SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2014 SPORTS

Italian League Napoli see off Roma

MILAN: A spectacular early strike from added. Napoli should have put the match Gonzalo Higuain and a late Jose Callejon to bed well before the half-time whistle. goal handed Napoli a precious 2-0 win over Insigne was in fine form, the diminutive title challengers Roma that moved Rafael striker seeing two great chances go amiss Benitez’s men up to third in Serie A yester- including one which De Sanctis, who day. The sides met at Napoli’s San Paolo sta- shipped seven goals in a recent 7-1 dium for the first time since the death of Champions League drubbing by Bayern 31-year-old Ciro Esposito, a Napoli fan who Munich, tipped round the post. Callejon was killed by a hardline Roma ‘ultra’ on the was next to test De Sanctis, the Spaniard fringes of the Italian Cup final last May. unleashing a drive that rattled the Roma Approximately 600 police were crossbar. deployed in and around the stadium but The hosts spurned further chances just the drama was played out exclusively on before half-time when Callejon turned the pitch as Napoli dominated from the Marek Hamsik’s assist wide of the upright. outset to rubber-stamp their return to form Insigne then set up Higuain, only for De following a difficult start to the season. Sanctis to push the ball to safety before the “I’ve said for a long time we need to take striker could get his shot away and Hamsik it one game at a time. I don’t deserve the fired the follow-up off the crossbar. credit for this win, it’s all down to the play- Apart from two half-chances by ers,” Benitez told Sky Sport. Alessandro Florenzi just before the hour, In front of a half-empty stadium, follow- Roma struggled to pose any real threat ing a decision to ban travelling supporters after the restart, prompting Garcia to from the capital and surrounding regions, replace the right winger and captain Higuain gave the hosts a three-minute lead Francesco Totti with Juan Iturbe and Mattia with an acrobatic bicycle kick that beat Destro on 65 minutes. Roma ‘keeper Morgan De Sanctis from However their arrival failed to spark inside the area. Roma who found themselves facing just Lorenzo Insigne’s long-distance drive their second defeat of the campaign when SPAIN: Real Madrid’s Alvaro Arbeloa (center) duels for the ball against Granada’s goalkeeper Roberto Fernandez and Allan Romero Nyom from was deflected and as it fell in front of Radja Nainggolan was dispossessed in mid- France during a Spanish soccer match. —AP Higuain and the striker turned on the vol- field by Walter Gargano. ley to beat the Roma ‘keeper from 10 yards. Higuain, who had failed to find the net Spanish League It was the Argentinian’s fifth goal inside in Napoli’s opening eight league games, a week, Higuain having scored a hat-trick collected and threaded a perfect ball last weekend in a 6-2 win over Verona and through for Callejon to beat De Sanctis one from the penalty spot in a 1-1 draw from the edge of the area first-time for Real rout Granada to away to Atalanta in midweek. Napoli’s second five minutes from time. Higuain set up Callejon for Napoli’s sec- It was Callejon’s eighth goal of the cam- ond five minutes from time to rubber- paign and left the Spaniard top of the stamp their return to form following a dis- league scoring charts. mal start to the campaign. Napoli’s fifth win in 10 games means climb top of the table “Napoli were the strongest. The best they move up to third place only four team won,” said Roma coach Rudi Garcia, points behind leaders Juventus and sec- MADRID: Real Madrid moved to the top of La ing his side hit 46 goals over their last 11 games. ued after the break. whose side are now in danger of dropping ond-placed Roma. Liga for the first time this season as goals from “Rodriguez scored a fantastic goal, but so did A wonderful backheel from Ronaldo teed up three points behind Juventus when the Juventus can pull clear of Roma with a Cristiano Ronaldo, and a James Ronaldo from another Benzema assist. It is Benzema to make it 3-0 with his ninth goal of leaders meet Empoli later yesterday. “At the win later Saturday at Empoli, while Napoli Rodriguez double handed them a 4-0 win at becoming hard to talk about Ronaldo because the season nine minutes into the second-half. start we got our approach all wrong. In the could be overtaken by four teams who sit Granada. there are no words left to describe him.” Marcelo