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France, Swiss, Paulinho bags Germany into draw for Spurs Davis Cup q-finals SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2014 17 19 New IOC president faces challenging 1st games Page 16 BARCELONA: Barcelona's Argentinian forward Lionel Messi (center) vies with Valencia's French defender Jeremy Mathieu (right) and Valencia's Portuguese defender and captain Ricardo Costa (left) during the Spanish League football match at the Camp Nou stadium.— AFP Valencia stun Barca in thriller MADRID: Valencia inflicted Barcelona’s first league defeat “We noticed at half-time that we needed to compete team in the first-half and another in the second.” later when referee Pedro Perez Montero wrongly awarded at the Camp Nou since April 2012 as they came from more and we corrected that in the second-half,” he said. “In Barca had gotten off to the best possible start as a penalty for handball against Costa when the ball behind to win 3-2 yesterday. the second-half we were very good and dominated the Sanchez’s shot looped up over the stranded Alves after just appeared to have struck the Valencia captain’s shoulder. Alexis Sanchez had given the hosts a deserved early game. We didn’t suffer that much at the back and every seven minutes. The hosts should have then built on their Messi showed no mercy form the spot as he rifled high lead, but goals just before and after half-time from Dani counter-attack we had looked dangerous.” lead as Diego Alves made a brilliant save to prevent into the roof of the net to register his first league goal in Parejo and Pablo Piatti turned the game on its head. Barca boss Gerardo Martino, meanwhile, admitted his Sanchez doubling his tally with a header from point-blank nine games stretching back to September. Lionel Messi quickly levelled from the penalty spot, only side had paid for not killing off their opponents in that range, whilst Sergio Busquets, Messi and Dani Alves all However, it took Valencia just five minutes to retake the for Paco Alcacer to strike the winner low past Victor Valdes opening spell.“I was anxious to consolidate our early came close. lead as Alcacer slotted home another intelligent cut-back five minutes later. advantage because the game is not over until the referee However, Barca’s intensity dipped after the opening half from Feghouli. And Barca’s day was summed up 13 minutes from time blows the final whistle and it felt like we stopped after half hour and Valencia missed a great chance to equalise when Barca boss Martino then introduced Andres Iniesta in a when Jordi Alba was sent-off for a second bookable an hour,” he said. “This week I said that at this stage of the Ricardo Costa headed wide when presented with an open bid to turn the game around, but it made little difference offence. Both Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid now have season you pay a heavy price for any errors and today we goal after Victor Valdes completely misjudged a corner as his flustered side failed to find any sort of rhythm. the chance to end Barca’s record run of 59 league games at committed a lot of errors.” from the right. Their chances to taking anything from the game the top of the table when they face Real Sociedad and The Argentine believed Valencia’s equaliser just before Valencia did level just before the break as Parejo swept appeared to disappear with Alba as he was sent-off against Athletic Bilbao respectively today. It was a stunning turn- half-time was the turning point in the match. “Probably home Sofiane Feghouli’s low cross. And the visitors went in his former club for a bodycheck on Feghouli. around from Valencia after a dominant display from Barca Valencia’s first goal caused us to lose a bit of confidence. In front just three minutes after the restart as Piatti took But Messi had one final chance to rescue a point as he in the opening half hour and Juan Antonio Pizzi hailed his the second-half that made us a bit more desperate, which advantage of more hesitation by Valdes to loop a header danced past a posse of Valencia defenders before slotting side’s reaction after the break. in turn made us commit more errors. We seemed like one into the net. Barcelona were handed a reprieve six minutes just past the far post in stoppage time. —AFP Naismith, Mirallas get Stoke punish United Everton back on track Mata got his first touches and Rooney had LIVERPOOL: Everton the first real chance for the visitors when he responded to their Everton 2 Merseyside derby drub- Stoke 2 lashed a half-volley into the ground and just wide of the post from Young’s cross. bing at Liverpool’s hands The champions