Established 1961 15 Sports Sunday, April 8, 2018 Liverpool splutter without Salah in Everton stalemate Third placed Liverpool settle for a point LIVERPOOL: Liverpool were rendered impotent with- just 11 minutes since New Year’s Day. out Mohamed Salah as they were held to a 0-0 draw Inevitably, given those changes, Liverpool did not by Everton in yesterday’s Merseyside derby at click as they usually do. Solanke lacked the kind of Goodison Park. Egypt winger Salah, the key figure in sharpness that Salah and Firmino have made second Liverpool’s impressive campaign, was left out due to a nature. minor groin injury as Jurgen Klopp tried to give his main man a chance to be fit for their decisive LACK OF SPARK Champions League clash against Manchester City on Presented with two good chances in the first 16 min- Tuesday. utes, he took neither. Danny Ings and First he glanced wide Dominic Solanke looked from James Milner’s rusty as they were given angled delivery, and then, rare starts, with the lat- Pickford when Coleman made a ter failing to take either mess of clearing Clyne’s of two early chances. likely to be cross on the run, the Roberto Firmino striker could only steer appeared as a late sub- England’s his first-time shot stitute in an attempt to straight at Jordan find a winner, but third goalkeeper Pickford. placed Liverpool had to Pickford looks settle for a point. increasingly likely to be They did, though, England’s goalkeeper at extend their unbeaten the World Cup later this run in Merseyside derbies to 17 matches, as Seamus year, having grown in confidence as the season has Coleman and Dominic Calvert-Lewin both failed to gone on. take late Everton chances. Klopp had a big decision to His shot-stopping has rarely been in question, and he make regarding his team selection, with Liverpool three produced a fine flying save late in the half to turn away days away from the second leg of their quarter-final a shot from Milner, who had cut in from the left. against City following Wednesday’s 3-0 victory Liverpool enjoyed the bulk of possession despite their LIVERPOOL: Everton’s English striker Wayne Rooney (L) slides in to tackle Liverpool’s English midfielder The fact that he made five changes showed where disjointed look, which was partly down to Everton’s James Milner (R) during the English Premier League football match between Everton and Liverpool at his priorities lie at the moment. Ings was starting a lack of adventure. Goodison Park in Liverpool, north west England yesterday. — AFP league match for the first time since Klopp took charge Sam Allardyce had written in his programme notes two-and-a-half years ago, having fought back from two about derbies being occasions to be inspired by, but his cruciate knee ligament injuries, while Solanke was mak- team lacked spark until the final 10 minutes and gave when he tipped away Yannick Bolasie’s 25-yard curler, Liverpool were prepared to show aggression, with ing only his fourth league start for the club. away the ball too often. Even though Everton did enjoy bound for the top corner. The home side might even Ings involved in a In addition, Nathaniel Clyne began a match for the bursts of pressure, Cenk Tosun was a frustrated figure have won the match at the end, as the Turkey forward confrontation with Coleman that needed the inter- first time in 11 months after recovering from a serious up front for the most part. headed Theo Walcott’s cross towards the far post, vention of referee Michael Oliver and both captains to back problem, while central defender Ragnar Klavan Yet Liverpool goalkeeper Loris Karius still needed where Coleman just failed to turn the ball in. Calvert- sort out. It got the crowd going, but they would not was pressed into service at left-back, having played to be alert, making perhaps the save of the first half Lewin then steered over with only Karius to beat. have a goal to cheer. — AFP Dybala hat-trick Vettel takes pole as stretches Juventus Ferrari lock-out lead in Serie A Bahrain front row MILAN: Paulo Dybala scored a hat-trick, including two from the penalty spot, to extend Juventus’ lead at the top SAKHIR: Championship leader Sebastian Vettel will start of Serie A with a 4-2 win at battling bottom club his 200th F1 race from pole position after he and Ferrari Benevento yesterday. The Turin giants moved a step team-mate Kimi Raikkonen locked out the front row for closer to a seventh straight Italian title, four days before today’s Bahrain Grand Prix. The German secured his 51st they travel to Real Madrid needing to overturn