NNBABA | Page 5 CCRICKETRICKET | Page 6 Third straight O’Brien’s loss for the last-ball six Bucks as helps Ireland Nuggets win clinch win Wednesday, March 11, 2020 FORMULA 1 Rajab 16, 1441 AH Can Vettel GULF TIMES fulfi l title dream with Ferrari? SPORT Page 7 FOOTBALL/ AMIR CUP SPOTLIGHT Football in Spain, France, Germany Hallgrimsson goes behind closed doors: coronavirus AFP In France, football authori- Paris ties ordered Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 says Al Arabi ready games to be held behind closed doors until April 15, after the government on Sunday issued a ootball matches in the ban on gatherings of more than top two divisions in 1,000 people. Spain, France and Ger- Further details on arrange- many will be played be- ments will be provided following Fhind closed doors for at least a board meeting on Wednesday, for ‘tough’ Al Ahli the next two weeks, offi cials the league said in a statement. announced yesterday, follow- So far, France has recorded ing the decision by Italy’s gov- 1,606 cases of COVID-19 infec- ernment to suspend top-fl ight tions and 30 deaths. games until April 3 due to the Paris Saint-Germain’s Cham- coronavirus epidemic. pions League match at the Parc German football also felt the des Princes against Borus- eff ects of the deadly virus, which sia Dortmund on Wednesday has killed more than 4,000 peo- had already been forced behind ple worldwide, with fans barred closed doors. from two Bundesliga games France’s scheduled friend- as well as the national team’s lies against Ukraine in Paris on March 31 friendly at home to March 27 and Finland in Lyon Italy. on March 31 will also be held at La Liga said fi xtures in Spain’s empty venues. top two tiers will go ahead in The League Cup fi nal between front of empty stands for the PSG and Lyon at the Stade de next fortnight following a de- France on April 4 is another fi x- cision that sporting events in ture that could be impacted as the country at state and inter- well. national level should be played PSG had already had their without fans to limit the spread Ligue 1 match at Strasbourg on of the virus. Saturday postponed due to the “According to information extent of the outbreak in the Al- from the High Sports Council sace region of eastern France. (CSD), La Liga Santander and La In Italy, Prime Minister Liga SmartBank matches will be Giuseppe Conte on Monday an- played behind closed doors from nounced the suspension of all today and for at least the next sporting events in the country two weeks,” a La Liga statement until next month, as part of a read. nationwide lockdown. “La Liga will remain in per- The unprecedented measures manent contact with the Min- limiting travel and banning pub- istry of Health and the CSD to lic gatherings across the country meet their recommendations of more than 60 mn people came and/or decisions, and put fi rst after 97 more deaths took Italy’s the health of fans, players, club toll to 463. employees and journalists dur- “There is no reason why ing the health crisis of COV- matches and sporting events ID-19.” should continue and I am think- Real Madrid’s game against ing of the football champion- Eibar at the Santiago Bernabeu ship,” said Conte. on Friday will be the weekend’s “I’m sorry but all the fans fi rst fi xture aff ected as authori- must take note of it, we will not ties step up attempts to contain even allow gyms to be used for the outbreak. sports activities,” he added. Two local derbies will also go Today’s Rhine derby between ahead in empty stadiums as Va- Borussia Moenchengladbach lencia face Levante at Mestalla and Cologne will be the fi rst Al Arabi skipper Aron Gunnarsson (left) and coach Heimir Hallgrimsson at their pre-match press conference yesterday. At bottom, Al Ahli coach Nebojsa Jovovic. on Saturday before Sevilla host game in Bundesliga history to be Real Betis at the Ramon Sanchez played without fans. Pizjuan on Sunday. The game is one of several AL ARABI HAVE WON QATAR’S RICHEST TOURNAMENT EIGHT TIMES Barcelona had earlier con- high-profi le fi xtures in Germany fi rmed their Champions League set to be played without fans in tie against Napoli at the Camp the coming weeks, including By Amjad Vanimal hero as his two crucial saves sealed Ara- Nou on March 18 would be Saturday’s Ruhr derby between Doha bi’s place in the quarter-fi nals. played without spectators. Borussia Dortmund and Schalke, Al Arabi skipper Aron Gunnarsson, However, Real Madrid fans and Bayern Munich’s Champi- who also attended the press