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Akmal helps FIFA bans Pakistan to Warner as T20 win over calls grow Zimbabwe for change WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 162015 17 United banking on Martial arts for European goals Page 18 SPAIN: Barcelona’s Luis Suarez (left) and Leverkusen’s Jonathan Tah vie for the ball during a Champions League Group E soccer match at the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona. — AP Suarez inspires Messi-less Barca fightback MADRID: Luis Suarez rounded off a stirring fightback by “We believed in ourselves until the end,” Suarez told constant threat and Kevin Kampl should have done bet- beyond the hosts at the start of the second-half but European champions Barcelona as they shrugged off beIN Sports. “We couldn’t play great football, but we ter on two occasions as he curled the ball wide and was blazed over when unmarked just 12 yards out. the absence of the injured Lionel Messi to beat Bayer had to win the game. We had to show we are the cham- then denied by a brave block from Gerard Pique with an At the other end, the chances began to arrive for Leverkusen 2-1 yesterday. pions.” even clearer sight of goal. Barca as Sandro again fired wide before Neymar pushed Kyriakos Papadopoulos had headed the visitors into Messi was in attendance at the Camp Nou, but his Leverkusen finally took a deserved lead on 22 min- an effort off target. a deserved half-time lead as Barca struggled to open up teammates made a shaky start without him on the field utes when Hakan Calhanoglu’s brilliant in-swinging cor- However, the bad news continued for Enrique when the Germans without Messi’s magic touch. as former Real Madrid striker Javier Hernandez forced ner caught Ter Stegen off guard and Papadopoulos Iniesta pulled up just after the hour mark to add to the However, despite also losing Andres Iniesta to a ham- Marc-Andre ter Stegen into a smart save at his near post nodded home. Catalans’ mounting injury crisis. string injury, Suarez turned the game around in the final inside two minutes. The German international made amends moments Enrique was forced to turn to youngsters Munir El 10 minutes as Sergi Roberto tapped home the rebound Ivan Rakitic had Barca’s first effort on target, but the later as he stood up to prevent Karim Bellarabi from Haddadi and Roberto from the bench to turn things after the Uruguayan’s initial effort had been saved. And Croatian placed his header too close to Bernd Leno. doubling the visitors’ lead. around. Both made a big impact as Barca reacted like the former Liverpool striker thumped home a stunning Sandro Ramirez was the man given the unenviable task Much had been expected of Neymar in Messi’s champions in the final 10 minutes. effort to hand Barca a hard-fought three points, two of replacing Messi and nearly repaid coach Luis absence, but the Brazilian had been kept very quiet Roberto pounced after Leno had saved Suarez’s minutes later. Enrique’s faith as he played a lovely one-two with until his deflected effort hit the post six minutes before initial effort to net his first European goal. And Victory takes Barca top of Group E, a point ahead of Suarez before Leno pulled off a spectacular save to turn the break and Sandro’s follow-up effort somehow moments later substitute Munir squared for Suarez to Leverkusen and BATE Borisov, the latter being 3-2 win- the 20-year-old’s effort behind. deflected off Papadopoulos and behind for a corner. smash the ball high past the helpless Leno for a ners over Roma yesterday. However, Leverkusen’s speed on the break was a Hernandez had a golden chance to put the game memorable winner. — AFP Bayern crush Dinamo Roma endure torrid night with 3-2 defeat to BATE MUNICH: Robert Lewandowski’s phenomenal ated their first clear shot on goal with an hour goal-scoring run continued yesterday with a hat- gone after Bayern had raced into a 4-0 lead at the BORISOV: Belarus champions BATE Borisov shocked injury-hit AS Roma trick in Bayern Munich’s 5-0 mauling as Dinamo break. with an entertaining 3-2 home win in their Champions League Group E Zagreb’s 45-match unbeaten run was halted in Costa opened the floodgate on 13 minutes by clash yesterday. emphatic fashion. Lewandowski again ran riot in skipping