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TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2016 SPORTS Fans fulfil mask pledge to ‘monkey chant’ victim Koulibaly MILAN: Thousands of Napoli fans made Koulibaly was the victim of monkey his abusers by offering his Napoli shirt to Because of this, we want to show our full Nigerian player Schengun Omolade, who good a pledge to racism victim Kalidou chants during a 2-0 win at Lazio. a young Lazio-supporting ball boy. support to Koulibaly. fell victim to his own club’s notoriously Koulibaly on Sunday by filling the San Referee Massimiliano Irrati, in accor- A supporters’ group, ‘Quelli del Sangue “We are all with you, Kalidou. Our invi- racist ‘Blue Army’ supporters’ group. Paolo stadium with masks of the Senegal dance with league regulations, halted the Azzurro’ (The Blue Blooded Ones), later tation to Napoli fans is to print a photo of At their next game, Treviso’s starting defender prior to kick off against Carpi on match for nearly four minutes to demand called on Azzurri fans to show their full the defender and put it on your face team ran out on to the pitch with their Sunday. “It’s great what the fans did a stop to the abuse. support for Koulibaly by holding up when the teams come on the pitch.” faces blackened as Omolade-who had today, it shows their affection for a lad Lazio were later handed a 50,000 masks of his face. In a post on his Instagram account, not been informed of the players’ plans- who has a wonderful character,” Napoli euros fine and will see the Curva Nord And fans replied in their thousands, Koulibaly said: “It was unforgettable. sat on the bench astounded. coach Maurizio Sarri told reporters after a (North End) of the Stadio Olimpico closed filling almost the entire stadium with “Thanks to all the fans who, thanks to this Italy’s problem with racist supporters is 1-0 win kept them top of Serie A with a to fans for their next two home games. masks of the African’s face prior to kick-off memorable initiative, made the San Paolo well documented, with several high pro- two-point lead on champions Juventus. While Irrati’s decision to stop the game against the visiting league strugglers. an even more special place to be.” file players falling victim to abuse over the The latest in a long line of racist inci- was roundly applauded as one of the A statement from the group last week The gesture was reminiscent of the years including Ruud Gullit, Aaron Winter, dents hit Italian football last week when league’s new initiatives to stamp out said: “Everyone in Naples is offended by stance taken by Treviso players in 2001 to Patrick Vieira, Paul Ince, Mario Balotelli and France-born Senegal international racism, Koulibaly showed his disdain for what happened to our young star. show their support for 18-year-old Kevin-Prince Boateng. — AFP Di Maria fires unbeaten PSG past Marseille PARIS: Paris Saint-Germain defeated bit- his return from injury in central midfield. ter rivals Marseille 2-1 on Sunday to PSG were unbeaten in their last 10 extend their record unbeaten run in meetings with Marseille, having won the Ligue 1 to 34 matches as the hosts last six in Ligue 1, and the visitors again remained unable to solve their home seized the upper hand before the hosts woes. Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored his had time to settle. Maxwell was sent gal- league-leading 21st goal of the season to loping down the left wing after after give PSG the lead inside two minutes at being released by Matuidi and the the Stade Velodrome, but Remy Cabella Brazilian picked out Ibrahimovic at the hauled Marseille level midway through back post as the Swede netted for the the first half with a wonderful solo effort. fifth game running. France midfielder However, Angel Di Maria struck the Matuidi again dissected the Marseille winning goal on 71 minutes to hand PSG defence a few minutes later, although a 15th straight win in all competitions this time Di Maria dragged his shot ago- and keep Laurent Blanc’s side a huge 24 nisingly wide of the far post. points clear at the top of the table. Barrada should have levelled for the “Marseille gave us a really physical home side when Thiago Motta failed to battle which we expected. We showed clear Brice Dja Djedje’s cross, but the our solidarity to see out the victory, but Morocco midfielder lashed over as the we’ve now got to ready ourselves for the ball dropped invitingly for him. two games before Chelsea (in