SUN DAY, DECEMBER 6, 2015 SPORTS PSG crush Nice as Ibrahimovic makes more history

PARIS: Zlatan Ibrahimovic set up one goal Benjamin Stambouli before letting fly from and notched two more to break yet anoth- 25 yards, only for his shot to flash just over er scoring record as leaders Paris the bar. Saint-Germain crushed 10-man Nice 3-0 on Five minutes after that PSG took the Friday. Edinson Cavani got the opener for lead, Ibrahimovic collecting possession PSG at the Allianz Riviera before Nice had outside the box, playing a one-two with Niklas Hult sent off for conceding a penalty and then squaring for Cavani that Ibrahimovic scored just before half- to roll in. The game was then ended as a time. contest a minute before the break when That was his 86th Ligue 1 goal, allowing Nice were reduced to 10 men, Hult receiv- him to pass Mustapha Dahleb and go out ing a straight red for bringing down his fel- on his own as PSG’s all-time top scorer in low Swede Ibrahimovic in the area. the top flight of French football. Ibrahimovic stepped up to score the For good measure, the Swede scored resulting penalty and break the record of again in the second half to secure the victo- Dahleb, an Algerian who played for Paris in ry that puts ’s defending the 1970s and 1980s. Already the club’s all- champions provisionally 16 points clear of time leading scorer and top scorer in second-placed Caen at the top of the table. European competition, it was another “We knew that record was going to fall. It record for the 34-year-old, who has helped was just a case of when, because he scores transform Paris since signing from AC Milan an enormous amount of goals and will con- in 2012. Just for good measure, he got his tinue to do so,” Paris coach Laurent Blanc second of the night just after the hour mark told beIN Sports. with a low finish at the near post from an PSG are still unbeaten in Ligue 1 this Angel Di Maria assist. That took him to 12 season after 17 games and have not lost Ligue 1 goals for the campaign, making domestically since March, with only him the top scorer in France’s top flight this and Real Madrid getting the bet- season, one ahead of Lorient’s Benjamin ter of them in the Champions League in Moukandjo. that time. The capital side had slipped up It also raised the question of whether in midweek with a goalless draw at Angers PSG will be tempted to offer him a new and this was tipped to be one of their deal when his existing contract expires toughest tests of the campaign against a next summer. “He has been, is and will per- Nice team who lay fifth and had been scor- haps continue to be capital in the project ing freely thanks to the influence of Hatem of the club. I think , Thiago Ben Arfa. Motta and Ibrahimovic are the emblems of this PSG team,” said Blanc. Reduced to 10 men Second-placed Caen host Lille on The former Newcastle United winger Saturday after Lyon entertain Angers in was back in the Nice side after illness and what will be their final Ligue 1 game at the almost put the hosts ahead on the half- Stade de Gerland before they move into a MOENCHENGLADBACH: Bayern Munich’s French Franck Ribery scores against Moenchengladbach’s Swiss goalkeeper Yann Sommer hour mark when he turned away from new stadium in January. —AFP during the German first division football match Moenchengladbach vs Bayern Munich in Moenchengladbach yesterday. — AFP Lopez late show stuns Bayern slump to first Roma in Torino draw Bundesliga defeat MILAN: Maxi Lopez struck from the penal- he is, but there’s no regrets about playing ty spot to earn a last-gasp share of the him.” spoils for Torino in a 1-1 draw with Roma After this display, Roma’s hopes of BERLIN: Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich lost since losing 3-0 at Barcelona in the first leg of centre-back Sebastian Boenisch was shown a that heaped further pressure on Rudi reaching the competition’s last 16 must be their unbeaten record in Germany’s top tier this last season’s Champions League semi-finals. straight red card with just 17 minutes gone for a Garcia’s title challengers. Roma looked to on a knife-edge. Szczesny was forced to season in emphatic style yesterday, going down And their defeat leaves French champions Paris brutal sliding tackle on Hertha’s 19-year-old left- have wrapped up their first league win in parry Belotti’s effort from point-blank range 3-1 away to Borussia Moenchengladbach. It is Saint-Germain as the only remaining unbeaten back Yanni Regaesel. Hertha scored their second three outings when a fortuitous Miralem with his leg early on and after Bruno Peres’ only the second time Pep Guardiola’s Bayern club in any of Europe’s traditional big five through USA international John Anthony Brooks Pjanic free-kick beat Daniele Padelli in the drive took a huge deflection to loop just have lost this season after they went down 2-0 at leagues. For Gladbach, the