Majestic Messi Helps Barca Crush Chelsea
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SPORT Thursday 15 March 2018 PAGE | 30 PAGE | 31 PAGE | 35 South Africa’s Woods and Els named Halep and Venus RRabadaa to appeal as Presidents Cup in quarters; guilty verdict captains Wozniacki falls Anthony Modeste (centre) of Tianjin Quanjian controls the ball during the AFC Champions League group stage football match Majestic Messi helps against South Korea’s Jeonbuk Hyundai in Tianjin, yesterday. Barca crush Chelsea AGENCIES BARCELONA: Lionel Messi scored his 99th and 100th goals in the Champions League to send Barcelona through to the quar- terfinals for the 11th straight Evergrande move season with a 3-0 win over Chelsea yesterday. Barcelona advanced 4-1 on closer to last 16 aggregate following a 1-1 first- leg draw in London. REUTERS Messi beat Thibaut Courtois remaining. Tianjin Quanjian with two strikes between the made it a positive night for Chelsea goalkeeper’s legs from HONG KONG: Guangzhou Chinese teams as they defeated very tight angles on the side of Evergrande continued their 2016 champions Jeonbuk the box. He struck the opener resurgence in the Asian Cham- Hyundai Motors 4-2. Anthony three minutes into the match and pions League yesterday with a Modeste and Alexandre Pato took Barcelona’s third goal in the Barcelona’s French forward Ousmane Dembele (left) celebrates with team-mate Lionel Messi 2-0 win in South Korea over scored the crucial goals in the 63rd. during the UEFA Champions League round of sixteen second leg match against Chelsea FC at the Jeju United that moved the final six minutes. The defeat was But the most dazzling Camp Nou Stadium in Barcelona, yesterday. two-time champions to within Jeonbuk’s first of the campaign moment from the Argentina touching distance of the but Choi Kang-hee’s side remain forward, who returned from Chelsea will now have to after winning 5-0 is just human. came off the bench to mark his knockout phase. top of Group E. However, their missing one match for the birth focus on finishing in the top four “The only negative today is Champions League debut with Goals from Nemanja Gudelj advantage has been whittled of his third son on Saturday, in the Premier League to return that we picked up too many his first goal at this level. and Alan Carvalho gave Fabio down to just two points with came when he helped Ousmane to tournament. It is currently in yellow cards,” he added after “It was a really hectic game,” Cannavaro’s side their second Tianjin now in second. Dembele score his first goal for fifth place. defenders Jerome Boateng, Mats said Bayern captain Thomas win in a row against the Kitchee sprung the surprise Barcelona after he stole the ball Meanwhile, a Thiago Hummels and Rafinha all earned Mueller. K-League club and moved them of the round with a last-gasp 1-0 from former Barcelona Alcantara strike and Sandro bookings. on to eight points from four win over Japan’s Kashiwa Reysol, teammate Cesc Fabregas and Wagner’s first Champions League After Thiago CHAMPIONS LEAGUE RESULTS games at the top of Group G. with Cheng Chin-lung scoring darted past two would-be goal capped Bayern Munich’s 3-1 fired home “We have focused a lot on two minutes into stoppage time tacklers in the 20th. win at Besiktas yesterday as the early on, an UEFA Champions League results yesterday: improving our concentration in to earn the Hong Kong side their Barcelona remained German giants cruised into the own goal by Last 16, second legs away games,” said the Italian. first-ever victory in the Asian unbeaten in 25 straight Cham- quarter-finals for the seventh Besiktas right- At Barcelona, Spain “In the last game we con- Champions League.Spanish pions League matches at Camp year in a row. back Gokhan Barcelona (ESP) 3 (Messi 3, 63, Dembele 20) ceded too soon due to a loss of World Cup winner Xavi Hern- Nou, a run that dates back to Bayern completed a compre- Gonul put Chelsea (ENG) 0 focus but this time you could see andez, meanwhile, was on target 2013. The hosts also stayed in hensive 8-1 aggregate victory in Bayern 2-0 up Barcelona win 4-1 on aggregate all of the players have shown for Al Sadd as the Qatari side contention for a rare treble of Istanbul, having effectively right at the start their desire to win. secured a 4-0 win over At Istanbul, Turkey titles. They lead the Spanish clinched the last-16 tie following of the second “We can’t sit back and relax Uzbekistan’s Nasaf Qarshi that league and have reached the final a 5-0 rout last month in the first half. Besiktas (TUR) 1 (Vagner Love 59) just because we have won