the However, the hosts did equalise on 25 Champions League). It’s not going to be minutes as Cabella gathered the ball easy,” said Blanc. near the halfway line, skipped past Motta “The players, like you (journalists), are and fired low beyond Kevin Trapp from thinking about the game against Chelsea outside the area, with the German but...it’s not the last game before unable to keep it out despite getting a Chelsea, there’s one in three days and strong hand to the ball. Lucas wasted a another in six.” Marseille have now failed prime chance to restore PSG’s lead when to win any of their last 10 home games in he scuffed wide after a sublime Di Maria the league, while their streak of 11 through ball, while Maxwell was forced games without defeat was also snapped to clear off the line after Batshuayi NEW YORK: New York Islanders right wing Cal Clutterbuck (15) goes flying after tripping over Edmonton Oilers defenseman BrandonDavidson after succumbing to a ninth successive hooked a corner goalwards. (88) in the third period of an NHL hockey game in New York, Sunday. The Islanders defeated the Oilers 8-1. — AP ‘Classique’ loss. But PSG continued their dominance of Despite the defeat Michel’s side are Marseille as Di Maria, set up by still just five points off third-place Nice, Ibrahimovic, swept home his ninth goal Okposo lifts Islanders who they visit next Sunday, in the race of the season 19 minutes from time to for the final Champions League spot. keep the capital club’s winning run Billed as French football’s most explo- intact. Steven Fletcher came on for his sive fixture, Sunday’s encounter on the Marseille debut late on, while Georges- to 8-1 rout of Oilers south coast was no different with five Kevin Nkoudou watched a shot flash people arrested prior to kick-off follow- wide as the hosts hit PSG on the break ing a run-in with police outside the but ultimately were left still searching for NEW YORK: Kyle Okposo scored a hat trick Capitals 3, Flyers 2 Orlov also scored for the Capitals and Braden ground. a first home win since September. after the Islanders opened a commanding ear- Matt Niskanen went coast-to-coast for the Holtby stopped 33 shots. Blanc made six changes to the side Earlier, Saint-Etienne registered a ly lead with three first-period goals as New go-ahead goal, Alex Ovechkin notched his Nick Shultz and Michael Del Zotto scored that beat Lorient on Wednesday to set a thumping 4-1 win at Bordeaux to move York routed the last-place Edmonton Oilers 8-1 30th of the season and Washington defeated for the Flyers and Steve Mason made 27 new record for the longest sequence of level on points with Nice, while Rennes on Sunday. Thomas Greiss made 30 saves for Philadelphia for its third straight win. Dmitry saves. — Reuters games without defeat in the French top salvaged a point late on in a 1-1 draw at the Islanders (27-18-6), who moved within flight, recalling the likes of Di Maria, Lille. On Saturday, Monaco strengthened three points of the Rangers for second-place in Blaise Matuidi and David Luiz. their hold on second place with a 1-0 win the Metropolitan Division. Johnny Boychuk, NHL results/standings Marseille welcomed back both Michy over Cote d’Azur rivals Nice, while Lyon John Tavares and Nikolay Kulemin scored in Batshuayi and Abdelaziz Barrada from continued their mini-revival with a 3-0 the opening period, chasing former Islanders Montreal 2, Carolina 1 (SO); NY Islanders 8, Edmonton 1; Washington 3, Philadelphia 2. suspension, while Lassana Diarra made victory away to Angers. — AFP netminder Anders Nilsson, who was replaced after Kulemin’s goal by former Ranger Cam Eastern Conference Western Conference Talbot. Boychuk, in his first game back after Atlantic Division Pacific Division missing 11 games with an upper body injury W L OT GF GA PTS Chicago 36 16 4 159 128 76 suffered on Dec. 31 at Buffalo, ripped a slap Florida 31 15 6 148 116 68 Dallas 33 15 5 172 144 71 shot past Nilsson at 2:57 for his fourth goal of Tampa Bay 29 18 4 139 121 62 St. Louis 30 17 8 135 132 68 the season. Tavares made it 2-0 at 9:12 with his Boston 28 18 6 155 138 62 Nashville 25 20 8 138 140 58 19th goal before Kulemin added his sixth at Detroit 26 18 8 131 134 60 Colorado 27 24 4 149 152 58 11:24. Oilers coach Todd McLellan then pulled Montreal 26 24 4 147 144 56 Minnesota 23 20 9 127 128 55 Nilsson, replacing him with Talbot. Nilsson Ottawa 24 23 6 152 169 54 Winnipeg 23 26 3 136 152 49 stopped only seven of the 10 shots he faced.