RRUGBYUGBY | Page 4 GOLF | Page 6 Late Barrett Spieth rides hot try seals All putter to share Blacks’ win lead at Northern over Wallabies Trust Sunday, August 27, 2017 FORMULA 1 Dhul-Hijja 5, 1438 AH Hamilton equals GULF TIMES Schumi’s pole record in 200th race SPORT Page 5 ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE LA LIGA Messi makes Subs keep United amends for perfect, Sterling missed penalty Huddersfield stay unbeaten after in Barca win draw against Southampton, AFP Barca ’keeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen Madrid as he bore down on goal. Newcastle get off the mark Pique was involved at the other saves City end as Barca were awarded a penalty ionel Messi scored twice and moments later when he was hauled to saw a penalty saved as Barce- the ground by Rodrigo Ely at a Messi lona maintained their perfect free-kick. start to the season in La Liga Messi’s record from the spot had Lwith a 2-0 win at Alaves yesterday. improved greatly since he briefl y quit Without new signing Ousmane international football after blasting a Dembele, who completed the second spot-kick over as Argentina lost the most expensive transfer ever by mov- Copa America Centenario fi nal to ing for 105mn euros ($125mn) from Chile little over a year ago. Borussia Dortmund on Friday, or the However, Pacheco sprung to his injured Luis Suarez, Messi ensured right impressively to turn Messi’s ef- Barca didn’t lose any early ground in fort round the post. the title race despite a tumultuous Visibly annoyed at himself, Messi start to the campaign off the fi eld. responded with the opening goal 11 The fi ve-time World Player of the minutes after the break as his power- Year missed from the penalty spot for ful low drive struck helpless Alaves the 20th time in his career as Fernan- defender Alexis to fl y past Pacheco. do Pacheco produced a stunning save Alexis was also at fault when Barca midway through the fi rst half. doubled their advantage 11 minutes However, Messi wasn’t to be de- later as his poor clearance was head- nied as his defl ected eff ort opened ed by substitute Paco Alcacer into the scoring shortly after half-time Messi’s path to smash home on his before a sweetly-struck volley se- favoured left foot. cured all three points. Messi could even have had a hat- Alaves shocked Barca a year ago by trick as he saw another eff ort from winning at the Camp Nou, and the the edge of the box hit the bar. hosts were left to rue a big chance Yet, Barca were never threatened missed by Ruben Sobrino at 0-0 be- after the break by an Alaves side lack- fore succumbing to Messi’s magic. ing in ambition and attacking prow- Sobrino burst past the leaden- ess as the hosts comfortably saw footed Gerard Pique on the half-hour out a second 2-0 win to begin their mark, but placed his shot too close to league season. Manchester United’s Marcus Rashford (right) celebrates after scoring a goal against Leicester City at Old Traff ord in Manchester yesterday. (Reuters) AFP had been struck by Sergio Aguero, who London had come on as a substitute, during the celebrations. City were reportedly confi dent ubstitutes Marcus Rashford Aguero had no case to answer. and Marouane Fellaini scored “Winning in the last minute is always as Manchester United contin- special,” said Guardiola, who had seen ued their 100 percent start to Sterling score a late equaliser in Mon- Sthe Premier League season by beating day’s 1-1 draw at home to Everton. Leicester City 2-0 yesterday. “It was a tough game. It is always Leicester threatened to frustrate complicated against Bournemouth. We United when Kasper Schmeichel saved tried, our fi nishing was not good, but a penalty by Romelu Lukaku early in the we are there.” second half, but the hosts’ pressure told Rafael Benitez’s Newcastle United in the last 20 minutes. got off the mark at the third attempt Huddersfi eld Town’s 0-0 draw with after goals from new signing Joselu, Ci- Southampton meant United went two aran Clark and Aleksandar Mitrovic se- points clear at the summit, although cured a 3-0 home win over West Ham, West Bromwich Albion will join them on Manchester City’s Raheem Sterling (right) gestures to English referee Mike Dean who remain without a point. nine points if they beat Stoke City today. after he receives a second yellow card for going into the crowd to celebrate his Frank de Boer is still waiting for his Barcelona’s Lionel Messi (top) in action against Deportivo Alaves during their Earlier, Raheem Sterling scored goal against Bournemouth yesterday. (AFP) fi rst point — and goal — as Crystal Pal- La Liga match