Gulf Times 2 Sunday, February 16, 2020 FOOTBALL OOREDOO CUP PREMIER LEAGUE Mane strikes as Reds overcome Al Sadd, Rayyan Norwich to open up 25-point lead AFP top. He opted to pass to his London left to Teemu Pukki but Alis- make semis aft er son Becker produced a superb save, clawing the ball away at adio Mane struck as the feet of the Finnish striker. Liverpool overcame Liverpool were quickly on Storm Dennis and top again in the second half, feisty basement club keeping Norwich at arm’s SNorwich to extend their lead at length, but struggled to create the top of the Premier League clear chances until Keita tested shootout wins table to 25 points yesterday. Tim Krul from distance in the Jurgen Klopp’s runaway 58th minute. The change in tournament format this season stipulated that if a match ends in a league leaders were short of The Anfi eld giants laid siege their fl uent best during their to the Norwich goal but frus- tie, penalty shootout would be straightaway enforced to determine the result 1-0 victory but returned im- tration mounted as the home mediately to winning ways af- side somehow kept the score ter their winter break. at 0-0. Moments later Keita They are galloping towards should have done better when their fi rst league title for 30 he reacted quickly to a rebound years and can also dream of a off Krul but the goalkeeper treble to match Manchester dived to his right to deny the United’s achievement in 1999. Guinea international. The result leaves Daniel Alexander Tettey almost Farke’s Norwich rooted to the caught Becker out on a rare bottom of the table, six points Norwich foray into the Liver- behind 19th-placed Watford pool half, thundering a shot and they look set for an im- against the near post as the mediate return to the Cham- home crowd roared their team pionship despite their battling on. But just when it seemed performance. Norwich could become just Klopp brought back mid- the second team this season fi elder Naby Keita for his fi rst after Manchester United to start in a Premier League deny Liverpool all three points, match since December and Mane broke the deadlock. Mane was on the bench as The second-half substitute Liverpool started with confi - controlled a long ball from dence. The champions-elect Henderson with his right foot bossed possession in the early in the 78th minute before lash- stages without creating many ing home with his left. clear-cut openings but Nor- Pukki had a late chance to wich managed some brief equalise but shot straight at spells of attractive passing Alisson as Liverpool held on football themselves. for their 25th win in 26 Premier Liverpool’s silky forward League matches. Roberto Firmino was particu- Defending champions Man- larly impressive, producing an chester City, reeling from a exquisite piece of skill to con- European ban for the next two trol a long Jordan Henderson seasons for breaching fair play pass before the ball was sto- rules, are in second place in len off his toes as he shaped to the table but have no chance of shoot. winning a third straight title. But despite a few hairy mo- European champions Liver- ments, Farke’s men kept Liv- pool, who play Atletico Madrid erpool quiet and came close to in the fi rst leg of their last-16 snatching the lead themselves. tie on Tuesday and are through Lukas Rupp got in behind to the FA Cup fi fth round, now the Liverpool defence and have a chance to win the three controlled a long ball over the biggest trophies on off er. Al Sadd (L) and Al Rayyan players celebrate after their respective wins in the Ooredoo Cup quarter-finals yesterday. By Sports Reporter The game’s intensity increased in the for Al Khor. The lead was neutralised by the 25th minute following a brilliant piece Doha second half and Al Sadd surged ahead in Al Rayyan’s Rodrigo Tabata in the 74th of footwork. the 62nd minute through Hamed Ismail, minute through a penalty, awarded when Al Khor’s January signing Lucca Borg- who curled in a direct free-kick past Qatar Atef Mohamed brought down Abdulaziz es, who played for Al Rayyan last season, l Sadd defeated Qatar SC in the SC goalkeeper Mohamed Ghanem. Hazza. missed a sitter by skying the ball with only tie-breaker and stormed into the Al Sadd’s Khalid Mubarak received his Sudden death came into play after the the goalkeeper in front. semi-fi nals of 2019-20 Ooredoo marching orders in the 77th minute for regular time ended 1-1 and tie-breaker Tiago