TENNIS | Page 8 AATHLETICSTHLETICS | Page 10 Murray Track queen dominant Felix sets her To Advertise here in Dubai win sights on 2020 Call: 444 11 300, 444 66 621 over Jaziri Olympics Wednesday, March 1, 2017 FOOTBALL Jumada II 2, 1438 AH Vardy lift s GULF TIMES Leicester to post-Ranieri win SPORT Page 2 FOOTBALL Rayyan concede late penalty as Saudi giants Hilal win 2-1 By Sports Reporter in the sixth minute of stoppage time to ants Al Ahli took top spot after down- Results from West Asia Doha hand Al Hilal a last-gasp opportunity to ing Iran’s Zobahan 2-1 for their second Michael Laudrup’s clinch their fi rst win in two matches. straight win. Group C Al Rayyan were distinctly And sure enough, Mohamed al-Shal- The two-time runners-up opened Bunyodkor (UZB) 2 (Vadim Cemirton unlucky in Riyadh. l Rayyan were left ruing con- loubh made no mistake from the spot the scoring through Abdulfattah Asiri 10, Dostonbek Khamdamov 43) Al Ain ceding a stoppage time pen- much to the joy of the home fans at the who struck from the centre of the box in (UAE) 3 (Omar Abdulrahman 8, 89, alty after Saudi giants Al Hilal Prince Faisal bin Fahad stadium in the the 29th minute. Caio 15) Aclinched a 2-1 victory in their Saudi capital. Mehdi Rajabzadeh equalised for the Zobahan (IRN) 1 (Mehdi Rajabzadeh Group D Asian Champions League Al Hilal were under severe pressure, Iranians from the spot in fi rst half stop- 45+3, pen) Al Ahli (KSA) 2 (Abdulfattah especially in the second half during page time after Motaz Hawsawi fouled match in Riyadh yesterday. Asiri 29, Omar al-Somah 86) The game appeared headed for a draw which Al Rayyan produced several scor- Jerry Bengtson and was penalised with Group D after Al Rayyan’s Rodrigo Tabata had ing chances. a red card in the process. Al Wahda (UAE) 2 (Ismaeil Matar 58, risen above the Al Hilal defence to score But luck was not on Michael Omar al-Somah put the result be- Jorge Valdivia 64 v Persepolis (IRN) 3 the equaliser in the 79th minute after Laudrup’s side, and Khidir’s handball yond doubt with a well-struck free- the hosts had gone ahead with a third compounded their misery as the hosts kick in the 86th minute as Zobahan re- (Vahid Amiri 4, Mehdi Taremi, 81, 90) minute strike from Carlos Eduardo. jumped to the top of the standings. mained winless in the tournament. Al Hilal (KSA) 2 (Carlos Eduardo 3, But Al Rayyan’s Musab Khidir was Last week, Al Rayyan had beaten the Also in Group C UAE’s Al Ain sur- Mohamed al-Shalloub 90+6, pen) Al distinctly unlucky as the ball stuck his UAE’s Al Wahda 2-1 in Doha. vived a scare from Uzbekistan’s Bunyo- Rayyan (QAT) 1 (Rodrigo Tabata 79) hand during a spell of intense action Meanwhile In Group C, Saudi gi- dkor before winning 3-2. Gulf Times 2 Wednesday, March 1, 2017 FOOTBALL SPOTLIGHT WELCOME Everton manager Koeman open to Vardy lift s Foxes to Rooney return post-Ranieri win ‘We let them be the Leicester of last year — that’s our fault. We should get criticised. This inconsistency makes absolutely no sense’: Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp File picture of Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney. AFP to be interested would be wrong. London “He started his career here and if the opportunity arose that he could come back and it sat well verton manager Ronald with everyone it is something we Koeman paved the way would consider. yesterday for Wayne “He is a class apart, he sees Rooney’s return to the things, and all the things that Eclub of his youth by saying he have been said about Wayne are would make the side “stronger”. true. He comes into that category Last week Rooney said he was of being one of England’s great- staying with Manchester United est ever players, so why wouldn’t following persistent speculation we be interested? he could make a lucrative move “But let’s not get ahead of our- to the Chinese Super League. selves. Wayne is contracted to But doubts still surround the Manchester United and made a long-term club future of the decision to continue to play for 31-year-old Rooney, the England them. national side’s record goal-scor- “Let’s wait and see what hap- er, and Koeman appears ready to pens in the future.” try to bring him back to Liver- Rooney, born in Liverpool, pool-based Everton. joined Everton as a nine-year- “I believe that Wayne Rooney old and made his senior debut is still playing at a high level,” aged 16 on the opening day of the Koeman told Sky Sports. 