MONDAY, JANUARY 27, 2014 SPORTS Roma close gap on Juve with win over Verona

MILAN: Captain scored late from the spot to cap a crucial 3-1 win for Roma away to Verona which closed the gap on leaders Juventus to six points yesterday. Elsewhere, scored a late winner for AC in a precious 2-1 win away to Cagliari, while city rivals Inter were held to a scoreless draw at home by basement side Catania. Livorno boosted their relegation battle with a 3-1 home win over Sassuolo, while at the other end of the table Torino and Parma both moved up one place to sixth and seventh with 1-0 wins over Atalanta and Udinese respectively. Juventus had to settle for a share of the points in a 1-1 draw away to Lazio on Saturday when goalkeeper was sent off and left the champions with 10 men for much of their encounter at the Olympic Stadium. Napoli, in third, were also held 1-1 by visitors Chievo and are 12 points adrift of Juventus. Totti was quick to underline Roma’s scudetto ambitions when he told Sky Sport Italia: “After Juve’s slip-up yesterday we put pressure on our- selves to take the three points. “I think we’ve fired a warning shot with regard to the champi- onship fight. We’re on a par with Juve.” ITALY: Hellas Verona’s Brazilian goalkeeper De Andrade Bittencourt Pinheiro Rafael saves a Roma landed a blow on Juventus with a 1-0 ball during the football match against AS Roma. —AFP win over the champions in the quarter-finals of belief in the struggling Serie A giants with two tricky volley from a corner. the Italian Cup in midweek-a morale boost after late goals to hand the Dutchman his second win Now ninth with a five-point deficit to fifth- they lost 3-0 to the same opponents earlier this in as many league games. placed Inter, Milan’s bid for a place in Europe has month in their Serie A clash. Roma were by far Having been sent crashing out of the Italian been given a huge boost and Pazzini, who has the more creative side against Verona and after Cup quarter-finals by Udinese in midweek, Milan lingered on the injury sidelines for much of the spurning several chances made the break- were staring at a costly league defeat after strug- past nine months, could not hide his joy. through in first-half injury time when gling to level Marco Sau’s 28th minute opener. “After so much time it’s great to score such an powered down the left and pulled back for However launched the fight- important goal,” the striker told Sky Sport Italia. Adem Ljajic to tap home from close range. back with a superb goal from a free kick on 87 “Our team can do so much better. Seedorf helps Verona levelled minutes after the restart minutes and two minutes later Pazzini, who us remain calm and shows faith in us so it’s up to when Emil Hallfredsson finished off the good replaced on the hour, fired home a us to repay that on the pitch.”—AFP work of Juan Iturbe to beat with a powerful drive. But Roma pulled in front on the hour thanks Italian Serie A results/standings to a superb Gervinho strike from just inside the GERMANY: Basel’s Egyptian Mohamed Salah runs with the ball In a file area and the game turned permanently in the Verona 1 (Hallfredsson 49) AS Roma 3 (Ljajic 45+1, Gervinho 60, Totti 82); Cagliari 1 (Sau 28) AC Milan 2 picture taken on December 11, 2013. —AFP visitors’ favour when late substitute Totti fired (Balotelli 87, Pazzini 89); 0 Catania 0; Livorno 3 (Greco 4, Paulinho 11, Benassi 26) Sassuolo 1 home from the spot to secure Roma’s third con- (Berardi 28-pen); Parma 1 ( 35) Udinese 0; Sampdoria 1 (Gabbiadini 61) Bologna 1 (Diamanti 90-pen); secutive win since the away defeat to Juve earli- Egypt’s Salah sign for Chelsea Torino 1 (Cerci 60-pen) Atalanta 0. er this month. Roma coach Rudi Garcia said that Juventus LONDON: Chelsea have completed the the transfer fee was around £11 million Playing later were not assured of the title by any means. signing of 21-year-old Egyptian winger ($18 million, 13.2 million euros). Fiorentina v Genoa Mohamed Salah from Swiss side Basel, Salah has