WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2016 SPORTS Big European clubs support Infantino for FIFA presidency PARIS: Europe’s biggest soccer clubs have been instrumental in the creation of the conducted by FIFA’s 209 members. The entities indicted by the US Department of after the election,” said Gandini. backed UEFA interim chief Gianni relationship between UEFA and the ECA,” other election candidates are Bahrain’s Justice. Salman has the backing of his “We will expect to be at the table to Infantino’s FIFA presidential campaign Gandini said. Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, ex- own AFC and the Confederation of discuss all the possible reforms and we having worked closely with the Swiss “We see his candidacy as a nice oppor- FIFA executive committee member Prince African Football (CAF), while 45-year-old will bring our contribution and our evalu- through their umbrella European Club tunity for him which hopefully will bene- Ali Bin Al Hussein, former FIFA deputy Infantino, UEFA’s general secretary, has ation, which can only be negative today. Association (ECA) group. fit football worldwide. “He has the skills to general secretary Jerome Champagne the support of his European organisation “We are not there yet (at the point ECA vice-chairman Umberto Gandini perform very well,” he added ahead of this and South African Tokyo Sexwale, a for- along with the 10-member South where changes to the World Cup format announced the decision on Tuesday at a month’s vote at the scandal-plagued mer political prisoner who was jailed American confederation CONMEBOL. would be made) but we are not now in a news conference during the general world governing body. alongside Nelson Mandela. The ECA also voiced its strong opposi- situation of supporting such an idea,” he assembly of the organisation, which rep- The independent ECA, which replaced UEFA’s Infantino and Asian Football tion to the possible expansion of the added. The ECA promotes its members resents over 200 clubs including major the G-14 group of leading clubs in 2008, Confederation (AFC) chief Salman are World Cup from 32 to 40 teams - an idea interests on European club matters and ones such as Real Madrid, Barcelona, has two representatives on the UEFA front-runners to win the Feb. 26 vote at supported by Infantino. aims to maintain a high level of involve- Juventus and Bayern Munich. executive committee but has no direct FIFA, which has been embroiled in a huge “This is in the hands of FIFA and it will ment in the decision-making of the “We know Gianni very well. He has role in the presidential voting which is corruption scandal with 41 people and be in the hands of the new FIFA structure game’s governing bodies. — Reuters Klopp wants Liverpool to find solution to ticket price row ANFIELF: Liverpool manager Juergen as Liverpool let three points slip from their Klopp has urged the Liverpool board to grasp after throwing away their two-goal find a satisfactory solution with the sup- lead in the final 10 minutes of the game. porters after concerns were raised about “No, that’s absolutely not allowed to the club’s ticket pricing structure at Anfield think something like this I saw the reasons next season. on the pitch and they had nothing to do Around 10,000 fans headed for the exits with it. It was a completely different situa- at Anfield during Saturday’s 2-2 Premier tion to what we spoke about a few months League draw with Sunderland, in protest ago,” Klopp told British media. against the highest priced 77 pounds “In my position I have only a few words (about $111) ticket for next season. on this but we have to really think about it Klopp denied the fans’ walkout on and to have talks. I know (chief executive) Saturday affected his players on the pitch, Ian Ayre has already had some talks but we are in contact and that is very important. “We are really interested in finding a solution. Matches on TV “We should talk about this and hopeful- (Local Timings) ly in the end find a solution that everyone can be satisfied with. It is really rare that England FA Cup you find a solution where everybody says Peterborough v West Bromwich 22:45 ‘yes!’