Sharapova lifts Emotional Barca Stuttgart title battle back, Atletico edge towards title MONDAY, APRIL 28, 2014 18 19 Team owner’s ‘racist remarks’ trigger outrage Page 18 LIVERPOOL: Chelsea’s Nemanja Matic (right) keeps the ball from Liverpool’s Raheem Sterling during their English Premier League soccer match at Anfield Stadium. — AP Gerrard slip lets Chelsea back into race in hand. Manuel Pellegrini’s City also have a They were dallying over free-kicks within ed Gerrard effort that Mark Schwarzer saved superior goal difference — +58 to Liverpool’s minutes of the whistle being blown, while easily was the best they could muster in the EPL results/standings Liverpool 0 +50. Gerrard at one point had to wrench the ball early stages. City play their game in hand, at home to from Mourinho’s grasp as the Chelsea man- Rodgers responded by sending on the fit- Crystal Palace 0 Manchester City 2 (Dzeko 4, Toure 43); Liverpool 0 Chelsea 2 (Ba 45, Willian 90); Sunderland 4 (Wickham 26, 86, Aston Villa, in the week before the final ager attempted to prevent a quick throw-in. again Daniel Sturridge and Schwarzer was Borini 45-pen, Giaccherini 76) Cardiff 0. weekend of the season. City and Chelsea Chelsea were the first side to threaten, obliged to exert himself fully moments later, Liverpool 36 25 5 6 96 46 80 both play before Liverpool next weekend, however, with home goalkeeper Simon plunging to his left to repel a Joe Allen vol- Chelsea 2 Chelsea 36 24 6 6 69 26 78 with the former visiting Everton and the lat- Mignolet obliged to parry a shot from Ashley ley. Man City 35 24 5 6 93 35 77 ter hosting Norwich City before Brendan Cole. Chelsea, however, carried a threat on the Arsenal 35 21 7 7 62 41 70 Rodgers’s Liverpool travel to Palace. At the other end, Luis Suarez teed up counter-attack and it took a fine one-handed Everton 36209 7573669 LIVERPOOL: An untimely slip by Steven Mourinho, who travelled separately from Philippe Coutinho to volley into the side-net- save by Mignolet to prevent Andre Schurrle Tottenham 36 20 6 10 52 49 66 Gerrard inadvertently helped Chelsea claim a his squad because he is ill, will now turn his ting and then found Mamadou Sakho with a from making it 0-2. Man Utd 35 18 6 11 60 40 60 2-0 win over Premier League leaders attention to Wednesday’s Champions drilled cross, only for the Frenchman to hoist Allen and Gerrard each saw long-range Southampton 36 14 10 12 52 45 52 League semi-final second leg against the ball over the bar from close range. Suarez efforts saved by Schwarzer, while the Newcastle 35 14 4 17 39 54 46 Liverpool at Anfield yesterday that reignited Stoke 36 11 11 14 39 50 44 their title ambitions. Atletico Madrid, with the tie in the balance at also curled an effort over, but Chelsea fin- Liverpool captain could only plant a header Crystal Palace 36 13 4 19 28 43 43 The Liverpool captain lost his footing in 0-0. ished the half strongly, and after the straight at the goalkeeper from Suarez’s Swansea 36 10 9 17 51 52 39 first-half injury time, enabling Demba Ba to Anfield was already simmering when Luis unmarked Kalas had headed badly wide dinked cross. Hull 35 10 7 18 36 45 37 run through and score, with Willian adding a Garcia, scorer of the decisive goal when from a corner, Gerrard’s nightmare moment Suarez had one last chance in injury time, West Ham 36 10 7 19 38 49 37 late second as Jose Mourinho’s side moved these sides met in the 2005 Champions let the visitors in. when a punch from Schwarzer fell straight to West Brom 35 7 15 13 42 54 36 to within two points of the summit. The League semi-finals, was paraded to fans After letting a pass from Sakho run under him, but the goalkeeper palmed the Aston Villa 35 9 8 18 36 53 35 result brought Liverpool’s 11-game winning before kick-off, raising the noise levels even his foot, the England captain slipped as he Uruguayan’s shot away. Sunderland 35 8 8 19 37 57 32 further. Mourinho had made seven changes tried to recover. As Anfield gasped, Ba stole Chelsea had the last word, with Fernando Norwich 36 8 8 20 28 60 32 streak to an end and although it resurrected Fulham 36 9 4 23 37 79 31 Chelsea’s title chances, the chief beneficiaries to his starting XI, awarding a full debut to 20- in, racing through and calmly threading the Torres racing clear and unselfishly teeing up Cardiff 36 7 9 20 31 69 30 by the end of the day were Manchester City. year-old Czech centre-back Tamas Kalas, and ball past Mignolet. fellow substitute Willian for an easy tap-in Note: Top four teams qualify for next