Sports Tuesday, August 24, 2021 13 QATAR TEAM CONTINUES TRAINING IN AusTRIA AHEAD OF EuRO quALIFIERS The Qatar national football team players during a training session at the conditioning camp in Austria. Al Annabi will resume their European qualifiers in Group A and play Portugal, Serbia and Luxembourg on September 1st, 4th and 7th respectively. Vinicius seals thrilling point Nice and Marseille summoned as for Real in 3-3 with Levante DPA fallout from Ligue 1 clash continues BERLIN DPA Footage showed Payet was VINICIUS Junior spared Real BERLIN struck on the back by the mis- Madrid’s blushes on Sunday as sile near the corner flag dur- his sublime 85th-minute strike THE LIGUE de Football Pro- ing the second half, with Nice secured a pulsating 3-3 draw fessionnel (LFP) have sum- leading through Kasper Dol- against Levante. moned Nice and Marseille to berg’s 49th-minute goal. Los Blancos kicked off explain the chaotic scenes that Marseille star Payet then their LaLiga campaign with marred their Ligue 1 fixture. appeared to hurl a bottle back a 4-1 victory over Alaves last Sunday’s contest was sus- into the crowd, then a second weekend and they looked like pended and then abandoned lying on the turf, as his team- they would cruise to back-to- after Marseille’s Dimitri Payet mates reacted furiously to- back wins when Gareth Bale threw a bottle back into the wards the terraces. gave them an early lead at Es- stands at Nice’s Allianz Rivi- Fans then surged to the tadi Ciutat de Valencia. era, prompting home fans to sidelines and forced their way The hosts had other ide- storm the pitch. past stewards and onto the as, though, and went ahead A statement from LFP pitch, where a melee broke out. thanks to goals from Roger said: “Following the serious The referee suspended Marti and Jose Campana in- incidents of the meeting be- the match as security staff at- side the opening 12 minutes of tween Nice and Marseille, the tempted to restore order, but the second half. disciplinary commission of the fans continued to get onto the LFP summons the two clubs field of play and there were for the session of Wednesday, further skirmishes in the dug- 25 August 2021.” outs as players were led to- Marseille plan to take action wards the tunnel. to reverse the LFP decision to Both sides were eventually award Nice a 3-0 victory after taken to the dressing rooms OM’s players refused to come for nearly an hour before Nice back out to complete the match. players returned to the pitch Captain Steve Mandanda to warm up, with the game ap- justified his team’s refusal to parently set to resume. Brazilian forward Vinicius Junior return to the field after sup- The match officials set up celebrates scoring Real Madrid’s porters had been ushered back play to continue from Mar- second goal during the Spanish into the stands. seille’s corner but, as the visi- League match against Levante “Quite simply, for us players, tors had not come back onto UD at the Ciutat de Valencia sta- our safety was no longer guaran- Marseille’s French midfielder Dimitri Payet (C) reacts as players stop a fan (R) invading the pitch during the French L1 match between OGC Nice the pitch and were apparently dium in Valencia on Sunday. (AFP) teed,” the goalkeeper told Mar- and Olympique de Marseille at the Allianz Riviera stadium in Nice, southern France, on Sunday. The game was halted when fans of the home refusing to do so, the referee seille’s official website. side invaded the pitch and angrily confronted opposing player Payet, who had been targeted by plastic bottles every time he took a corner, ended the game. Substitute Vinicius drew the “We are very clearly lobbed one back into the stands. (AFP) Marseille president Pablo visitors level in the 73rd minute, shocked by what happened. It Longoria told RMC Sport: “We yet it appeared Levante would is for us something unaccep- Roxana Maracineanu, has should never have been able ing place is that the safety of the The Ligue 1 match between decided not to resume the match claim a memorable three points table that the supporters can called on football’s authorities to enter a field,” she told BFM. players on the pitch is assured. Nice and Marseille was sus- for the safety of our players. when Rober Pier slotted home come on to the field like that. to take action against Nice for “There must be penalties “I hope that the investiga- pended and then abandoned “The league decided as a from close range six minutes “We found each other in the “intolerable” behaviour of for the club in question so that tion, whether disciplinary or after Dimitri Payet