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Established 1961 15 Sports Thursday, October 19, 2017 No Pique, no problem as 10-man Barcelona cruise Barca lead Group D with a perfect record from three games BARCELONA: Barcelona shrugged off an early Gerard determination in a referendum, but stopped short of Pique red card and the distractions of a first match at backing independence. Barca beat Las Palmas 3-0 the Camp Nou since a violent crackdown of an inde- behind closed doors on October 1 as a protest at the pendence referendum in Catalonia to beat Olympiakos violent scenes across Catalonia, according to Barca 3-1 yesterday. president Josep Maria Bartomeu. However, the deci- A Dimitrios Nikolaou own goal and second-half sion to go ahead with the match proved divisive as two strikes from Lionel Messi and Lucas Digne ensured a Barca board members resigned in the aftermath and comfortable evening for there were calls for the hosts on the field, Bartomeu to resign from while the political ten- supporters at the start sion sweeping across of the second half. Catalonia was seen in Barca announced on the stands despite a low Messi nets Tuesday representatives turnout due to torrential of pro-independence rain. Barca lead Group 100th goal citizens’ groups Omnium D with a perfect record Cultural and the Catalan from three games, while in Europe National Assembly Juventus remain three (ANC) were invited points behind thanks to after their leaders Jordi a 2-1 win over Sporting Cuixart and Jordi Lisbon. A near 50- Sanchez were detained metre banner produced on Monday on charges by the club called for “Dialogue, Respect, and Sport” of sedition. However, both organisations refused that before kick-off as Barca continued their plea for offer. “We believe FC Barcelona’s message doesn’t both sides of the political divide to reconcile their represent the majority of the fans. For that reason we differences. reject the invitation to the directors’ box,” the ANC Catalonia’s separatist leader Carles Puigdemont said in a statement on Twitter. must abandon his bid for independence from Spain on Pique dominated headlines for his outspoken criti- Thursday or face an unprecedented move by Madrid cism of the police brutality on the day of the October 1 to seek a suspension of his region’s autonomy. referendum and his subsequent treatment when on Barca’s singing section also held up a banner read- international duty with Spain as he was jeered. BARCELONA: Olympiacos’ Moroccan midfielder Mehdi Carcela-Gonzalez (top) vies with ing ‘Freedom for Catalonia’, while there were habitual However, for once it was his performance on the pitch Barcelona’s Spanish midfielder Sergi Roberto during the UEFA Champions League group D football chants in favour of independence in the 17th minute of that was left open to criticism as he was stupidly sent match.— AFP each half to mark the fall of Catalonia in the Spanish off for slapping the ball into the net two minutes before War of Succession in 1714. half-time after picking up an early booking. Barca, Those cries were briefly halted in the first period, though, shrugged off their numerical disadvantage as needed the help of a poor effort from Olympiakos home by Lucas Digne. Olympiakos pulled a goal back a though, as Barca went in front in the 18th minute when Messi scored his 100th goal in European competition ‘keeper Silvio Proto, who merely helped the ball on its minute from time as Nikolaou made amends for his ear- Nikolaou sliced Gerard Deulofeu’s cross into his own and 97th in the Champions League on the hour mark. way into the net. Messi was involved again for Barca’s lier error with a towering header, but the Greeks remain net. The club have supported Catalonia’s right to self- The Argentine dinked a free-kick towards goal, but third three minutes later as his cutback was drilled rooted to the bottom of group without a point. — AFP Terrific trio on target as PSG Bayern beat Celtic thump Anderlecht on Heynckes’ Champions BRUSSELS: Paris St Germain’s feared attacking trio all got on the scoresheet as the French side completed League return a comfortable 4-0 away victory over Anderlecht in their Champions League Group B clash yesterday. MUNICH: Bayern Munich returned to the Champions Kylian Mbappe, Edinson Cavani and Neymar, who League yesterday with a familiar face in charge and form the world’s most expensive frontline, all netted, comfortably defeated Celtic 3-0. Jupp Heynckes, who while Angel Di Maria added a fourth with a late strike, retired after guiding Bayern to the Champions