THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2014 SPORTS Leverkusen hold on, jump to second spot BERLIN: Bayer Leverkusen were temporarily Wednesday over Hamburg, who haven’t stopped by some local lightning strikes but scored a goal this season thus far and are ended up beating FC Augsburg 1-0 yesterday last with two points. to remain on the heels of Bundesliga leaders Max Kruse won the game for Gladbach Bayern Munich. with his score in the 25th minute. South Korean international winger Son Hoffenheim missed their chance to keep Heung-min scored the game-winner as pace with Munich but Jannik Vestergaard Leverkusen jumped to 10 points for second scored three minutes into injury time to place, one point behind Bayern, who breezed secure a 3-3 draw at home to SC Freiburg past previous surprise leaders SC Paderborn and see them move on to nine points for 4-0 to move to 11 points on Tuesday. fourth place. Mike Frantz scored in the After Son scored in the 33rd minute, the 32nd and 33rd minutes for Freiburg. Tarik Leverkusen match was delayed in the 39th Elyounoussi pulled back a goal in the 44th minute for nine minutes with referee Guido minute and Sebastian Rudy equalised for Winkmann sending the teams into the Hoffenheim from a free kick after 63 min- BayArena catacombs because of heavy utes. lightning nearby. Hanover 96 pulled even Freiburg went ahead as Vladimir Darida with Leverkusen on points in third place converted a penalty in the 75th minute. But after a 1-0 victory over FC Cologne. the Czech international was sent off six Spaniard Joselu found the back of the minutes later, setting up Vestergaard’s net for Hanover in the sixth minute and heroics. Cologne’s offensive problems continued Haris Seferovic scored in the 82nd having scored just two goals this season. minute to secure a 2-2 draw for Eintracht Borussia Dortmund lost ground on the Frankfurt at home against Mainz. Jonas group of leaders with seven points for Hofmann gave Mainz the lead after 41 min- eighth place after a 2-2 draw at home utes and Shinji Okazaki grabbed his fifth of against previously last-placed VfB Stuttgart, the season for the visitors in the 44th who sacked sporting director Fredi Bobic minute. earlier in the day. But Alexander Maier halved the deficit Stuttgart had scored just once this sea- for Frankfurt a minute into injury time son coming into the game but Daniel before Seferovic secured the point. Schalke Didavi collected a brace in the 48th and picked up their first victory of the season 68th minutes for a 2-0 lead. with a double strike early in the second half ITALY: Juventus’ midfielder Arturo Vidal kicks the ball during the Italian Serie A football match against Cesena. — AFP Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang pulled a to beat Werder Bremen 3-0 on the road. goal back for Dortmund in the 73rd minute Max Meyer scored in the 48th minute and Ciro Immobile secured at least one and Roman Neustaedter doubled the lead point with his score in the 86th minute. in the 51st minute for Schalke and Bayern Munich on Tuesday restored Tranquillo Barnetta made it 3-0 in the 85th Juventus go on top some normality to the Bundesliga table as minute. the reigning champions eased past surprise “We had a lot of pressure coming into early leaders SC Paderborn 4-0 to take over the game. But we really played a strong first place. second half,” said Schalke coach Jens Keller, pressure on Benitez Mario Goetze scored two goals in the who was without suspended leaders Julian eighth and 78th minutes with Robert Draxler and Kevin-Prince Boateng. In yes- Lewandowski making it 2-0 in the 14th terday’s other match, Hertha Berlin picked MILAN: A brace from Arturo Vidal and a late Stephan Lichsteiner strike in a 3-0 minute and Thomas Mueller adding a up their first victory of the season with a 1- romp of Cesena sent Juventus top of Serie A on goal difference as the pressure Italian League results/standings fourth score in the 85th minute. 