Established 1961 27 Sports Thursday, August 29, 2019 Red Star, Dinamo, Olympiakos reach Champions League group stage

Red Star held by Young Boys but advance on away goals

BELGRADE: Former European Cup winners Red deflected cross into his own net and then saved a Star Belgrade reached the Champions League group Roger Assale sitter before the home side broke the stage for the second successive season after a 1-1 deadlock with their first purposeful move of the night. home draw with Swiss side Young Boys in the play- Playmaker Marko Marin released Rodic with a offs sent them through on away goals on Tuesday. delightful pass and the left back raced down the flank They were joined by Croatian champions Dinamo to deliver a sharp cross for winger Aleksa Vukanovic Zagreb who advanced with a 1-1 draw at Rosenborg to head home powerfully from six metres at the near following a 2-0 first-leg win. Olympiakos Piraeus won post and score hs first goal for Red Star. 2-1 at Krasnodar to complete a 6-1 aggregate drub- The Serbian champions endured a tense last 10 bing of the Russian side. minutes after they half-cleared a deep cross into their Roared on by a fervent 50,000 home crowd, 1991 penalty area and substitute El Fardou Ben turned a European champions Red Star, who earned a 2-2 shot by the visitors’ Saidy Janko from 18 metres into draw in the reverse fixture, were on the back foot his own net. for long spells but coach Vladan Milojevic was Borjan, who was instrumental in the previous delighted after they squeezed through. “I am very round’s penalty shootout win over Copenhagen, again proud of my players and what we achieved this rescued Red Star when he tipped over a stoppage evening is a tremendous success,” Milojevic told a time piledriver by Jean Pierre Nsame. news conference. The final whistle from English referee Anthony “It was tough. I told the players before the match Taylor sparked wild celebrations among the jubilant that giving it their best shot was all anyone could ask Red Star fans, who lit flares after parking a fully for. We are now looking forward to our second sea- decomissioned batlletank in front of the stadium on son among Europe’s elite. “We are one big happy Monday. family at Red Star and still living the dream. We’ve Dinamo fell behind on the night to an early made Serbia proud.” Babajide David goal before Amer Gojak struck in the Left back Milan Rodic missed Red Star’s best 71st minute to put the tie beyond Norwegian side TRONDHEIM: Rosenborg’s Nigerian forward Babajide David Akintola (C) scores the opening goal during the UEFA chance in the first half when he headed over the bar Rosenberg’s reach. Olympiakos arrived in Krasnodar Champions League play-off, second leg football match at Lerkendal Stadium in Trondheim, Norway. — AFP before midfielder Michel Aebischer twice went close with a 4-0 first-leg cushion and although the Russian to swinging the tie Young Boys’ way. side gave themselves a glimmer of hope through Daniil Utkin’s 10th-minute effort, Youssef El Aarabi Last season’s semi-finalists Ajax Amsterdam are at are at home to LASK Linz following a 1-0 win in Austria PURPOSEFUL MOVE scored twice for the visitors to book their group- home to APOEL Nicosia in Wednesday’s standout fix- and Slavia Prague host Romanians CFR Cluj after beat- Red Star keeper Milan Borjan almost spilled a stage berth. ture following a 0-0 first-leg draw in Cyprus. Bruges ing them by the same score last week. — Reuters

first FA Cup winners to be ousted from Jokic: Serbia’s Historic Bury the league, and Bolton were due to face each other in a televised live match on Sunday week. Bury are the beloved big man expelled from first team to be expelled from the third tier of English football. The remaining of basketball English league, 23 teams will complete the season and only three instead of four teams will be Bolton get lifeline relegated. SOMBOR: Nikola Jokic was always tall — as A BBC journalist at the club’s Gigg a teenager he had to lie down in school pho- Lane ground said that on hearing the tos to fit inside the frame. Now the 24-year- LONDON: Historic football club Bury, news fans burst into tears with some so old Serbian basketball standout is bigger than the first team to be expelled from the upset they were “crouching down to the ever, spanning a huge mural on his former in over two floor”. “I understand this will be a deeply elementary school and living the dream of decades, suffered a further blow yester- upsetting and devastating time for every youngster as an NBA All-Star with the day when they were kicked out of the Bury’s players, staff, supporters and the Denver Nuggets. FA Cup. The once-proud club that only wider community,” said EFL executive With a slightly doughy and lumbering a few months ago were celebrating pro- chair Debbie Jevans. physique, the seven-footer (2.13m) has motion to the third tier, were turfed out entranced fans and sports analysts with his of the league late Tuesday when a VICTIM uncanny precision, especially laser-sharp takeover bid fell apart shortly before the Jevans words of sympathy were dis- passes that have seen him likened to an NFL 1600 GMT deadline set by league missed by Bury North MP James