Dec. 31, 2020 Dutch disappointed Barcelona’s Dutch manager Ronald Koeman said his side would find it difficult to win the La Liga title after it ended the year with a 1-1 draw at home to Eibar, 11 Reuters reported. Sports Esteghlal edges Golgohar Taremi on the double as Porto beats Vitoria in to go top of table Sports Desk Iranian striker Mehdi Taremi scored a brace as FC Sports Desk Porto came from behind twice to beat Vitoria de Guimaraes 3-2 in the Primeira Liga. oria Ghafouri and Mehdi Qa- On Tuesday, Rochinha opened the account for yedi scored inside first 14 min- Vitoria with seven minutes into the game before Vutes as Esteghlal claimed an Taremi equalized in the 42nd minute. all-important 2-1 victory at Golgohar Malian international found the Ira- Sirjan on Wednesday to overtake Amir nian with a volley as the former Rio Ave player scored Qalenoei’s side for the top spot of the with a sliding tackle in the six-yard box to bring the . Portuguese champion back on the level terms. The -based Blues’ skip- Colombian Oscar Estupinan restored the lead for per was on target from the spot in the the home side in the 63rd minute but Taremi was eighth minute after a blunder by keeper again on target two minute later, when he fired home Alireza Haqiqi who fouled Amir-Arsa- a Luiz Diaz’s low cross into the bottom-right corner. lan Motahari when he failed to dribble Diaz then sealed the victory for Porto 10 minutes fcporto.pt past the Esteghlal striker. from normal time as Sergio Conceicao’s men celebrat- Iranian striker Mehdi Taremi celebrates scoring FC Porto’s first goal during a Qayedi doubled the lead for Es- ed a seventh consecutive league victory of the season. 3-2 victory over Vitoria in Guimaraes, Portugal, on December 29, 2020. teghlal with his first goal of the season, “Even when Mehdi was not in the starting team, firing home a Ghafouri’s low drive in- he was used often. Obviously, there is specific work problem with his muscles,” added the Portuguese manager. side the box. with the players and work with the entire team, at all levels. Tuesday’s result means Porto finishes the year third in the Mahmoud Fekri’s side could have There was a normal and natural adaptation from Mehdi, who table with 25 points, four behind league leader Sporting Lis- been home and dry on the half-hour is in a great moment, as is the entire team,” Conceicao said of bon and two adrift of Benfica. mark as Ghafouri was brought down by the Iranian after the match. Sporting claimed a 2-1 victory at 10-man Belenenses on the Haqiqi but saw his second spot-kick Taremi was forced out in the 85th minute with an injury. Sunday, while the same scoreline saw Benfica beat Portimo- go above the cross bar. “Mehdi suffered a blow, but he was also having a small nense at home on Tuesday. IRNA A third penalty of the game gave Esteghlal’s Mehdi Qayedi (L) celebrates with teammate Amir-Arsalan Motahari after Golgohar a lifeline in the 78th minute scoring during a 2-1 victory over Golgohar in Sirjan, southern Iran, on December 30, 2020. as Ahmad-Reza Zendeh-Rouh sent Rashid Mazaheri the wrong way to Elsewhere, Tractor and Shahr providing Georgian Giorgi Gvelesiani We’re starting to look like make it a nervy closing stage for the Khodro settled for a goalless draw in with the second goal in the 35th min- Blues. Tabriz, with Foolad Khuzestan beating ute. Manchester United of the old: Solskjaer Mazaheri, however, made a heroic Nassaji Mazandaran 1-0 at home cour- Payman Babaei converted a penalty save to keep out Godwin Mensha’s tesy of an Ayanda Patosi’s first-half for the home side three minutes later Manchester United is recreating the habit of late winners that said Solskjaer. point-blank effort right before the final goal. but Shahbaz-Zadeh restored the two- could lead to an unexpected Premier League title challenge, “We have a tradition for it at this club. Obviously we’ve whistle as Fekri came out victorious goal cushion with a spot-kick right be- according to manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. normally got many more supporters helping us to do that. against his old mentor. Missed opportunity fore the interval – his eighth goal of the Marcus Rashford’s deflected strike deep into stoppage “Now we’ve won many more points towards the end of The victory took Esteghlal to the top season. time beat Wolves 1-0 on Tuesday to move United up to sec- games and that’s both a mental aspect and a physical aspect.” of the table with 15 points, equal on On Tuesday, Sepahan missed out on Babaei again cut the deficit to one ond behind Liverpool, AFP reported. United labored for long spells against a youthful Wolves points with San’at Naft Abadan, while going top after giving away a first-half on the hour mark before completing After come-from-behind wins at Brighton and Southamp- side despite having a day’s extra rest than the visitor, which Golgohar dropped to third. two-goal lead to settle for a 3-3 draw at his hat-trick from the spot in the 76th ton already this season, United has now won three of its first 15 was in action just 48 hours previously against Tottenham. Also on Wednesday, veteran strik- Mashinsazi. minute. games of the season in added time, a trait Solskjaer knows well But Solskjaer described snatching victory from an unin- er Farzad Hatami scored six minutes In a game that saw the referee blow In Tehran, Mohammad Ahl-e from his playing career at Old Trafford under Sir Alex Ferguson. spired performance as a “big step forward” as United beat after being introduced as a substitute in his whistle for five penalties, Saj- Shakheh scored a 90th minute equaliz- “It’s one of the points we brought up early in the season, Wolves for the first time in five meetings between the sides in the 76th minute to lead Paykan to jad Shahbaz-Zadeh gave Moharam er, canceling out Reza Ja’fari’s opener that we didn’t win many points towards the end of games,” since Nuno Espirito Santo’s men returned to the top flight a 1-0 victory at Naft Masjed