played against Chelsea four “Juventus are not unbeatable, but they’re a very strong side.” He added: “The title won’t depend the Premier League club announced yes- times over the last year, scoring three Played Saturday on only us. All we can do is our best.” terday. times, including in Basel’s two Napoli 1 (Albiol 88) Chievo 1 (Sardo 18); Lazio 1 (Candreva 27-pen) Juventus 1 (Llorente 60). Salah has signed a five-and-a-half- Champions League group-phase victo- Juve coach Antonio Conte admitted on Saturday he was not used to the word ‘defeat’, year contract with the reigning Europa ries against the London club earlier this Italian Serie A table ahead of yesterday’s late game (played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against, points): League champions and will wear the season. but praised his 10-man side for the fightback which saw Fernando Llorente level Antonio Juventus 21 18 2 1 51 15 56 Genoa 20 7 5 8 20 24 26 number 15 shirt at Stamford Bridge. “I’m Speaking on Friday, Mourinho AS Roma 21 15 5 1 45 11 50 Atalanta 21 7 3 11 21 30 24 very happy to sign for Chelsea, such a big expressed admiration for the Egypt inter- Candreva’s 27th-minute penalty on the hour mark after Buffon had hauled down striker Napoli 21 13 5 3 44 23 44 Sampdoria 21 5 7 9 25 32 22 club in the world,” he told the Chelsea national, who reportedly rejected over- . Fiorentina 20 12 4 4 37 20 40 Cagliari 21 4 9 8 20 31 21 website. tures from Liverpool in order to move to “Our winning attitude remained intact even Inter Milan 21 8 9 4 38 24 33 Udinese 21 6 2 13 20 32 20 “I hope I can make the Chelsea sup- west London. “I like the fact that he can with the setback of our keeper’s sending off,” Torino 21 8 8 5 34 27 32 Chievo 21 4 6 11 16 27 18 porters happy and have a good career at play the same way our attacking players said Conte. Parma 21 8 8 5 32 27 32 Bologna 21 3 9 9 20 36 18 the club for many years to come.” Chelsea do, which is players with adaptability, to “I was happy with the team’s reaction, it’s in Verona 21 10 2 9 35 34 32 Sassuolo 21 4 5 12 22 46 17 said on Thursday that they had reached play right, left, or behind the striker,” times like these that their character as men, and AC Milan 21 7 7 7 34 31 28 Livorno 21 4 4 13 19 37 16 an agreement to sign Salah, subject to Mourinho said. not just as players, comes to the fore.” Lazio 21 7 7 7 27 29 28 Catania 21 3 5 13 13 37 14 the completion of a medical examination “He’s young, he’s fast, he’s creative, Milan, meanwhile, repaid Clarence Seedorf’s and the agreement of personal terms. he’s enthusiastic. When we analysed him, Manager Jose Mourinho revealed that he looks the kind of humble personality the transfer had been completed during on the pitch, ready to work for the team a television interview prior to his side’s 1- and to work and to adapt himself to a Huntelaar strikes on Schalke return 0 win at home to Stoke City in the FA Cup new life.” Confirmation of Salah’s arrival fourth round yesterday. comes less than 24 hours after Spanish BERLIN: Striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar ence over Moenchengladbach with a Chelsea have not disclosed how much attacking midfielder Juan Mata complet- marked his return after five months 2-2 draw at home to Augsburg as they have paid Basel to secure Salah’s ed his move from Chelsea to Manchester out with a knee injury with the open- Lars’s twin brother net- services, but British media reports claim United for a fee of £37.1 million. —AFP ing goal in Schalke 04’s impressive 3- ted for both sides. 