past a defender to beat Zagreb goal- BATE went 3-0 up in the first 30 minutes through Ihar Stasevich and two the Champions League home match as Mario keeper Eduardo at the near post. from Filip Mladenovic. Goetze and Douglas Costa also netted to put The second followed on 21 minutes when The Serie A club hit back after the break and reduced the deficit with Bayern top of Group F following their 3-0 win at Dinamo’s 18-year-old centre-back Filip Benkovic strikes from Gervinho, after 66 minutes, and Vasilis Torisidis eight minutes Olympiakos a fortnight ago before facing Arsenal slipped after heading the ball down, Thiago from time. away in three weeks. Alcantara pounced on the error and his pass Roma’s Alessandro Florenzi also hit the crossbar late on but BATE held “We played in a very concentrated fashion found Lewandowski in acres of space. Eduardo’s out to move on to three points in Group E. Roma are bottom of the section from the start and when you take your goal night went from bad to worse when he failed to with one. chances, the game was over after 30 minutes,” deal with Goetze’s weak shot after an exchange BATE were almost written off when they lost their first game 4-1 to Bayer said Bayern captain Philipp Lahm. of passes with Kingsley Coman and the ball bob- Leverkusen. And maybe even they didn’t expect to be three goals to the The Poland hot-shot has now scored 10 goals bled over the line to the 33-year-old’s dismay on good by half-time here. in his last three games after netting five in just 25 minutes. Stasevich, the midfielder and captain, opened the scoring after eight nine spectacular minutes of Bayern’s 5-1 ham- Lewandowski claimed his second on 28 min- minutes with a close-range header after an effort had come back off the bar. mering of Wolfsburg last Tuesday before claiming utes when he met Costa’s cross and his shot can- Roma keeper Wojciech Szczesny was caught frozen four minutes later two more in Saturday’s 3-0 win at Mainz. noned off the underside of the bar to bounce when left-back Mladenovic fired a surprise long-range shot low into the net, “He’s had an unbelievable week behind him,” over the line with the Dinamo defence cut to rib- with referee Mark Clattenburg rebuking Lucas Digne for wearing a ring on admitted Lahm. The thrashing of Zagreb left bons. his finger just moments before. Bayern three points clear of second-placed Lewandowski saved his best goal of the night Mladenovic sent the home crowd into raptures for the third, when he Olympiakos in the table following their shock 3-2 to claim his hat-trick. Costa showed off his daz- MUNICH: Zagreb’s Junior Fernandes (left) and Bayern’s Jerome Boateng challenge for the again broke down the left, cut into the area to collect a pass from Maksim win over Arsenal in London. This was Zagreb’s zling skills with a deft flick to Thiago, who put Volodko, and sent the ball just under the crossbar with a powerful shot. The heaviest away defeat in Europe as the five-goal Lewandowski in behind the defence and the ball during the Champions League Group F soccer match. — AP Giallorossi, missing Francesco Totti as well as the influential Seydou Keita difference superseded their 6-2 loss at Real Poland striker scooped the ball over the hapless and Edin Dzeko due to injuries, pulled one back as Gervinho slotted home Madrid in the group stages four years ago. Eduardo on 55 minutes. Shortly after the Croatian double champions following a slick combination between Mohamed Salah and Iago FalquÈ. Lewandowski now has 17 goals for club and Only a good save from the Portugal national had their first corner as they found themselves Greek defender Torosidis then smashed in from close range and Florenzi country as Bayern enjoyed an easy win. Zagreb’s goalkeeper prevented Lewandowski getting his completely outgunned as Bayern fired in 27 shots almost helped complete an incredible comeback by clattering the wood- performance made a mockery of their 10-month fourth when he dived at the striker’s feet on 75 on goal to just seven in reply as Lewandowski work with a curled shot from the edge of the area. — Reuters unbeaten run in all competitions as they only cre- minutes. fired wide with two clear chances.—AFP.

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