SPORT Sunday 4 December 2016 PAGEP | 27 PAGE | 28 Matsuyama League title may matches be out of United'ss US Open champ reach: Mourinho Sunderland off the bottom as Leicester crash again Sunderland AFP underland climbed off the bottom of the Pre- mier League as Leicester City's disastrous title Sdefence suffered another blow with a 2-1 defeat at the Stadium of Light yesterday. Robert Huth's own goal and a Jermain Defoe effort put Sunderland in control in the second half and Shinji Okazaki's strike came too late to pre- Real Madrid's defender vent a fifth defeat in nine league games for Sergio Ramos (left) heads Leicester. Claudio Ranieri's side lie just two points above the ball to score the equaliser the bottom three, while Sunderland continued their during their Spanish league steady improvement under David Moyes by record- football match at the Camp ing a third victory in four games to move into 18th Nou Stadium in Barcelona place. yesterday. Jamie Vardy's Premier League goal drought now stretches to three months on another day to forget for Leicester, who fell behind in the 64th minute thanks to the kind of misfortune to which they were largely immune en route to lifting the title in May. After Patrick van Aanholt's penalty claims were turned down when the Sunderland defender appeared to be tripped inside the area by Ramos spoils Barca party Danny Simpson, in what was a chastening after- noon for the former Black Cats full-back, Defoe doubled the Wearsiders' advantage with 13 min- utes remaining. Barcelona Barca disappointed down Madrid before the break. defence when Neymar's free-kick Watmore was again the line of supply, when AFP Sergi Roberto's shot was from the left found Suarez somehow his shot from a Victor Anichebe cross was blocked, Sergio Ramos' deflected behind by Raphael Varane unmarked to head home from point as the ball fell invitingly for Defoe to fire home into ergio Ramos' stoppage-time stoppage-time equaliser before Messi's harmless free-kick blank range. the corner from close range for his eighth league equaliser maintained Real help Real Madrid was easily handled by Keylor Navas. Iniesta was then introduced to a goal of the season. Madrid's six-point lead at maintain their six-point At the other end the spotlight was hero's welcome and teed up Neymar Anichebe had justifiable penalty appeals turned the top of La Liga as the lead in La Liga after El on Cristiano Ronaldo more than ever for a huge chance to seal the three down when he appeared to be held back by the European champions sal- Classico stalemate. in the absence of the injured Gareth points 21 minutes from time. busy Leicester skipper as his close-range shot was Svaged a 1-1 draw at Barcelona in Bale and following allegations of The Brazilian skipped past Dani blocked by Huth after the Foxes failed to deal with yesterday's El Clasico. grand scale tax avoidance published Carvajal, but blasted over the bar Didier Ndong's centre into the area. Luis Suarez looked to have entirety of Brazilian side by a series of European media organ- with the goal at his mercy. Christian Fuchs, who provided a telling centre breathed new life into the title race Chapecoense's squad in a plane crash isations yesterday. Madrid substitute Casemiro then for Vardy to send a glancing header narrowly wide, when he headed home the opener in Colombia earlier in the week. How- The Portuguese came to life made a brilliant block to deny ended the first period by seeing his cross from the from Neymar's free-kick eight min- ever, once the action got underway towards the end of the first-half as another goalbound Neymar shot. left bounce off the Sunderland bar. utes into the second half. old hostilities were renewed as he had Madrid's first shot on target Iniesta produced a sublime pass Islam Slimani saw his snap shot early in the Neymar and Lionel Messi then Madrid screamed for a penalty less that was turned behind by Marc- to lay the chance Messi had been second half strike the hand of Djilobodji in the area, passed up huge chances to add to than two minutes in. Andre ter Stegen eight minutes waiting for all afternoon on a plate, but his penalty appeals proved fruitless as, boosted Barca's advantage, and the hosts Lucas Vazquez went down under before half-time and the German but the Argentine pulled his effort by the introduction of experienced midfield pair were made to pay when Real cap- Javier Mascherano's challenge, but stood firm to deny another driven wide of the far post with just Navas Kirchhoff and Seb Larsson from the bench, Sun- tain Ramos met Luka Modric's referee Carlos Clos Gomez waved