2002/03 season against Totten- “I think he made a good choice ham Hotspur. to stay at Manchester United and Six weeks later, Rooney be- in the Premier League because came Everton’s youngest scorer he has still two or three years with two goals against Wrexham in front of him to play on a high in the League Cup. level,” the former Dutch interna- Rooney catapulted to national tional added. attention when he scored his fi rst “What will happen at the end Premier League goal — a last- of the season? I don’t know but minute winner against Arsenal — in my opinion he is one of the fi ve days before his 17th birthday. players who can make Everton The 18-year-old Rooney left more stronger. Everton to join United in a £27 “It’s all about what the player million ($34 million/32 million Leicester City’s Jamie Vardy celebrates scoring their third goal during his team’s Premier League match against Liverpool at the King Power Stadium. likes, what Manchester United euros) move in 2004. needs to do, and we are not in- He has since won fi ve Premier AFP Vardy’s fi rst-half opener was Leicester’s The fi rst sign that Leicester’s players The King Power Stadium erupted and volved in that project. League titles and a Champions Leicester fi rst league goal in seven games and made might be about to wind the clock back the home fans were on their feet again in “But every player that we at League trophy with United and them the last team from Europe’s fi ve ma- came on the team sheet, where Shinji the 39th minute as Drinkwater got in on Everton think can make the team become the club’s record goal- jor championships to fi nd the net in 2017. Okazaki replaced Ahmed Musa from last the act. stronger is welcome to Everton.” scorer. Speculation about his Old amie Vardy scored twice as a revi- While the display will give Leicester’s week’s 2-1 Champions League loss away Albrighton’s cross from the left was Traff ord future has intensifi ed talised Leicester City started life fans hopes of a late-season rally under to Sevilla. headed away by James Milner and fell ‘CLASS APART’ since Rooney ceased to be a fi rst- without sacked manager Claudio Shakespeare, it leaves unanswered ques- Save for the presence of Wilfred Ndidi kindly for Drinkwater, who speared a Steve Walsh, Everton’s director team regular under manager Jose Ranieri by sinking Liverpool 3-1 tions about why things had gone so badly and the absence of the departed N’Golo sumptuous 25-yard shot into the bot- of football, endorsed Koeman’s Mourinho. Jon Monday to spark their Premier League wrong under Ranieri. Kante, it was the team that won the title tom-right corner. comments, adding: “Wayne That was heightened when he survival hopes. Asked if he wanted the job full-time, and there was energy and aggression to Leicester goalkeeper Kasper Sch- Rooney is one of the greatest was left on the bench for Sun- Ranieri, 65, was dismissed last Thurs- Shakespeare said: “My remit was get Leicester’s play from the off . meichel showed alertness to thwart players that has ever played the day’s League Cup fi nal win against day, nine months on from Leicester’s them ready for Liverpool and I have done Vardy set the tone within seconds, fl y- Coutinho and Emre Can either side of game in England and for us not Southampton at Wembley. fairytale title win, and fans honoured him that. Let’s see what happens.” ing in on Sadio Mane with a challenge Drinkwater’s strike and Coutinho tested with banners, masks and a smartphone Liverpool could have provisionally that perhaps should have earned him a him again early in the second half. light show in the 65th minute. gone third with victory, but instead they caution, and before long the visitors’ goal Vardy put the hosts 3-0 up on the hour, His former charges were unrecog- remain fi fth, 14 points below leaders was bring peppered. leaping above Can to glance a fi ne header Ranieri will fi nd new to reach the quarter-finals of nisable from recent weeks, with Danny Chelsea and a point behind fourth-place Simon Mignolet was tested three times past Mignolet from Christian Fuchs’s in- job immediately, says the Champions League after a Drinkwater also on target as they snapped Arsenal having played a game more. in the fi rst 18 minutes, fi elding a header swinging cross. Guardiola 5-3 home win against Monaco a run of fi ve straight defeats to climb out Jurgen Klopp’s side, who replied from Robert Huth, pushing Okazaki’s An ode to the popular Ranieri from last week, will be without of the relegation zone to 15th place.