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27 Sports Sunday, November 3, 2019 Barcelona slip to shock defeat after Levante goal flurry Suarez forced off the field with an injury to his right calf VALENCIA: Lionel Messi scored again but was help- each other. Barcelona settled, long periods of posses- less to prevent Barcelona conceding three goals in sev- sion finding a successful outlet down the left where en minutes yesterday as Levante stormed to a surprise Nelson Semedo twice slipped Antoine Griezmann in 3-1 victory in La Liga. Messi converted a first-half behind right-back Jorge Miramon, who then conceded penalty at the City of Valencia Stadium for his sixth the penalty. goal in five games only for Levante to stun the defend- This time it was Semedo who broke clear and ing champions with an incredible treble shortly after Miramon clipped the defender’s heal, allowing Messi to the hour. Jose Campana and Borja Mayoral scored in sweep the spot-kick high into the corner, even if the 61st and 63rd minutes before Nemanja Radoja replays suggested Griezmann had been offside in the added a third in the 68th to finish Barca off and give build-up. Real Madrid the chance to move top of the table later Suarez’s unfortunate half continued as he was on Saturday. Levante climb to eighth. replaced by Carles Perez and Messi might have made it After seven consecutive wins in all competitions, two before half-time only for Miramon to win back Barcelona arrived in Valencia as overwhelming some credit by clearing the Argentinian’s finish off the favourites to cement their place at the summit, particu- line. Levante began the second half on the front foot larly given the irresistable form of Messi. but nobody could have predicted what was to follow as His goal here was the 500th of his career with his three Levante goals turned the game on its head. First, left foot and it looked likely to give Ernesto Valverde’s Pique’s underhit clearance came straight back, as team another three points until bedlam ensued in the Mayoral and Jose Morales shifted the ball quickly second half. To make matters worse for Barca, Luis inside to Campana who struck hard into the corner. Suarez was forced off in the 41st minute with an injury Then a loose Perez header allowed Mayoral space to his right calf and would now appear to be a doubt and he did brilliantly to curl past the outstretched right for Tuesday’s Champions League game at home to hand of Marc-Andre ter Stegen. With the home fans Slavia Prague. still celebrating, Radoja made it three. Barcelona again Levante started well and Barcelona were fortunate failed to clear and Radoja’s effort might have been to escape a ragged few minutes that included Suarez saved had Sergio Busquets, on as a substitute, not shot being booked for a foul committed by Arthur Melo. out his right leg and caused a cruel deflection. Referee Hernandez Hernandez corrected his error after Messi thought he had launched a comeback when he being made aware by VAR. bundled through and scored but the goal was ruled out The chaos continued as Campana looked certain to after Griezmann was spotted to have been offside. That VALENCIA: Barcelona’s Spanish Forward Ansu Fati (L) vies with Levante’s Spanish defender Jorge score only for Clement Lenglet to make an excellent seemed to kill Barca’s belief and, if anything, Levante Miramon during the Spanish League football match between Levante UD and FC Barcelona at the Ciutat de block before Gerard Pique and Arturo Vidal comically should have made it four late on. Gonzalo Melero had Valencia stadium in Valencia, yesterday. — AFP conceded a corner after leaving a bouncing ball for only Ter Stegen to beat but shot wide. —AFP Zaniolo told Sky Sport. They are set to have further selection problems next Resurgent Roma sink “I’m very pleased with my current form, I hope to week after Fazio’s replacement Mert Cetin was sent off continue like this and to score many more goals.” for two bookable offences deep in stoppage time. Matches on TV Arkadiusz Milik’s fifth goal in four games closed the Zaniolo’s long range effort in the 19th minute came in a (Local Timings) wobbling Napoli gap for Napoli, but the defeat sees them drop down to dominating opening period in which Napoli had to seventh, level on 18 points with Lazio and Cagliari after thank keeper Alex Meret for keeping the score down ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE ROME: In-form Roma moved third in Serie A yesterday winning just one of their last five in Serie A. by saving Aleksandar