a 3-0 career pole with a supreme lap in the dying seconds of a deficit to reach the Champions League semi-finals. tense floodlit qualifying session in which Ferrari were Juventus now lead second-placed Napoli, who travel dominant. “Yes, P1! Pole position,” said Vettel. “That was a to Chievo today, by seven points. Malian forward Cheick lion lap. That was quite intense... I was happy with my first Diabate scored a brace to pull Benevento back into the run until I tossed it away in the last corner so I stayed game twice but the rock-bottom side fell to their 26th away from that kerb in the second run. “The car has been defeat in 31 games. “Congratulations to the lads because excellent here all weekend.” today was important to win after the defeat against Real Valtteri Bottas was third fastest for Mercedes behind Madrid,” said Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri. the two Ferraris, but ahead of his team-mate Lewis “There are seven games left and today it was too impor- Hamilton who has a five-place grid penalty after an tant. “The feeling was that we were at risk, the same overnight gearbox change and starts from ninth. That pro- feeling I had against AC Milan (last week) when we con- motes Australian Daniel Ricciardo from fifth to fourth for ceded many shots for the first time in months.” “We’ve Red Bull ahead of Frenchman Pierre Gasly of Toro Rosso got to take every last drop of energy we’ve got left to go and Dane Kevin Magnussen of Haas. for the Scudetto, Italian Cup and of course the second Nico Hulkenberg was eighth for Renault ahead of leg in Madrid. It’s not easy to keep winning at that pace,” Esteban Ocon for Force India and Carlos Sainz in the sec- added Allegri. ond Renault. “Not ideal - far from ideal in the last run with Dybala-who will miss to trip to Madrid after being the traffic,” said Raikkonen, the 2007 champion.— AFP red-carded in the first leg-opened the scoring after quar- MILAN: Juventus’ Argentinian striker Paulo Dybala (R) fights for the ball with Benevento’s Brazilian mid- ter of an hour and got the second just before the break fielder Sandro Guimares during the Italian Serie A football match Benevento Calcio vs FC Juventus yester- when he slotted in a penalty awarded after consultation day at the Ciro Vigorito Stadium. — AFP with the video assistant referee. Matches on TV The 24-year-old completed his treble with a penalty (Local Timings) awarded after 74 minutes when Gonzalo Higuain was national to finish with a left-footed shot from the edge of But Dybala put Juventus back in front again, before brought down in the box, before Douglas Costa added the box. But six minutes later Benevento were level after Costa sealed the three points with a searing left-footed the fourth eight minutes from time with a magnificent Juventus goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny saved a Filip shot high into the top corner. “It was a tough game, they ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE curling effort. Argentine Dybala who now has 25 goals in Djuricic effort only for Diabate to tap in the rebound. put a lot of balls into the box for their tall players and Arsenal v Southampton 16:15 all competitions this season. Mandzukic put the ball in the back of the Benevento that proved a problem,” said Dybala. “Every game is beIN SPORTS HD 2 Chelsea v West Ham United 18:30 net again after 36 minutes, finishing off a Cuadrado cross, important and worth three points and we know that beIN SPORTS HD 2 ‘NOTHING TO LOSE’ but the goal was disallowed because of the Croatian for- Napoli will battle to the end, so we cannot afford to lose “It’s difficult against these sides who have nothing to ward’s handball in the build-up. a single point.” Napoli will need a win at 14th-placed SPANISH LEAGUE lose,” said Dybala as Juventus allowed their rivals who The champions went into half-time ahead through Chievo on Sunday after being held 1-1 at Sassuolo last Levante v Las Palmas 13:00 were 65 points below them before kick-off back into the Dybala’s first penalty after Berat Djimsiti’s foul on Pjanic. weekend to keep their push for their first title since 1990 beIN SPORTS HD 3 game. Mario Mandzukic threatened, getting his head to a Five minutes after the break Benevento were back level alive. Roma, in third, host Fiorentina later before next Real Madrid v Atletico de Madrid 17:15 Mario Pjanic chipped ball after five minutes but it flew as Diabate rose higher than defender Medhi Benatia to Tuesday’s visit of Barcelona to the Stadio Olimpico, look- beIN SPORTS HD 3 wide.