TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2016 SPORTS

Smith backs Starc for Proteas tests despite ‘gruesome’ injury

SYDNEY: Australia captain Steve Smith “It wasn’t nice at all,” Smith told match.” Starc, who was being rested from Adelaide. “It was just one of those things,” a chance to rest after being brought home thinks Mitchell Starc will be fit to face reporters on Monday ahead of Australia’s the trip to South Africa along with fellow Smith said. “You go for the ball and almost early from Sri Lanka in a move that was South Africa in November despite a freak departure for South Africa, where they will quick Josh Hazlewood, has established block everything out. As he was catching it heavily critcised in the media. accident in training last week that left the play a lone one-dayer against Ireland fol- himself as the leader of Australia’s pace a few of us were saying ‘don’t go for it’ but “ I think we could have got the messag- pace bowler with a “gruesome” injury. lowed by five ODIs against the hosts. attack in all three forms of the game over he took the catch and then what hap- ing across a fair bit better,” Smith admitted. Left-armer Starc required 30 stitches “It was actually probably one of the the last couple of years. pened after that wasn’t great. “We knew a fair way out that I was going to last Thursday to close a gash in his left leg most gruesome things I have ever seen. “I The 26-year-old’s absence for the first of “He wasn’t overly impressed, but when leave after the second one-day game. caused by a stump that had been dug into guess for Mitch, he’s got no tendon or liga- three tests against the Proteas in Perth things like that happen, particularly when “The fact we only brought it out the day the ground at Hurstville Oval in south ment damage so given everything goes from Nov. 3 would be a major setback for he was about to have a bit of a rest and before probably shocked a few people. “It Sydney and will be in a leg brace for anoth- well over the next couple of weeks, we’re the hosts, who also face the South Africans chill out, those are the kind of things you will do me the world of good looking at er two weeks. confident that’ll he be okay for the first test in Hobart and a day-night match in don’t want happening.” Smith has also had what’s coming up.” — Reuters Memorable Leicester debut for Algerian Slimani

PARIS: Algerian Islam Slimani made an Badelj’s late daisycutter. The Egyptian was English debut to remem- his lively self but ultimately failed to threat- ber at the weekend by scoring twice as en the hosts’ net, firing over on a Kevin defending champions Leicester romped to Strootman cutback before the interval. He a 3-0 home win over Burnley. then tried to set up Edin Dzeko only for the The 28-year-old striker was making his Bosnian to be closed down before he could first league appearance following his club- pull the trigger. record 28 million pounds ($36.4 million, 32.6 million euros) transfer from Sporting KWADWO ASAMOAH (Juventus) Lisbon. Nigerian teenager Kelechi As usual, Asamoah gave his all for Iheanacho continued to prove an able Juventus, but facing Inter Milan at the San deputy for the suspended Sergio Aguero Siro looked a step too far for the Ghanaian. with a goal and an assist as Manchester Inter were determined to eclipse their poor City whipped Bournemouth 4-0. start to the season and Asamoah struggled to find his rhythm in the middle of ENGLAND Massimiliano Allegri’s midfield. Worse, it ISLAM SLIMANI (Leicester City) was Asamoah’s lazy pass back to the Slimani opened the scoring in first-half defence that led to Inter’s winner. It was injury time with a header from a Christian pounced on by Ever Banega, who set up Fuchs free-kick. He struck again within Mauro Icardi for Ivan Perisic’s headed win- three minutes of kick-off in the second half, ner 12 minutes from time. netting with his head for the second time following a flick by strike partner Jamie FRANCE Vardy. YOUNES BELHANDA (Nice) Newly-recruited Nice playmaker KELECHI IHEANACHO (Manchester City) Belhanda grabbed a point in a 1-1 draw at The 19-year-old striker scored City’s sec- Montpellier with a determined late strike ond goal in the 25th minute at the Etihad meaning his side climbed above champi- Stadium, tucking the ball in from Raheem ons Paris Saint-Germain into second place Sterling’s unselfish pass, and returned the in . Moroccan international favour for Sterling to score early in the sec- Belhanda, one of the stars of Montpellier’s ond half. He has now scored three goals in staggering Ligue 1 title-winning charge of his last three appearances. 