Established 1961 15 Sports Wednesday, November 22, 2017 Brighton recover twice to salvage 2-2 draw with Stoke

Promoted Brighton in ninth place, Stoke are 15th

BRIGHTON: Promoted Brighton’s promising Premier turned away after Glenn Murray fell under a Ryan League campaign continued as they twice came from behind Shawcross challenge and after the game the Stoke defend- to earn a 2-2 draw at home to Stoke City on Monday. The er conceded he had brought down the veteran striker. visitors went ahead through Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting “I think I clipped him. The referee didn’t have the best but Pascal Gross equalised just before the break only for angle. It probably was a penalty,” said Shawcross. The Kurt Zouma to head Stoke back in front moments later. Jose booing had barely quietened before Brighton levelled in Izquierdo then levelled for the 44th as Gross turned the Brighton on the hour to earn a ball home after a powerful, deserved point. A third diagonal, solo run past four straight home draw frustrated Stoke defenders from Dutch some supporters but Brighton midfielder Davy Propper. manager Chris Hughton put Stoke are a very Moments later Stoke the point into perspective. restored their advantage “When you have been behind manly team, we when Brighton defender twice you have to show char- Bruno turned his back on a acter and we did. We were had to stand up corner and the ball bounced not at our best today. Stoke off him to on-loan Chelsea are a very manly team, we defender Zouma who headed had to stand up to that. “We home from close range. have to be realistic. We are However, Brighton deserved playing against better teams and better players and if you at least a point and got their just reward on the hour when can’t win games then try to make sure you don’t lose Colombian winger Izquierdo fired home at the second them,” he said. The draw leaves Brighton in ninth place on attempt after a clever Murray pass. 16 points from 12 games while Stoke are 15th on 13 points. “It’s an away point and you have to be happy with that. Stoke’s Swiss midfielder Xherdan Shaqiri, always a cre- Brighton didn’t create too much of note so we are disap- ative threat, was influential in the opener with a fine long pointed with the goals we conceded,” said Stoke boss pass to their Cameroon forward Choupo-Moting who . “Overall we were very much in control of BRIGHTON: Brighton & Hove Albion’s Lewis Dunk, left, and Stoke City’s Kurt Zouma in action during their showed skill and composure to finish in the 28th minute. the game. I suppose we have to be happy with the result,” English soccer match at the AMEX Stadium in Brighton, England. — AP The hosts were furious when their penalty appeal was he added. — Reuters

What’s gone wrong at Russia fears games Atletico Madrid? in freezing east MADRID: Twice Champions League finalists in the will hurt stars past four seasons, Atletico Madrid are staring an embarrassing and financially damaging Champions MOSCOW: Loud calls grew in Russia yesterday to League exit in the face unless they beat an in-form cancel table-topping Lokomotiv Moscow’s upcoming Roma today. Even victory over the Group C leaders away match in the country’s freezing Far East to protect and away to Chelsea in two weeks may not be enough the health of national squad players. Lokomotiv are to save Atletico unless Azerbaijani Champions League due to cross eight timezones to play last-place SKA debutants Qarabag can also do them a favour by taking Khabarovsk in their 15,200-seat Lenin Stadium on points off one of Chelsea or Roma in their final two Monday. Khabarovsk’s first promotion to top flight games. In Diego Simeone’s glorious reign as boss, only Russian football has given an unexpected headache to Real Madrid have previously been capable of eliminat- the bigger clubs just as the nation prepares to host the ing Atletico from the Champions League. They have World Cup on June 14-July 15. twice dumped out Barcelona and beat Pep Guardiola’s The Russian squad is made up almost entirely of Bayern Munich en route to the 2016 final. domestic players and at least four are expected to Here, AFP Sports looks at what has gone wrong for come from Lokomotiv. Parliament’s deputy speaker Simeone’s troops this season: Goal-shy Griezmann Igor Lebedev-a sport fanatic who sits on the Russian Simeone remains steadfast in his words of support for Football Union’s executive committee-said forcing star forward more than in his teams to travel to the other side of the world’s largest country and play in Artic weather was “a travesty”. actions after substituting the French international in MADRID: Atletico’s Diego Godin, second right, stretches with teammates during a training session in Madrid, each of Atletico’s last two games. “The upcoming SKA Khabarovsk match against Spain, yesterday. Atletico will play Roma today in a Group C Champions League match. — AP Lokomotiv will be a travesty for all of Russian