started to put some pres- by coming from behind to sure on the Stoke defence, but clear-cut beat Aston Villa 2-1 in the Premier League yesterday. chances were at a premium. Stoke had Aston Villa 1 Everton were thrashed Man United 1 opportunities to create openings, but they 4-0 by Liverpool on were wasteful in the final third until they got Tuesday, but a 74th- a massive stroke of luck in the 38th minute. minute goal from substitute Steven Naismith and a fine Kevin Adam struck a speculative free-kick from Mirallas free-kick five minutes from time got them back to win- LONDON: Charlie Adam scored twice to 35 yards that looked set to fly wide, only for ning ways at Goodison Park. Victory took Roberto Martinez’s side secure a 2-1 win for Stoke City and further it to hit the knee of Michael Carrick and rico- up to fifth place in the table, a point behind Liverpool, who visit hinder Manchester United’s hopes of quali- chet in the opposite direction, leaving West Bromwich Albion on Sunday, while Villa, who opened the fying for next season’s Champions League United goalkeeper David De Gea rooted to scoring through Leandro Bacuna, remain 10th. yesterday. the spot. Everton handed Aiden McGeady a first league start following Despite United manager David Moyes United went on the attack straight from his January move from Spartak Moscow and he almost opened starting with Robin van Persie, Wayne the kick-off, but goalkeeper Asmir Begovic his account for the club in the third minute with a rising 20-yard Rooney and record signing Juan Mata got down well to repel Tom Cleverley’s long- shot that hit the post. However, despite enjoying the majority of together for the first time, the champions range effort. possession, Everton were unable to make inroads in the Villa suffered their eighth Premier League defeat It got worse for Moyes and United before defence and in the 34th minute the visitors hit them with a suck- of the season at a windswept Britannia the break when Jones was carried off on a er-punch. Stadium. stretcher after a nasty clash of heads with After Fabian Delph had won the ball from Ross Barkley, Moyes could curse his luck after injuries Walters. Christian Benteke played in the overlapping Bacuna to slide a low to Jonny Evans and Phil Jones and a fortu- United’s luck appeared to be changing shot between the legs of Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard from a nate opener for Stoke, but another below- shortly after the restart. Marc Wilson made a narrow angle. par display saw his side lose further ground mess of a routine clearance and it fell to Everton felt that Delph should have been penalised for his on their top-four rivals. Mata, who coolly picked out Van Persie for challenge on Barkley and the home side almost fell further Van Persie led the line with Rooney the Dutchman to curl in an equaliser. But behind when Sylvain Distin’s back-pass obliged Howard to make behind him, flanked either side by Mata and Stoke responded, and if Adam’s first goal a hurried clearance as Benteke closed in. Ashley Young, but they saw little of the ball had been fortunate. Walters’s knock-down Martinez introduced Steven Pienaar in place of Barkley at the in the opening exchanges. was missed by Marko Arnautovic, but Adam interval and the home side began to threaten, with Leon Osman Stoke started promisingly, but Peter ran onto it to launch a powerful effort from dragging a shot across goal and seeing another attempted Crouch’s attempted bicycle kick failed to outside the box that flew into the top-right deflected wide. come off after a good cross from Jonathan corner. Villa goalkeeper Brad Guzan had to save from Pienaar, while LONDON: Stoke’s Peter Crouch (right) jumps for the ball as Manchester United’s Chris Benteke came within inches of putting through his own goal Walters. United pushed for another equaliser, but Smalling looks on during their English Premier League soccer match. — AP Moyes opted for Chris Smalling at right- Mata hesitated in the area when presented when a cross from Leighton Baines struck him in the face and back instead of Brazilian Rafael da Silva in a with a chance before Arnautovic curled Patrice Evra headed wide late on, while first victory over the men from Old Trafford bounced narrowly wide. Martinez made another change with 20 move designed to help United’s defence wide at the other end as Stoke counter- Tom Cleverley lashed a rebound over the since 1984. With fourth-place Liverpool vis- minutes remaining and it quickly paid dividends, with Naismith running through to finish from Pienaar’s flick just four minutes deal with Stoke’s aerial threat, but that plan attacked.