38 Friday S p o r t s Friday, October 2, 2020 Man City, United ease into League Cup quarter-finals Newcastle survive Newport scare to reach last eight

LONDON: admitted it was vital to keep Burnley keeper Bailey Peacock-Farrell. a clean-sheet as League Cup holders Manchester City Sterling and Kevin De Bruyne both started in a got back on track with a 3-0 win against Burnley, while strong City side that also included and Manchester United joined their rivals in the quarter-fi- a debut for 18-year-old midfielder Cole Palmer. Sterling nals after beating Brighton 3-0 on Wednesday. Guardi- made the breakthrough 10 minutes before the interval ola’s side suffered their heaviest home with a powerful strike from ’s cross. loss under the Spaniard on Sunday when Leicester The City forward doubled his tally on 49 minutes, fin- handed them a humiliating 5-2 defeat. ishing off a good move involving De Bruyne and Torres. A brace from at Turf Moor en- City put the result beyond doubt in the 65th minute sured they washed away some of that bitter taste from when Sterling failed to control a Mahrez pass and the that defeat and Spanish forward , a close- ball ran through for the 20-year-old Torres to slam past season signing from Valencia, added City’s third goal Peacock-Farrell. with his first for the club. “It was important we didn’t concede and the team was good in general,” Guardiola ‘Never surprised’ said. “When you lose a game the most important thing At the Amex Stadium, Manchester United inflicted is the next one. Firstly, because if you lose in this com- more misery on Brighton four days after beating them petition, you’re out. “We are still far away from our best 3-2 in a dramatic Premier League game. Ole Gunnar because we’re not training much. We have a lot of play- Solskjaer’s side needed a 100th minute Bruno Fernan- BRIGHTON: Manchester United’s Dutch midfielder Donny van de Beek (left) vies with Brighton’s German midfielder ers out, six because of COVID and four injuries. “But des penalty to see off Albion on that occasion and con- Pascal Gross during the English League Cup fourth round football match between Brighton and Hove Albion and step by step when we have all the squad we will get ceding an equalizer moments early. There was less Manchester United at the American Express Community Stadium in Brighton on September 30, 2020. —AFP better. We are in the quarter-finals of this competition drama this time as United made 10 changes and again so it’s good.” City have won the League Cup four Brighton nine, with Solskjaer’s stand-ins proving far times in the last five seasons and they remain on course superior. United, who last won the League Cup in United doubled their advantage in the 73rd minute, club. Paul Pogba came off the bench to score seven to retain the trophy. Guardiola’s men would have won 2017, took the lead in the 44th minute when Scott Mc- with Donny Van De Beek finding Spanish midfielder minutes later when his free-kick curled in via a deflec- by an even bigger scoreline but for a fine display from Tominay headed home from Juan Mata’s free-kick. Mata, who showed slotted home his 50th goal for the tion off Brighton’s Joel Veltman. —AFP

slow.” Added James: “I think they smacked us in the mouth, and we got a Lakers power past Heat sense of that. “And so we knew how hard we had to play if we wanted to try to make it a game. From that moment when it was 23-10, we started to play to our capabilities. We started flying around. We started getting de- Al Nassr, Persepolis in the NBA Finals opener fensive stops. We started sharing the ball a lot better offensively and just got into a really good groove.” advance to semis MIAMI: The Los Angeles Lakers manhandled the Miami Heat 116-98 in Caldwell-Pope drained back-to-back three-pointers to trim the deficit game one of the NBA Finals on Wednesday in a dominant start to their to 25-18 and Davis knotted the score 28-28 on a layup off an assist from DOHA: Saudi Arabia’s Al Nassr advanced to the semi-finals of the Asian quest for a 17th championship. After a 10-year absence from the champi- James before finding reserve Alex Caruso for a three-pointer to end the Champions League with a commanding 2-0 victory over compatriots onship series, the Lakers returned with a vengeance in the NBA’s quaran- first with the Lakers up 31-28. and 2012 runners-up Al Ahli on Wednesday. They will meet Persepolis tine bubble in Orlando, Florida. Los Angeles continued to pour it on in the second quarter, out-scoring on Saturday for a spot in the final after the Iranian giants reached the Anthony Davis, in the best-of-seven title series for the first time after the Heat 34-20 to take a 48-65 lead into the break. Three-pointers from last four for the third time in