SPORTS MONDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2013 Villa, Costa on target for buoyant Atletico MADRID: Atletico Madrid moved back to within a are in at the moment. We are excited and know we point of Barcelona at the top of La Liga with a com- are making the Atleti fan on the street happy.” Villa fortable 2-0 win at home to Athletic Bilbao yesterday. was first to threaten as his powerful free-kick was David Villa and Diego Costa were again the men well-held by Gorka Iraizoz before Costa broke clear who inflicted the damage on the Basques as the for- and pulled his shot just beyond the far post. mer opened the scoring with a volley from Juanfran’s Iraizoz then made an incredible save to prevent cross on 32 minutes. Villa’s volley from close range as the ball ricocheted Costa then cored his 13th goal in 12 league around the Athletic box. However, six minutes later games this season with a brilliant individual effort the keeper was beaten from a similar move as eight minutes later. Juanfran got the by-line and his cross fell for Villa And Atletico boss Diego Simeone was full of whose shot deflected off Mikel San Jose on its way praise for the Brazilian-born striker who moved level into the net. Costa then got his customary goal to again with Cristiano Ronaldo at the top of the La Liga make the game safe as he powered down the left, scoring charts. “He is huge for us in every way,” cut inside Erik Moran and slotted cooley past Iraizoz Simeone said of Costa. “He scored a wonderful goal, into the far corner. Villa should have added a third 12 his movement and power was great. “But not just his minutes after the restart when he headed Adrian goals, in his participation in the play and the connec- Lopez’s excellent cross straight at Iraizoz. tion he has with the other players he makes the team There were to be no more goals, but a miserable better. “He is growing in every aspect and he will day for the visitors was rounded off 12 minutes from continue to do so because he still has a lot to time when Moran was shown a second yellow card improve.” An 11th victory in 12 league games also for a foul on Diego Godin. means Atletico maintain their five point advantage Earlier, Valencia eased the pressure on their coach over city rivals Real Madrid in third. Miroslav Djukic with a badly needed 1-0 win away to However, despite such an incredible start to the high-flying Getafe. Dorlan Pabon’s wonderful long- campaign, Simeone insisted he is not annoyed to still range effort was enough to secure Los Che’s first win find his side behind Barca at the top of the table. in four league games and move them into the top- “No, we are not frustrated (that Barcelona keep MADRID: Atletico Madrid’s Diego Costa (center) runs with the ball between Athletic Bilbao’s Erik half of the table, three points behind Getafe who winning), we are just enjoying the moment that we Moran (left) and Mikel San Jose during the Spanish La Liga soccer match. — AP remain sixth. — AFP Lazio slump as Inter conquer MILAN: Lazio’s recent revival came to a grinding halt with a 2-0 humiliation by Genoa at the Olympic Stadium as Inter Milan put three unan- swered goals past Udinese on a rain-hit trip north. Elsewhere, Domenico Berardi made it a day to remember for Sassuolo, the striker scoring a hat-trick, including a late penalty, to help the Serie A new boys dominate a seven-goal thriller away to struggling Sampdoria. Verona meanwhile continued their strong start to the campaign with a 2-1 win at home to Cagliari which moved the newly-promoted side up to fifth at the expense of Fiorentina, 2-0 win- ners over AC Milan at the San Siro on Saturday. League leaders Roma visit Torino later yester- day looking to restore their five-point leader over Juventus and Napoli, who closed the gap to two points with wins over Parma and Catania respectively on Saturday. For their Olympic Stadium neighbors Lazio, meanwhile, it is back to the drawing board. Vladimir Petkovic’s men looked to have put a recent slump behind them with a home win over Cagliari and a draw away to Milan in the past 10 ITALY: Genoa’s defender Thomas Manfredini (center) fights for the ball with Lazio’s Brazilian days. However the Biancocelesti paid the price forward Felipe Anderson during the Italian Serie A football match. — AFP for missing several