2012, crowned a solid performance with a tap-in on 85 minutes after the ‘keeper fum- YANNICK BOLASIE (Everton) bled the ball. Democratic Republic of Congo winger Bolasie was a constant source of danger as BENJAMIN MOUKANDJO (Lorient) his new club Everton beat Middlesbrough Rock bottom Lorient celebrated their 3-1 to preserve their hold on second place first points of the season after Cameroon’s in the table. After sending a header onto Moukandjo slammed home a penalty on the roof of the net, the former Crystal 76 minutes to seal a 1-0 win over Lille. Palace player set up Everton’s third goal Lorient remain 20th, a point behind five with an in-swinging cross from the right to clubs on four points. But the celebration which Romelu Lukaku applied the faintest from Moukandjo, who played all three MARSEILLE: ’s French midfielder William Vainqueur (R) vies with Lyon’s French midfielder Lucas Tousart during the of finishing touches. group games for Cameroon at the 2014 French L1 football match Olympique of Marseille (OM) vs Lyon at the Velodrome stadium in Marseille on Sunday. — AFP World Cup, brought a much needed smile ALEX IWOBI (Arsenal) to the Brittany club. Making a second consecutive start, Marseille draw with Lyon Iwobi was an integral figure in two of GERMANY Arsenal’s goals in their 4-1 win at Hull City. MARVIN MATIP (Ingolstadt) The 20-year-old Nigerian forward thought The Cameroon defender admitted his MONTPELLIER: Struggling giants Marseille their coach Claude Puel to Southampton while just started, but it’s a kind of derby and it’s going he had broken the deadlock in the 17th Ingolstadt team had squandered a golden failed to get a shot on target in a tense 0-0 draw Hatem Ben Arfa moved on to PSG. But with to be a great match,” he said. Favre praised minute, but his shot was credited to Alexis chance to beat illness-hit Bayern Munich with Lyon, whose team bus was stoned ahead of highly-regarded Swiss coach Lucien Favre now Belhanda’s goal saying his side deserved the Sanchez after flicking off the Chilean. Iwobi having taken a shock lead before succumb- the bitter Ligue 1 clash on Sunday. in charge, Nice are unbeaten in Ligue 1 so far draw and was happy with a single point given then set up Arsenal’s third goal for Theo ing to a 3-1 defeat. With Bayern’s Philipp Potential new Marseille owner, American and have brought in Belhanda on loan from their heavy schedule. Walcott, facilitating a one-two with a clever Lahm, David Alaba, Thomas Mueller and tycoon Frank McCourt was at the Velodrome Dynamo Kiev while snapping up Italian striker “Coming back into the game with such a back-heel. Mats Hummels all ill, Paraguay striker Dario alongside club president Margarita Louis- Mario Balotelli. good goal shows the our great team spirit. The Lezcano put the visitors ahead in Munich Dreyfus where the under financed side failed to The former Liverpool, Man City and AC Milan draw was a fair result.” A towering Radamel PAPY DJILOBODJI (Sunderland) before goals by Robert Lewandowski, Xabi impress. As the tension mounted Marseille strik- striker sat out this encounter having played Falcao header helped send Monaco top on Senegalese centre-back Djilobodji was Alonso and Rafinha settled the result in the er Bafetimbi Gomis missed an injury time sitter twice in four days, but will be back for Saturday while 20-year-old Thomas Lemar also the fall guy as winless Sunderland fell to a hosts’ favour. “There aren’t many days when against his former club leaving coach Franck Wednesday’s top of the table clash with paceset- scored twice at the end of the game. 1-0 defeat at Tottenham Hotspur. It was his you can beat Bayern at the Allianz Arena Passi holding his head in his hands. Marseille are ters Monaco, who have 13 points to Nice’s 11 Falcao’s career has hit the buffers since quit- error that yielded the game’s only goal, and this was one of them,” said Ingolstadt now two points off the bottom of Ligue 1 while and PSG’s 10. ting Atletico Madrid but on Saturday, the 30- with the former Chelsea centre-back’s fail- captain Matip. last season’s runners-up Lyon are in seventh, six Nice can thank a fine performance from 22- year-old Colombian leapt high at the back post ure to clear Dele Alli’s knock-down points off leaders Monaco. year-old goalkeeper Yoan Cardinale for several and powered in a header in the 42nd minute to enabling Harry Kane to sweep the ball LAMINE SANE, FALLOU DIAGNE In the early evening game a penalty deep fine saves that kept them in the game until his score his first goal for Monaco since August 2014 home from close range. (Werder Bremen) into injury time gave Saint Etienne a 1-0 win at left back Malang Sarr gave away a penalty on 67 — 755 days ago. Along with the rest of the Bremen home over Bastia when substitute Romain minutes, duly converted by Ryad Boudebouz. This was Monaco’s seventh consecutive win SPAIN defence, the Senegalese centre-backs had Hamouma shook himself down from a foul to Then Belhanda, one of the stars of and followed a slick 