League, in a win that maintains the Ligue 1 side’s 100 percent Bundesliga and German Cup treble in 2013, has the record in the group stage with three wins from three. German powerhouse running smoothly again after They head the standings with nine points from sec- taking over from Carlo Ancelotti, fired after the side’s ond-placed Bayern Munich, who have six. Celtic are in 3-0 defeat at Paris Saint-Germain. third with a single victory to their name, while Paris Saint-Germain won 4-0 at Anderlecht in the Anderlecht are still searching for their first points. other Group B game on Wednesday and leads with PSG should have won by a greater margin as they nine points, three ahead of second-place Bayern. spurned a number of chances and will be confident of Celtic has three points and Anderlecht is last after victory when the teams meet again in their next fix- three defeats. ture in the group in Paris on Oct. 31. Bayern, which routed Freiburg 5-0 in Heynckes’ “We want to make an impression in this competi- first game back at the weekend in the Bundesliga, tion. We came here to try and win in style and are again produced an assured performance despite a happy to go back to Paris with the three points,” lively start from Celtic. The visiting fans celebrated Mbappe told French TV. “We had good game but are their side’s early corner like it was a goal. aware there are many games still ahead and we need Thiago Alcantara thought he’d scored early on but to keep up the intensity. It’s a competition where we it was ruled out as the ball was deemed to have gone out of play before Robert Lewandowski pulled it back. need to be at our maximum.” Celtic defender Mikael Lustig pulled Lewandowski’s The visitors led inside three minutes when BRUSSELS: Paris Saint-Germain’s Brazilian forward Neymar (C) heads the ball during the UEFA jersey in the area minutes later but no penalty was Mbappe drilled the ball low through the legs of Champions League Group B football match between RSC Anderlecht and Paris Saint-Germain given. Bayern was threatening a goal and it came in Anderlecht goalkeeper Matz Sels from a tight angle (PSG) at the Constant Vanden Stock Stadium in Brussels. —AFP the 17th minute when Thomas Mueller fired in the after being set up by Marco Verratti. It should have rebound after Craig Gordon saved Lewandowski’s been 2-0 midway through the first half when Leander header. Kinsley Coman, given his chance due to Dendoncker’s back-pass to Sels was woefully short was parried into the air by Sels and Mbappe followed under the jumping Anderlecht wall and into the back Franck Ribery’s injury, produced a long cross for and Mbappe found himself one-on-one with the up to head across goal for Cavani to nod into the net. of the net. Home forward Henry Onyekuru, on loan Joshua Kimmich to meet with an even better header keeper. It was the seventh Champions League match in a from Everton, struck the crossbar with 10 minutes inside the far corner from around the penalty spot Sels managed to get a hand to the ball but only row in which the Uruguayan forward has scored. remaining, the closest Anderlecht came to a goal. The around 10 minutes later for 2-0. pushed it as far as Neymar, who shot wide from the Cavani and Mbappe then both contrived to miss rout was complete when Di Maria saw the Anderlecht Mats Hummels wrapped it up with a header to edge of the box. PSG did get their second just a chances with just Sels to beat, before Neymar got his defence part in front of him and he raced through to Arjen Robben’s corner five minutes after the break as minute before halftime though as Neymar’s bullet shot name on the scoresheet as he drilled a low freekick chip the ball past an exposed Sels. — Reuters Bayern kept a firm grip on the game. It proved a frus- trating night for Lewandowski, however, with a goal ruled out for offside. Celtic pushed forward late on. Substitute James Forrest brought a save from Sven Ulreich, before it was Scott Sinclair’s turn to have a Juve recover from bizarre Basel win 2-0 goal ruled offside. — AP own goal to snatch late win at CSKA Moscow TURIN: Juventus hit back to snatch a late 2-1 The Brazilian first failed to cut out Bruno MOSCOW: Goals either side of halftime earned Basel a 2-0 win at win at home to Sporting after gifting the Fernandes’ pass through the Juve defence, allow- CSKA Moscow yesterday to keep the Swiss side in second place Portuguese side an early lead with a bizarre own ing Martins a clear run on goal. Buffon managed in Champions League Group A.

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