6 December 21, 2020 Messi Equals Pelé Record Iran, Qatar Call for Enhancement With 643rd Goal of Sports Ties TEHRAN (IFP) - Iran’s Minister The Iranian minister highlighted of Sports and Youth Masoud Sol- the importance of enhancing sports tanifar has met with Qatari Minis- relations between the two sides. ter of Culture and Sports Salah bin In line with the implementation Ghanim Al Ali. of a Tehran-Doha sports agree- In the meeting which came dur- ment, Soltanifar invited the Qatari ing his day-long visit to Doha, minister to visit Iran to finalize and Soltanifar expressed his gratitude sign the plan. to the Qatari official for inviting The Qatari minister, in turn, said him to visit Qatar and for hosting he was ready to form a joint com- Lionel Messi’s header was his 450th La Liga goal, on his 498th La the Asian Football Confederation mittee with Iran to exchange views Liga appearance for Barcelona (AFC) Champions League as well on sports and cultural issues. BARCELONA (Dispatches) - in a row Barcelona conceded the as its final match held between Salah bin Ghanim Al Ali ex- Barcelona legend Messi had the first goal at home. Iran’s Persepolis team and Ulsan pressed hope he will visit Iran by chance to net his historic 643rd Messi and company came back Iran’s Minister of Sports, and Youth Masoud Soltanifar left, meets with Qatari Minister Hyundai of South Korea. next summer. goal from the penalty spot deep to beat Real Sociedad midweek, of Culture and Sports Salah bin Ghanim Al Ali in Doah. into first-half stoppage time in but they had no such luck on Sat- Saturday’s La Liga match against urday. After Ronald Araújo put Four Persepolis Players Nominated Valencia, but the 33-year-old Ar- the hosts in front early in the sec- gentine’s shot was saved by visit- ond half, Gayà made it 2-2 with ing keeper Jaume Doménech. about 20 minutes to play, forcing for ACL Player of Week Doménech couldn’t control the Ronald Koeman’s team to settle TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Four Perse- Using data provided by Stats Per- rebound, though, and Messi was for a point. polis players, Hamed Lak, Milad form, the official data provider for quick to react to Jordi Alba’s de- Pelé, widely considered the Sarlak, Mehdi Abdi and Bashar the AFC, the-afc.com present the flected cross, as the 5-foot-7 for- greatest player of all time un- Resan, have been nominated for the eight candidates in the running for ward headed the ball home from til Messi ascended to the throne, AFC Champions League Player of the accolade to be determined by point-blank range to seal his mile- scored 643 times for Brazilian the Week after the conclusion of the Asia’s football fans in the poll. stone and even the match at 1-1. club Santos between 1956-1974 Continental tournament on Satur- The Persepolis players will vie The goal was Messi’s sixth this before finishing his career in the day. with Ulsan players Junior Negrao, season in the Spanish top flight. It United States. Pelé played three Persepolis lost to Ulsan Hyundai Dave Bulthuis, Lee Chung-yong came after José Gayà shoved An- seasons with the New York Cos- from South Korea 2-1 in Doha’s Al and Kim Kee-hee to be named the toine Griezmann down in the box. mos in the now defunct North Janoub Stadium. Player of the Week. A criminally unmarked Mouctar American Soccer League before Diakhaby had opened the scoring retiring in 1977. The 80-year-old Liverpool Crush Crystal Palace, Everton Move to Second for Valencia about a half hour into congratulated Messi on Instagram the contest — the second game after his record was equalized. LONDON (Reuters) - Liver- The win lifts Everton into sec- pool assured they will spend the ond place, while 14 points from Christmas period as Premier 14 games is Arsenal’s worst start Ronaldo Scores Twice in League leaders by sending out a to a season since the 1974-1975 warning to their rivals with a 7-0 season. Juventus Win win over Crystal Palace on Satur- Raheem Sterling’s 16th-minute day. goal was enough to give Man- Any doubts about the tiredness chester City a 1-0 win away to of Jurgen Klopp’s side after their Southampton, who had gone into dramatic late win at home to the match in third place. Tottenham on Wednesday night Pep Guardiola’s side was hap- were soon dispelled when Taku- py to dig in and defend their mi Minamino opened the scor- lead with John Stones producing ing in the third minute. another improved display at the Sadio Mane doubled the lead in heart of their defense in a slight- the 35th minute