0 win at Hamburg yesterday. The Dortmund midfielder gave Holland’s ‘Hunter’ had been out the hosts the lead at the since August, but needed just 34 Westfalenstadion after just six min- Glasgow giants march on minutes to out-jump the Hamburg utes, then turned the ball into his defence and head home, setting the own net on 56 minutes for EDINBURGH: The relentless Celtic half,” he said. “We had some good Royal Blues on the way to a win that Augsburg’s equaliser. march on retaining the title continued chances and some good opportunities lifts them to fifth in the table. Turkey midfielder Nuri Sahin yesterday as the Glasgow giants sealed and Forster has made some good Schalke made sure of the three looked to have spared Bender and their 11th victory in a row with three saves. We didn’t deserve a 4-0 defeat points with two further goals in just Borussia’s blushes with a brilliant late goals in a 4-0 win over Hibernian and I thought we were in the game for three second-half minutes, and the free-kick to make it 2-1 with 20 min- at Easter Road. a long period of time.” defeat sees Bert van Marwijk’s utes left. Hamburg drop back into the relega- But Augsburg drew level when Victory sent the Hoops 15 points Forster hasn’t conceded in over 13 tion zone. South Korea’s Ji Dong-Won-who will clear of Aberdeen at the top of the hours of domestic football but the Peru winger Jefferson Farfan play for Dortmund next season- Scottish Premiership as they extended English ‘keeper had to be alert early on struck the second on 53 minutes, headed home just two minutes after their unbeaten start to the season to as Alex Harris drilled a fierce effort just before setting up 18-year-old Max coming on to leave his side ninth in 22 games and kept their ninth consec- by the post. Meyer to fire home three minutes lat- the table. utive clean sheet in the league for the However, the in-form Commons er. The point came at a price for first time since the 1920s. only had to wait until the eighth Having taken fifth place from VfL Dortmund though as Poland winger When Kris Commons scored the minute to score the opening goal for Wolfsburg, Schalke - who face Real Jakub Blaszczykowski tore cruciate opener in the eighth minute a heavy Celtic for the 12th time this season. Madrid in the last 16 of the ligaments in his right knee and is defeat looked inevitable for Hibs, who Hibs defenders Michael Nelson and Champions League next month — expected to miss the next six have with this defeat lost three in a Jordon Forster collided as they both now host Wolves this coming months. row. tried to deal with a long, high ball and Saturday. He is the second Dortmund star However, the Easter Road outfit are it broke to Commons who calmly sent Meanwhile, Eintracht sidelined with a long-term knee one of only three teams to have take a left strike over the advancing Ben Braunschweig remain bottom of the injury after centre-back Neven points off the Scottish champions this Williams. Hibs responded well to their table after playing out a goalless Subotic suffered the same fate in season in a 1-1 draw in October and setback and minutes later they had a draw at mid-table Werder Bremen November. they did their best to derail Neil penalty claim turned down when van earlier yesterday. Borussia picked up their first GERMANY: Schalke’s Christian Fuchs (left) challenges for the ball with Lennon’s side. Dijk appeared to clip the ankles of At the other end of the table, point at home after three consecu- Hamburg’s goalie Jaroslav Drobny, during the German Only a string of fine saves from Collins in the box. Bayern Munich can go 13 points tive defeats in front of their own fans, soccer match. —AP Fraser Forster to deny Abdellah Zoubir It was Hibs who again tested Celtic clear at the top with a win in a re- but have taken just five points from arranged fixture at VfB Stuttgart on their last seven league games. and Sam Stanton kept Celtic in front with Forster pulling off two wonder Wednesday. They are now 14 points behind German League results/standings while James Collins had a first half saves to deny Zoubir twice in quick Pep Guardiola’s Bayern side Bayern, while sixth-placed Wolfsburg penalty claim turned down. succession. Werder Bremen 0 Eintracht Braunschweig 0; Hamburg 0 Schalke 04 3 (Huntelaar 34, extended their record unbeaten run also lost ground as they suffered a 3- Farfan 53, Meyer 56). A magnificent 77th minute free-kick The keeper made a fingertip save to to 42 league matches and made it a 1 defeat at home to near neighbors from Dutchman made it turn to stop the Hibernian forward’s Played Saturday record 27 away matches without Hanover 96. 