Ronaldo effort moments later. to beat. derland quickly gained the upper hand. free-kick with a powerful header to play on. Varane also headed straight at And Barca were made to pay They translated that superiority into two price- stretch Madrid's unbeaten run in all Barcelona enjoyed the majority Ter Stegen as Madrid looked the for their profligacy as Ramos rose less goals, the second of which by Defoe, the 151st competitions to 33 games. of possession, but with captain more likely to break the deadlock as unmarked to power home Modric's of his career, saw the former Tottenham forward Before kick-off both sides came Andres Iniesta left on the bench on half-time approached. free-kick as the game entered move above former England international Michael together to pay homage to the 71 vic- his return from a two-month injury However, Barca got the goal they stoppage time to silence the Camp Owen into seventh on the all-time Premier League tims that wiped out almost the layoff, lacked the creativity to break badly needed to kickstart their title Nou. goalscorer's list. Ruthless Chelsea sink Man City Manchester leading marksman, scored his Costa on target missed from three metres when Reuters 11th of the season on the hour it seemed easier to score. to equalise, substitute Willian In stoppage time, with helsea came from behind notched on the counter-attack Chelsea's eighth straight win to secure a 3-1 win at 10 minutes later and Eden Haz- 11 sealed, mayhem broke out fol- CManchester City and ard sealed the deal in the 90th Diego Costa, the league's lowing a terrible tackle by forge further clear at the top of minute. leading marksman, scored Sergio Aguero on David Luiz. the Premier League as a dra- Gary Cahill had given City his 11th of the season The Argentine was shown matic top-of-the-table clash a deserved lead just before yesterday. a red card and, as players piled ended in a mass brawl and two halftime, slicing the ball into his in, Fernandinho was also dis- City players being sent off own net with a clumsy missed for pushing Cesc yesterday. attempted clearance, and the wrap up the points after the Fabregas over the advertising Diego Costa, the league's home side looked ready to break as Kevin De Bruyne hoardings. Chelsea's Diego Costa (right) scores their first goal against Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium yesterday. SPORT 4 DECEMBER 2016 SUNDAY 27 Matsuyama matches US Open champ for Challenge lead Nassau, Bahamas Hero World since capturing his first major title of invincibility that once accompa- AFP last June at Oakmont, taking the nied his game, Johnson recalled that Challenge WGC Bridgestone Invitational at he was more intimidated meeting apan's Hideki Matsuyama, Sixth-ranked Firestone in July and the BMW Woods for the first time than he was making the most of a hot Matsuyama, coming off Championship last September. meeting his father-in-law, Canadian putter, shot a five-under par three Asian triumphs in "What I'm working on is the ice hockey legend Wayne Gretzky. 67 on Friday to match US the past six weeks, right thing, just keep trying to get JOpen champion Dustin John- moved level with the better, improve the wedge game, HERO WORLD son for the lead at the Hero World third-ranked American improve the short game," said CHALLENGE SCORES Challenge. on 12-under 132 Johnson. Sixth-ranked Matsuyama, through 36 holes. "I struggled a little bit with the 132 - Dustin Johnson 66-66, Hideki Matsuyama coming off three Asian triumphs driver on the back nine but made (JPN) 65-67 in the past six weeks, moved level Johnson, last season's some nice up and downs. I've been with the third-ranked American US PGA Player of the rolling the putter pretty well too." 134 - Matt Kuchar 67-67, Louis Oosthuizen (RSA) 67-67 on 12-under 132 through 36 holes Year, has won twice Johnson birdied three of the at the 18-man invitational event since capturing his first first four holes, eagled the par-5 135 - Bubba Watson 72-63 at the Albany resort. major title last June at 11th and answered his lone bogey "I'm very happy with my Oakmont. at 12 with birdies at 14 and 18 for 136 - Brandt Snedeker 72-64 round," Matsuyama said. "I got it his second consecutive 66. around and I played well. Hope- Matsuyama birdied the par-5 137 - Jordan Spieth 68-69, J.B. Holmes fully I can just keep playing my seven-shot victory two weeks later third, sixth and 11th holes then ran 64-73 own game and play the best that I at the World Golf Championships off three birdies in a row ending 138 - Tiger Woods 73-65, Rickie Fowler can." HSBC Champions event in Shang- at the par-5 15th.