season’s Champions City defeated Crystal Palace 2-0 and are the visitors set out to spoil the game right Liverpool resumed their assault on the that Mourinho celebrated by thumping his League; fifth-place team qualifies for Europa League; bottom three points behind Liverpool with a game from kick-off. Chelsea goal after the interval, but a deflect- chest on the touchline. — AFP three teams relegated to Championship. — AFP Toure magic puts City Sunderland eye great escape tively three points adrift of safety with just two back on title track games remaining. They make an immediate Sunderland 4 return to the north-east of England next week at out of form Newcastle, before finishing the and Chelsea do in their last two matches, City will campaign at home to Chelsea on May 11. be crowned champions for the second time in three They came close to reducing the arrears Crystal Palace 0 years if they win their final three fixtures at Everton after the break, as manager Ole Gunnar Cardiff 0 next Saturday and then at home against Aston Villa Solskjaer threw on substitutes Wilfried Zaha and and West Ham-providing they maintain their goal former Black Cats favourite Kenwyne Jones in a difference advantage over Liverpool. bid to force the issue. Man City 2 “Every game for me is crucial and today we SUNDERLAND: Connor Wickham continued It took a fine save from Vito Mannone to played like it was a final,” Toure said. “To be honest, his rich vein of scoring form, finding the net keep out Peter Whittingham’s deflected long- we had been looking a little bit at the Liverpool twice to help Sunderland climb out of the bot- range free-kick midway through the second game, but we played really well in a tricky match. tom three thanks to a 4-0 win over fellow half as the hosts were forced back, until late LONDON: Manchester City took advantage of “Between us, Liverpool and Chelsea, it is tight. Premier League strugglers Cardiff City. The goals from substitute Emanuele Giaccherini Liverpool’s slip to put the destiny of the Premier We have just three games left and we want to focus Welshmen replaced the Wearside club in prop- and a second from Wickham provided a slightly League title back in their own hands as Yaya Toure on winning those.” Pellegrini has had never much ping-up the division after Wickham made it five flattering final scoreline. Much of the hard work inspired a 2-0 victory against Crystal Palace yester- time for Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho after a goals in three games. was done before the break as Sunderland day. Manuel Pellegrini’s side had received a huge series of spats during their time in Spain, but the He also earned a penalty converted by surged into a two-goal lead en route to only boost when leaders Liverpool crashed to a 2-0 City boss received a major favour from his old rival, Fabio Borini to double the hosts’ lead in first- their second home league win since November. home defeat against Chelsea earlier in the day. to the delight of 2,500 City supporters watching the half stoppage time at the Stadium of Light yes- Despite dominating for long spells, they That result put a spring in City’s step and before conclusion of the Blues’ win at Anfield just before terday. LONDON: Crystal Palace’s Joel Ward (left) vies had to wait until the 28th minute to go ahead, the first half was over at Selhurst Park they had kick-off on a big screen inside Selhurst Park. A priceless win for Gus Poyet’s side saw the deadlock-breaking goal arriving thanks to for the ball with Manchester City’s James seized the unexpected opportunity to regain con- Two weeks after seeming to have squandered them climb to 17th, out of the bottom three for some abject defending from the visitors. trol of the title race thanks to Edin Dzeko’s opener the title initiative with a loss at Liverpool and a draw Milner during the English Premier League the first time in more than two months with Former Sunderland forward Fraizer and a sublime effort from Ivory Coast midfielder against Sunderland, City were back in charge of soccer match. — AP three games remaining. Campbell missed an attempted clearing head- Toure. their own fate. the edge of their own penalty area when Toure, giv- That gave Sunderland renewed hope of er from Seb Larsson’s corner, allowing the ball City remain third but they are now only three And just as significantly, they had already en too much time on the ball, curled a perfect cross beating the drop thanks to a return of seven across the six-yard area to the far post.