Established 1961 Sport WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2018 Golden girl Geisenberger Gold for Kim, Hirscher as first Sharma ton helps India 13retains Olympic luge title 14 doping case rocks Olympics 15 secure ODI series victory Man City finish off Basel in 23 minutes Tottenham battle back to earn 2-2 draw at Juve BASEL: Manchester City’s Portuguese midfielder Bernardo Silva (L) vies for the ball with Basel’s Paraguayan defender Blas Riveros during the UEFA Champions League round of 16 first leg football match between Basel and Manchester City at the Saint Jakob-Park Stadium in Basel yesterday. — AFP BASEL: Manchester City effectively killed nerable every time City attacked. levelled it up in the 71st minute, meaning the foul on Federico Bernardeschi gave the ref- Tottenham had a huge let-off on the stroke of off their Champions League tie against FC In Turin, Tottenham Hotspur recovered Londoners will fancy their chances of knock- eree an easy decision to point to the spot. halftime when they were caught on the Basel after 23 minutes yesterday, flattening from conceding twice in the opening nine ing out last year’s runners-up in next month’s Higuain duly converted despite Lloris counter-attack and Douglas Costa enticed the Swiss champions with three quickfire minutes to secure a 2-2 draw away to second leg at Wembley. guessing the right way and getting a touch Serge Aurier into a desperate lunge to con- goals on their way to a 4-0 away win. Juventus in the first leg of their Champions Tottenham arrived full of confidence after on the ball. cede another penalty. Ilkay Gundogan, Bernardo Silva and League last 16 tie yesterday. winning their group containing last year’s The rest of the half belonged to the visi- Higuain took the ball but rather than cele- Sergio Aguero scored within nine minutes of Gonzalo Higuain struck for Juve after two winners Real Madrid, but they suffered a tors as they shrugged of the double blow to brate a first-half hat-trick his penalty rattled each other in the last 16 first leg tie to almost minutes and again from the penalty spot after dreadful opening 10 minutes. Juventus, dominate possession. With Christian Eriksen against the crossbar. Juventus played more certainly extend Basel’s wait for a first quar- nine as Tottenham were rocked, but the visi- unbeaten in their previous 26 home matches and Mousa Dembele pulling the strings for like the away side in the second half with ter-final appearance in the competition. tors responded in impressive fashion. Harry in Europe, took the lead after two minutes Tottenham in midfield, Juve retreated and Tottenham again pressing, although the hosts Gundogan curled in the fourth from the Kane fired home in the 35th minute to halve when a clever free kick by Miralem Pjanic they were indebted to veteran keeper went close with Lloris saving well from edge of the area in the 53rd minute as the the deficit-the first goal Juventus have con- picked out Higuain who swivelled to volley Gianluigi Buffon for two fine saves to deny Bernardeschi and Mario Mandzukic then runaway English Premier League leaders ceded in 2018 — before Higuain wasted the right-footed past Hugo Lloris. in-form striker Kane. heading straight at the French keeper. clocked up another emphatic win in their chance to score a hat-trick when his penalty Tottenham had barely put two passes There was nothing he could do though Eriksen, arguably the best player on the remarkable season. on the stroke of halftime hit the crossbar. together when they fell further behind sev- when Dele Alli picked out Kane in the 35th pitch, levelled for Tottenham in the 71st Basel did their best to make a game of it Tottenham were rewarded for their en minutes later from the penalty spot. Ben minute and the England striker drifted past minute when his low free kick deceived and created several openings but looked vul- endeavour when Christian Eriksen’s free kick Davies was caught napping and his clumsy the keeper before coolly sliding home. Buffon and nestled in the corner. — Reuters champions midway through the first half. The 2016 win- Winning starts for ners Jeonbuk Motors returned to the competition in style, coming from 2-0 down in South Korea to defeat Japanese visitors Kashiwa Reysol 3-2 thanks to a sec- Tianjin, Shanghai in ond-half brace from 39 year-old Lee Dong-guk. Jeonbuk, banned from defending its title in 2017 Champions League after a club scout was indicted for bribing referees in domestic competitions in 2013 and 2014, conceded SEOUL: Big-name strikers such as Hulk and Alexandre two first half goals before Lee, who appeared in the Pato may have drawn a blank as the AFC Champions English Premier League for Middlesbrough in 2007, League last-32 group phase got underway but their inspired a comeback. Chinese Super League teams kicked off with vital victo- Earlier yesterday, South Korea’s Ulsan Horang-I took ries yesterday. the lead three times at Melbourne Victory but had to Tianjin Quanjian, making a first appearance in the settle for a 3-3 draw. In West Zone action, substitute tournament in which 32 teams are divided into eight Baghdad Bounedjah struck twice late in the match as groups of four, defeated Kitchee of Hong Kong 3-0. Qatar’s Al Sadd clinched a 2-1 win over the UAE’s Al Former French U-21 international Anthony Modeste, Wasl in Dubai. signed for over $40 million last summer, opened the Bounedjah, who only got back to action last week scoring in the first half as Tianjin, who finished third in after being sidelined for more than two months with a the 2017 Chinese Super League, took control. fracture, first put away a sublime Xavi pass in the 79th An own goal and a Sun Ke strike gave Tianjin the win minute to help Al Sadd cancel out Fabio Lima’s 26th despite the best efforts of Kitchee striker Diego Forlan, minute goal for Al Wasl. DUBAI: UAE’s Al-Wasl player Salem Juma Awad (R) fights for the ball against Qatar’s al-Sadd player the 38-year-old who once starred for Manchester The Algerian then ensured three points for the 2011 Abdelkarim Hassan yesterday. — AFP United and Inter Milan. SIPG, semi-finalists in 2017 after champions with a 90th minute goal following an Akram spending more than $100 million on Brazilian stars Hulk Afif pass which the Al Wasl defence failed to clear. The Michael Laudrup coached Al Rayyan were in for But the classy midfielder more than made amends by and Oscar, won 1-0 at Kawasaki Frontale. Qatar’s Al Rayyan, however dropped points at home a horror start when Tabata deflected a powerful shot providing the assist for Abdelrazzaq Hamdalla to equalise The team’s less-heralded Brazilian import Elkeson against Iran’s Estheglal after settling for a 2-2 draw, with from two-time AFC Player of the Year Server Djeeparov in the 18th minute and then himself found the net 10 min- grabbed the only goal of the game against the Japanese captain Rodrigo Tabata having a mixed outing. into his own goal in the sixth minute. utes later to help Al Rayyan take the lead. — AFP.