football,” Griezmann has angered some Atletico fans by pub- Lebedev told the Chempionat.com sports news site. “It licly flirting with a moveaway before agreeing to stay abuses players and fans to an even greater extent.” His and signing an improved contract when the club’s late defeat to Chelsea and an even more damaging LOST THEIR HEADS comments came after CSKA Moscow-last season’s appeal against a transfer ban was rejected in June. draw when Qarabag visited three weeks ago. Indeed, So strong were Atletico in the air during their La Russian Premier League runners-up-played in However, a run of no goals in his last eight games and after opening the 310 million-euro ($366 million) stadi- Liga title-winning season in 2013/14 they were nick- Khabarovsk on Saturday in temperatures hovering just three all season has meant there has been little rec- um with victories over Malaga and Sevilla, Atletico are named “Atletico Aviation” in reference to a club that around -15 Celsius (5 Fahrenheit). onciliation with a set of supporters that demand com- winless in their last five at the Wanda Metropolitano as formed part of a merger to make what is now known as “We have to remember that Lokomotiv and CSKA mitment above all else. players and fans alike struggle to adapt to their remote Atletico Madrid in the late 1930s. This season, Atletico’s Moscow represent our country in European cups, and Simeone insisted he was with Griezmann “to the new home, nearly 20 kilometres northeast of the own set-piece threat has dried up, while seven of the 10 they comprise a large part of our national squad,” said death” as long as he “remains in his family” after anoth- Calderon. goals they have conceded have come from headers. Lebedev. “You cannot come out on the pitch in such er blank in Saturday’s 0-0 draw at home to bitter rivals Atletico’s aerial defending has cost them points against weather.” The Premier League said it was monitoring Real. Yet a divorce between player and club at the end CLOUD LINGERS Girona, Chelsea, Qarabag, Barcelona and Villarreal. weather conditions but not expecting temperatures to of the season now seems inevitable, particularly with Griezmann’s lack of form has been exacerbated by a be any colder than they were at the CSKA Moscow Atletico needing to balance the books should they dearth of other goalscoring options as Atletico have DRAWS DON’T WORK match. The European football governing body UEFA crash out early in the Champions League. scored just 12 times in their last 15 games and failed to Despite the doom and gloom, Atletico have only lost allows referees to call off matches if temperatures drop score more than once in a game for two months. A club one game in 17 in all competitions this season. The to below -15 Celsius at kickoff. SKA Khabarovsk’s NOT SO MAGIC WANDA record fee was splashed out in September to bring problem is 10 of those matches have ended in draws. Argentine halfback Alejandro Barbaro said playing in the Russian winter was a somewhat shocking experi- Atletico’s European success was built at the fortress Diego Costa back to Atletico from Chelsea, but he can’t Not turning draws into wins has been particularly pun- ence. “It was not easy-not in the least bit,” he told Vicente Calderon where they won 18, drew four and feature until January when the ban on registering new ishing in the Champions League as Atletico have domi- lost only one of 23 Champions League games under Russia’s main football channel. players is lifted. nated twice against Qarabag and away to Roma on “In the last 10 minutes of the match, I could not feel Simeone. They are yet to experience the winning feel- In the meantime, Angel Correa, Kevin Gameiro and matchday one for the reward of just three points. Now my arms or legs,” Barbaro admitted. Lokomotiv’s coach ing in the Champions League at their new 68,000- Fernando Torres have failed to justify a continued run in they have no margin for error left, but Simeone is never Yury Syomin also did not sound particularly enthusiastic capacity Wanda Metropolitano after two attempts: a the team as Griezmann’s strike partner. comfortable in setting his side up to go gung ho.—AFP about risking his players’ health. “After CSKA played their match in that horrendous weather, two of their play- ers got injured,” Syomin told Russian media. “We have tional capital markets, and can give fans another way of and can be traded on the market. to create conditions in which football players can be at supporting teams. Finbarr O’Connell of accountancy firm Smith & their best and not damage their health.” “As a (former) Soccer ace But it comes with risks for investors. The Stevenage Williamson, who helped now dissolved Formula 1 team player myself, I find this unacceptable.” Russian national and Frosinone bonds cannot be traded and their holders Caterham raise donations in 2014, said selling subordinat- team doctor Eduard Bezuglov said players who were would only be repaid after senior creditors such as banks ed debt to fans took crowdfunding too far. “These people forced out on the pitch in such conditions risked coming targets fans’ in the event of a default. are fans and put their money in but their liability may be down with bronchitis and “choking spells”.