Kolarov’s 26th-minute penalty. Crystal Palace FC v Leicester City 17:00 after a hard-fought 2-1 win over Napoli that took them They are eight points behind Juve and could fall fur- Napoli then came back as the half wore on and to within four points of league leaders Juventus. Rising ther back later on Saturday when the reigning champi- looked on in disbelief as Milik crashed a header against beIN SPORTS star Nicolo Zaniolo opened the scoring midway ons travel to local rivals Torino. Second-placed Inter the bar before Piotr Zielinski’s shot thumped back out Everton FC v Tottenham Hotspur 19:30 through the first half with his fourth goal in as many Milan are three ahead of Roma and can move top tem- off the post. However Roma took back control after the beIN SPORTS games in all competitions before Jordan Veretout porarily if they win at Bologna before Juve take the break and deservedly doubled their lead when Mario sealed the points from the penalty spot 10 minutes after field. Paulo Fonseca’s Roma meanwhile are on a fine Rui handled Javier Pastore’s cross in the penalty area, SPANISH LEAGUE the break and stretched Roma’s unbeaten league run to recent run despite an injury crisis that kept a host of allowing Veretout to score his first goal for the club Real Valladolid v Real Mallorca 14:00 six games. first team starters out of action over the last few weeks. with a spot-kick that just about beat Meret. beIN SPORTS “We are really happy with the victory, it was a head- The Portuguese has his side playing well despite miss- Justin Kluivert then hit the woodwork for the hosts Villarreal CF v Athletic de Bilbao 16:00 to-head we needed to win and we did. We’ve always ing three starting midfielders to injury and central before Milik pounced to halve the deficit when he beIN SPORTS said that we are a team with great talent and we are defender Federico Fazio following his straight red card tapped in substitute Hirving Lozano, but the away side Osasuna v Deportivo Alaves 18:00 back on form after losing our way a bit last season,” in their 4-0 win at Udinese last weekend. couldn’t force an equaliser. — AFP beIN SPORTS Celta de Vigo v Getafe CF20:30 beIN SPORTS Barty comeback sets up WTA CD Leganes v SD Eibar 20:30 beIN SPORTS Granada CF v Real Sociedad 23:00 decider against Svitolina beIN SPORTS SHENZHEN: World number one third game, enough to claim the first set. ITALIAN CALCIO LEAGUE Ashleigh Barty overcame the hitting Barty, who will finish with the year- Atalanta v Cagliari Calcio 14:30 power of Karolina Pliskova with a come- end number one ranking, continued to back victory yesterday to set up a struggle on serve but fought back into beIN SPORTS mouth-watering WTA Finals decider the contest through menacing slices and US Lecce v US Sassuolo Calcio 17:00 against defending champion Elina crafty lobs. beIN SPORTS Svitolina. She gained a decisive break in the Hellas Verona FC v Brescia 17:00 The French Open champion prevailed fourth game and her serve improved to beIN SPORTS 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 in one hour and 53 minutes take the match into a deciding set. Barty Genoa CFC v Udinese Calcio 17:00 in a matchup of the top two ranked play- upped her game with deft touch at the beIN SPORTS ers in the world. Barty, playing in her net and she gained the crucial break in ACF Fiorentina v Parma Calcio 1913 20:00 WTA Finals debut, will look to cap off a the sixth game with a forehand winner. beIN SPORTS momentous season when she plays Pliskova could not recover and fell in AC Milan v SS Lazio 22:45 Svitolina in today’s final. the semi-finals for the third straight time SHENZHEN: Ashleigh Barty of Australia serves the ball during her women’s Ukraine’s Svitolina won her 10th at the lucrative tournament. singles match in the WTA Finals tennis tournament against Karolina Pliskova beIN SPORTS HD 4 straight WTA Finals match with a 5-7, 6- Earlier, an indefatigable Svitolina of Czech Republic in Shenzhen yesterday. —AFP 3, 4-1 victory over a hobbled Belinda came from behind to continue her GERMAN BUNDESLIGA Bencic in one hour and 50 minutes. dogged quest to defend her title. Fortuna Dusseldorf v FC Koln 17:30 The Swiss struggled with cramping The Ukrainian, who has not won a But she couldn’t capitalise on serve and Svitolina cruised through the set to beIN SPORTS from late in the first set but gamely title since last year’s WTA Finals, did not then later in the first set required med- draw level and her momentum continued FC Augsburg v Schalke 04 20:00 fought on before retiring hurt.