TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2014 SPORTS Lennon sets new targets for unbeaten Celtic

GLASGOW: Celtic manager Neil Lennon on Edwin van der Sar’s British record. more than 100 points and more than we league duty way back in November. We’ve broken the clean sheet record and has challenged his players to make histo- Now Lennon has set his sights on sur- got under Martin in 2002,” Lennon said. “It Derek McInnes’ side are Celtic’s closest we would like to go as long as possible ry by smashing the club’s own record passing another landmark in what could is a target we are aiming for. We want to challengers, albeit 24 points off the pace unbeaten but that is going to be very dif- points haul in the Scottish Premiership. be a record-breaking league campaign. try to remain unbeaten until the end of after a surprise 3-1 defeat to Partick ficult. “It’s got all the ingredients for a The Hoops boss has watched proudly Lennon was part of the Celtic team that the season but it might be a step too far.” Thistle on Saturday, and Lennon knows great game and we will need to maintain on as goalkeeper Fraser Forster first sur- racked up 103 points under Martin O’Neill Celtic head north to Aberdeen today his side can expect a tough test today. our focus between now and the end of passed the club’s clean sheet record in the 2000/2001 season. looking for their 16th consecutive league “Aberdeen are the only team to have the season if we are to remain undefeat- before setting a new Scottish shut-out However, the Parkhead boss believes win but they will find it tough at Pittodrie. scored against us in quite a while now ed.” Elsewhere today, Ross County host record in the 2-0 win on Saturday. his squad can top that, with his side on The Dons defeated Lennon’s side at and they provide us with very stiff oppo- Inverness Caledonian Thistle at Victoria The English ‘keeper has now gone 13 target to reach 108 points if they win Parkhead a fortnight ago to knock the sition,” Lennon said. “They played very Park for the Highland derby and St consecutive matches and 1,215 minutes their remaining 12 games. Hoops out of the Scottish Cup and were well against us a couple of weeks ago. Johnstone welcome Motherwell to without conceding a goal as he closes in “It would be quite something to get the last side to score past Forster on Our focus is on maintaining this run now. McDiarmid Park. —AFP Pressure on Japan to wrest Asian club crown from China

SEOUL: Pressure is mounting on who signed in February in a deal ten continental titles in total. With are still strong as a team and it Japanese clubs to emulate the reportedly worth $5.6 million. The talent being lost to the increasingly does not matter so much about regional dominance of their 2010 World Cup Most Valuable lucrative Chinese Super League, a the specific players,” said Yun. national side as the Asian Player will link up with highly-rated continuation of such success will Three Australian teams are con- Champions League kicks off today, Japanese international Yoichiro be challenging, despite three of its testing the Champions League for with J-League sides looking to Kakitani. four representatives - Jeonbuk the first time this year, with Central break a five-year drought in the Coast and Melbourne Victory aim- continental competition. ing to improve on poor past per- The J-League has fallen behind formances, while Western Sydney its South Korean and Chinese Wanderers makes a debut in just its domestic counterparts in recent second season of existence. years, with Gamba Osaka’s 2008 In the western half of the draw, title followed by three South 2011 champion Al Sadd of Qatar Korean wins and the victory by a returns to the tournament for the Marcello Lippi-led Guangzhou first time since. That win over Evergrande of China last season. Jeonbuk Motors in a penalty Japan, along with Korea, Iran shootout is the only win for the and Saudi Arabia, has four repre- western part of the confederation sentatives in the 32 team tourna- since 2005. ment that is divided into west and Iran has yet to record a title tri- eastern zones until the quarterfinal umph in the current version of the stage for geographical reasons. tournament, which was launched J-League champion Sanfrecce in 2003. Foolad Khouzestan is in Hiroshima is the leading con- the competition for the first time tender, despite having crashed out and has high ambitions. in last year’s group stage without a “There are lots of advantages to single victory. being a new team in the AFC “Last year we were not techni- Champions League,” said midfield- cally or tactically inferior but over Marcello Lippi er Shahab Karami. “Nobody really powered by our opponents’ physi- knows what we are capable of, so cal strength,” said Sanfrecce coach Forlan is not the only big name Motors, Ulsan Horangi and Pohang we have a great opportunity to sur- Hajime Moriyasu, who led the club import looking to make his mark in Steelers - all having lifted the tro- prise a lot of teams.” The 2003-win- to a second successive J.League the Champions League, with Italian phy in the past decade. ner Al Ain of the United Arab title in 2013. international Alessandro Diamanti The other Korean representative Emirates has struggled to make a “We need to win our home joining Guangzhou in its quest to is 2013 runner up FC Seoul. The mark in recent years. Boasting stars games. The teams that compete in become the first team since 2005 club has seen two of its biggest such as