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Home , Derby della Madonnina, Iago Falque, Luciano Spalletti, Manuel Pellegrini, Roberto Mancini, Stephan El Shaarawy

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2016 SPORTS Dzeko adds to Roma woes ahead of Sassuolo trip

MILAN: Misfiring Bosnian striker Edin injury lay-off. “Dzeko won’t be travelling Iago Falque his only available strikers. likely to be kept on a tight rein on 2 draw at the . Dzeko has added to Roma’s injury crisis because he received a knock on Saturday Although Nigerian starlet Umar Sadiq Tuesday night. Spalletti said Sassuolo coach Eusebio after being ruled out of the matchday and it quickly flared up. To play him scored twice during a handful of appear- Sassuolo are enjoying a great season Di Francesco deserved praise for helping squad for their league trip to Sassuolo would be too risky,” said Spalletti yester- ances under Garcia, Spalletti played so far and sit in seventh place, 17 points raise the game’s standard in Italy. today. Roma claimed their first win in five day. down his possible inclusion. behind leaders Napoli but only a handful “He is one of the coaches who has league games with a 3-1 defeat of Totti came off the bench to replace “We only have Sadiq left to us as a of points adrift of the European places. helped improve our level of football,” Frosinone on Saturday, their first under Dzeko 14 minutes into the second half at lone striker. He doesn’t have great tech- Part of that success is down to their added Spalletti. new coach . the weekend but has “a problem with his nique, but he knows how to get in formidable form at home, where they “Sassuolo, Fiorentina, Empoli and But Spalletti, in his second spell at gluteus”, according to Spalletti. “We’re behind the opposition defence,” said suffered their first defeat of the season to Napoli all have coaches who have made Roma following the recent sacking of monitoring his condition, but we’ll let Spalletti. Bologna eight days ago. At their Mapei significant contributions to our game. , faces a forwards crisis with the doctors decide if he can play,” he El Shaarawy hit his maiden Roma goal Stadium, Sassuolo have so far beaten “Sassuolo is a really organised club and club captain ruled as said. It could force Spalletti into some on Saturday with a deft flick that he said Napoli, Lazio and Juventus and drawn everyone knows it. They’ve beaten a lot doubtful after suffering a muscle prob- last-minute tinkering, with on-loan AC was inspired by Sweden striker Zlatan with Fiorentina, and on their travels have of big teams and so they deserve to be lem on his comeback from a lengthy forward Stephan El Shaarawy and Ibrahimovic, but the Italy international is beaten and held Roma to a 2- complimented.”— AFP In-form Rooney seeks to keep heat off Van Gaal

LONDON: Wayne Rooney can help ease maintained their form since and sit three the pressure on beleaguered Manchester points clear of Manchester City and Arsenal United manager and move after 23 matches. closer to Bobby Charlton’s club scoring Arsenal, without a win in their last three record if he maintains his hot streak against league games, face Southampton at the Stoke City in the today. Emirates and their long injury list is finally United forgot their league woes on showing signs of shrinking with striker Friday when they won 3-1 at Championship Alexis Sanchez scoring in the 2-1 FA Cup side Derby County in the FA Cup with win over Burnley on Saturday. Rooney’s superb curling shot taking his tal- City, with 13 goals in their last four ly to six in six games and 243 for the club, league and Cup games face relegation- six behind Charlton. threatened Sunderland while Spurs, round- Van Gaal’s team return to league action ing out the top four on 42 points, will seek for the first time since losing 1-0 at home to to extend their 10-match unbeaten league Southampton, lying fifth in the table on 37 away run at Norwich. —Reuters points — 10 adrift of leaders Leicester City and five away from the top four. Leicester will continue their unlikely push for a first-ever title when they face 18- Matches on TV times champions Liverpool at the King (Local Timings) Power. Second-placed Manchester City go to Sunderland, third-placed Arsenal host English Premier League Southampton and fourth-placed Tottenham Hotspur visit Norwich City. Arsenal v Southampton 22:45 The spotlight will be on Van Gaal, how- beIN SPORTS 2 HD ever, and Rooney is hoping he can take the Sunderland v Man City 22:45 heat off his Dutch manager when they face beIN SPORTS 3 HD a Stoke side managed by former United beIN SPORTS 2 HD striker . Leicester v Liverpool 22:45 Stoke have lost all seven Premier League beIN SPORTS 11 HD matches they have played at beIN SPORTS 3 HD and have not won there for almost 40 years. West Ham v Aston Villa 22:45 beIN SPORTS 8 HD : Real Madrid’s , right, heads the ball to score his side’s fifth goal past Espanyol’s Giedrius Arlauskis “Arla” during the CLUB RECORD Norwich City v Tottenham 22:45 Spanish soccer match between Real Madrid and Espanyol at the Bernabeu stadium in Madrid, Sunday. Ronaldo scored a hat- Rooney overtook Charlton’s record of 49 beIN SPORTS 5 HD trick in