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Home , Babar Azam, Fakhar Zaman (cricketer), Maxwel Cornet, Shoaib Malik

Friday 45 Sports Friday, September 21, 2018 Man City struggling to find Champions League magic City suffer surprise home loss to Lyon MANCHESTER: Manchester City looked far threatened in the box. Ilkay Gundogan had an from potential Champions League winners as effort disallowed after Italian referee Daniele they fell to a surprise 2-1 loss at home to Orsato ruled that Raheem Sterling was offside on Wednesday with a flat but City’s frustrations in attack were not their performance leaving them with plenty of work only problems. Fekir, who was strongly linked to do to progress from Group F. The Premier with a move to City’s Premier League rivals Liv- League champions, favorites with some book- erpool in the close season, then made it 2-0 to makers to win Europe’s top club competition this the French side in the 43rd minute, bursting clear season, were well below their best throughout and beating Ederson with a low drive after Fer- and now face a serious challenge to progress nandinho had given up possession in midfield. from a group which also features Germany’s Hoffenheim and Ukraine’s Shakhtar Donetsk. Smart finish City manager Pep Guardiola, serving a suspen- It could even have been 3-0 when Memphis sion, was forced to watch the game from the Depay hit the post on the hour after a magnifi- stands as his assistant Mikel Arteta took charge cent through ball from . After and it was a frustrating night for the pair, whose that let-off, City earned themselves a lifeline side have now lost four games in a row in the through Bernardo Silva, who produced a smart Champions League. finish after a superb jinking from substitute In contrast to a flat-looking City, Bruno Gen- Leroy Sane. City’s attempts to get an equalizer, esio’s Lyon delivered a tactically superb display, defending in numbers to nullify City’s normally however, were foiled by a combination of a well- MANCHESTER: Manchester City’s English midfielder Raheem Sterling (center) dives over Lyon’s dangerous forward line and then counter-at- drilled Lyon defence, which kept chances to a Portuguese goalkeeper (center) during the UEFA Champions League group F foot- tacking at pace. City fans do not seem fired up minimum, goalkeeper Anthony Lopes, who pro- ball match between Manchester City and Lyon on September 19, 2018. — AFP by European competition and there were empty duced a fine save to deny substitute Sergio seats in the Etihad Stadium, which lacked any Aguero and some poor decision-making from real atmosphere. City’s performance on the field, City’s forwards. last-16 clash against Basel. “Really disappoint- great achievement and a deserved one. We were however, hardly helped to raise the volume. The City sorely missed their injured Belgian mid- ing. To concede two goals like we did is very very, very good in the first half defensively and visitors took the lead in the 26th minute through fielder Kevin De Bruyne and without his domi- frustrating,” said City defender John Stones. we also created chances,” said Genesio. “We Maxwel Cornet, who drove home after Fabian nant presence in midfield they struggled to “We came in at halftime a bit deflated. We had an opportunity to make it 3-0 that I think Delph made a hash of clearing a Nabil Fekir change the tempo of the game and were far too picked ourselves up and played a better second would have completely killed the game off. We cross from the left. one-paced. The defeat was a fourth straight half but it was frustrating.” suffered a bit towards the end as their changes City’s Brazil striker Gabriel Jesus had a strong Champions League disappointment for City, Lyon looked far better than a team in seventh meant they had more pace on the pitch and they appeal for a penalty turned down but that was who lost both legs of last season’s quarter-final place in France’s , after two wins from five upped their rhythm, but we stayed solid and one of the few moments in which he really against Liverpool and the second leg of their games, and their coach was delighted. “It’s a worked for each other.” — Reuters

