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SUNDAY, DECEMBER 13, 201516 17 Curry, Warriors beat Boston 124-119 in 2OT Page 18

BOURNEMOUTH: Manchester United’s Belgian midfielder Marouane Fellaini (3R) attempts a shot on goal during the English Premier League football match between Bournemouth and Manchester United at the Vitality Stadium in Bournemouth, southern England yesterday. — AFP King sharpens Man United pain

atmospheric Vitality Stadium, Bournemouth - a then after United was eliminated from the the post and nestled in the net. United defense - comprising Guillermo Varela, tiny coastal club that almost dropped out of Champions League on Tuesday after a loss to It was a tough break for a United side that Paddy McNair, Daley Blind and Cameron Bournemouth 2 England’s professional leagues six years ago - Wolfsburg. Saying Friday that United will have started with an average age of 24 because of a Borthwick-Jackson - plenty of problems on the completed a remarkable double following a 1- to get used to losing its status as a European mountain of injuries - including Wayne counterattack. 0 win at reigning Premier League champion heavyweight will hardly have endeared Van Rooney. And another befell Van Gaal when But it was another set piece that undid Chelsea last week. Gaal to the club’s increasingly disillusioned winger Jesse Lingard was forced off the pitch United for the second time. In what appeared a Man United 1 Josh King was the match-winner for fans. in the 31st, to be replaced by 19-year-old training-ground move, King peeled off Blind in Bournemouth in the 54th minute, finding him- So, the last thing the Dutchman needed Andreas Pereira. By then, United had equalized the center of the area and found himself in lots self in lots of space to turn in a finish from a was for his injury-hit team to fall behind at when Fellaini bundled the ball into the back of of space to meet Matt Ritchie’s low corner with pre-planned corner routine. There had been Bournemouth - but that’s what happened the net after Memphis Depay had been denied a first-time shot into the net from eight meters. BOURNEMOUTH: Manchester United conced- more embarrassment earlier for United, when inside two minutes from one of the most by Bournemouth goalkeeper Artur Boruc. It Bournemouth had chances to extend its ed directly from a second-minute corner on its Junior Stanislas’ corner kick sailed directly into bizarre goals of the season. was an awkward finish from the tall Belgian, lead, with substitute Glenn Murray blazing way to a humbling 2-1 loss at Bournemouth in the far corner to give the hosts the lead. who poked the ball beyond the diving Boruc, over from 10 meters. The club from the seaside the Premier League yesterday, capping a Marouane Fellaini equalized for United in AWKWARD FINISH slid on his knees then stabbed it into the net town faced financial ruin twice in the last 20 humiliating week for England’s biggest club the 24th. The defeat adds to the concerns of Stansilas whipped in a corner kick from the while on the ground. years and was on the brink of relegation to the that began with a Champions League group- United manager Louis van Gaal, who has come left wing and the swirling wind helped to take Bournemouth showed how dangerous it is fifth tier six years ago. Now, it has just complet- stage exit. under increasing pressure this season - firstly the ball beyond David de Gea, who could only to underestimate the team by beating Chelsea ed back-to-back wins over two of European In front of 11,500 fans in its cramped and because of the team’s dull style of play and touch the ball with his fingertips as it struck last weekend, and posed a barely recognizable football’s biggest teams. — AP Barca let two-goal Man City back on top lead slip in after frantic finish Deportivo draw again, tipping over Sigurdsson’s shot after BARCELONA: Barcelona threw clash with Bayer Leverkusen, and Routledge had got away down the right to away a two-goal lead set up by missed the Brazilian’s inventive- Man City 2 cut the ball back. Lionel Messi and Ivan Rakitic in ness against a well-organised City, though, soon asserted themselves, the final 13 minutes as Deportivo Deportivo. taking the lead as Bony escaped the atten- la Coruna struck a blow to their Luis Suarez was looking to tions of his marker Ashley Williams to plant a free header into the net from Jesus title hopes with a 2-2 yesterday. score for the ninth consecutive Swansea 1 Despite missing the injured game, but the Uruguayan was Navas’s corner. Neymar, the European champions unusually wayward when he fired Pellegrini’s team were less than con- vincing with their own defending at set looked on course to bounce back wide a glorious chance from plays, almost conceding an immediate from last weekend’s 1-1 draw at Sandro Ramirez’s knockdown ear- MANCHESTER: Teenage substitute Kelechi Iheanacho was attributed a freak equaliser as Andre Ayew got in front of his Valencia thanks to stunning ly on. marker to head over from Sigurdsson’s strikes from Messi and Rakitic. Messi looked back to his best stoppage-time winner as Manchester City beat managerless Swansea City 2-1 yester- whipped free-kick. However, Lucas Perez scored after a few rusty performances on Pellegrini brought on Fabian Delph for for the sixth consecutive game to