then crashed an effort off the cross- first half we hardly won any of our tackles.” only two points adrift and are yet to play. It took Ronaldo just 100 seconds to register Ancelotti’s men were full of confidence after bar on his weaker right foot as the visitors con- Garcia admitted Roma had suffered a “men- Lazio, Milan, Sampdoria and Udinese all his 22nd goal of the season when he swept inflicting Barca’s first league defeat of the sea- tinued the search for more goals. tal problem”. sit on 16 points and face Cagliari, Palermo, home Benzema’s cut-back to punish some lax son last weekend and went in front with their Yet, it was Granada who should have “It’s the first time it’s happened, but we Fiorentina and Genoa respectively this Granada defending. first attack as Dani Carvajal robbed Jeison reduced the deficit when Ruben Rochina was have to make sure it’s the last time,” he weekend.—AFP There was nothing the hosts could do as Murillo and Benzema squared for Ronado to slot left with the goal at his mercy but fired straight Rodriguez doubled Madrid’s lead nine minutes low past Roberto. into the body of the prone . before half-time, though, as the Colombian Madrid threatened to run riot as Murillo With an 11th consecutive victory in all com- unleashed a sumptuous dipping volley into the blocked a goalbound shot from Benzema petitions assured, Ancelotti could afford to with- far corner. before Isco saw a dipping effort fly over. Carvajal draw Luka Modric and Isco with Tuesday’s Ronaldo returned the favor to Benzema as he then should have finished off a stunning move Champions League clash with Liverpool in slotted home the third early in the second-half when he blazed over from close range. mind. before Rodriguez forced home his second of the However, Rodriguez applied the quality fin- Right-back Carvajal is a doubt for that game afternoon from close range four minutes from ishing touch his teammates had been lacking as he limped off in the first-half to be replaced time. with a stunning volley reminiscent of his strike by Alvaro Arbeloa and the former Liverpool full- Victory takes Madrid two points clear of against Uruguay on his way to becoming the back should have scored a rare goal when his Barcelona, but the Catalans can reclaim top spot top scorer at the World Cup. Despite Granada weak finish was turned behind by Roberto. when they host Celta Vigo later yesterday. boss Joaquin Caparros’s attempts to freshen up Rodriguez did finally make it four when he bun- “We need to keep working to keep this run his side with the introduction of Javi Marquez dled Ronaldo’s wayward effort over the line late going,” said Real boss Carlo Ancelotti after see- and Youssef El-Arabi, the one way traffic contin- on. —AFP

German League Wolves climb to second spot

BERLIN: VfL Wolfsburg climbed to second in the yesterday with a 4-0 hammering of VfB Stuttgart as ex-Chelsea midfielder Kevin de Bruyne tore the hosts’ defence to shreds. De Bruyne netted his first goal of the season and created another two as Wolves picked up their sixth SAN PAULO: Napoli’s Kalidou Koulibaly (left) and Roma’s Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa vie for straight win in all competitions. the ball during a Serie A soccer match. —AP “The 50,000 spectators who came won’t have regretted their decision, it was a great game and Preview could have been 8-5 if all the chances had gone in,” enthused Wolves coach Dieter Hecking. Manchester supremacy “You could complain about the lack of finished chances, but that would be whinging of the highest on line in derby clash order.” The 23-year-old de Bruyne LONDON: Manchester football supremacy will went to the Etihad in December of that cam- was in the thick of things, providing be at stake at the Etihad Stadium today when paign, winning 3-2 through an injury-time a free-kick for to head rivals Manchester City and Robin van Persie free-kick to move six points Wolves into a 2-0 lead at the break Manchester United face off in a potentially clear of City. after Croatia international Ivan momentous derby showdown. United goalkeep- Another stoppage-time goal by Van Persie Perisic’s opening goal for the guests. ing great Peter Schmeichel, who also played for means that United approach Sunday’s game Belgium’s de Bruyne then volleyed their cross-town rivals, opined this week that with renewed confidence, after the Dutch strik- home from close range on 48 min- City’s status as champions meant that