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27 Sports Tuesday, October 2, 2018 Suso scores a brace as AC Milan defeat Sassuolo to rekindle campaign Fiorentina to move third with win over Atalanta MILAN: Spanish midfielder Suso scored a brace to end ahead with a brilliant solo run on 39 minutes. Samu his Serie A goal drought as AC Milan got back winning Castillejo added a third on the hour mark before Filip after three consecutive draws with a 4-1 success which Djuricic pulled one back for the hosts. Suso got his sec- thwarted Sassuolo’s bid to go second in Serie A on ond goal four minutes into stoppage time after consul- Sunday. Champions Juventus had maintained their per- tation with the video assistant referee (VAR). fect start to the season on Saturday with a 3-1 win in their top-of-the-table clash with Napoli who remain in FIORENTINA MOVE THIRD second place. Sassuolo’s defeat allowed Fiorentina to move third Juventus, with a maximum 21 points after seven with a 2-0 win over Atalanta. Bergamo-based Atalanta games, are six points ahead of Carlo Ancelotti’s team as travelled to Fiorentina’s Artemio Franchi stadium des- they target an eighth consecutive Scudetto. AC Milan perate to end a five-game winless streak. needed to win to avoid losing further ground on their But their hopes were jolted just after the hour when rivals, with Inter Milan, in fourth, after a 2-0 win over referee Paolo Valeri pointed immediately to the penalty Cagliari, and Roma, in eighth, after a 3-1 derby win spot, refusing to consult VAR despite Federico Chiesa which halted the four-match winning streak of city going down easily from Rafael Toloi’s challenge. rivals Lazio. Jordan Veretout stepped up to slot the ball past “This result can help us gain confidence,” said Milan Pierluigi Gollini after 63 minutes, and Fiorentina coach Gennaro Gattuso. “When you wear the Milan cemented the win when Cristiano Biraghi doubled their jersey and work at a glorious club like this, which wants lead in stoppage time. At the final whistle, tensions to get back to the top, there is pressure. boiled over with furious Atalanta coach Gian Piero “People aren’t so much interested in performances Gasperini confronting Fiorentina counterpart Stefano as results and the table, but I knew this team had prom- Pioli before the pair were dragged apart. ise and just needed some time to grow.” Despite the “He shouted at me that the penalty was non-exis- win Milan remain tenth in the standings, four points off tent,” said Pioli. “They gave a penalty against us for a Inter Milan, who occupy the final Champions League fingertip against Inter, so this time they gave one in our berth. Unheralded Sassuolo-a surprise high flyer early favour for light contact,” added Pioli, whose side lost to this season-dropped to fifth, equal on 13 points but Inter Milan midweek. “We were tenacious, a little behind Fiorentina and Inter Milan on goal difference. lucky.” Elsewhere, Polish striker Krzysztof Piatek “We have a lot of young and talented players, so we became the first Serie A debutant in 68 years to score eight goals in the opening six games when he hit a don’t know how far we can go, but there will inevitably REGGIO EMILIA: Sassuolo’s forward Domenico Berardi (L) chest controls the ball under pressure from AC brace for Genoa, who have a game in hand, in a 2-1 win be setbacks like this as part of the growth process,” Milan’s Spanish forward Suso during the Italian Serie A football match Sassuolo vs AC Milan on Sunday at the over Frosinone. said Sassuolo coach Roberto De Zerbi. Mapei stadium in Reggio Emilia. — AFP AC Milan’s victory came despite the absence of star Piatek got his first after 33 minutes, adding a second striker Gonzalo Higuain with forwards Patrick Cutrone three minutes later. Camillo Ciano gave promoted and Fabio Borini also out injured. Suso scored his first Frosinone their first goal of the season when he convert- ing a late winner against tailenders Chievo. Federico 2-1. Ivory Coast forward Gervinho got his third goal in league goal since February five minutes after the break ed a penalty four minutes before the break. Torino got Santander scored one and set up substitute Riccardo five games as midtable Parma edged Empoli 1-0, in a in Modena after Ivorian Franck Kessie had put Milan back to winning ways with substitute Simone Zaza seal- Orsolini as Bologna came from behind to beat Udinese showdown between two promoted teams. — AFP he would have been playing against CSKA Moscow, on Sunday was Dani Carvajal, Nacho, Lucas Vazquez, Madrid