Real Madrid’s 6-0 victory. —AP goals for England this season and he told beIN SPORTS 11 HD the United website (www.manutd.com) he Man United v Stoke City 23:00 could not help but have one eye on the beIN SPORTS 7 HD Ronaldo hits 35th hat-trick club record now. West Bromwich v Swansea City23:00 “Of course, I’m well aware of it” he said. beIN SPORTS 9 HD “Like the England record, when it was Crystal Palace v Bournemouth 23:00 getting closer, it was coming up every as Real crush Espanyol week, so I’m sure it will now.” Rooney said it beIN SPORTS 13 HD beIN SPORTS 2 HD was unfair to lay all the blame for the MADRID: Prolific Cristiano Ronaldo hit a 35th 19 goals with Barcelona’s Luis Suarez. season.” Valencia manager Gary Neville’s wait for team’s struggles on the manager. Italian Calcio League hat-trick for Real Madrid who swept aside Espanyol’s misery was complete with an own- a first La Liga win continued after a 1-0 home “The players have to take a lot of Espanyol 6-0 in a ruthless attacking display in La goal from Oscar Duarte. defeat by lowly Sporting Gijon. responsibility for performances and results,” Sassuolo Calcio v AS Roma 22:45 Liga on Sunday. Barca are three points clear, on 51 points, Former England and Manchester United he said. beIN SPORTS 4 HD The Portuguese led the way as Real sought to after their 2-1 victory in the top of the table defender Neville, who took on his first head “We have to stand up and take criticism keep in the title chase after an inconsistent sea- clash with Atletico Madrid on Saturday. coaching job at the start of December, has gone when it’s there.” French League son so far that still leaves them in third place, Ronaldo gave his backing to coach Zinedine eight league games without a victory. Leicester have confounded expectations AS Monaco v Bastia 21:00 four points behind leaders Barcelona. Zidane with the side having scored 16 goals in Valencia have slipped to 12th place and have to move to top spot, losing only twice in beIN SPORTS 6 HD headed in a whipped cross three home games since he took over from Rafa not won in 11 La Liga games in total, including the league all season. Liverpool inflicted from James Rodriguez after seven minutes and Benitez. under previous coach Nuno Espirito Santo, their their last league defeat with a 1-0 win at Montpellier v Olympique 23:00 beIN SPORTS 6 HD then Ronaldo won and struck home a penalty. “Zidane is doing well and you can see the worst run since 1986. on Boxing Day, but Leicester have A Rodriguez strike was deflected in after 16 results on the pitch,” Ronaldo told reporters. Antonio Sanabria’s 50th-minute penalty gave minutes and Ronaldo showed a sublime touch “Zidane has come with a different idea of Sporting victory. to beat two players and curl a 20 yard shot into work and the atmosphere is better. We are win- Kevin Gameiro, Vicente Iborra and Yevhen the corner before halftime. ning by big margins. Konoplyanka were on target for in-form Sevilla Ronaldo headed in from close range after 82 “We will keeping chasing Barcelona and who moved up to fifth with a 3-1 victory over Milan stun Inter minutes and is now joint top scorer in La Liga on Atletico, and see where we are at the end of the Levante. —Reuters in derby thriller MILAN: and M’Baye Niang hit and ended up doing what I did,” he said, “I Guardiola to succeed second half goals as AC Milan ended their don’t agree with a lot of the referee’s deci- long wait to celebrate victory in the city sions tonight, some of them were disas- derby with a crushing 3-0 win over Inter trous. In saying that, we lost 3-0 and so we Milan on Sunday. have some problems to resolve.” Pellegrini at Man City Title-chasing Inter had the chance to With his strikers misfiring, Mancini beat move up to third in to close the gap Leicester City to sign Sampdoria striker on leaders Napoli to six points. But after a Eder on Friday and the Brazil-born Italy LONDON: Outgoing Bayern coach Manchester City, who currently sit second my contract on the original date in June. bright start, ’s visitors took international had a bright start in what will take over from Manuel in the Premier League behind Leicester, “We extended the contract one year more their foot off the gas to go into the dressing must have been a baptism of fire. Pellegrini at Manchester City on a three-year remain in the running for four trophies this but with the clause that one of the club or me room 1-0 down after Alex’s 35th minute Nearly 78,000 fans were in attendance deal from the end of the season, the English season. Pellegrini guided them to Premier may not use that extended contract. So, I will header. and Eder showed promise early on but club announced yesterday. League and Capital One Cup success in his finish here on the original date, June 30. Inter spurned the chance to pull level 20 notably skewed a flying header wide from a “Manchester City can confirm that in recent first season, but the team failed to defend “There has been a lot of speculation about minutes from the end when second-half cross. weeks it has commenced and finalised con- their title last season. things, but they (the club) are not doing any- substitute hit the post from When Eder set up Marcelo Brozovic