threw a matter of public order to re- later. However, Brazil interna- danger. A lot of our players their supporters. it affects the fans of the team. criminal, will make it possible bottle back into the stands, sume the match. This isn’t tional Vinicius ensured a share have been targeted or affected.” “The fight should never “It’s intolerable because the to identify the culprits and to causing home fans to storm acceptable for us. It’s why we of the spoils with a wonderful France’s minister for sport, have taken place, people first condition for a match tak- punish them as necessary.” the pitch. decided not to resume.” strike from the tightest of an- gles, while the late drama con- tinued when Levante goalkeep- er Aitor Fernandez received a straight red card for handling Man City to the ball way outside his penalty Arsenal motivated by criticism after area in the closing stages as he unveil statues bid to stop a Madrid counter. Madrid had started on the front of Silva and foot, Bale sweeping home his two opening defeats, says Xhaka first LaLiga goal since a double Kompany against Villarreal in September 2019 after being picked out by DPA DPA the moment is to be together, Karim Benzema. LONDON LONDON and only together will we be Levante pulled level with stronger and give the results their first shot on target 28 sec- SCULPTURES of Vincent Kom- GRANIT Xhaka insists Arse- on the pitch after. onds into the second half, Marti pany and David Silva will be nal will be motivated by the “We want to achieve some- latching onto Gonzalo Melero’s installed outside Manchester criticism levelled at them fol- thing big, of course. After through ball and firing in an ef- City’s Etihad stadium ahead of lowing a poor start to the new two games a lot of people are fort that squirmed through the this weekend’s Premier League Premier League season. speaking about this team and grasp of Thibaut Courtois. game against Arsenal. The Gunners lost 2-0 at about this club but I will say, An unlikely turnaround was A third statue – of record home to Chelsea on Sunday as no season finishes after two or completed in the 57th minute scorer Sergio Aguero – is set Romelu Lukaku marked his sec- three games. when Campana stormed in at to join them next year with ond Blues debut with a goal be- “We still have games still the back post to thump a stun- the three players recognised fore Reece James wrapped up a in front of us, we know we ning volley past Courtois from for their “unparalleled contri- deserved victory for the visitors. have to improve a lot of things Jorge de Frutos’ cross. bution to the club’s transfor- That followed an opening- and I’m sure we will do that.” Vinicius drew Madrid level mation”. day defeat at newly-promoted Xhaka captained Arsenal at with a cool finish after being Kompany left the Premier Brentford as Arsenal endured the Emirates Stadium on Sun- played clean through by Casem- League side in 2019, hav- their worst-ever start to a cam- day, a big turnaround from be- iro, but Pier restored Levante’s ing won the Premier League paign in the top four leagues. ing stripped of the armband by lead when a free-kick bounced title four times, along with two Xhaka, who signed a new Unai Emery following an out- kindly into his path a few yards FA Cups and four EFL Cups. deal with the club before the burst at supporters and then from goal. Alejandro Cantero While Silva, who made 436 start of the season - despite be- appearing set for a move to inexplicably struck the post after appearances for City, is widely ing heavily linked with a move Roma just weeks ago. rounding Courtois soon after, regarded as one of the club’s to Italy - admits things need to “I’m very happy, I’m still setting the stage for Vinicius to greatest-ever players. improve as the squad look to here,” he added. “I’ve signed equalise again with a glorious The club said the statues prove their naysayers wrong. a new contract of course and finish from an acute angle. have been made by award- “Of course,” the Switzer- I want to give back, first of all And Levante can consider winning sculptor Andy Scott. land midfielder replied when to our staff, and then after to themselves fortunate to have “These artworks give us the asked if the team are motivat- our fans. held on for a point given defend- opportunity to be reminded ed by criticism. “They know I will give er Ruben Vezo went in goal from of, and savour, the truly magi- “A lot of people try to everything - in every game the 87th minute after Fernandez cal moments created by both speak and to kill a little bit and every training session.