Ghana striker Asamoah the AFC Champions League use to defend the title. “I know that stars, Dejan Damjanovic and Ha Gyan and Omar Abdulrahman, Barcelona’s Brazilian forward Neymar different tactics when playing Guangzhou is the champion, but it Dae-sung, leave for Chinese clubs who has recently been linked to home or away. We have to get will not be easy to win the title in deals worth a combined total of English giants Arsenal and those vital three points in our own again,” Diamanti said. almost $10 million. “Ha and Dejan Manchester City, the team is tar- Barca pays 13.5m euros stadium.” Cerezo Osaka boasts vet- South Korea teams have con- are big losses for the team,” mid- geting a return to the top of Asian to tax office over Neymar eran Uruguay striker Diego Forlan, tested the past five finals and boast fielder Yun Il-rok said. “But . Seoul football. —AP

BARCELONA: Barcelona paid 13.55 million ing companies and false contracts. euros ($18.6 million) to Spanish tax authori- Barcelona said it had “scrupulously” met Shiffrin enters as veterans ties yesterday to cover any potential irregu- its financial obligations in signing the play- larities in its signing of Neymar, all the er from Brazilian club Santos and it would while maintaining its innocence of the continue to work with the state authority in exit swinging Olympic doors fraud charges levied against it. the matter. The Spanish champion said in a state- Neymar’s signing forced the resignation ment it had paid the “complimentary” of Sandro Rosell as president last month, ROSA KHUTOR: US teen Mikaela ing-and complet- Norwegian colossus Aksel Lund bronze in slalom after negotiat- amount to cover any “eventual interpreta- after one club member’s petition to learn Shiffrin claimed slalom gold to ing a 1-2 in the closing slalom, Svindal failing to go home with ing a second run set by Croat tions that could come out of the contracts more about the intricate details of what has usher in a new wave of younger secured a total of nine what they were tipped to win. Ante Kostelic which Ligety brand- signed relating to the transfer of Neymar. become a club-record signing were kept in skiers as a raft of decorated veter- medals (three gold, four silver, Svindal, in particular, seemed ed “borderline unsportsmanlike” Meanwhile we are convinced of the legality the dark. ans exited the revolving doors of two bronze) to top the nations’ flat, unable to carry over his after 12 of the top 30 bombed of our initial fulfilment relating to our tax Rosell has preached financial prudence the Olympic Winter Games. table. impressive World Cup form and out. There was a shock win for obligations.” Barcelona’s actions take the while signing lucrative sponsorship deals Shiffrin became the youngest It was thrill-loving American the Norwegian eventually left Switzerland’s Sandro Viletta in the price of Neymar’s transfer to more than 100 that have put advertising on the front of ever slalom champion at just 18, a who had set the pace Russia early after running out of super-combined, one of several million euros ($138 million) after the Barcelona’s jersey for the first time in the year after claiming world gold, in speed training on a Rosa patience with an ongoing allergy. random results for skiers with few Catalan club initially said it had paid 57.1 history of an institution that considers itself the perfect fresh-faced and self- Khutor course he described, in a or even no World Cup podiums to million euros ($74 million) for the Brazil for- “more than a club” and a symbol of Catalan assured tonic for a sport hit by back-handed compliment, as one JANSRUD AN IDOL their name. ward. values. the absence of injured media dar- where “someone could get killed”. His teammate French unknown Steve That sum does not include bonus pay- Rosell is being investigated by the ling Lindsey Vonn. “It is OK to be But Miller, in his fifth Olympics, won the super-G and claimed Missillier won silver ments made by Barcelona or the 22-year- same Spanish court that laid the fraud old’s salary, meaning his total cost likely charges against the club. Of the initial confident, it does not jinx any- had to settle for a super-G downhill bronze, his country’s and American Andrew Weibrecht exceeds the record-breaking 100 million transfer fee, Brazilian club Santos received thing, it is not arrogant, it is a fact bronze, becoming the oldest ski- only medals, Italian Christof claimed super-G silver after win- euros-plus spent by rival Real Madrid on 17.1 million euros ($23 million) while that you come to the Olympics to er to finish on the podium, at 36 Innerhofer won Italy’s two in the ning bronze in Vancouver and Gareth Bale last summer. Neymar’s father, who also goes by win,” Shiffrin said. years and 127 days, with his sixth downhill and super-combined doing nothing in between. Spanish tax authorities had charged Neymar, earned 40 million euros ($55 mil- “I know that my fastest skiing Winter Games medal. (silver and bronze). “It’s been a pretty difficult four Barcelona with fraud on Thursday, alleging lion). Barcelona said the decision to make is fast enough for gold. Miracles Miller’s teammate Jansrud’s victory in the second years,” Weibrecht philosophised. it swindled the state of 9.1 million euros the payment came after an emergency are not random. You control your again proved his mastery in the speed event meant Norway have “It’s not like Roger Federer who ($12.5 million) through payments to vary- board meeting on Sunday. —AP