on tractual negotiations with Pep Guardiola to Pellegrini announced his departure at the thing behind me. I knew this one month ago. I the penalty spot. the edge of the box, Milan ‘keeper Gianluigi become MCFC head coach for the 2016/17 end of a standard press conference to preview don’t think it is good to have speculation It proved the turning point of the game Donnarumma was forced down low at his EPL season onwards,” the club said in a state- Tuesday’s Premier League game at about different things. I prefer to finish (by and Milan, who suffered a 1-0 defeat to far post to save at the second attempt. ment. Sunderland. That was quickly followed by the announcing) today - that is why I have told Inter earlier this season but last won the There were few clear chances in a nerv- “The contract is for three years. These club statement. the press and told the players. ‘’ by three clear ous opening half, although negotiations were a re-commencement of Pellegrini said: “Before we finish I will tell “I told the club two weeks ago that I would goals in 2011, doubled their lead on 73 was unlucky when he just failed to make discussions that were curtailed in 2012. “Out you that I talked with the club and I will finish do it.”— AFP minutes when Bacca kneed Niang’s deliv- good contact with a cross in to the six-yard ery past Samir Handanovic from close box. of respect for and the play- range. When the ball fell to the Japan midfield- ers, the club wishes to make its decision pub- Four minutes later, the stadium erupted er moments later, he made no mistake, lic to remove the unnecessary burden of spec- for a fourth time when Niang found the curling a perfect cross over the Inter ulation. roof of the net at the second attempt to defence for Alex to bundle a header into “Manuel, who is fully supportive of the secure the points for Sinisa Mihajlovic’s the net in the 35th minute. decision to make this communication, is men. Mihajlovic admitted Icardi’s penalty Milan suffered a scare early after the entirely focused on achieving his targets for miss had been “decisive”, adding: “It’s the restart when Donnarumma spliced an the season ahead and retains the respect and greatest joy I’ve experienced since I’ve attempted clearance, prompting the ‘keep- commitment of all involved with the leader- coached, because when you win a derby er to clash with Eder as the Italy interna- ship of the club.” like this it enters the history books. tional came in to challenge. Guardiola announced in December that he “I’m happy for the club president (Silvio Penalty claims were waved away, but an would leave current club Bayern Munich in Berlusconi), the players and the fans.” increasingly angry Mancini was sent to the May after three years at the helm, with an Seven-time European champions Milan are stands moments later for dissent. intention to coach in England next season. bidding to qualify for the Champions Inefficient Inter striker Stevan Jovetic was The 45-year-old Guardiola notched up the League next season after a two-year hiatus replaced by Icardi just after the hour, but treble of Champions League, German Cup and although they remain 14 points behind the game soon turned in Milan’s favour and Bundesliga titles in 2013, but in the last leaders Napoli, they are only six points when Donnarumma got down low to stop two seasons, Bayern have exited the behind third-placed Fiorentina, who drew the Argentine’s angled drive from inside Champions League at the semi-final stage. at Genoa earlier Sunday. the area. The ex-Spain international previously Inter have now failed to win their last As the ball bounced up, it came off the coached Barcelona from 2008-12, leading the three games meaning the Nerazzurri, who hand of Alex and a penalty was awarded. Catalan giants to domestic and Champions invested heavily in new players during the Icardi stepped up but saw his strike hit the League glory in a remarkable run of success. summer, are nine points off the pace. right post. The miss left Inter deflated and The much-travelled Pellegrini, 62, signed minutes later Bacca escaped his marker on for City in 2013, becoming the first Chilean to GUILT ADMITTED the edge of the box to knee Niang’s inviting coach in the Premier League as he took over Mancini, who was sent off for showing cross into the net. from Roberto Mancini. HANNOVER: This file photo taken on December 19, 2015 shows outgoing Bayern Munich’s his middle finger to fans who were insult- Inter’s defence was even more absent During his tenure, City have won 64 of the coach Pep Guardiola pior to the German first division Bundesliga football match Hannover 96 ing him, later admitted his guilt. four minutes later when Niang beat 99 games played. The only coach to have won vs FC Bayern Munich in Hannover, central Germany. Pep Guardiola will take over as coach of “I did it to eight fans who were insulting Handanovic at the second attempt after more in his opening 99 Premier League Manchester City on a three-year deal, the English club said yesterday after announcing the me, I admit it. I was being verbally abused picking up his own rebound. —AFP games is Jose Mourinho (73). departure of incumbent Manuel Pellegrini at season’s end. — AFP