SUNDAY, APRIL 12, 2015 SPORTS Celtic go further ahead after Inverness draw GLASGOW: Celtic extended their lead at Celtic came close to a second goal the top of the Scottish Premiership table to moments later when Stuart Armstrong eight points with a 1-1 draw away to whipped in a free kick to the Inverness box Inverness Caledonian Thistle in yesterday’s that Denayer headed goalwards, but Esson early match. managed to push over for a corner. Esson The game at the Caledonian Stadium did well to hold a fiercely-struck Armstrong was barely three minutes old when Leigh shot in stoppage time as Inverness, who Griffiths fired an angled shot beyond Dean remained 18 points adrift of Celtic, were Brill to give Celtic a perfect start at the sta- involved in a fourth successive home draw. dium which was the venue for manager Yesterday’s other Scottish top-flight Ronny Deila’s first Scottish domestic defeat matches see fifth-placed St Johnstone tak- back in August last year. ing on sixth-placed Dundee while Dundee However, Inverness needed just over a United (fourth) are at home to Hamilton minute to haul themselves level as Edward (seventh). Meanwhile second-from-bottom Ofere fired home after the ball bobbled Motherwell are away to fellow-strugglers about in the Celtic box. Partick Thistle.—AFP An injury to Inverness goalkeeper Brill, who was replaced by Ryan Esson, midway through the first half halted the frantic pace of the game. Matches on TV Despite their dominance of possession, (Local Timings) Celtic failed to find a way through a stub- born home defence with the clubs set to clash again next week in a Scottish Cup English Premier League semi-final at Glasgow’s Hampden Park. The QPR v Chelsea 15:30 draw with third-placed Inverness extended beIN SPORTS Celtic’s unbeaten run to seven matches and Man United v Man City 18:00 stretched their lead over Aberdeen, who beIN SPORTS play Kilmarnock today, to eight points. “I don’t think we were ready when we Spanish League started. We were too late in the challenges Getafe v Villarreal 13:00 and we were not quick enough on the ball beIN SPORTS so we couldn’t create the chances we want- Espanyol v Bilbao 18:00 MUNICH: Frankfurt’s Stefan Aigner (left) and Bayern’s Juan Bernat from Spain challenge for the ball during the German First Division ed,” Celtic manager Deila said. “We are dis- beIN SPORTS Bundesliga soccer match. —AP appointed today, but we controlled play Sociedad v Deportivo 20:00 better in the second half and in the end we beIN SPORTS got a point and that’s better than nothing.” Cordoba v Elche 22:00 Meanwhile Inverness manager John beIN SPORTS Bayern brush off injury Hughes was disappointed with his side’s second half showing. “I felt we gave away a Italian Calcio League cheap goal too early in the match. But all Cesena v Chievo Verona 13:30 credit to them, we went up the park and beIN SPORTS woes to down Frankfurt got an equaliser,” Hughes said. Napoli v Fiorentina 16:00 “We rode our luck in the second half as beIN SPORTS we were under the cosh a little bit better Atalanta v Sassuolo 16:00 BERLIN: Robert Lewandowski scored twice as blocked by Borussia’s Roman Weidenfeller, but the scoring with 15 minutes gone and Stefan quality from Celtic and they might have beIN SPORTS injury-hit Bayern Munich romped to a 3-0 league Sweden left-back Oscar Wendt slammed home Kiessling added a second early in the second- picked us off.” Lazio v Empoli 16:00 win over Eintracht Frankfurt yesterday ahead of the parry. half. Dead-ball specialist Hakan Calhanoglu Celtic made a couple of changes from beIN SPORTS their Champions League quarter-final at Porto. Brazilian forward Raffel addded their second added their third when he drilled homehis 73rd- midweek as captain Scott Brown returned Torino v AS Roma 16:00 With second-placed Wolfsburg at Hamburg on 32 minutes after a strong run by Herrmann minute free-kick, but Mainz pulled a goal back from suspension while Griffiths replaced beIN SPORTS on Saturday night, league leaders Bayern took before Norway’s Havard Nordveit fired home when South Korea international Koo Ja-Cheol John Guidetti and the pair wasted no time Udinese v Citta 16:00 the chance to go thirteen points clear, despite when left unmarked at the far post with 67 min- converted two late penalties. The win leaves beIN SPORTS in showing what the Hoops had been miss- having only 14 fit players according to coach utes gone before Ilkay Gundogan pulled a late Leverkusen fourth in the battle for one of the AC Milan v Sampdoria 21:45 ing. Pep Guardiola. goal back for Dortmund. Bundesliga’s