conference, will be hoping to be able to travel ons League clash with Chelsea l Arabi are keen to end the sea- added: “We are all set to face Al Ahli in to England to see their team go next week. son on a high with a semi-fi nal our quarter-fi nal clash. The last game up against Manchester City at Portugal’s Primeira Liga will spot in the Amir Cup their im- was tough but we played really well. We the Etihad Stadium on March 17. also go behind closed doors with mediate priority, coach Heimir want to move ahead and show our best.” Spain had registered more immediate eff ect with no date AHallgrimsson said yesterday. Al Arabi will be missing some of the key than 1,500 cases of coronavi- given for reopening stadiums Al Arabi have won Qatar’s richest tour- players but both coach and skipper be- rus yesterday, with the deci- to fans, the Portuguese football nament eight times, but the last of their lieve that the squad are still strong to face sion made on Monday to close federation said. triumphs came in 1993 and, after a run- any opponents. all schools in the Madrid area Last week action in the top ners-up fi nish the following year, they “We will miss the services of Morteza from Wednesday until the end of two divisions of Swiss football have never reached the fi nal of the event Pouraliganji and Ismail Moussa. We are March. was suspended until March 23. as teams such as Al Ittihad, Al Sadd, Al used to it and we still feel we are good Rayyan and Al Duhail began to assert enough”, Halgrimmsson concluded. themselves at the domestic level. Meanwhile, Al Ahli coach Nebojsa Jo- “We know it’s going to be a very tough vovic is hopeful of a good show from his game. We have done quite well in the past side. 5-6 years and we are extremely optimis- “Our preparations went off well and we tic about our performance,” Hallgrimsson are ready to face Al Arabi. We focused on said yesterday during his pre-match press building our team spirit and it’s working conference held at Al Bidda Tower. out right,” Jovovic said. The match is scheduled to be played “Learning from the last game’s mis- at Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium today at takes, we are ready to move on and show 6.30pm. the best of us,” Jovovic added. “We had put up a strong performance Al Ahli’s last match against Qatar SC at against Al Khor in our previous match. the Grand Hamad Stadium proved to be a The positive thing is that our players thriller with Al Ahli scoring a late goal to are well aware of the responsibility they ing a 2-0 in the fi rst-half. However, Hal- Michel Lasogga struck from the penalty register a fi ghting win. have”, Hallgrimsson added. grimmsson introduced Hamdi Harbaoui spot “Every day is a diff erent day. Every next Al Arabi defeated Al Khor 4-3 on pen- and goalkeeper Mahmoud Abunada and A minute later Harbaoui made it 2-2 game is a diff erent game. We have learned alties to make the last eight of Amir Cup. that proved to be masterstrokes. after taking advantage of a defensive slip a lot from our past and we are ready to Chinese student Gao Jia Xin and another man walk outside the Camp At one point, Al Khor seemed to be cruis- Al Arabi mounted a strong comeback, from Al Khor and take the match to pen- move on”, Al Ahli player Nabil El Zhar Nou after FC Barcelona announced that their Champions League ing towards the quarter-fi nals after tak- scoring in the 74th minute when Pierre- alties. In the shootout, Abunada was the said. match versus Napoli will be played behind closed doors. Gulf Times 2 Wednesday, March 11, 2020 FOOTBALL SPOTLIGHT ROUND-UP ‘Scared’ players wanted Italian Klopp, Guardiola voice league stopped sooner: Caputo AFP Rome assuolo striker Francesco concerns over matches Caputo said that ‘scared’ Serie A players wanted the league stopped ear- Slier because of the coronavirus crisis. In the fi nal Serie A game before a government announce- ment halting the league until behind closed doors April 3, Sassuolo beat Brescia 3-0 behind closed doors in Reg- Nearly 3,000 Atletico fans are expected to travel to Liverpool for the Champions League game gio Emilia on Monday. Caputo scored a brace and af- AFP ter his fi rst goal held up a hand- Liverpool written message on piece of paper, urging fans: “Everything will be fi ne. Stay at home.” urgen Klopp said yesterday he A few hours later Italian Prime was unsure whether closing Minister Guiseppe Conte used stadiums would help tackle the similar words as he announced coronavirus as Pep Guardiola ad- a countrywide lockdown.