victory continues and the win left them fourth as Leverkusen drop Torino goal seven minutes from time. over, Belotti blasted over following a prom- Arsenal in the Champions League in October. It their fairytale rise from bottom of the table to to eighth. Mainz are seventh after their 3-1 win But when Kostas Manolas barged into ising four-on-two attack just before the was also Bayern’s first Bundesliga defeat since third as they remain unbeaten after 10 at Hamburg while Mark Uth’s 96th-minute goal Andrea Belotti from behind in the area, the interval. losing 2-1 at Freiburg last May as second-half Bundesliga games under new coach Andre rescued a 1-1 draw for struggling Hoffenheim at referee pointed to the spot and Lopez The loss of Gervinho and the continued goals by Oscar Wendt, Lars Stindl and Fabian Schubert. Ten-man Bayer Leverkusen warmed- Ingolstadt. Augsburg escaped the bottom three stepped up to beat on-loan Arsenal goal- absence of Egyptian winger Mohamed Johnson left the Bavarian giants reeling. up for their home clash with Champions League with a 1-0 win at Cologne as Paraguay striker keeper Wojciech Szczesny low down at the Salah looked conspicuous as Roma finished Franck Ribery scored Bayern’s late consola- holders Barcelona on Wednesday by losing 2-1 Raul Bobadilla fired in a second-half free-kick. right post. Roma’s fourth draw of the cam- the half without a clear chance on goal. tion goal on his return after nearly nine months at Hertha Berlin in the capital as Javier On Friday, Schalke broke their five-match win- paign left them in fourth place and in dan- Torino resumed in positive fashion and out with injury. “It’s a pity, but it’s our own fault,” Hernandez netted what proved to be a consola- less streak with a 3-1 victory over Hanover 96 ger of dropping six points behind leaders Peres outran Radja Nainggolan on the right admitted Ribery. “We will concentrate on the tion goal. ‘Chicharito’ scored his seventh goal in which left them sixth in the table. Napoli, who travel to Bologna on Sunday. flank before dipping past two other Roma next game and hope to win,” he added as 12 league games for Leverkusen to cancel out The Royal Blues won their first league game Inter, one point adrift of Napoli, will look to players and firing in a cross that was easily Ingolstadt can expect a Bayern backlash in Vladimir Darida’s early opening goal for Hertha since downing Hertha in mid-October with goals take top spot when they host Genoa later collected by Szczesny. Munich next Saturday. Bayern’s eight-point lead at Berlin’s Olympic Stadium. by Johannes Geis, from a penalty, Klaas-Jan on Saturday. But when Garcia replaced Nainggolan at the top of the table will be cut if second- Leverkusen were reduced to 10 men when Huntelaar and Franco di Santo. —AFP “We made mistakes and we have to with William Vainqueur after the Belgian placed Borussia win later at learn from them, we can’t just blame the collected a yellow card for a cynical foul on Wolfsburg. Gladbach took a deserved lead referee,” Garcia told Sky Sport. Belotti, Roma began to inch closer to the when Raffael gave a return pass to Wendt and German results/standings “It’s our fault as well. We should have opener. the Swedish international fired past Bayern goal- scored the second goal as soon as possible An Edin Dzeko header spun wide of the keeper Manuel Neuer on 54 minutes. Cologne 0, FC Augsburg 1; Borussia Moenchengladbach 3, Bayern Munich 1; FC Ingolstadt 04 1, Hoffenheim 1; and we could have done better on the target from Florenzi’s cross but the visitors The hosts doubled their lead when Stindl Hamburg SV 1, Mainz 3; Hertha Berlin 2, Bayer Leverkusen 1. penalty situation.” Torino remain in eighth found the breakthrough when Pjanic’s free- volleyed home on 66 minutes. There were P W D L F A Pts Cologne 15 5 5 5 15 19 20 place, nine points behind Napoli but Lopez kick from outside the area dipped over the scenes of pure joy amongst the home fans at Bayern Munich 15 13 1 1 43 8 40 admitted: “It’s an important point for the Torino defence and was misjudged by Borussia Park when Bayern centre-back Jerome FC Ingolstadt 04 15 5 5 5 11 15 20 Borussia 14 10 2 2 40 19 32 team. We did well to keep faith and not just Padelli before bouncing into the net. Boateng was caught out of position and SV Darmstadt 98 14 3 6 5 14 19 15 Moenchengladbach 15 8 2 5 31 23 26 resign ourselves to the defeat. With seven goals this season, Pjanic is Johnson sprinted away to launch a shot past 14 3 5 6 18 22 14 Hertha Berlin 15 8 2 5 20 18 26 “In the end it was the right result.” Garcia now Roma’s top scorer. Torino continued to Neuer on 71 minutes. Bayern pulled a goal back Hanover 96 15 4 2 9 18 27 14 had recalled Szczesny after dropping the press and when Baselli turned and fired a VfL Wolfsburg 14 7 4 3 23 15 25 nine minutes from time when Ribery marked his FC Augsburg 15 3 4 8 18 25 13 