in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain, yesterday. (Reuters) a dramatic 97th-minute winner to ace manager after a 2-0 loss at home to earn Manchester City a 2-1 victory at minutes from time by nudging in a of a sensational strike from wide on the Swansea, who prevailed through goals Bournemouth, but was then sent off cross from fellow substitute Jesse Lin- left by Bournemouth left-back Charlie from Chelsea loanee Tammy Abraham after receiving a second yellow card for gard. Daniels that crashed in off the crossbar. and Jordan Ayew. Zidane happy with no more signings over-celebrating. Manchester City manager Pep Guar- David Silva teed up Gabriel Jesus to Watford’s Miguel Britos was sent In keeping with their opening 4-0 diola was left scratching his head after equalise eight minutes later and after off for an awful studs-up foul on An- Real Madrid coach Zinedine we have right now, I don’t want wins over West Ham United and Swan- Sterling’s dismissal at Bournemouth. both sides had hit the post, Sterling thony Knockaert in a 0-0 draw against Zidane insisted he intends not to anyone,” said Zidane yesterday. sea City, United dominated the fi rst half Sterling celebrated his defl ected struck the winner. Brighton and Hove Albion at Vicarage add to his squad in the final week “We are all ready.” against Leicester at Old Traff ord, with winning goal by throwing himself into The fi ve minutes of stoppage time Road. of the transfer window despite a A groin problem will also keep Juan Mata seeing a goal ruled out for a the jubilantly celebrating away end and indicated by the fourth offi cial had al- mounting defensive crisis ahead of Varane out of France’s upcoming narrow off side. was given his marching orders by ref- ready elapsed when Danilo crossed RESULTS today’s clash with Valencia. World Cup qualifiers against the Schmeichel, son of United goalkeeping eree Mike Dean. from the right and Sterling beat Asmir Bournemouth 1 (Daniels 13) Man- The Frenchman will have just one Netherlands and Luxembourg. great Peter, pushed aside Lukaku’s 53rd- “You can imagine how happy he is, Begovic via a sizeable defl ection off An- chester City 2 (Jesus 21, Sterling 90+7) fit central defender to choose from Should Real not enter into the minute penalty after Danny Simpson had how happy the fans are,” Guardiola drew Surman. Crystal Palace 0 Swansea 2 (Abra- with Raphael Varane and Jesus market, the back-to-back European been penalised for handball. said. “If you cannot celebrate with the Accompanied by his teammates, ham 44, Ayew 48) Vallejo injured, whilst captain Ser- champions will have made a profit United manager Jose Mourinho fans, the best solution is not to invite Sterling tore off in celebration and Huddersfield 0 Southampton 0 gio Ramos serves a one-match ban in transfers this summer, whilst turned to Rashford and three minutes the fans.” threw himself into the arms of the City Manchester United 2 (Rashford 70, for picking up the 23rd red card of many of their rivals for the Cham- after coming on the 19-year-old broke fans at the front of the away section, Fellaini 82) Leicester 0 his career in a 3-0 win at Deportivo pions League across the continent the deadlock in the 70th minute, vol- NEWCASTLE UP AND RUNNING only to then be dismissed by Dean. Newcastle 3 (Joselu 36, Clark 72, la Coruna last weekend. have spent hundreds of millions of leying in Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s corner. Guardiola’s side fell behind in the 13th After the game, a Bournemouth Mitrovic 86) West Ham 0 “With the team I have, the squad euros. Fellaini added a second goal eight minute at the Vitality Stadium courtesy steward complained to police that he Watford 0 Brighton 0 Gulf Times 2 Sunday, August 27, 2017 FOOTBALL FOCUS SPOTLIGHT Arsenal will Chelsea’s Conte test us, says eyes upgrades Liverpool manager Klopp AFP The Reds will also check on the Liverpool fi tness of midfi elder Emre Can and right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold after the pair picked up knocks in the aft er troubled spell iverpool manager Jurgen victory over Hoff enheim. Klopp believes Arsenal still Wenger insists he never had any represent a major test for his fears that Sanchez would down tools ‘We are going to play seven games in a month, and I need to rotate the players’ side’s credentials despite no to force through his exit. Manchester Llonger being a Champions League City target Sanchez raised eyebrows AFP team. by sitting out the fi rst two games of London Arsenal fi nished fi fth in the Pre- the season with an abdominal muscle mier League last season and failed to strain.