and Roberto Fir- Everton’s English striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin (left) and Everton’s ly un-City-like performance in mino made it 3-0 on the stroke Italian head coach Carlo Ancelotti reacts after the final whistle of the which grit took precedence over of halftime. English Premier League football match between Everton and Arsenal at flowing football. Liverpool produced three shots Goodison Park in Liverpool, north west England on Dec 19, 2020. Newcastle United was held to a and scored three goals in the 1-1 draw by Fulham, who took first 45 minutes and the story re- the last 10 minutes rounded off nal coach. the lead through Matt Richie’s mained the same after the break the scoring on a day Liverpool Rob Holding’s unfortunate 42nd-minute own goal only for Cristiano Ronaldo has 12 goals and one assist in nine Serie A games this season with Jordan Henderson getting again looked like champions- own goal in the 22nd minute put Callum Wilson to equalize from his name on the scoresheet in the elect. Everton in front. Although Nico- the penalty spot in the 64th min- MILAN (AP) -- Cristiano Ronal- from Atalanta to Juventus. 52nd minute before Firmino net- Mikel Arteta’s return to Goodi- las Pepe’s penalty after a foul by ute. Fulham’s Joachim Andersen do has responded to recent criticism Kulusevski was quickest to react ted his second. son Park, where he spent six Andre Gomes leveled the score was sent off for committing the with two goals to help Juventus win to a low cross from Alex Sandro Two goals from Mohamed seasons as a player ended in a in the 33rd minute, Yerry Mina’s penalty, but Newcastle failed to at Parma 4-0 in Serie A. from the left, knocking it into the Salah, who came on as a 57th- 2-1 defeat to Everton which in- powerful 45th-minute header score a winning goal in the last Dejan Kulusevski scored Juve’s far bottom corner in the 23rd min- minute substitute for Mane, in creases the pressure on the Arse- gave Everton the three points. 25 minutes. opener against his old club as the ute. nine-time defending champion Juventus doubled its lead just moved level with Inter Milan, a three minutes later when Alvaro Alvarez Dominates Smith to Capture Super-Middleweight Title point behind leader AC Milan. Morata floated in a cross from the onships and vacant WBC super- Alvarez dominated the younger Both Milan sides play on Sunday, right and Ronaldo leapt up high to middleweight title Saturday night Smith, too. when the Rossoneri travels to Sas- head it in. at the Alamodome. At 5-foot-8, Alvarez was the ag- suolo and Inter hosts Spezia. Ronaldo had his second three Two judges scored the bout 119- gressor against the 6-foot-3 Smith. Juventus has drawn half of its 12 minutes into the second half with 109 and the third had it 117-111. Alvarez controlled the fight, con- Serie A matches. In the last stale- an angled drive past Luigi Sepe Alvarez (54-1-2, 36 KOs) domi- tinually pressing forward and only mate midweek against Atalanta, after being picked out by Aaron nated his only bout this year, re- taking a step back to evade one of Ronaldo had an unusually sub-par Ramsey. peatedly hitting Smith (27-1, 19 the numerous punches that Smith performance and a penalty saved. Morata added the fourth when he KOs) with straight rights and right missed. ‘’Ronaldo was angry for having headed in Federico Bernardeschi’s hooks to the head and punishing Alvarez threw 494 total punches, missed the penalty, but we had a cross. his upper arms over 12 rounds. landing 43% of them compared to few days to think about it and he Bottom club Crotone’s recent run Matchroom promoter Eddie just 18% of 539 punches thrown showed how much he cares about of positive results was halted at Hearn said doctors believe Smith by Smith. scoring goals, even better when Sampdoria in a 3-1 loss. tore his left bicep or triceps mus- Alvarez and Smith were fighting during open play,’’ Juventus coach Crotone picked up four of its six cle. There was a noticeable pro- for the first time this year due to Andrea Pirlo said. points from its past two matches, Canelo Alvarez (L) and Callum Smith during their championship bout, trusion coming from the bottom the restrictions brought on by the ‘’We weren’t happy with Wednes- but goals from Mikkel Damsgaard San Antonio, Texas, U.S., Dec. 19, 2020. of Smith’s arm beginning in the coronavirus pandemic, and the day’s result, but the performance and Jakub Jankto gave Sampdoria fourth round from Alvarez’s re- ring rust was evident in the first was good.