0 win at home over VfL Wolfsburg thanks grew on Rafael Benitez after Napoli drew 3-3 with Palermo. Borussia Moenchengladbach moved to to Salomon Kalou’s goal in the 35th Roma, along with Juve the only other team with a perfect record in Italy’s Cagliari 1 (Cossu 11) Torino 2 (Glik 21, Quagliarella 29) nine points with a 1-0 home victory on minute. — AFP top flight, thanked Miralem Pjanic’s free kick two minutes from time for all Fiorentina 0 Sassuolo 0; Verona 2 (Tachtsidis 52, Ioniata 64) Genoa 2 three points in a 2-1 win away to Parma. (Matri 34, 47); Inter Milan 2 (Osvaldo 40, Hernanes 87) Atalanta Inter Milan moved up to third thanks to a 2-0 home win over Atalanta while 0;Juventus 3 (Vidal 18-pen, 64, Lichsteiner 85) Cesena 0; Napoli 3 Sampdoria’s solid start was given a boost by a 2-1 home win over Chievo (Koulibaly 2, Zapata 11, Callejon 45+1) Palermo 3 (Belotti 18, 61, which left Sinisa Mihajlovic’s men fourth. Vazquez 24); Parma 1 (De Sceglie 56) Roma 2 (Ljajic 27, Pjanic 88) Champions Juventus sit top on 12 points from four games with Roma sec- Sampdoria 2 (Gastaldello 45, Romagnoli 80) Chievo 1 (Paloschi 89) ond due to inferior goal difference and Inter in third, four points off the pace Italian League table after yesterday’s games (played, won, drawn, lost, goals but one ahead of city rivals Milan, who could only manage a 2-2 draw away to for, goals against, points): promoted Empoli on Tuesday. Juventus 4 4 0 0 7 0 12 Atalanta 4 1 1 2 2 4 4 Juventus dominated Cesena from the outset and after Sebastian Giovinco Roma 4 4 0 0 7 1 12 Torino 4 1 1 2 2 4 4 tested Nicola Leali with two volleys in the early stages Vidal stepped up to beat Inter Milan 4 2 2 0 10 1 8 Cesena 4 1 1 2 3 8 4 the ‘keeper from the spot after Roberto Pereyra’s shot came off the arm of mid- Sampdoria 4 2 2 0 5 2 8 Lazio 3 1 0 2 4 4 3 fielder Emmanuel Cascione. Verona 4 2 2 0 5 3 8 Palermo 4 0 3 1 6 7 3 AC Milan 4 2 1 1 10 8 7 Parma 4 1 0 3 8 10 3 With Giovinco stepping in for Carlos Tevez, it was a case of little and large Udinese 3 2 0 1 3 2 6 Chievo 4 1 0 3 4 6 3 for Juve up front with the diminutive striker partnering towering Spaniard Genoa 4 1 2 1 4 4 5 Sassuolo 4 0 3 1 1 8 3 Fernando Llorente. Just after the half hour Llorente spun on Patrice Evra’s low Fiorentina 4 1 2 1 1 2 5 Empoli 4 0 2 2 4 7 2 drive only to send his effort just wide, although it was Giovinco who came Napoli 4 1 1 2 5 6 4 Cagliari 4 0 1 3 3 7 1 closest to adding Juve’s second on three separate occasions. Juve finally settled their nerves in the 64th minute when Vidal had time to Minutes later a Felipe foul on Mattia Destro gave away the free kick which control on the edge of the area before beating Leali with a precision strike- allowed Bosnian forward Pjanic to step up and beat Mirante with a well-placed another reason why the Chilean is reported to be a target for English giants curler. Manchester United. Napoli’s title hopes have been compromised by a shaky start to the season Lichsteiner put the icing on the Juve cake with a fine angled strike after and the future of Benitez now looks uncertain after Palermo managed to claim Simone Padoin sent the Swiss wingback through with a defence-splitting pass their first draw against the Partenopei in four years. Kalidou Koulibaly rose to five minutes from time. head his maiden Napoli goal past Stefano Sorrentino in the Palermo goal after At Parma, Adem Ljajic gave Rudi Garcia’s visitors a 27th-minute lead when just two minutes and soon after Duvan Zapata fired into the top corner from he ran on to Francesco Totti’s sublime chip to fire a half-volley through the legs Marek Hajmsik’s lay-off after a midfield interception. of ‘keeper Antonio Mirante from 10 yards. Antonio Cassano was a nuisance to However goals from Andrea Belotti and then Franco Vazquez had levelled the Roma defence all evening but it was Paolo De Sceglie who levelled with a the score by 24 minutes and despite Jose Callejon hitting a third for Napoli on header from a corner on 56 minutes. the stroke of half-time Belotti hit his second just after the hour to stun the Roma pressed in the late stages but a superb tackle from defender Felipe hosts. Pablo Dani Osvaldo scored arguably the goal of the night with a superb GERMANY: Augsburg’s Caiuby from Brazil (left) and Leverkusen’s goalkeeper Bernd stopped Alessandro Florenzi in his tracks as the Italian teed up to strike yards volley to beat Marco Sportiello in the Atalanta goal on 40 minutes, although Leno challenge for the ball during the German Bundesliga soccer match. — AP from goal. Hernanes’ rocket free kick three minutes from time was a close second.