drew a fi ne save from Al Hajri as ACup at the Qatar SC Stadium fouling Kayke and the latter himself con- ended 5-5. the fi rst half, during which only Sultan yesterday. verted the resultant penalty. Both deci- Khaled Muftah, Ibrahim Masoud, al-Kuwari came closest to scoring for Al The tie-breaker was enforced after the sions were taken by VAR. Ahmed Abdelmaqsoud, Lee Jae-Ik and Rayyan, drew to a close. teams were level 1-1 at the end of regular In the tie-breaker, Abdelkarim Hassan, Rodrigo Tabata scored for Al Rayyan in the On to the second session and a goal by time. Hamed Ismail (62nd minute) and Hamed Ismail, Mohamed Waad, Ayoub tie-breaker. Afterwards, Abdulrahman al- Al Khor was in the offi ng. It was scored Kayke Rodriguez (79th-minute penalty) Mashour and Rami Suhail found the tar- Korbi and Mekki Tombari found the target in the 56th minute by none other than scored for Al Sadd and Qatar SC respec- get for Al Sadd. for The Lions in sudden death. Tiago, who gave fi nishing touches to the tively. For Qatar SC, Sardor Rashidov, Elmehdi For Al Khor, Said Brahimi, Musaab Ab- spadework done by fi rst Lucca through The change in tournament format this Barrahma, Ahmed Moein and Kayke were dulmajid, Lucca Borges, Ahmed Salem a through pass and then Hammoudan season stipulated that if a match ends in a on target, while Abdenasser Elkhayati’s and Ahmed Al Mohannadi were on tar- through a cross from the left. tie, penalty shootout would be straighta- shot was blocked by Al Sadd goalkeeper get in the tie-breaker. Mohamed al-Jabri Al Rayyan pressed hard and the equal- way enforced to determine the result. Meshaal Issa Barshim. too was lucky with his kick in sudden iser came in the form of a penalty, award- Al Sadd will play Al Ahli in the semi- Qatar SC had progressed to the quarter- death, but Abdulrahman Rajab’s shot was ed by referee Khamis al-Kuwari after re- fi nal. fi nals as runners-up from Group B, while blocked by Al Rayyan goalkeeper Saoud ferring to VAR. Al Khor’s Atef Mohamed Possession was even in the fi rst half QNB Stars League title holders Al Sadd al-Hajri with his leg. committed the foul on Abdulaziz Hazza. even though Qatar SC forced four cor- reached the Ooredoo Cup quarter-fi nals Earlier, Tiago led the charge as Al Khor Khaled Muftah then had a chance to put ner kicks as against one by Al Sadd, who after fi nishing third in Group A. came hard on Al Rayyan, whose star player Al Rayyan ahead, but he shot over. benched many of their fi rst-team players. Earlier in the day, Al Rayyan edged Al Yohan Boli (new recruit), Yacine Brahimi Al Khor made it to the knockout stage Qatar SC’s Kayke and Al Sadd’s new Khor 7-6 in sudden death to make the last and Franck Kom were missing in action. of Ooredoo Cup in style, topping Group Liverpool’s Sadio Mane celebrates scoring against Norwich in the recruit Marco Fabian shot over as both four where they will take on Al Arabi. Tiago was unlucky to have struck his B with 13 points, whereas Al Rayyan made Premier League yesterday. teams failed to make a breakthrough. Tiago Bezerra scored in the 56th minute powerful shot against the horizontal in the cut after ending up fourth in Group A. Leeds close on leaders West Brom BOTTOMLINE London: Luke Ayling’s goal Midlands rivals Nottingham against his former club was Forest. good enough to give Leeds Matty Cash’s added-time a 1-0 win over Bristol City equaliser saw Forest secure yesterday that saw the fallen a draw at The Hawthorns English giants revive their bid after West Brom had twice Man City face chaos aft er ban, for automatic promotion to led through Callum Robinson the Premier League. and a Tobias Figueiredo This was just Leeds’ second own-goal. win in seven league matches But Kyle Bartley’s own-goal and saw them move to within and Cash’s late eff ort saw says former star Rodney Marsh four points of Championship Forest to a draw. AFP ‘They’ve been honourable how they’ve gone about it, Former Manchester United and Eng- leaders West Bromwich West Brom manager Slaven London land midfi elder Paul Ince disagrees with Albion.Victory was made all Bilic, however, refused to be as usual like Manchester City. This will be a shock for Brown and suggested the ban may con- the better for Leeds by the downhearted after seeing his them but it will be something that they’ll come out fi ghting’ vince Guardiola and his players to look for fact it helped them open up side drop two points.