Established 1961 15 Sports Wednesday, October 18, 2017 Rampant Reds hit seven to silence Jurgen Klopp critics Salah made it three with his seventh goal of the season MARIBOR: Liverpool eased the pressure on Jurgen relieved Liverpool looked more potent, although it helped Klopp as Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah inspired that Maribor were totally out of their depth. Klopp’s side a 7-0 thrashing of Maribor in the Champions League quickly punished Maribor’s naive defending to take a yesterday. fourth minute lead. After drawing their first two European fixtures and Salah was left in acres of space down the right edge of spluttering in the Premier League, Liverpool arrived in the Maribor penalty area and the Egypt winger’s low Slovenia with critics questioning Klopp’s signings and tac- cross into the six yard box teed up Firmino to tap-in his tics. But, for once, Klopp’s team showed a ruthless touch in fifth goal of the season. the opposition penalty area to demolish woeful Maribor. Firmino opened the scoring and Philippe Coutinho RUNNING RIOT increased Liverpool’s lead before Salah’s brace put the Liverpool were running riot and Coutinho doubled Reds four up by half-time at Stadion Ljudski Vrt. Firmino their advantage in the 13th minute. Salah sent James netted again after the break, with Alex Oxlade- Milner away down the right flank and he pulled a cross Chamberlain and Trent back to the edge of the Alexander-Arnold also on Maribor area, where the scoresheet as Coutinho arrived to slot Liverpool’s goal blitz home his fifth goal of the moved them into first This was a season. place in Group E with Firmino went close three matches left. After welcome tonic with a flicked shot at the only one victory in their end of a flowing move, but last eight games in all for Klopp for once applying the fin- competitions, this was a ishing touch wasn’t a welcome tonic for Klopp problem for Klopp’s men. and company as they Salah made it three with ended a three-match his seventh goal of the winless run. Now Klopp season in the 19th minute. must hope the dominant display marks a much-needed Firmino was the creator, riding two tackles and slipping change in his side’s fortunes. a deft pass to Salah, who guided a cool finish past Saturday’s goalless draw against Manchester United Maribor goalkeeper Jasmin Handanovic. Maribor were in had continued Liverpool’s frustrating recent trend of fail- complete disarray and Salah notched Liverpool’s fourth MARIBOR: Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah, top, duels for the ball with Maribor’s Marko Suler during ing to kill off their opponents despite controlling posses- from virtually on the goalline after Alberto Moreno’s cross the Champions League soccer match between Maribor and Liverpool at the Ljudski vrt stadium, in sion. unhinged the hapless hosts in the 39th minute. Maribor, Slovenia, yesterday. — AP Liverpool’s profligacy sparked criticism of Klopp’s fail- It was only the seventh time an English club had scored ure to buy a top-class striker and, irritated by questions four first half goals in the Champions League. Liverpool about his trophyless two-year reign, he sarcastically weren’t finished yet and the Brazil connection combined Oxlade-Chamberlain, on as a substitute, grabbed his first Handanovic. Klopp was all smiles on the touchline and labelled himself a “charismatic, funny loser” earlier this for their fifth when Firmino rose to head in Coutinho’s 54th Liverpool goal since his August move from Arsenal. Daniel there was still time for teenage defender Alexander- week. minute free-kick. Sturridge’s pass sent Oxlade-Chamberlain clear in the Arnold to net in stoppage-time with a deflected long- Aware the heat was being turned up, Klopp will be Capping a night when everything when right for Klopp, 86th minute and he calmly stroked his shot past range effort. — AFP Leipzig claim landmark Champions Bernard brace League success leads Shakhtar over Feyenoord 2-1 in CL LEIPZIG: Jean-Kevin Augustin scored what proved to be the winner as RB Leipzig secured their first ever vic- tory in the Champions League yesterday evening, beat- ROTTERDAM: Bernard scored twice in leading ing Porto 3-2. Willi Orban and Emil Forsberg also scored 10-man Shakhtar Donetsk past Feyenoord 2-1 and for the hosts in a five-goal first half as Leipzig claimed a solidifying the Ukrainian team’s grip on second win that keeps alive their dream of reaching the knock- place in Group F of the Champions League yes- out stages in their debut Champions League campaign. terday. The result puts Leipzig second in Group G, a point Shakhtar’s second group stage win left above Porto but five points behind Turkish champions