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MONDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2016 SPORTS Title woe for Mancini as Verona hold Inter 3-3 MILAN: Roberto Mancini was left Swedish centre-back rising above the before the hour. But Inter were far from counting the cost of missed chances as Inter defence to glance a header past finished and quickly capitalised on soft Inter Milan slipped further out of Serie A Samir Handanovic at the keeper’s far defending to pull level with 12 minutes title contention with a 3-3 draw away to post. on the clock. basement side Verona yesterday. Pisano was given even more space Croatian international Ivan Perisic The result left Inter in fourth place by Inter’s defence three minutes later replaced Felipe Melo at half-time as and in danger of trailing Napoli by 11 when he rose to meet a free kick to see Mancini tinkered with his formation, points if Maurizio Sarri’s league leaders his header spin into the back of the net. and just after the hour sent Icardi beat Carpi later yesterday. Inter could have levelled in spectacu- through between two defenders for the Inter’s bid for just their second win in lar style soon after when Brozovic met a Argentine striker to poke the ball past their past six outings got off to the per- cut-back cross from the byeline with a the onrushing Gollini and into the net. fect start when Jeison Murillo rose superb volley that spun just wide of Inter began to pile the pressure on above the hosts’ defence to head past Gollini’s upright. but Gollini was alert, the ‘keeper Pierluigi Gollini on eight minutes. Gollini did well to come out and notably stopping another point-blank But even before then the visitors had block Palacio’s cross-shot into the area effort from Palacio with his boot. missed two great chance to break the as Icardi ran in for the final touch, then But Verona’s defence let the ‘keeper deadlock through Rodrigo Palacio, who had no problem collecting Geoffrey down 12 minutes before the end when fired straight at goalkeeper Pierluigi Kondogbia’s soft effort from outside the Perisic ran at the far post to meet Gollini, and Marcelo Brozovic after he area. Palacio’s pacy cross and beat Gollini sent his shot over the bar. Those misses proved costly when first-time. Gollini did well to parry Eder’s And the game turned on its head in Artur Ionita rose above the Inter swerving effort, but Verona, too, three first-half minutes when Filip defence to beat Handanovic with a third spurned late chances with Gilberto’s Helander and Eros Pisano struck to give header to send Verona’s fans, who had effort coming off the near post and late Verona a 2-1 lead just after the quarter celebrated their side’s opening win of substituteRomulo lobbing Handanovic VERONA: Hellas Verona’s midfielder from Moldova Artur Ionita heads the ball hour. Helander pulled Verona level with the campaign against Atalanta last only to see the ball go wide of post and and scores during the Italian Serie A football match Verona vs Inter Milan at a near carbon copy of Murillo’s goal, the week, delirious just three minutes crossbar. —AFP the Bentegodi Stadium in Verona yesterday. — AFP 10-man Southampton beat West Ham in EPL despite the man disadvantage the home side held on for all three points. Southampton 1 Yoshida capitalized on some poor defending to poke home early, and at the other end, goalkeeper Fraser Forster pro- duced an instinctive save shortly before the half-hour mark to deny West Ham defender West Ham 0 Winston Reid’s firm header. Hammers substitute Emmanuel Emenike should have leveled in the second SOUTHAMPTON: Ten-man Southampton half shortly after his introduction, but he overcame a sending off early in the second headed wide following Enner Valencia’s half to beat West Ham 1-0 in the English right cross. Premier League on Saturday. Saints mid- Another substitute, Charlie Austin, fielder Victor Wanyama was dismissed in missed the chance to double the Saints’ the 54th minute for a lunge on Dimitri lead with three minutes remaining, shoot- Payet with his side having taken a first-half ing wide after being played through on lead through defender Maya Yoshida. goal.The victory moves Southampton up to That was Wanyama’s third red card in 13 seventh, two points adrift of West Ham, league appearances this season, but which remains in sixth. — AP Giaccherini dents Fiorentina title hopes MILAN: Former Sunderland striker over half an hour to muster a shot on goal. Emanuele Giaccherini dented 10-man Former Barcelona winger Cristian Tello Fiorentina’s Serie A title hopes in a 1-1 draw did