—AFP There are also perils associated if the team performs somewhere in the balance sheet where they have little or poorly on the pitch. In Stevenage’s case, if the club is rele- no hope they’ll ever receive it,” he said. hearts and wallets gated in the last year of the bond the repayment is delayed by one year. If a club sees its revenue slump due ‘SUPPORTING THE CLUB’ FRANKFURT: A minnow of English soccer, Stevenage to poor performance, it may not be able to repay bond- The risks associated with the Stevenage bonds are FC, is an unlikely candidate to be at the forefront of finan- holders. “The risk is high for fans investing in their clubs clearly laid out in the documentation and investors are Matches on TV cial innovation in the game. Yet it has become the first ... that they will lose all their money or that they are not also asked to self-certify as experienced or wealthy soccer club in the world to sell bonds directly to its fans compensated for the risks they bear,” said Luca Enriques, before applying to buy the bonds online. (Local Timings) online via crowdfunding, according to the organisers of a law professor at Oxford University who has researched Carole Le Grand, a 65-year old Stevenage fan who the deal. Stevenage, in England’s fourth division, raised crowdfunding, where businesses raise cash directly from invested 1,000 pounds after a small lottery win, said she UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE 600,000 pounds ($796,000) in September via a five- small investors online. could not remember her answers to the questionnaire but Moscow v Benfica 20:00 year bond to rebuild a stand in its stadium. It is set to be would not fall into either category. followed by Frosinone Calcio of Italy’s Serie B second GOOD RETURN? “It was about supporting the club,” said Le Grand, who beIN SPORTS HD 5 division which unveiled a bond worth up to 1.5 million Stevenage bondholders can choose to either get a 4 runs the Stevenage branch of a befriending service for the Qarabag Agdam v Chelsea 20:00 euros ($2.60 million) on Monday. percent gross annual interest in cash or 8 percent in cred- mentally disabled. She added another reason for investing beIN SPORTS HD 4 Tifosy, the crowdfunding platform behind the deals, it that they can spend on the club’s products, such as mer- was the prospect of influencing the design of the North Basel 1893 v Manchester United 22:45 was founded by former Italy, Juventus and Chelsea striker chandise, food and drink. Frosinone’s bond comes with a Stand to make it more accessible for the disabled, beIN SPORTS HD 4 Gianluca Vialli, along with a former Goldman Sachs 5 percent cash coupon plus 3 percent in credit. Proceeds although it was unclear whether this would happen. Anderlecht v Bayern Munich 22:45 banker and two other investors. The company’s name is a will be used to build a restaurant, a health centre and Fausto Zanetton, the former banker at Goldman Sachs beIN SPORTS HD 5 play on the Italian word ‘tifosi’ meaning fans. some shops around the club’s new stadium. and Morgan Stanley who co-founded Tifosy, said clubs Paris Saint v Celtic 22:45 The figures at stake may be small so far but Vialli said At a time when a five-year UK or Italian government are vetted carefully. “We’ve said no to many clubs beIN SPORTS HD 2 he and his partners were aiming higher. “We’re close to bond yields less than 1 percent, this may look like a good because we were not comfortable,” he told Reuters. finalising something with a big club in Serie A and an return. But, by comparison, investors can get a 6 percent Stevenage has been owned for nearly 20 years by Phil Atletico de Madrid v Roma 22:45 (English) Premiership club as well,” he told Reuters in an yield by buying the debt of Premier Foods, the owner of Wallace, a British businessman who is CEO of food-trad- beIN SPORTS HD 3 interview. “We’re also talking to many other clubs in foot- brands including Mr Kipling cakes and Oxo stock cubes, ing company Lamex Food Group. Frosinone’s Chairman Juventus v Barcelona 22:45 ball, rugby and cricket.” with an equivalent maturity . Maurizio Stirpe, who has been in charge since 2003, told beIN SPORTS HD 1 He added Tifosy takes a 4-6 percent cut of all funds Unlike Stevenage or Frosinone, listed companies such Reuters the club could have borrowed more cheaply from Sporting v Olympiacos 22:45 raised. Such fundraising offers a new source of income to as Premier Foods are obliged to publish their accounts a bank but opted for crowdfunding instead. “Our main beIN SPORTS HD 6 smaller sports clubs who don’t have the access to interna- regularly. Their debt is rated by independent agencies objective is to foster fan loyalty,” he said. — Reuters