Schalke 04 15 7 3 5 21 21 24 Pole last week but the Frenchman’s hopes half-volley from a dangerous position 300th game in the famous red shirt by scoring Mainz 15 7 2 6 23 21 23 Werder Bremen 14 4 1 9 14 28 13 of seeing Gervinho boost his flagging side Szczesny was alert to the danger. At the off the bench to celebrate his first game in 269 Bayer Leverkusen 15 6 3 6 19 20 21 Hoffenheim 15 1 7 7 16 24 10 dipped after just 20 minutes when the other end Dzeko muscled his way past two days following a persistent ankle injury. This is Hamburg SV 15 6 3 6 18 21 21 VfB Stuttgart 14 3 1 10 18 35 10 Ivory Coast striker was forced off with a Torino players to force Padelli out of his the first time Bayern have conceded three goals recurrence of the muscle problem that kept goal and the ‘keeper did well to get a hand him sidelined for the past two weeks. to the Bosnian’s attempted chip. Garcia will be hoping Gervinho recovers in Dzeko’s miss would prove costly in the time for Wednesday’s Champions League final minute of added-on time when group decider at home to BATE Borisov and Manolas barged into Belotti as the striker Lyon beaten in final added: “Gervinho was supposed to play chased a loose ball in the area and Lopez one half, that’s all. We’ll see tomorrow how made no mistake from the spot.— AFP league game at Gerland

PARIS: Lyon lurched further into crisis yesterday There was a response from the hosts after the Angers moved provisionally into second place. as they went down 2-0 to Angers to ruin what restart and Valbuena crashed a shot off the bar Lyon, who will play one last game at Gerland was their last ever Ligue 1 match at the Stade de before substitute Clement Grenier set up in the League Cup later this month, are fourth Gerland. Lacazette to put the ball in the net only for the but are likely to tumble down the table over the Cheikh N’Doye scored both goals for the visi- offside flag to cut short the celebrations. course of the weekend. tors from headers either side of half-time as the And it was to be N’Doye who had the honour PSG are 15 points clear of Angers after con- promoted club built on a goalless draw at home of scoring the last Ligue 1 goal at the old stadi- tinuing their unbeaten start to the domestic sea- to Paris Saint-Germain in midweek to continue um as he made sure of the win for Angers with son with a 3-0 win at Nice on Friday. Edinson their remarkable season. his and his side’s second nine minutes from the Cavani put the capital club ahead before Zlatan But Lyon have now taken just one point from end. The 29-year-old Senegalese midfielder, who Ibrahimovic netted twice, including one from their last four league games and, coupled with had never played in the top flight before this the penalty spot, to become PSG’s all-time lead- their limp exit from the Champions League, that season, has been a revelation captaining the ing scorer in the top flight with 87 goals. form has left coach Hubert Fournier under huge unfancied Angers. At 1.92m tall and 90kg, he is a Caen can reclaim second place with a win at pressure. monster of a player, and yet he was left unchal- home to Lille later on Saturday, while Monaco OL president Jean-Michel Aulas has not been lenged to head in a corner from the left as can go fourth with a win at Bastia. —AFP shy to express his displeasure with recent per- formances and this latest display was particular- ly painful as it came on such a special occasion for the club. After 65 years at the Stade de Gerland, Lyon will move into a new 59,000-capacity stadium in January and a host of former players were invit- ed to take to the field before kick-off in what was their final Ligue 1 outing at the old ground. Brazilian duo Sonny Anderson and Juninho Pernambucano were among those present and watched the game alongside the Lyon ultras massed behind the goal. But the match itself was further proof that all is not well at last sea- son’s runners-up. Fournier pushed Mathieu Valbuena right up front alongside Alexandre Lacazette and handed a top-flight debut to teenager Lucas Tousart in midfield, and yet the changes could not prevent another catastrophic result. Angers took the lead from their first chance just before the midway point in the first half, N’Doye rising high above Bakary Kone to head in a Thomas Mangani free-kick. N’Doye then flashed another header just TURIN: Roma’s vies for the ball with Torino’s Bruno Peres, left, during a wide from a Gilles Sunu set-piece delivery and LYON: Lyon’s French forward Alexandre Lacazette (L) vies with Angers’ Moroccan midfielder Serie A soccer match at the Olympic stadium, in Turin, Italy, yesteday. The match Anthony Lopes saved from Sunu to keep Lyon in Romain Saiss (R) during the French L1 football match Lyon (OL) vs Angers (SCO) yesterday, at ended in a 1-1 draw. — AP the game going into the interval. the Gerland stadium in Lyon, eastern France. — AFP