajax’s chances of Meanwhile, eight police officers needed Atletico cruise into progress from the group phase as they hospital treatment and more than 15 soc- moved on to four points from as many cer fans were arrested following violent matches, just one behind second-placed clashes ahead of yesterday’s Champions’ AC Milan. League match between Scotland’s Celtic Danish international Schone’s goal came and Dutch club Ajax Amsterdam. CL knockout stages at the end of a series of swift interchanges A spokesman for Amsterdam police said of short passes involving five different Ajax a large crowd of Celtic supporters turned MADRID: Atletico Madrid’s superb start to the sea- players as they picked open the Scottish on a group of plainclothes police officers in son continued yesterday as an effortless 4-0 win club’s defence to break the deadlock in the Dam Square, the city’s historic heart shortly over hapless Austria Vienna saw them qualify for 51st minute. before 1700 GMT. the Champions League last 16 as winners of Group Defeat for Celtic left them bottom with “The officers took quite a beating,” said G. three points and matches to come at home spokesman Rob van der Veen. “One of the Atletico, who have won 11 of their 12 matches to Milan this month and away at leaders officers was unconscious, another had his in this season and won all four of their Barcelona in December. nose broken.” Champions League group games, eased to victory The Glasgow club also wasted chances Earlier on Wednesday, the mayor of with goals by Miranda, Raul Garcia, Filipe Luis and to at least share the spoils when they twice Amsterdam issued an emergency order the prolific Diego Costa, who took his tally to 13 came close on the counter-attack in a allowing the police to remove people they goals in 11 games. match played at high tempo between two judged to be a threat to public order. Atletico’s appearance in the last 16 is their first evenly-matched sides. Dutch media reported that fans since the 2008/09 season and their victory also reg- Beram Kayal shot wildly over at the end attacked the police with thrown bottles istered a new club record for successive wins in of a long surge upfield in the 50th minute and sticks. News portal nu.nl reported that Europe’s elite competition with four, beating the that saw the home defenders backing off fans of Belgian club Anderlecht and previous mark set by their predecessors in the and being pulled wide by other players and Germany’s St Pauli were also in the city. 1958/59 campaign. Atletico wasted little time in taking control of a gap opening up for the Celtic midfielder Large numbers of Dinamo Zagreb fans the game as Miranda scored in the 11th minute who wasted his chance. are also in Amsterdam before Thursday’s knocking the ball home from a few yards out after Seven minutes later James Forrest and Europa League match against Dutch club Garcia had failed to get proper contact on Koke’s Anthony Stokes were two up against a soli- PSV Eindhoven. — Reuters corner. Garcia missed another good chance a few min- utes later but made no mistake in the 25th minute as he headed home after being set up by Costa, adding to the goal he scored against the same opposition a fortnight ago. Costa went close himself a minute later but his dipping volley was well saved by the visitors ‘keep- MADRID: Atletico Madrid’s Uruguayan defender Diego Godin (left) vies with Austria Wien’s for- er Heinz Lindner, who had made several other ward Philipp Hosiner during the UEFA Champions League football match. — AFP good saves in the first half to keep the score rela- tively respectable. However, he was picking the ball Garcia came close to doubling his tally for the minutes from time, finishing off Garca’s backheel out of his net for the third time on the stroke of evening 20 minutes into the second half, only to into his path with real gusto, and many of the so- half-time, saving an Adrian Lopez shot only for see his header saved by Lindner. called bigger clubs will be hoping to avoid Diego Filipe Luis to finish into an empty net. But Costa finally got on the scoresheet eight Simeone’s side in the knockout stages. —AFP

Champions League tables

Champions League standings after yesterday’s matches (played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against, points): Group A Anderlecht 4 0 1 3 1 11 1 Napoli 4 3 0 1 7 6 9 Man United 4 2 2 0 6 3 8 Dortmund 4 2 0 2 6 4 6 Leverkusen 4 2 1 1 8 5 7 Group D Marseille 4 0 0 4 4 10 0 Shakhtar 4 1 2 1 3 5 5 Bayern 4 4 0 0 12 1 12 - Q Sociedad 4 0 1 3 1 5 1 Man City 4 3 0 1 11 6 9 - Q Group G CSKA Moscow 4 1 0 3 6 12 3 Atletico 4 4 0 0 12 2 12 - Q Group B Pilsen 4 0 0 4 2 12 0 Zenit 4 1 2 1 3 4 5 Real Madrid 4 3 1 0 14 4 10 Porto 4 1 1 2 3 4 4 Galatasaray 4 1 1 2 6 10 4 Group E Vienna 4 0 1 3 0 8 1 Copenhagen 4 1 1 2 3 8 4 Chelsea 4 3 0 1 11 2 9 Juventus 4 0 3 1 6 7 3 Schalke 04 4 2 0 2 4 6 6 Group H Basel 4 1 2 1 4 4 5 Barcelona 4 3 1 0 9 2 10 - Q Group C Steaua 4 0 2 2 2 9 2 AC Milan 4 1 2 1 5 5 5 PSG 4 3 1 0 13 2 10 Ajax 4 1 1 2 3 7 4 Olympiakos 4 2 1 1 6 5 7 Group F Celtic 4 1 0 3 2 5 3 AMSTERDAM: Ajax’s Ricardo Van Rhijn (left) and Celtic’s Giorgos Samaras (right) vie Benfica 4 1 1 2 3 5 4 Arsenal 4 3 0 1 6 3 9 Q - qualified for Last 16 for the ball during the Champions League Group H soccer match. — AP