2 (S Bender 6, Sahin 66) Augsburg 2 (S Bender 56-og, Ji 72); VfB 2-0 before second half substitute curling effort dipping into the top cor- defeat with a 2-0 win at Borussia New coach Tayfun Korkut cele- Stuttgart 1 (Abdellaoue 11) Mainz 05 2 (Okazaki 40, Saller 87); VfL Wolfsburg 1 (Olic Teemu Pukki fired home in the 83rd ner and, from the resultant corner, he Moenchengladbach on Friday. brated his first game in charge with 35) Hanover 96 3 (Rudnevs 28, Bittencourt 50, 72); Nuremberg 4 (Chandler 23, Drmic minute. got down well to smartly beat away After their three closest chal- Hanover’s first away win of the sea- 41, 70, Ginczek 49) Hoffenheim 0; Freiburg 3 (Mehmedi 27, Schmid 53, Klaus 90) Commons then netted from the Abdallah’s Zoubir’s stinging strike from lengers collected just one point son after eight straight defeats. Bayer Leverkusen 2 (L Bender 5, Rolfes 36); 1 (Meier 36) Hertha penalty spot in the 90th minute after 20 yards. between them over the weekend, a The result put a dampener on Berlin 0. Pukki had been brought down to score Forster then made an outstanding 24th German league title is now ’s debut after the German League table after yesterday’s match (played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, a double for the third consecutive save to keep his clean sheet record Bayern’s to lose. Belgium midfielder became goals against, points): match. intact as he stuck up a hand to tip Results played into Bayern’s Wolfsburg’s record signing last week- Bayern Munich 17 15 2 0 44 8 47 “To come here and win 4-0 probably away a fierce strike from Stanton. hands as second-placed Bayer end when he moved from Chelsea. Bayer Leverkusen 18 12 1 5 34 19 37 flattered us but I always thought we Celtic seemed to be toiling but a Leverkusen suffered their third Nuremberg celebrated a mile- Borussia Dortmund18 10 3 5 40 22 33 straight defeat, losing 3-2 at stone as they became the last team Moenchengladbach18 10 3 5 35 21 33 would win the game,” Lennon said. “We magnificent free-kick from Van Dijk Schalke 04 18 9 4 5 35 28 31 had to withstand 15-20 minutes of doubled Celtic’s advantage as the Freiburg. in a major European league to pick VfL Wolfsburg 18 9 3 6 29 22 30 pressure and my goalkeeper had to Dutchman curled the set piece into the Sami Hyypia’s side were stunned up their first win of the season with a Hertha Berlin 18 8 4 6 27 21 28 make a couple of good saves. So it top corner from 22 yards. as the hosts twice came from behind 4-0 victory over Hoffenheim. Mainz 05 18 8 3 7 27 32 27 before midfielder Felix Klaus hit the Eintracht Frankfurt picked up Augsburg 18 7 4 7 23 27 25 shows we are not going to get every- Pukki made sure of the points with a Hanover 96 18 6 3 9 26 32 21 dramatic 90th-minute winner. their first home win of the season thing our own way and you need to drilled angled shot after he cut into the Werder Bremen 18 5 5 8 22 37 20 The result saw Freiburg climb out with a shock 1-0 victory against VfB Stuttgart 17 5 4 8 30 33 19 dig in but our quality came through.” box from the right. The Finnish striker of the bottom three after they can- sixth-placed Hertha Berlin, while Hoffenheim 18 4 6 8 36 42 18 Hibernian boss Terry Butcher was then earned his side a penalty, which celled out goals by Bayer Mainz are up to eighth after a 2-1 Eintracht 18 4 6 8 21 29 18 despondent in defeat. “I thought we Commons expertly despatched, when Freiburg 18 4 5 9 19 33 17 and . win at Stuttgart as Japan striker Hamburg 18 4 4 10 33 41 16 did a lot of things well and had a good Alan Maybury barged into him in the Borussia Dortmund clawed their Shinji Okazaki scored for the visitors Nuremberg 18 1 11 6 21 33 14 spell in the opening part of the second box. —AFP way up to third place on goal differ- against his former club. —AFP Braunschweig 18 3 3 12 10 32 12