they are er earned his side a morale-boosting 1-1 draw utes before robbing Moritz Leitner presently “a bigger club” than United. His words at home to Chelsea last weekend. of possession and providing Perisic echoed a claim made in February by City manag- It was the kind of late salvo they specialised with his second goal on 88 minutes. er Manuel Pellegrini, whose side beat United 4-1 in under legendary former manager Alex The victory leaves Wolves just a and 3-0 last season en route to finishing 22 Ferguson, and with some £150 million ($240 point behind leaders Bayern Munich points above the 20-time champions in the million, 192 million euros) of new talent in their who host in the league. City go into Sunday’s encounter four ranks in the form of players such as Angel di evening’s key clash with 14 points points above their neighbours in third place in Maria and Radamel Falcao, it has galvanised separating the two teams. the table-six points shy of leaders Chelsea-but belief that United are moving in the right direc- recent events suggest the gap may be narrow- tion under Louis van Gaal.—AFP Jurgen Klopp’s Dortmund started ing. City have gone three games without victory, the Allianz Arena match in the rele- falling further behind Chelsea after a 2-1 loss at gation places having dropped to West Ham United last weekend and then seeing 16th. A Rafael van der Vaart penalty their reign as League Cup holders ended by sealed Hamburg’s 1-0 win at home Newcastle United on Wednesday. Last week’s 2-2 to Bayer Leverkusen which lifted the draw away to CSKA Moscow, meanwhile, left hosts out of the bottom three and them facing a battle to qualify from Champions dropped Dortmund into the relega- League Group E ahead of a high-stakes return fix- tion spots. Hamburg won a bad- ture against the Russian champions next week. tempered affair which saw nine yel- Pellegrini complained that his players had low cards-six were handed out in shown a “lack of trust” in each other following the first half alone-after two sepa- the 2-0 loss at home to Newcastle, but he believes their downturn in performances will rate scuffles broke out. prove short-lived. “I think they know perfectly Freiburg, who are at Cologne on what we are doing and I am absolutely sure we Sunday, went bottom of the table GERMANY: Wolfsburg’s Croatian midfielder Ivan Perisic (top) and Stuttgart’s midfielder Moritz Leitner vie will return to our normal performance,” the after Werder Bremen moved up to for the ball during the German First Division Bundesliga football match. —AFP Chilean said in his pre-game press conference. “It 17th as caretaker coach Viktor match since Robin Dutt was sacked Hanover 96 went sixth in the On Friday, Roberto di Matteo is a very important game, but every game has Skripnikas got their first win of the as di Santos headed home after his table thanks to an own-goal from picked up his third win in four just three points, so it is very important for us to season with ex-Chelsea and Wigan penalty attempt was blocked by defender matches as Schalke 04 coach as just add three points.” Compounding City sup- striker Franco di Santo netting both Mainz goalkeeper just Alexander Madlung just two min- Klaas-Jan Huntelaar scored their porters’ anxiety is the knowledge that the previ- goals in a 2-1 victory ovber Mainz. before the half-time break. The utes from time sealed a 1-0 victory. first-half winner in a 1-0 victory at ous time they won the title, in 2012, they failed Mainz took the lead when Argentina international then Borussia Moenchengladbach can home to Augsburg. to kick on the following season and finished 11 Japan’s Shinji Okazaki scored his claimed his second of the game and reclaim second and equal the club’s The result masked a poor per- points adrift of eventual champions United. LONDON: Manchester United’s sixth league goal of the season to sixth of the season when he netted 40-year-old record of 17 games formance from the Royal Blues who Argentinian defender Marcos Rojo become the Bundesliga’s joint top a final pass from Felix Kroos, unbeaten when they host have moved up from 12th to sev- GIGGS SHOWS ‘TENSION’ keeps his eyes on the ball in this file scorer. United struck a decisive blow when they younger brother of Real Madrid’s Hoffenheim, who have also yet to enth in the table since di Matteo photo. —AFP But Bremen hit back in their first Germany international Toni Kroos. lose this season, on Sunday. took over from Jens Keller.—AFP