Feyenoord without a point following three straight Besiktas, who maintained their perfect record with a 2-1 win at Monaco. Leipzig were without star striker Timo defeats. Manchester City stayed on top after beat- Werner for much of the game. The 21-year-old is yet to ing Napoli 2-1. Bernard netted in the 24th and 54th return to full match fitness after injury so only came on minutes to cancel out a seventh-minute strike by as a late substitute, but his team were still brilliant going Steven Berghuis. forward. It took just eight minutes for Leipzig to open Feyenoord started strongly at a sold-out De the scoring. After Jose Sa preferred in the Porto goal to Kuip Stadium and Berghuis gave his team a Iker Casillas-fumbled Bruma’s long-range effort, the ball deserved lead when he headed home a rebound fell to Orban, who bundled it into the net from close after Andriy Pyatov parried Jean-Paul Boetius’ range. More chances followed as Augustin first sliced a swerving shot. ball wide and then danced around two Porto defenders But Feyenoord eased off after scoring, allowing before being denied by Sa. Shakhtar into the match. Bernard equalized in the For all their flair in attack, defensive nerves soon cost 24th after running onto a perfectly weighted pass Leipzig the equaliser. A long throw, twice knocked on in by midfielder Fred and rounding goalkeeper Brad the penalty area, was turned in at the far post by Jones before calmly slotting the ball into the empty Vincent Aboubakar on 18 minutes. The response was LEIPZIG: Porto’s Ivan Marcano, center, scores his side’s second goal during the Champions League net. Feyenoord again started strongly in the second immediate from the home side. Marcel Sabitzer, Naby Group G first leg soccer match between RB Leipzig and FC Porto in Leipzig, Germany. — AP half and Pyatov twice had to sprint off his line to Keita and Forsberg all came close within minutes of the deny Nicolai Jorgensen and Sofyan Amrabat. But leveller and it was the latter who would make it 2-1 in while Feyenoord couldn’t capitalize on its chances, the 38th minute. The Swede linked up brilliantly with time. The Leipzig defence was caught napping again at chance in the 73rd minute, choosing to fire the ball over Shakhtar was clinical, with Bernard appearing Sabitzer before slotting the ball past Sa. a corner, allowing Hector Herrera to head the ball back the bar rather than pass to the unmarked Sabitzer. unmarked at the far post to give his team the lead Moments later, Augustin had increased the lead, Ivan at the far post before Marcano prodded the ball in. Brought on with a quarter of an hour to play, Werner with a powerful header. Marcano’s error gifting him possession and a free run at With an hour gone, Marcano would redeem himself was given a hero’s welcome by the home fans, but his Shakhtar was reduced to 10 men with 15 minutes goal. The Porto defender would make amends at the further, clearing off the line after Augustin had poked hopes of scoring a first Champions League goal were to go when Yaroslav Rakitskiy was sent off for his other end, scoring his side’s second just before half- the ball past Sa, and Augustin would miss another thwarted by a Sa save in the 83rd minute. — AFP second yellow card for a foul on substitute Jens Toornstra. Substitute Michiel Kramer came close to equal- izing in extra time, but Pyatov pulled off another rate with the justice ministries of the United States and good save to block his header. “We can look back also Switzerland,” added Samoura. “There is a firm and real willingness within FIFA to change. If we stick to the on a good match, but we still finished empty hand- FIFA Sec Gen hopes TV rights scandal results published in FIFA’s governance and financial ed,” Feyenoord captain Karim El Ahmadi told Dutch reports at the end of 2016, we are on the right track.” television network Veronica. — AP Appointed in May 2016, Samoura, 55, is the leading ‘will not disrupt’ Qatar World Cup light in FIFA’s drive for more females in leading roles in football governance as the organisation’s first female MADRID: FIFA’s number two Fatma Samoura said much more credible, we cannot afford to jeopardise Secretary General. yesterday she hoped the criminal investigations into the these competitions. The same goes for Qatar. “The And while she believes FIFA is close to maximising Matches on TV sale of World Cup rights to the Qatari-owned beIN organisation of the competition was awarded to them in its income from the men’s World Cup, the women’s (Local Timings) Media group will not “disrupt” Qatar’s hosting of the 2010, well before the new leadership came in, and we game has plenty of room for growth to make it a com- mercial success.