. You have to make compromises. beIN SPORTS That’s how it is.” Liverpool travel to take on West Ham Spain Copa del Rey United in the replay of the fourth round of Valencia v Barcelona 23:00 the FA Cup before their away fixture at bot- beIN SPORTS tom side Aston Villa in the league on Sunday. — Reuters NAPLES: Napoli’s Italian forward Manolo Gabbiadini (R) vies with Carpi’s Swiss defender Fabio Daprela (L) during the Italian Serie A football match SSC Napoli vs Carpi FC on Sunday at the San Paolo stadium in Naples. Napoli won the match 1-0. — AFP Only pride on line for Valencia in Copa semis MADRID: Facing the virtually impossible mission of with improvement in performances, then you lose Enrique is expected to rest some of the team’s top reversing a seven-goal deficit against Barcelona in some strength in your words,” the former players in the return match against Valencia. the second leg of the Copa del Rey semifinals, coach Manchester United and England defender said. “I see Lionel Messi is one of the players likely to miss Gary Neville hopes a decent result against the a difference (in the team) in the last three weeks but action as he underwent tests this week after a Spanish giant will help start turning things around no difference in results and that is the thing that real- recurrence of kidney problems he had in for Valencia. ly is annoying, frustrating and disappointing for December. Messi missed the Club World Cup semi- In addition to restoring some dignity, a home win everybody at the club.” Valencia is 14th in the final at the time because of renal colic, an abdomi- against red-hot Barcelona on Wednesday could help Spanish league with five victories in 23 games. Here nal ailment often related to the presence of kidney steer the team back in the right direction after a dis- are other things to watch in the Copa del Rey semifi- stones within renal ducts. Messi scored a hat trick in mal run under Neville’s command. nals this week: the first leg against Valencia. Luis Suarez scored the A victory at Mestalla Stadium would also put other four goals. Valencia in the history books as the team that kept RECORD STREAK LEVERKUSEN: Leverkusen’s Karim Bellarabi, left, and Bremen’s Santiago Garcia chal- Barcelona from breaking its club record of 28 games With a spot all but secured in the Copa del Rey CELTA-SEVILLA lenge for the ball during the German Soccer Cup quarterfinal match between Bayer without a loss. Although no one denies there is little final for the third straight season, Barcelona’s main Sevilla will travel to Vigo to defend its 4-0 lead Leverkusen and Werder Bremen in Leverkusen, Germany, yesterday. — AP chance of overturning the humiliating 7-0 first-leg goal will be to keep its unbeaten streak alive and over Celta in the semifinal on Thursday. Sevilla has loss, the return match means Valencia can regain break the club’s record. Luis Enrique’s team can be thrived in the Copa del Rey with victories in all of its some confidence and prove it’s better than recent the first to reach 29 consecutive games without a seven matches. The team hasn’t conceded a single results have been showing. loss in all competitions. Barcelona on Sunday tied goal so far, while scoring 20. The teams will be EPL unveils new look “We obviously put ourselves in a ridiculous posi- the record of 28 unbeaten match set by Pep meeting for the third time in a week. In addition to tion in that match,” Neville said. “It was unacceptable. Guardiola’s squad in 2011, and now it’s a draw away the first leg of the semifinal in Seville, the teams also LONDON: The English Premier League “We look forward to sharing more details But what I can see is that last Wednesday was a mas- from surpassing it. Enrique’s team hasn’t lost since a met in the Spanish league this weekend, when they unveiled its new, sponsor-free “visual identi- of our new positioning in the coming sive accident. That was a freak match.” In his first 2-1 defeat at Sevilla in the seventh round of the drew 1-1 at the Balaidos Stadium in Vigo. “We need ty” yesterday, which will take effect from the months.” Canadian brewery Carling was the head-coaching job, Neville is under increased pres- Spanish league in October. It will also be trying to to respect Celta,” Sevilla coach Unai Emery said. “We 2016-17 season onwards. Premier League’s first title sponsor between sure because of a series of poor results. The team win its 11th game in a row in all competitions. have to continue what we started last week in the The money-spinning English top flight is 1993 and 2001. hasn’t won in nine Spanish league games since he first game.”Sevilla is trying to reach the Copa final ending its 12-year association with Barclays Barclaycard, an offshoot of British bank took over less than two months ago. HALF-STRENGTH BARCA for the first time since 2010, when it won the title. bank in favour of becoming a ‘clean brand’ Barclays, took over in 2001 before Barclays “The reality is, if you don’t get the results to go Sitting on a 7-0 lead, Barcelona coach Luis Celta has never won the Copa del Rey.