chances in the first half when Juraj Kucka broke the deadlock on the hour and Colombian Muriel spurned the chance to the face of goal. Udinese, who finished fifth last Alberto Gilardino doubled the visitors’ lead 12 reduce arrears when he pounced on a blunder season, now sit in 10th at 17 points adrift of minutes later from the spot. by Inter defender Walter Samuel. Instead of Roma, who travel to Torino looking to stretch Lazio’s fourth reverse left them in seventh, 15 feeding fellow striker Antonio Di Natale who was their all-time Serie A record of 10 consecutive points behind Roma and seven adrift of Verona. unmarked to his right, he sent a wild shot across opening wins to 11. — AFP Verona started strongly and took an eighth- minute lead when Luca Toni was left alone by the Cagliari defence to nod past Michael Agazzi Italian League results/standings LIVERPOOL: Tottenham Hotspur’s Belgian defender Jan Vertonghen (left) vies with in the Cagliari net. Everton’s Spanish striker Gerard Deulofeu (right) during the English Premier League Bosko Jankovic doubled the hosts’ lead on 57 football match. — AFP minutes and Verona survived a nervous finish Livorno 1 (Paulinho 11) Atalanta 0; Verona 2 (Toni 8, Jankovic 57) Cagliari 1 (Conti 90); Lazio 0 after Daniele Conti’s 90th minute strike to claim Genoa 2 (Kucka 60, Gilardino 72-pen); Sampdoria 3 (Pozzi 19, Eder 65, De Silvestri 81) Sassuolo Spurs and Everton share points a seventh win in 11 games to go fifth, only eight 4 (Berardi 49, 52-pen, 88-pen, Floro Flores 63); Udinese 0 Inter 3 (Palacio 25, Ranocchia 29, points shy of Roma. Alvarez 90+1). Spurs were also aggrieved not to be awarded Udinese’s Friuli Stadium is known as a difficult Playing later Genoa 11 4 2 5 11 14 14 a penalty after Jan Vertonghen went down under venue for visiting teams but two weeks after a 1- Torino v Roma Atalanta 11 4 1 6 12 14 13 Everton 0 pressure from Seamus Coleman inside the hosts’ 0 defeat to Roma, Francesco Guidolin’s side area. The home side registered their first signifi- Udinese 11 4 1 6 11 14 13 buckled again under a far more clinical Inter Italian Serie A table ahead of yesterday’s late cant attempt just before the half-hour mark side. AC Milan 11 3 3 5 17 19 12 when Osman struck a speculative effort from dis- match (played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, Parma 11 3 3 5 16 19 12 The visitors opened the scoring through goals against, points): Tottenham 0 tance that flew just over the bar. Rodrigo Palacio in the 25th minute when the Livorno 11 3 3 5 13 16 12 Everton left-back Leighton Baines was given a Argentine flashed a header past goalkeeper Torino 10 2 5 3 16 18 11 stern test of his defensive qualities as the com- Roma 10 10 0 0 24 1 30 Zeljko Brkic from close range following Saphir bined threat of Townsend and Walker posed Napoli 11 9 1 1 24 8 28 Cagliari 11 2 4 5 11 19 10 problems down the Spurs right flank. Taider’s precision free kick. Juventus 11 9 1 1 23 10 28 Bologna 10 2 3 5 13 22 9 LIVERPOOL: Everton and Tottenham Hotspur And Townsend created a shooting opportuni- Four minutes later Brkic dashed out of his Inter Milan 11 6 4 1 27 12 22 Sampdoria 11 2 3 6 12 20 9 both missed the opportunity to climb up to sec- ty for himself six minutes before half-time when goal in wild fashion to intercept a corner kick Verona 11 7 1 3 22 17 22 Sassuolo 11 2 3 6 12 27 9 ond place in the Premier League table after a he cut inside and drilled in a low effort, only to that was out of his reach and Inter defender Fiorentina 11 6 3 2 22 13 21 Catania 11 1 3 7 7 19 6 goalless draw at Goodison Park yesterday. Andrea Ranocchia volleyed the ball through traf- find Howard well positioned at his near post. Lazio 11 4 3 4 15 15 15 Chievo 10 1 1 8 7 18 4 Spurs were unfortunate not to be ahead at Everton finally started to find some success as fic and into a virtually empty net. half-time after they dominated the first period, they showed more ambition after the interval. with Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard saving A neat passing move on the edge of the from Kyle Walker and Andros Townsend. penalty area carved out a chance for Pienaar, Caulker settles landmark Everton were much improved after the inter- who saw his shot blocked by Spurs defender val, but despite chances for Steven Pienaar and Michael Dawson.