well to break away on the left but VALENCIA: Barcelona’s Brazilian forward Neymar (L) vies with Levante’s Mozambican midfielder Simao during the Spanish league football with Bologna, as Genoa’s relegation fight Angelo Da Costa parried his angled shot match Levante UD vs FC Barcelona at the Ciutat de Valencia stadium in Valencia yesterday. — AFP was kept in check by a scoreless draw with from close range. Lazio. Soon after, Senegal striker Khouma Fiorentina, whose last ‘scudetto’ came in Babacar ballooned over from eight yards 1969, were firmly among the title con- with the goal at his mercy. Barcelona equal unbeaten tenders in Italy’s top flight prior to the fes- tive break following a spectacular start to NEEDLESS SHOVE the season. Sousa replaced Babacar with Kalinic at But a series of patchy results since then the interval but Fiorentina’s hopes of taking record with Levante win have seen Paulo Sousa’s men lose some of all three points suffered a blow when their early season punch. Matias Fernandez, who had been cau- MADRID: Barcelona did just enough to defeat Guardiola’s team in 2011 went on to win the counterattacks. The local fans gave the team a Saturday’s draw means La Viola have tioned after just three minutes, saw red for last-place Levante 2-0 and tie its all-time league by four points over Real Madrid. It also standing ovation at the end of the game despite now won just three of their past seven a needless shove from behind on record of 28 consecutive games without losing won the Champions League, beating the loss at the Ciutat de Valencia Stadium. games in 2016. Domenico Maietta 12 minutes after the yesterday. Manchester United in the final a few weeks later. “We played a very good match,” said Levante Although Fiorentina remain third they restart. Barcelona took the lead with an own goal by That unbeaten streak ended with a 3-1 loss at striker Jose Morales, who struck the post with a could be 10 points behind leaders Napoli, Fiorentina broke the deadlock only two Levante defender David Navarro in the 21st and Real Betis in the Copa del Rey quarterfinals. first-half shot. “We put pressure on them and who host struggling Carpi, by Sunday after- minutes later, Federico Bernardeschi sealed the victory with an injury-time score by The Barcelona team coached by Rinus created good chances, but in the end it comes noon and drop to fourth if Inter Milan win pouncing on Tello’s low drive across the Luis Suarez to match the unbeaten streak set by Michels in the 1973-74 season, which had Johan down to the quality of their players, who are at Verona. area to beat Da Costa first-time from 12 Pep Guardiola’s team in the 2010-11 season. Cruyff in the squad, also hadn’t lost in 27 straight extraordinary.” But Fiorentina ‘keeper Ciprian yards to claim his maiden goal in Serie A. The result also kept Barcelona atop the games. Barcelona’s first goal came when Jordi Alba’s Tatarusanu believes the Viola have what it But Bologna struck back almost immedi- Spanish league with 54 points, three more than Barcelona faced difficulties against minnow cross from inside the area struck Navarro’s back takes to battle for a third-place finish to ately with a similar effort, Giaccherini driv- Atletico Madrid, which defeated Eibar 3-1 on Levante on Sunday in the coastal city of Valencia. and bounced into his own net. secure a qualifying spot for the Champions ing his first-timer from Godfred Donsah’s Saturday. Third-place Real Madrid is seven points Although the Catalan club controlled posses- Suarez had few chances until finding the net League. superb delivery inside the area past Ciprian off the lead going into its game at Granada later sion, Levante was able to contain the attacking with an easy goal following a breakaway just “We have a great squad and we still Tatarusanu in the visitors’ net. yesterday. Barcelona will have a game in hand at trio of Lionel Messi, Neymar and Suarez, whose before the final whistle. It was Suarez’s 10th goal have a lot of games to play so we have a “We tried to snatch the win at the end.... the end of the 23rd round this weekend. goal came in the final seconds of the game. in his last six matches. The Uruguay striker is the good chance of finishing third,” said but it’s still a precious point for us against a It was the 10th win in a row for Barcelona in league’s leading scorer with 20 goals, one more Tatarusanu. great team such as Fiorentina,” said all competitions. Luis Enrique’s squad hasn’t lost EXTRAORDINARY PLAYERS than Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo.

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