The top two teams from the Super Fours will India rout play the final in Dubai on September 28. “Our spinners kept it tight, got the odd breakthrough, SCOREBOARD by but the in the first couple of overs were very important,” said Sharma, standing in for DUBAI: Completed scoreboard of the Group A match between Pakistan and India in regular skipper rested for this event. Dubai yesterday: 8 wickets “It was important to get early wickets because Pakistan Pandya 4.5-0-24-0, Chahal 7-0-34-0, Yadav Pakistan have got some quality in the batting. So Imam-ul-Haq c Dhoni b Kumar 2 8-0-37-1, Rayudu 0.1-0-0-0, Jadhav 9-1-23-3. in Asia Cup we didn’t want to make things easy for them. We c Chahal b Kumar 0 kept things on the stumps and we spoke about b Yadav 47 India not giving Pakistan room.” Pakistan skipper Sar- 43 R. Sharma b Shadab 52 DUBAI: India crushed Pakistan by eight wickets fraz Ahmed blamed poor shot selection for his Sarfraz Ahmed c sub (Pandey) b Jadhav 6 S. Dhawan c Azam b Ashraf 46 in their long-awaited Asia Cup match which failed team’s demise. Asif Ali c Dhoni b Jadhav 9 A. Rayudu 31 to live up to its hype in Dubai on Wednesday. Pace st Dhoni b Jadhav 8 D. Karthik not out 31 spearhead Bhuvneshwar Kumar (3-15) and part ‘Batted poorly’ c Dhawan b Bumrah 21 Extras: (nb2, w2) 4 time off-spinner Kedar Jadhav (3-23) sent Pak- “We didn’t have a good start,” said Sarfraz, not out 18 Total: for two wkts; 29 overs 164 istan, who won the toss and batted, collapsing to whose openers departed for just three runs. “Lost c Karthik b Kumar 1 Did not bat: K. Jadhav, M. Dhoni, H. Pandya, just 162 all out in 43.1 overs at Dubai Stadium. two wickets in the first five overs. Then regular b Bumrah 0 K. Yadav, Y. Chahal, B. Kumar, J. Bumrah Skipper then struck three sixes and wickets meant we couldn’t come back into the Extras (lb6, nb1) 7 Fall of wickets: 1-86 (Sharma), 2-104 six boundaries in his 39-ball 52 while fellow game. You can say we batted poorly.” Once Pak- Total (all out; 43.1 overs) 162 (Dhawan) opener Shikhar Dhawan hit a six and six fours in istan’s unpredictable batting crumbled, Wednes- Fall of wickets: 1-2 (Imam), 2-3 (Zaman), 3-85 Bowling: Amir 6-1-23-0, Shinwari 4-0-27-0 his 54-ball 46 as India romped home in 29 overs. day’s match turned into a damp squib for a (Azam), 4-96 (Sarfraz), 5-100 (Malik), 6-110 (1nb), Hasan 4-0-33-0, Ashraf 5-0-31-0 (2w, Ambati Rayudu and Dinesh Karthik both fin- near-capacity crowd comprising of Indian and (Asif), 7-121 (Shadab), 8-158 (Ashraf), 9-160 1nb), Shadab 1.3-0-6-1, Zaman 6.3-0-25-0, ished on 31 not out as India exacted some revenge Pakistani expats living in the . (Hasan) Malik 2-0-19-0. for their humbling 180-run defeat against their Kumar ran through the top order by dismissing Bowling: Kumar 7-1-15-3, Bumrah 7.1-2-23-2, Result: Indian win by eight wickets arch-rivals in the final of the Champions Trophy in openers Imam-ul-Haq (two) and Fakhar Zaman London last year-the most recent match between (nought) inside five overs, before Babar Azam (47) the teams until Wednesday. Both Pakistan and and Shoaib Malik (43) rebuilt the innings during six and one four in a vigilant innings which lasted by Asif Ali after setting off for a quick single. Pace- India had already qualified for the Super Four their 82-run stand for the third . But after 67 balls. Sarfraz (six) became Jadhav’s first wicket, man took 2-23 but India lost all- stage of the Asia Cup and will meet again in Dubai Azam was dismissed in the 22nd over, bowled by holing out to long-on where substitute fielder Ma- rounder Hardik Pandya to injury. Bowling his fifth on Sunday. Bangladesh and Afghanistan meet in left-arm spinner Kuldeep Yadav, Pakistan lost their neesh Pandey completed a brilliant catch, throw- over, Pandya fell in his follow through and was Abu Dhabi in the last Group B match on Thursday, last seven wickets for 77 runs. Azam hit six bound- ing the ball back into the field to avoid running stretchered off with a lower back injury, the extent having already qualified for the second round after aries in his 62-ball knock while Malik, dropped on over the rope and completing the catch. But it was of which was being assessed by the India team’s Sri Lanka crashed out. 26 by MS Dhoni off Hardik Pandya, cracked one Malik’s run out which derailed Pakistan, sent back medical staff. — AFP