own destiny. You can make your giant slalom to win the discipline. now won the last four men’s won maybe 120 tennis matches own journey. “I am already But Ligety was unable to repro- Olympic super-G titles following and lost just one. dreaming of the next Olympics duce his treble gold medal-win- Kjetil Andre Aamodt’s victories in “It’s the essence of ski racing, Minnows Gibraltar ready and winning five gold medals.” ning performance from last year’s 2002 and 2006, and Svindal’s win you have to learn to manage dis- While the American teenager world championships in in 2010. “Jansrud is absolutely an appointment a lot of the time.” It for Euro baptism of fire could realistically be around for at Schladming, and in the absence idol for young Norwegians,” snowed only once in three weeks least the next three Olympics, of speed queen Vonn, the US beamed Norway’s Prime Minister of training and competition, but a two veterans of women’s alpine team finished second to Austria Erna Solberg after the race. team of 500 piste workers did an NICE: It was almost inevitable that when the Portugal, but also to be able to go to Dublin skiing will not be reappearing at in the medal table (2-1-2). One to watch for the future is amazing job in keeping the draw for the 2016 European Championship and Glasgow, is just absolutely tremendous the 2018 Pyeongchang Games: The men’s results were gener- certainly 19-year-old Henrik courses in, largely, very good con- qualifiers took place on Sunday, tiny Gibraltar for us.” Tina Maze and Maria Hoefl- ally a mixed bag, with Miller and Kristoffersen, who claimed dition. —AFP would find themselves together with Spain. Just as they did in November, when they Riesch. Maze of Slovenia ended The British Overseas Territory, little more held Slovakia to a goalless draw in a friendly, than a rock jutting out of the bottom of the Gibraltar will play their games in Faro on the as the most suc- Iberian peninsula, has long been the source Portugal’s Algarve while they await construc- cessful skier in both sexes after of tension between Spain and Britain. tion of an 8,000-capacity venue on the rock claiming golds in the downhill Spain’s political claim to Gibraltar was itself. and giant slalom, the former behind their decision to vote against them That, Beiso says, will be ready by shared in a frustrating first with being accepted as the newest members of September 2016, when they hope to have unheralded Swiss Dominique UEFA last year, although that was not enough been accepted by FIFA to play a part in quali- Gisin. to block their entry. It was, however, enough fying for the 2018 World Cup. “It’s more than we expected. If to persuade UEFA to prevent them from play- you believe, it can happen. I ing in the same group in the Euro 2016 cam- ‘MOMENTOUS CHANGE’ wanted to show my best, espe- paign, Gibraltar’s first with the international He admits the step up to the international cially here, the most important big boys, so when they came out alongside big time has led to a “momentous change on race of the season,” said Maze, Spain in Group C on Sunday in Nice, a quick and off the pitch” for Gibraltar, but now the who also won two silvers at the alteration was made to place them in Group preparations will begin in earnest for their Vancouver Games in 2010. Hoefl- D instead. Rather than playing the reigning opening qualifier, which will be at ‘home’ in Riesch won combined gold and world and European champions, they will Faro against Poland on Sunday, September 7. super-G silver to go with two come up against Germany, the Republic of Gibraltar have implemented the same eli- Vancouver golds, and she and Ireland, Poland, Scotland and Georgia. gibility rules as the home nations, meaning Maze, both proven performers on It is arguably the most daunting of the that any player wishing to represent the the world championships and nine qualifying groups for the 24-team finals national team must either have been born World Cup stages, will be sorely in France, but Gibraltar, with its population of there or have direct family links. around 30,000, are just delighted to be a part The 49-year-old coach Allen Bula admits missed in 2018. of it all. that his talent pool is probably the smallest THRILL-LOVING MILLER “We’re extremely happy with the draw and of any UEFA member as a result - even San we’ve got Germany there as arguably the Marino has a population of 33,000. But he has There were also two medals biggest name within the group,” the Gibraltar introduced British-based professionals such apiece for Austrians Anna Football Association’s CEO Dennis Beiso, told as veteran former Manchester United defend- Fenninger (super-G gold, giant AFP. er Danny Higginbotham and Scott Wiseman slalom silver) and Nicole Hosp “But also the fact that we’ve drawn of Preston North End to help out the team. (combined silver, super-G Scotland and the Republic of Ireland is very “I’m looking at the long-term. I need the bronze). With Matthias Mayer symbolic. We have excellent relations with right balance and the right players to give us claiming a surprise gold in the both associations, we have done for a good more professionalism on and off the field and opening men’s downhill, and vet- number of years now, and to be able to wel- help our local players who have been there eran Mario Matt-now the oldest Gold medallist US skier Mikaela Shiffrin. come them to our home away from home in for quite a lot of years,” said Bula.—AFP Olympic champion in alpine ski-