Soley- Navidkia’s men the lead from the spot for Saipa, as San’at Naft Abadan left two-and-a-half-years ago. man. midway through the first half before the pitch with one point. “We didn’t perform as well as we want to do but we win a game against a very diffi- cult side to play against,” added Solskjaer. “We’ve struggled against them, this is the Bucks set NBA three-pointer record first win in the league. We’ve played them seven times (over the past three seasons) and there has never been many goals in the in Miami rout games. “This is a big step forward that you don’t The Milwaukee Bucks made an NBA Antetokounmpo had a rather easy sists for Oklahoma City, which lost its perform, but you still win.” record 29 three-pointers while routing night, playing 24 minutes and pro- second home game in two nights after United’s victory continues an excellent the host Miami Heat 144-97 in a wire- viding nine points, six assists and six winning its opener at Charlotte. run of 23 points from the last possible 27 to to-wire victory on Tuesday. rebounds. He missed both of his three- The Thunder had won its last five mount a title challenge that looked unlikely The Bucks shot 56.9 percent from point attempts. games (and 15 of 18) against the Mag- after winning just two of its opening six long distance (29-for-51) and got ic. league games. three-pointers from 12 different play- Thunder 107 Magic 118 Dwayne Bacon went nine of 10 Solskjaer’s men host Aston Villa on New ers – everyone who saw the court ex- from the field and scored 18 points to Year’s Day before traveling to face Liver- cept for two-time NBA Most Valuable Nikola Vucevic scored 28 points go with eight rebounds for Orlando, pool on January 17, in a match which could Player Giannis Antetokounmpo, Sky to lift Orlando to a 118-107 road win which surpassed the 110-point mark have huge ramifications on the title race. Sports reported. over the Oklahoma City Thunder on for the fourth straight game. “We cannot get too far ahead of ourselves,” The old NBA mark of 27 three- Tuesday night, and the Magic im- After the Thunder tied the score at MICHAEL REGAN/REUTERS said Solskjaer. “We’ve got to a decent position pointers was set by the Houston Rock- proved to 4-0 for the first time in its 87 early in the fourth quarter, Bacon Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer (R) speaks with match officials after at the moment but we are not even halfway, ets on April 7, 2019, against the Phoe- 32-year history. scored six points in a 10-4 spurt that the victory over Wolves at Old Trafford, Manchester, Britain, on December 29, 2020. there is a long, long way to go.” nix Suns. The Magic are one of only two un- gave Orlando the lead for good. Khris Middleton led the Bucks defeated teams in the NBA, along with with 25 points while going 4-for-5 Atlanta Hawks. It started 3-0 just three Timberwolves 101 Clippers 124 Cheptegei gunning on three-point attempts. Jrue Holiday previous times before this season. added 24 points and hit six of 10 from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 23 Lou Williams scored 20 points off long range. points, seven rebounds and seven as- the bench and the host Los Angeles for long-distance double at Tokyo Games Clippers crushed the Min- nesota Timberwolves 124- Ugandan Joshua Cheptegei said he is targeting the 5,000m- Barega ... it’s not about shoes only, but athletes having this 101 to move top of the 10,000m double at the Tokyo Olympics after breaking the period concentrating more on training and not travelling. Western Conference. world records in both distances this year. “I was focused on just this one thing ... that was breaking Williams, who also had The 24-year-old set a new 10,000 mark of 26 minutes, the world record.” five assists, converted sev- 11.00 seconds at the Valencia World Record Day event in en of 11 shots as the Clip- October to beat Kenenisa Bekele’s time of 26:17.53 set in pers bounced back from a 2005, Reuters reported. franchise-worst, 51-point At the Monaco Diamond League meeting two months ear- setback to the Dallas Mav- lier he had also bettered Bekele’s 16-year-old 5,000m record ericks on Sunday. by almost two seconds with a time of 12:35.36. Paul George had 18 If Cheptegei wins gold medals in both events at next year’s points, six rebounds and postponed Games, he would become only the eighth man to five assists while Serge complete the double. Ibaka collected 16 points “It would be a mountain to climb, but the challenge is up to and eight boards for Los me,” Cheptegei told the BBC. Angeles. Luke Kennard “It’s demanding a lot, in terms of racing and mindset contributed 15 points on but I want to give myself a try to win both gold medals,” 6-of-9 shooting, including Cheptegei added. 3-of-4 from three-point “It would be really amazing to win the double, but if I win range. gold in the 10,000m I would still be grateful.” Guard Patrick Beverley Cheptegei, who runs in Nike’s Dragonfly spikes – a light- and center Ivica Zubac weight shoe that combines a unique foam and carbon plates each scored 12 for the – said that his gear helped him but was not the reason for his Clippers, who played their success this year. second consecutive game A debate over runners’ shoes has been raging since high- without Kawhi Leonard tech footwear developed by Nike played a starring role in (mouth laceration) and two of the biggest distance-running achievements of 2019. fourth straight without “The shoes really do help. But in this case the shoes are LYNNE SLADKY/AP Marcus Morris Sr. (sore not only available to Mr. Cheptegei. They are available for GETTY IMAGES Bucks guard Bryn Forbes (white) attempts a three-point basket during an NBA victory over the Heat game knee). everyone who wants to attack the world record,” he added. Joshua Cheptegei is in action during the 5,000m event at the Diamond at American Airlines Arena, Miami, Florida, US, on December 29, 2020. “You have seen the likes of Yomif Kejelcha, Selemon League in Monaco on July 14, 2020.