Frith, quarterback on court. administrators. who has earned praise for his efforts to Serbs are hoping that their homegrown The club from northwest England are save the club, inferring Bolton had been hero — who did not play in the 2014 World the first to be expelled from the league treated better. “I feel Bury is the victim Cup — can fire the country at the latest edi- SOMBOR: File photo shows a mural depicting Nikola Jokic, the 24-year-old Serbian basket- — comprising all the divisions below the ... and those left to pick up the pieces tion, which starts on Saturday in China. ball player who plays for the NBA’s Denver Nuggets, painted on a wall of his former school top-tier — since are the town and the community,” Frith Beaten in the final last time, Serbia are again in his hometown of Sombor. — AFP Maidstone United in 1992. Yesterday, a told BBC radio. among the favourites to challenge holders the further blow fell on bitter fans awaking “Yes we will rise again and keep the United States. to the stark realisation that efforts to faith but we shouldn’t be at this point.” In Jokic’s native Sombor, a sleepy northern The work has paid off. Today, Jokic is the number one tennis player Novak Djokovic. keep the club afloat had failed. The writing had been on the wall for city where Jokic returns annually, teachers Nuggets’ undisputed MVP, drawing praise Jokic prefers to keep a low profile when he “Following on from their expulsion Bury after a rollercoaster of a day for remember a boy who always had a special for his creativity and exceptional statistics, returns to Sombor, a city of 40,000 near the from the English Football League, Bury fans and employees alike, when C&N knack with balls, even if physical exercise was blending the role of centre and point guard. border with Hungary. He is still dating his FC will no longer be able to participate Sporting Risk withdrew their takeover not his strong suit. In addition to averaging 10.8 rebounds per high school sweetheart and will often stop by in the FA Cup for the 2019/20 season,” bid offer to Steve Dale, who had bought “He loved playing with the ball more than game this season, he averaged 7.3 decisive his former school to talk to young players on read an FA statement. “If the club re- the club last December for a single anything. On the other hand, gym and athlet- passes and 20.1 points. He further excelled in the small court, beneath his mural. forms we look forward to them applying pound. Bury captain Neil Danns told ics, he did not love... I always had to push him the playoffs. According to his father, basket- But most of Jokic’s free time in Serbia is to make an application to The Football radio that Dale had to do gymnastics,” remembers his first physi- ball was love at first sight. spent indulging his other passion: horses. “He Association to re-join league competi- “destroyed lives”. “This should never cal education teacher, Robert Katona, from “As a child, with his pacifier in his mouth, inherited this from me,” explains his father tion further down the English football have happened,” he said. “If you thought the humble court where Jokic honed his skills. he would watch his brothers play (basketball) while reaching a hand out to horses in the pyramid from the 2020/21 season.” you could not move this club forward in Gordana Ralevic, his English teacher, without moving, without making a sound, sit- small stable their family owns, nearby a track Bury’s historic rivals Bolton — one of a positive way you should never have remembers “little” Jokic as an “excellent” aca- ting on my lap,” remembers Branislav Jokic, where they compete in harness racing. the founders of the Football League but taken over because you’ve literally demic student. As a heavier kid “he had prob- 61, a retired agricultural engineer. “As a child, he would clean the stables who have been in administration since destroyed lives, because that’s what this lems with physical education... he really strug- His gym teacher Katona says Jokic’s talent before going to school.” Jokic still enjoys May — won some breathing space on football club meant to so many fans.” gled”, she told AFP. “But he fought — and suc- for passing — the subject of many YouTube doing a few laps of the track “but only for Tuesday when they were given 14 days Meanwhile Bolton has been thrown a ceeded, as we can see,” she adds with a smile. highlight reels — was also evident at a young training, he can’t afford to participate in a to find a buyer. late lifeline and fans — some of whom are When the Serbian arrived in Denver as a age. “Above all he had a tendency to look for competition”, explains Branislav. For Bury, though, the bell has tolled old enough to have attended two League little-known second-round pick four years the decisive pass, he liked it more than scor- He walks over to a brown horse behind a on their time in the Football League, Cup finals (1995/2004) — gathered late ago he couldn’t hold an abdominal plank for ing,” he says. fence. “This is Dream Catcher, the first horse ending over 100 years of participation Tuesday round the statue of their greatest more than 20 seconds, Jokic told ESPN in a With a contract worth nearly $150 million, Nikola bought,” he says. “He survived a which yielded two FA Cups and pro- player, the late former England forward recent interview. He has since been whipped Jokic is the highest paid Serbian player in severe tick bite and returned to competition, duced players like former Manchester Nat Lofthouse known as “The Lion of into shape by trainers, shedding some pounds history. His popularity is beginning to match pursuing his dreams. Kind of like Nikola City and England great Colin Bell. Vienna”. Tuesday would have been while still maintaining a bulkier physique. that of Serbia’s other sporting king, world when he went to play in the States.” — AFP Ironically Bury, who become the Lofthouse’s 94th birthday. — AFP

