TUESDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2019 16 Barca run riot against Sevilla Luis Suarez and on target as classy Barcelona demolish Sevilla to give familiar look De Jong still waits Messi scores first • Luuk de Jong is yet to score goal of season since his move from PSV Ein- dhoven last summer and the Barcelona move KNOW WHAT 29-year-old had four excellent second• in La Liga chances to break his duck, three behind Real Madrid of them before Barca had taken the lead. He fired ’ pull- Atletico drop to Lionel Messi had gone back straight at Marc-Andre ter third• after dropping scoreless in his previ- Stegen, sidefooted wide and mis- points in Valladolid ous four appearances timed a header. In the second after being sidelined half, Arthur lost possession on the edge of his box but still De AFP | Madrid for five games with injuries Jong could not capitalise, lash- ing his shot against the post. arcelona are back in form In between, Barca had already and La Liga’s big three are break not only as the league’s made him pay. Suarez’s effort Bback at the top of the table two frontrunners but with con- was probably the pick of the after the defending champions fidence and momentum too. trio in terms of difficulty, as he put on a finishing masterclass Eden Hazard scored his first launched himself into the air, to thrash Sevilla 4-0 on Sunday. goal for Madrid in their 4-2 win turned and threw his weaker left Lionel Messi scored his first over Granada on Saturday and foot over the ball, and banged it goal of the season by curling in Barca’s star man is off the mark into the net. a brilliant free-kick at Camp Nou Barcelona’s Argentine forward Lionel Messi vies with Sevilla’s Argentinian midfielder Ever Banega (R) as well after his own injury-in- Five minutes later it was two, after three goals in eight minutes terrupted start to the season. this one a team goal, quite lit- from Luis Suarez, Arturo Vidal arguably even better than the sent off and Dembele followed By then, the game was long This was Barcelona’s fourth erally, as all of Barca’s players and Ousmane Dembele had al- volley he scored in the Champi- after collecting a second yellow gone as victory pushed Barce- consecutive victory. touched the ball in 85 seconds ready put Sevilla out of sight. ons League win over card for dissent. lona up to second in the table, Messi’s return has increased of build-up. Arthur’s cross was “It was crucial for us,” said on Wednesday. The referee’s report said Dem- two points behind Real Madrid the pressure on Antoine Griez- the 25th pass, finding the sliding coach Ernesto Valverde whose Vidal then finished a superb bele was dismissed for calling and one above Atletico, who mann, who was left out of the Vidal who was just onside. team ended the game with nine passing move that involved all 11 Mateu Lahoz “very bad”. He could have done with some of starting line-up following his The third three minutes later men. Barca players and Dembele pow- could now miss the Clasico on the Catalans’ classy finishing in quiet display against Inter. Dem- was about pace and power, and “It has been a strange start ered through to make it three October 26. their goalless draw away at Real bele was preferred on the left of a mistake from Sevilla too, as to the season and we have not before Messi added a fourth in “Dembele’s is a mystery,” said Valladolid. the front three. Arthur robbed Fernando Reges. added all the points we would the second half. Valverde. “It is very difficult to For all the turbulence and Sevilla, who drop to sixth, had Dembele raced clear, fooled Die- have wanted.” The match descended into get words out of him in Spanish, scrutiny on Valverde and Zin- eight shots to Barcelona’s seven go Carlos with a dummy shot, Suarez launched the flurry, his farce late on as Barcelona’s so what he said couldn’t have edine Zidane, Barca and Ma - in the first half but were three before guiding the ball into the stunning left-footed bicycle kick debutant Ronald Araujo was been very long.” drid head into the international down at the break. far corner.

De Gea says sorry after Man Utd’s latest flop Murray recovers from slow AFP | London pens in the next games.” Meanwhile, former United avid de Gea apologised to defender Gary Neville blamed start to win Shanghai opener DManchester United sup- the club’s transfer policy for porters after his troubled side their current struggles. slumped to a dismal 1-0 defeat “Away from home, they’re not at Newcastle on Sunday. set up to win in a sense of the Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side mentality. They let games drift, sit just two points above the I think they play OK in games, relegation zone and have not but they’re not ruthless, they’re won away since March after not clinical,” Neville told Sky Matty Longstaff’s second-half Sports. winner for Newcastle. “The quality is not right, the United goalkeeper De Gea depth of their squad is not good admitted this is the toughest enough and they have taken a time he has experienced since David de Gea look disconsolate after step back. moving to Old Trafford in 2011. Matty Longstaff’s winning goal “Their recruitment has been The Spaniard was at a loss bad now and woeful. They need to explain exactly why United games. five or six top players into that are off to their worst start since “It’s difficult to say some - squad, and are going to cost 1989. thing, sorry to the fans, we will a lot. “Yes, it probably is the most keep fighting for sure. We will “They (club board) have difficult time since I’ve been come back but at the moment cocked this up over many years. here,” De Gea told Sky Sports. we are in a difficult situation. They cocked it up, they are re- “I don’t know. I don’t know “The whole season has been sponsible for this, with poor what is happening, we can - not good, so keep going, keep recruitment and selection of not score even one goal in two fighting, and let’s see what hap- managers.” Andy Murray of Britain hits a return against Juan Ignacio Londero of Argentina AFP | Shanghai “I think each week I have Thiem. been feeling good, more better,” The 56th-ranked Londero roaring Andy Murray re- said Murray, whose first singles surged into a first-set lead but Acovered from dropping the match after surgery was a de- Murray, who said he struggled Lloris out for rest of the year: Deschamps first set to beat Argentine qual- feat at the Cincinnati Masters initially with his timing and felt AFP | Paris ifier Juan Ignacio Londero in in mid-August. sluggish, fought back to force a his Shanghai Masters opener “In the beginning I didn’t deciding set. ottenham Hotspur goal- yesterday. necessarily feel good, but last Murray, a three-time cham- Tkeeper Hugo Lloris will The 32-year-old Briton, re- couple of weeks have been I pion at the Shanghai Masters, “almost certainly” be out turning from career-saving hip think much improved. broke the Argentine in the of action for the rest of the surgery in January, won 2-6, “My movement overall has fourth game of the third set but year after his horror inju - 6-2, 6-3 and meets Italian 10th been very good in comparison was then broken himself and ry at the weekend, France seed Fabio Fognini in the sec- to what it was over in the Unit- screamed in frustration. coach Didier Deschamps said ond round. ed States and I’m hoping that’s But he was yelling again yesterday. The three-time Grand Slam something that can get a little minutes later, letting out a “It is difficult to say exactly winner Murray is slowly mak- bit better.” prolonged roar after he bur- how long he will not be availa- ing his way back to fitness and The former number one ied a crosscourt forehand to ble,” said Deschamps as France is now ranked 289th, having won his first ATP Tour sin- break once more and go 4-2 players gathered for their next Tottenham Hotspur’s French goalkeeper Hugo Lloris lies injured been 503rd last week. gles match since surgery two up. Euro 2020 qualifying matches us for this round of games or for elbow in conceding the open- This victory is set to lift him weeks ago in China’s Zhuhai Londero, 5-2 down after sur- against Iceland on Friday and the next.” ing goal of Spurs’ 3-0 defeat by into the top 250 and he said it and followed that up by reach- rendering a glimpse of a break, Turkey three days later. France face Albania and Mol- Brighton on Saturday, dropping was another step towards get- ing the quarter-finals last furiously slapped himself in “What matters to us right dova in November. a cross before falling backwards ting back to something like his week in Beijing, where he lost the face several times at the now is that he will not be with Lloris suffered a dislocated and landing badly. best. to eventual winner Dominic changeover.