Real Strike Late on Ronaldo's Homecoming
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‘Toughest yet’ 39th Ex-English players Dakar 16Rally unveiled allege18 sex abuse THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2016 Okazaki, Mahrez fire Leicester into last 16 Page 19 Real strike late on Ronaldo’s homecoming LISBON: Cristiano Ronaldo was lauded like a goal through Karim. I am happy for him and the appearance in six weeks after spraining knee lig- king on his return to where his career began at team as a whole.” aments and came to his side’s rescue moments Sporting Lisbon, but Real Madrid showed no Ronaldo’s name was loudly cheered amidst later to deflect Bruno Cesar’s goalbound shot mercy in booking their place in the knockout the otherwise din of whistles that greeted the behind. stages for a 20th consecutive season with a 2-1 announcement of the Real team, whilst a banner Real were put under pressure at the start of win on Tuesday. with the message “Made in Sporting” was raised the second period as Ramos cleared a danger- However, victory came at a cost for the by the home fans with a picture of a teenage ous cross from Gelson Martins and further dis- European champions as Gareth Bale limped off Ronaldo in their famous green and white rupted as Bale hobbled off. just before the hour mark with an ankle injury hooped shirt. Zidane confirmed that further tests will be just 11 days before Real travel to face Barcelona Despite leaving Sporting for Manchester carried out on the Welshman back in Madrid to in El Clasico. United at just 18 having not even won a trophy determine the extent of the injury. Real had substitute Karim Benzema to thank with the Portuguese giants, Ronaldo is revered However, Sporting’s chances looked to have for all three points as he came off the bench to in Lisbon having captained his country to a first gone when Pereira was harshly shown red for an down Sporting’s 10 men with a fine finish from ever international tournament win at Euro 2016. off-the-ball clash with Mateo Kovacic. Despite Sergio Ramos’s cross. The affection shown may even have had an their numerical disadvantage, Sporting were lev- Raphael Varane had fired Real into a first-half effect on the normally ruthless Ronaldo as for el 10 minutes from time when Silva blasted lead, but Sporting captain Adrien Silva levelled the first time in four meetings against Sporting home from the penalty spot after substitute from the penalty spot after Joao Pereira had he failed to find the net. Fabio Coentrao had been penalised for handball. seen a straight red card. After an intense Sporting start buoyed by a Joel Campbell even had an effort saved by Real still need to beat Borussia Dortmund at boisterous atmosphere, the holders slowly Costa Rican international teammate Keylor home in two weeks’ time to top Group F after grabbed a stranglehold of the game and went in Navas as Sporting searched for the winner they the Germans thrashed Legia Warsaw 8-4. front on 29 minutes when Luka Modric’s low needed to keep their Champions League hopes “The good thing is we didn’t give up,” said a free-kick was deflected into Varane’s path and alive. Instead, they were hit with a Real sucker relieved Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane. “When the French international swept home his third punch as Benzema fired low into the far corner you concede you can think it is going to be diffi- goal of the season. to set up a shootout with Dortmund for top spot cult, but we kept going and in the end got the Madrid captain Ramos was making his first in a fortnight. — AFP Qatar coach threatens to resign if naturalized players excluded DOHA: The coach of Qatar’s national soccer team has threatened to resign Fossati, who was hired by Qatar in September, said that if the federation if a plan being considered by the country’s football authority (QFA) to went ahead with the plan he would quit. exclude naturalized players from the squad is implemented. “If the federation wants to go another way, I’ll respect its decision 100 Qatar has used its immense oil and gas wealth to recruit sportspeople per cent. And it’ll be better for the Qatar national team to have another from around the world to bolster its national team, part of an ambitious coach who supports that view.” A spokesman for the QFA declined to com- vault onto the world sporting stage by the wealthy Arab state which will ment. About half of Qatar’s national team are naturalised citizens, includ- host the soccer World Cup in 2022. ing Rodrigo Tabata of Brazil and Uruguay’s Sebastian Soria. In a match Jorge Fossati told local media on Wednesday that a plan by the QFA to against China on Nov. 15 six players in the starting 11 were naturalised. reduce the number of foreign-born players could damage Qatar’s chances But Doha has also said it wants to foster local interest in sport among its of qualifying for its first World Cup finals in Russia in 2018. roughly 300,000 citizens and to field a homegrown squad when it hosts “I heard about a plan to exclude naturalised players and bring in more the 2022 tournament. LISBON: Real Madrid’s Portuguese forward Cristiano Ronaldo jumps for a ball young Qatari players into the national team. It (discouraging naturalisa- World soccer’s governing body FIFA rules state that a player must have during the UEFA Champions League football match Sporting CP vs Real Madrid tion) is one point I don’t agree with at this stage,” Fossati told Doha lived in a country continuously for five years after the age of 18 before rep- CF at the Jose Alvalade stadium in Lisbon on Tuesday. — AFP Stadium Plus, an English-language sports weekly. resenting the national side. — Reuters.