since joining from Rennes for a club record fee report- Norwich and Palace ed to be £30million ($37million), Daryl Janmaat — a The clubs’ supporters called for an 80% alloca- superb strike into the far corner for his first goal since Premier League tion of tickets to be made available to the finalists toppled in League February 2018 — and Venezuelan forward Adalberto after Liverpool and Spurs were allocated only Penaranda saw off the third tier team. 16,613 tickets each for the Champions League Brighton were pushed hard by Bristol Rovers before clubs’ fans want showpiece at Atletico Madrid’s 68,000-seat Wanda Cup by giantkillers clinching the tie 2-1. Aaron Connolly put the Premier Metropolitano Stadium. League side ahead only for the hosts to level through improved UEFA Suggestions were also made to choose stadiums Tom Nicholls just after the hour mark. with a minimum capacity of 60,000 for the Europa LONDON: Premier League sides Norwich and However Brighton sealed their place in the next finals experience League final and 75,000 for the Champions League Crystal Palace bowed out of the League Cup on round when veteran Glenn Murray struck in time final, helping to keep ticket prices affordable. Tuesday beaten by fourth tier sides Crawley Town and added on. Jack Wilshere scored his first goal for West LONDON: Fans of Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal and Chelsea fans struggled to get to Colchester United respectively. Ham since the injury-plagued former England midfield- Tottenham Hotspur have together submitted a list of Baku for the Europa League showpiece due to a Democratic Republic of Congo-born Beryly Lubala er moved from Arsenal last year as the Hammers ran demands to European soccer’s governing body lack of direct flights to Azerbaijan’s capital. scored Crawley’s goal — his fifth of the season — in out 2-0 winners over fourth tier Newport County. The UEFA after numerous complaints following the Supporters asked UEFA to pick cities with good their 1-0 win over a second string Norwich side for the 27-year-old struck two minutes before half-time Champions League and Europa League finals last connectivity and the capacity to deal with thou- victors first ever win over top tier opposition. against the Welsh side. season. sands of visitors. They also demanded that the host Colchester progressed on penalties after they had Spanish midfielder Pablo Fornals — the Hammers A joint statement by Arsenal Supporters’ Trust, country should have a clean human rights record held Palace to a scoreless draw after 90 minutes — second most expensive signing when they bought him Chelsea Supporters’ Trust, Spirit of Shankly and and equality policy after Arsenal’s Henrikh Noah Chilvers converting the decisive penalty. for £24million in the summer — added a second in the Tottenham Hotspur Supporters’ Trust covers various Mkhitaryan did not travel to Baku over fears for his It was Colchester’s first win over top flight opposi- second-half tucking the ball away after Felipe problems such as inadequate ticket allocations and safety due to the conflict between Armenia and tion in the League Cup since 1979. Anderson, who had come on early for the injured inconvenient travel arrangements. “We have drawn Azerbaijan. Watford eased a little bit of the pressure on under- Michail Antonio, set him up. up a six-point action plan to improve the supporter “We call upon UEFA to strengthen its dialogue fire manager Javi Gracia by securing their first win of The second round concludes with seven more experience,” the statement read. “It has been with fans and request that they start by engaging the season beating Coventry 3-0. Newspaper reports matches and the likes of Everton and Leicester in referred to the Football Supporters’ Association with groups such as ourselves to discuss the pro- on Tuesday said Gracia had until the second interna- action. The Premier League heavyweights such as (FSA) and Football Supporters Europe (FSE). We posals to improve arrangements for fans at the final tional break — in October — to save his job despite holders Manchester City and the others who are now call on UEFA to engage in meaningful dialogue stages of the Champions and Europa Leagues,” the taking the Hornets to the FA Cup final last season. involved in or have qualified for European competi- with supporters and address these points.” statement added. — Reuters Goals by Ismaila Sarr, who was making his first start tions do not enter the fray till the next round. — AFP