2-1 triumph over Tottenham -GONZALEZ (Granada) no answers as Borussia Moenchengladbach convert the spot kick. Montpellier’s staggering Ligue 1 title winning in the Champions League in midweek. On Friday, Moroccan midfielder Carcela-Gonzalez netted three goals in the opening 21 min- Newly-recruited playmaker Younes Belhanda charge of 2012, crowned a solid performance Uruguayan striker Edinson Cavani banged four capped his first Granada start with a first La utes of a 4-1 rout. The pair were powerless grabbed a point for Nice in a 1-1 draw at with a tap-in on 85 minutes after the ‘keeper goals past Caen in a 6-0 win for PSG. Liga goal as he rifled home a low shot from as Thorgan Hazard and Brazil striker Raffael Montpellier with a determined late strike mean- fumbled the ball. Coming back off a three Lucas Moura and Jean-Kevin Augustin added outside the area to open the scoring in a both netted first-half goals before Bremen ing his side climb above champions Paris Saint months injury lay off Belhanda was looking for- the other two goals after the break as PSG end- thrilling 2-2 draw at Real Betis. The former rallied after the break when new signing Germain into second place in Ligue 1. wards to hosting Monaco. ed a run of three games without a win in all Benfica man was also booked in a bad-tem- Serge Gnabry grabbed a consolation goal. Having come fourth last season, Nice lost “It won’t be decisive because the season has competitions. — AFP pered contest that included nine yellow cards and a red for Granada’s Ruben Vezo PIERRE-EMERICK AUBAMEYANG and Betis substitute goalkeeper Dani (Borussia Dortmund) Gimenez. Unusually, the Gabon striker watched Rangers suspend Joey Dortmund’s 6-0 drubbing of Darmstadt ITALY from the bench. Having scored in Borussia’s MOHAMED SALAH (Roma) 6-0 Champions League win in midweek at Salah got the chance to visit his old club Legia Warsaw, Aubameyang was kept back Barton for three weeks Fiorentina, but it was to be a bittersweet for Dortmund’s away Bundesliga match at experience for the Roma forward after the Wolfsburg on Tuesday and home match Florence side prevailed 1-0 thanks to Milan against Freiburg on Friday. — AFP LONDON: Joey Barton’s future with Rangers was thrown into doubt after the Scottish giants sus- pended him for three weeks yesterday following a training-ground bust-up. Barton, who was told to stay away from the Glasgow club for most of last week, met at Rangers’ Ibrox ground with manager Mark Warburton and board members. The club then issued a statement saying: “Joey Barton has today been suspended by the club and will not return to Ibrox or Auchenhowie for a period of three weeks. “The manager, Mark Warburton, and club believe that time and space is required for both the club and the player to assess all that has happened. “Neither party will make any further statement or comment on this issue.” English midfielder Barton was less certain about his position at Rangers after he came out of the talks. After being asked if he was still a Rangers player, Barton told Sky Sports: “I think so.” Barton, 34, was told to stay away from the club for sever- al days to “re-evaluate the way I’m thinking” after a fierce row with team-mate Andy Halliday fol- lowing Rangers’ 5-1 defeat by arch Glasgow rivals Celtic, the reigning Scottish champions. Barton missed Rangers’ goalless draw at home to Ross County on Saturday. Warburton, Joey Barton Rangers’ English manager, refused to discuss for- hinted at criticism of the way Warburton had strange. When you look at my history and you’re mer Newcastle United and Manchester City play- handled the situation. told to stay away from the club, it does look like er Barton’s situation after the game, saying it was “We’re asked for an opinion and I’m someone something more has happened, and that’s why an “internal matter”. who gives an opinion,” Barton said Friday. “Two I’ve decided to get on the radio and speak, But by then Barton had already gone public passionate Rangers players have then shared because it’s wrong.” with his version of events at Rangers’ training opinions on how we get better as a team and Barton’s suspension will see him miss the ground last Tuesday during a live interview on what’s going wrong for us. It’s nothing more and Scottish League Cup quarter-final against Queen London-based radio station talkSPORT on Friday nothing less than that.” of the South today, as well as Scottish ATLANTA: Meghan Klingenberg #7 battles for the ball against Stefanie van der Gragt Barton insisted he was “as committed to Barton, who signed a two-year contract in Premiership games against Aberdeen and #3 of the Netherlands at Georgia Dome on Sunday in Atlanta, Georgia. — AFP Glasgow Rangers as the day I signed”, but also pre-season, added: “The way it’s been handled is Partick Thistle. — AFP