head to had it not been for a thigh injury picked up on Saturday. Mariano Diaz, Marcos Llorente, Kiko Casilla and After him, Madrid’s most expensive starters are like- Sergio Reguilon, all academy graduates. Matches on TV ly to be Karim Benzema and Toni Kroos-both, like World Cup winner Raphael Varane came from Lens (Local Timings) Moscow with fewer Modric, signed for around 30 million euros. for 10 million euros as a teenager and it is believed Meanwhile, elsewhere in Europe, Barcelona will be Vinicius, signed for 40 million euros from Flamengo in stars and bigger fielding Philippe Coutinho and Ousmane Dembele July, can be the next big talent from Brazil. UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE against Tottenham. Manchester United will have Paul There is a temptation to recall the days of Zinedine Juventus v BSC Young Boys 19:55 Pogba, and Paris Saint-Germain Neymar and Kylian Zidane, Figo, David Beckham, Brazil’s Ronaldo and beIN SPORTS HD 4 plans for future Mbappe. All of them surpassed the 100-million euro Kaka, and feel underwhelmed. Madrid have become TSG 1899 Hoffenheim v Manchester City 19:55 mark. Since being wooed by James’ sumptuous volley synonymous with superstar names and this was a beIN SPORTS HD 1 at the Maracana in the 2014 World Cup, Madrid have World Cup year too. AEK Athens v SL Benfica 22:00 MADRID: Luka Modric returns to the Luzhniki changed their approach. As the remnants of the old But the shift has been deliberate. The swelling mar- beIN SPORTS HD 7 Stadium yesterday, the scene of Croatia’s World Cup mode depart-Ronaldo is gone, James unlikely to return- ket has played a part, with the club no longer the domi- Bayern Munich v Ajax Amsterdam 22:00 final defeat to France, not only as FIFA’s best men’s the new, younger and cheaper, batch have risen to the nant power-player among Europe’s elite, as have plans beIN SPORTS HD 3 player but the star of Real Madrid too. For the first time surface. to upgrade the Santiago Bernabeu, for which a loan of Manchester United v Valencia C.F 22:00 in his six seasons at Madrid, Modric will line up for a “Madrid is strengthening its search for young play- 575 million euros will be taken out. beIN SPORTS HD 5 Champions League tie without Cristiano Ronaldo, who ers that will become the next great players of the “The only way to remain independent is to be finan- Olympique Lyonnais v Shakhtar Donetsk 22:00 was sold, or Gareth Bale, who is injured. sport,” president Florentino Perez said in July. Alvaro cially healthy,” Perez said at the club’s annual general beIN SPORTS HD 6 There will be no Kaka, Angel di Maria or James Odriozola, the 22-year-old right back, could make his meeting earlier this month. “That is the base of our CSKA Moscow v Real Madrid 22:00 Rodriguez either, all of whom Modric has rubbed Champions League debut on Tuesday in the absence of sporting success.” Zidane was an advocate too. His beIN SPORTS HD 1 shoulders with. At 33, he has outlasted them all. Marcelo and Sergio Ramos. He was signed from Real method centred on improving those players he had by AS Roma v Viktoria Plzen 22:00 Together, that quintet cost Madrid almost 400 million Sociedad for 35 million euros in the summer. blocking out the noise from outside. That translated beIN SPORTS HD 4 euros ($464 million), and each considerably more than Dani Ceballos, bought as a 20-year-old for 17 million into faith in humility and hard work, not more big-mon- Modric, whose fee of around 30 million pounds in 2012 euros from Real Betis, came on for Bale against Atletico ey signings. “There is often talk of transfers, but I am would not even have got Richarlison out of Watford last Madrid last weekend. And Marco Asensio, perhaps the not that type of coach,” he said in January. Modric, summer. policy’s poster boy, was brought in for a just under four Ramos, Benzema and Bale-all approaching or past 30 But in this current squad, Modric stands out. In part, million euros as an 18-year-old from Real Mallorca. — will soon need replacing and few would bet against Misfiring Bayern because of his brilliance, which has never been in All three of them Spanish, not signed for the present, Perez joining the chase when Mbappe, Neymar or doubt, but also because of Real Madrid too. The but the future. The list of those nurtured in the Real Pogba become available. But for now, this is a different with point to prove Galacticos are, just about, all gone. Bale is the last, and Madrid youth teams is longer. On the plane to Moscow Real Madrid. Modric can enjoy the limelight.