four years by knocking out Uzbekistan’s years of frustration in New Orleans, scored 34 points to lead the Lakers. Kyle Kuzma and Rajon Rondo pushed the Lakers’ lead to 37-32 less than Pakhtakor, also by a 2-0 margin. Clubs in western Asia are playing in “I felt good,” Davis said. “A little nervous, but when the ball was tipped two minutes into the second period. Two three-pointers from rookie Tyler a bio-secure bubble in Qatar while the hosts of the eastern zone up, I just went out there and played basketball. This is a moment I’ve Herro briefly saw the Heat lead 43-41 - but the Lakers responded and matches are yet to be announced. Wednesday’s matches saw VAR waited for my entire career and I want to make sure I take the opportunity, pulled away courtesy of a 64.7% success rate from three-point range in being used for the first time in the tournament after Al Sadd coach Xavi because it doesn’t come around too often.” the first half, when they made 11 of 17 from beyond the arc. had lashed out at the Asian Football Confederation following his team’s LeBron James, the fourth player to make a 10th appearance in the NBA Overall the Lakers shot 45.2% from the field and made 15 three-point- Finals, was just shy of a triple double with 25 points, 13 rebounds and nine exit on Sunday following a 1-0 defeat against Persepolis. ers. They out-rebounded the Heat 54-36. After Caldwell-Pope came up assists. “We’ve got a lot more work to do,” James said afterwards. “The On the field on Wednesday, Argentine midfielder Pity Martinez with a steal a driving Kuzma found Davis for a dunk that made it 61-48 job is not done. We’re not satisfied winning one game. It’s that simple.” put the Riyadh-based Al Nassr ahead in the 13th minute - his first with 1:15 left in the first half. James made two free throws and Davis threw goal for the team - and Abdulfattah Asiri increased the margin 10 min- Kentavious Caldwell-Pope added 13 points and Danny Green contributed down a dunk to stretch the Lakers’ lead to 17 after a first half that saw utes after the break at the Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Stadium. Al Nassr 11 for the Lakers, who led by as many as 32 points. James shaking out a shoulder after colliding on the floor with Jae Crowder made the semi-finals of the event for the first since it was launched in The Heat, the Eastern Conference fifth seeds who swept the Indiana in pursuit of a loose ball. But Miami endured worse injury news, with its current format in 2002, although they have been the runners-up Pacers before toppling the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks and the Boston Dragic-the Heat’s leading scorer in the playoffs-exiting at halftime with a in 1995 when the tournament was known as the Asian Club Champi- Celtics on the way to the Finals, showed no sign of nerves in an energetic left foot injury. onship. Al Ahli, based in the Red Sea port city of Jeddah, were the start against the Western Conference top seeds, racing to a 13-point lead Adebayo departed in the third quarter with a left shoulder problem first side to reach the last-16 in Doha and had been in the final eight midway through the first quarter. But the Lakers inexorably seized control as Butler played on despite twisting his left ankle in the first half. Im- years ago when they were beaten by Ulsan Hyundai. and the Heat’s dream start devolved into a nightmare with key contributors mediately after the game, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said he did not yet However on Wednesday, it was Al Nassr all the way as they pro- Goran Dragic and Bam Adebayo exiting with injuries and star forward know the prognosis for Dragic and Adebayo. “Regardless,” he said, duced their first chance with the game just a minute old but Martinez’s Jimmy Butler hobbled by a twisted ankle. Butler still scored 23 points to chip from close was cleared from the goalline by Abdelbaset al-Hindi. lead the Heat, who will try to bounce back in game two on Friday. “The Lakers set the tenor, the tone, the force, the physicality for the Martinez was not to be denied in the 13th minute though as he col- majority of the game. “They just took control and we weren’t able to lected a pass form al-Ghannam just outside the six-yard box, got past ‘We came out slow’ get it back.” Lakers coach Frank Vogel said his team would attempt to his marker and drilled the ball under the diving Al Ahli goalkeeper Davis and James both said the Lakers need to start stronger in game keep applying the same kind of pressure in game two. “This is just one Mohamed al-Owais. —AFP two, after Miami came out firing. “They came out very hot, we came out win,” Vogel said. “We’re happy that we got the win, but we’ve got to keep our foot on the gas.” —AFP