his return from a two-month knee day to recapture the Premier League sum- mit. the ineffective Raheem Sterling at half- bring Deportivo back into the ligament injury and he nearly time in an attempt to push Swansea back. game at the Nou Camp before he teed up Andres Iniesta with a sen- Yaya Toure’s shot deflected in off Iheanacho’s back, barely two minutes after As City looked to take control of the match, set up Alex Bergantinos to fire sational through ball that the Bafetimbi Gomis’s first goal since August Toure went close twice in the opening home an equaliser four minutes Spanish international just couldn’t looked to have earned the visitors a draw minutes of the second half, first with a from time. stretch to turn home. at a sodden Etihad Stadium. free-kick that Fabianski pushed aside and Barca now lead Atletico Madrid The visitors frustrated Barca by Wilfried Bony had headed City in front then with a surging run that ended with a by three points at the top of the denying space in behind and had against his former club in the first half and shot flying over. table, but Diego Simeone’s men a great chance to take the lead Manuel Pellegrini’s side came perilously Not that the home side could afford to can move joint top with victory themselves when Jonathan close to throwing two points away before relax, with Sigurdsson almost working over Athletic Bilbao today. Rodriguez was played clean claiming victory amid a remarkable finish. space for an equaliser after the ball broke Real Madrid, who are two through, but Claudio Bravo Swansea, who sacked Garry Monk on back to him off a defender, Hart racing off points further adrift of Atletico, rushed from his line to make a Wednesday, continue to slide towards his line quickly to block at the near post. travel to Villarreal today. fine save. trouble, having won just once in 12 league The England goalkeeper was in action With Barcalona not in La Liga German Lux turned a Messi matches. once more on the hour mark, adjusting his footing to beat away a swerving action next weekend due to their drive from distance behind, but But they can take great heart from a dis- Sigurdsson free kick, conceded after participation in the Club World there was nothing he could do to play that troubled their opponents, and so nearly brought reward. Caretaker manager Bacary Sagna caught Routledge with a Cup, they could fall to third before prevent the four-time World dangerous head-high challenge. the end of the month. Player of the Year recording his Alan Curtis attempted to halt Swansea’s BARCELONA: Barcelona’s Luis Suarez fights for the ball against slide by picking a side without a recog- City survived a scare in the final few “It is little inexplicable. We lost fifth goal in as many games with a minutes when Sigurdsson lashed home control when we had to have it stunning free-kick that dipped Deportivo Coruna’s Alejandro Arribas, right, during a Spanish La nised centre-forward, as Stoke City had Liga soccer match between FC Barcelona and Deportivo Coruna at when they beat City 2-0 seven days earlier. after Gomis had collided with Hart, only for and we made it easier for them into the top corner. the goal to be ruled out for a foul on the when it was 2-0,” Barca captain Suarez was off target again the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona, Spain, yesterday. — AP Gylfi Sigurdsson played as a false nine, with Gomis dropped to the bench, and it home goalkeeper that was far from evi- Andres Iniesta told Canal Plus. with a piledriver just before the cross. Barca looked to have made but he was also ruled offside. was a ploy that created two good chances dent. “They are things that happen. break, but it was Deportivo who the game safe with another stun- However, Perez was not to be in the first 15 minutes. Wayne Routledge It looked as though the visitors had We have to analyse it so it doesn’t made the better start to the sec- ning strike as Rakitic rifled the ball denied his 11th goal of the season was able to run onto Jack Cork’s through- secured a point when Gomis burst into the happen again. In two weeks we ond-half and Bravo had to be alert into the bottom corner from 25 moments later as he outmuscled ball inside the first five minutes and goal- penalty area beyond Eliaquim Mangala have lost four points which has to claim Faycal Fajr’s attempted yards for his first league goal of Jeremy Mathieu to slot home. keeper Joe Hart needed to position himself and belted in a shot that beat Hart at his closed everything up.” chip. the season. Perez was also key in teeing up well as he advanced to block the shot with near post. Barca were without La Liga’s At the other end, Suarez’s Deportivo thought they were the equaliser as his measured his legs. City, though, kept their heads, and top scorer, Neymar, due to a groin search for a goal continued as he back in the game when Perez pass was blasted into the far cor- found time for a winner as Toure found the net with a shot that looped in off 19-year- injury he picked up in midweek was flagged offside as he tapped headed home after Cardoso’s ini- ner by Bergantinos to stun the GOAL DISALLOWED old Nigerian starlet Iheanacho.— AFP ahead of their Champions League in from Jordi Alba’s unselfish tial effort had come off the bar, Camp Nou. — AFP Hart then demonstrated his alertness