three automatic Champions League beIN SPORTS Brown’s long diagonal ball over the top Lewandowski, the Bundesliga’s top-scorer last “Gladbach deserved the victory, a start like places for next season. of the Inverness defence that was chased German Bundesliga season, added to his tally to leave him with 16 that is the worst case scenario,” said Dortmund Fifth-placed Schalke are now 10 points adrift down by Griffiths, who took a touch and goals for the season and third in the current coach Jurgen Klopp. “Then we had to get back in of a Champions League place for next season Koln v Hoffenheim 16:30 unleashed a low left-foot drive into the bot- rankings. the game against an opponent who are after their goalless draw with relegation-threat- beIN SPORTS tom right-hand corner to give Celtic a third- Frankfurt were missing the league’s top scor- extremely good at counter-attacking.” ened Freiburg. Stuttgart v Bremen 18:30 minute lead. But just over a minute later, er with Alexander Meier, who has 19 goals in 26 Bayer Leverkusen enjoyed a 3-2 win over Augsburg stay sixth in the league despite beIN SPORTS Inverness were level. matches, out with a knee injury. “I’m very proud, Mainz as they consider terminating the contract their shock 2-1 defeat at Paderborn, who picked David Raven fired the ball towards goal French League we dominated and played well,” said Guardiola, of Bosnia international Emir Spahic, who is being up their first win since February to climb up to from a cleared corner that Ryan Christie who has described their injury list as “critical”. investigated by police for allegedly assaulting a 16th. It left Hamburg second-from-bottom as Etienne v Nantes 15:00 connected with in the six-yard box. Jason “I hope no one else gets injured now against club steward. they bid to avoid a first relegation from beIN SPORTS Denayer did well to block his effort on the Porto.” Centre-back Medhi Benatia, who has a South Korea striker Son Heung-Min opened Germany’s top tier. —AFP Gaillard v Lille 18:00 line but Ofere was in the right place to tap groin injury, joined flu-victim Bastian beIN SPORTS Schweinsteiger, plus wingers Franck Ribery, in the rebound. Lens v Lorient 18:00 The home side were then dealt a blow in Arjen Robben and left-back David Alaba as just German League results/standings beIN SPORTS some of the stars on Bayern’s casualty list. the 20th minute when Brill, making his Reims v Nice 18:00 return from an injury that had kept him out Guardiola made Bundesliga history by nam- Bayern Munich 3 (Lewandowski 15, 66, Mueller 82) Eintracht Frankfurt 0; Schalke 04 0 Freiburg 0; Borussia beIN SPORTS ing four Spain internationals in his starting line- Moenchengladbach 3 (Wendt 1, Raffael 32, Nordveit 67) Borussia Dortmund 1 (Gundogan 77); Mainz 2 (Koo 78-pen, since January, had to be carried off with a Rennes v Guingamp 18:00 up in Pepe Reina, Xabi Alonso, Thiago Alcantara 90pen) Bayer Leverkusen 3 (Son 15, Kiessling 60, Calhanoglu 73); Paderborn 2 (Kachunga 48, Lakic 60) Augsburg 1 serious knee problem. beIN SPORTS (Hojbjerg 52); Hamburg 0 Wolfsburg 2 (Guilavogui 10, Caligiuri 73). and Juan Bernat. Inverness thought they should have had Toulouse v Montpellier 18:00 Despite their woes, Bayern needed just 15 a penalty just before the hour mark when beIN SPORTS Playing today minutes to take the lead at Munich’s Allianz Marley Watkins went down under a chal- Girondins v Marseille 22:00 FC Cologne v Hoffenheim, VfB Stuttgart v Werder Bremen lenge from Emilio Izaguirre but referee beIN SPORTS Arena when Lewandowski produced a world- Craig Thomson ignored their pleas. class turn and volley. The Poland star made sure German Bundesliga table after yesterday’s late match (played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against, points): of the three points when he headed home, with suspicion of offside, on 66 minutes. Mueller Bayern Munich 28 22 4 2 74 13 70 Borussia Dortmund 28 9 6 13 35 37 33 added the third eight minutes from time when VfL Wolfsburg 28 18 6 4 62 30 60 Hertha Berlin 28 9 6 13 34 45 33 Preview he fired home a seemingly-impossible angle. Moenchengladbach28 15 8 5 44 22 53 Mainz 05 28 6 13 9 37 39 31 Third-placed Borussia Moenchengladbach Bayer Leverkusen 28 14 9 5 52 31 51 Cologne 27 7 9 11 26 33 30 Schalke 04 28 11 8 9 37 31 41 Freiburg 28 6 11 11 27 36 29 picked up their fourth straight league win with Augsburg 28 12 3 13 34 36 39 Hanover 96 28 7 8 13 32 45 29 Man United eager to an impressive 3-1 victory over Borussia Hoffenheim 27 10 7 10 41 42 37 Paderborn 28 6 9 13 25 53 27 Dortmund.