so keeps them top of Group C. of the Copa del Rey. leg in Munich. With their Bayern Munich (GER) 3 (Thiago Alcantara 18, Gonul many titles. We need more Al Sadd lead on goal-dif- For Bayern coach Jupp Hey- team 7-0 down 46-og, Wagner 84) championships and in this ference from Iran’s Persepolis CHAMPIONS LEAGUE nckes, who replaced Carlo Ance- overall, Besiktas Bayern Munich win 8-1 on aggregate match we were all determined after last year’s semi-finalists lotti in October, this was his 11th finally came to Played on Tuesday and confident.” The Chinese moved on to nine points with a Quarter-final qualifiers: straight win in the Champions life, grabbing a At Manchester, England Super League side lead the narrow win over Al Wasl that League which set a new compe- consolation group by three points from ensured the club from the Barcelona (ESP), Real Madrid Manchester United (ENG) 1 (Lukaku 84) Sevilla (ESP) 2 tition record. goal by Vagner (Ben Yedder 74, 78) Thailand’s Buriram United and United Arab Emirates could not “It was a convincing result,” Love. Cerezo Osaka, who played out finish in the top two positions. (ESP), Sevilla (ESP), Manchester Sevilla win 2-1 on aggregate said Heynckes. “Besiktas hadn’t But Bayern a 2-2 draw in Japan with Kenyu Al Ahli lead the group by City (ENG), Liverpool (ENG), lost here in the Champions notched their At Rome Sugimoto scoring two minutes three points from Al Jazira, who Roma (ITA) 1 (Dzeko 52) Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR) 0 Juventus (ITA), Roma (ITA), League, so it wasn’t easy. third of the from time to salvage a point for are level on five points with Al “We scored at the right times evening when Tie ends 2-2 on aggregate, the J-League club. Jeju United Gharafa as Tractorsazi occupy Bayern Munich (GER) and it’s normal that we dropped back-up striker Roma go through on away goals are bottom of Group G with last place with just two points off a little -- losing some focus Sandro Wagner three points, with two matches from four games. Kohli reveals toll of Topsy Turvy tops in The Late Abdulaziz Al Fuhaid Cup gruelling schedule AGENCIES anything, because my body really needed this. I have started to listen to MUMBAI: Indian captain Virat Kohli my body. And when I am done with this admits his massive workload is starting period, obviously in the IPL I will be to have toll on his body. coming out fresh.” Kolhi, who boasts an enviable Kohli has been rested from the record, has rubberstamped his status as ongoing T20I tri-series in Sri Lanka, a great of the modern game and is yet giving him valuable time to recharge to turn 30, giving him plenty of time to ahead of a massive 2018, which includes build on his long list of Test tours of England and Australia. accomplishments. The gun right-hander sits second But the batting maestro has con- behind Australia captain Steve Smith in ceded his exhausting workload is the ICC Test batting charts and is only starting to take a toll, revealing he needs the second Indian– after Sunil Gavaskar to be “very careful” with how he – to achieve 900 ranking points. manages his body in the coming years. Kohli has played 94 international “Physically, I had a few niggles and matches – 25 Tests, 42 ODIs and 27 I am just getting over them,” Kohli said T20Is – across the three formats since at a promotional event in Mumbai. the start of 2016, which is more than “The workload has started to dis- anybody else in world cricket. agree with me, so I have to be careful In comparison, Joe Root (86 about how I go forward with my body, matches), MS Dhoni (85) and Mitchell my mind, my cricket. Santner (85) have played the next most Action from The Late Abdulaziz Al Fuhaid Cup at the Qatar Racing and Equestrian “Times like these are important international games over the same Club yesterday. Jockey E Pedroza guided Topsy Turvy, owned by Sheikh Faisal going ahead. I am enjoying it. period, while David Warner has been bin Hamad bin Jassim Al Thani, to victory in the Late Abdulaziz Al Fuhaid Cup. “I do not think I am missing out on the busiest Australian with 83 games.. 30 SPORT THURSDAY 15 MARCH 2018 Ecuador ‘determined’ to assist Qatar in success of World Cup THE PENINSULA He added: “Football will cer- tainly be a strong bridge to DOHA: The President of the strengthen relations between Qatar Football Association (QFA), Qatar and Ecuador in the coming Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa bin We are happy to period from all aspects, be it Ahmed Al Thani yesterday assist in all matters to political, economic, social and received H E Ivonne Abdel baki, commercial.