FFOOTBALLOOTBALL | Page 3 CRICKET | Page 7 Messi Delhi thrash penalty gives Rajasthan Argentina to top IPL winning start standings Saturday, October 10, 2020 TENNIS Safar 23, 1442 AH King Nadal sweeps GULF TIMES into 13th French Open fi nal SPORT Page 2 FOOTBALL FOOTBALL / OOREDOO CUP Al Arabi hope Doha to host all to end title drought against AFC Champions Al Sadd today League East games ‘We recognise the huge amount of work undertaken by the QFA’ QFA Secretary-General Mansoor al-Ansari. to successfully complete the off er the world-class sporting AFC Champions League, despite infrastructure and operational the enormous challenges in and health and safety expertise Al Arabi coach Heimir Hallgrimsson (left) and Al Sadd coach Xavi this unprecedented year, as we that exists in the country to al- Hernandez during the press conference ahead of the Ooredoo Cup promised all our stakeholders.” low for the resumption of com- final on Wednesday. PICTURE: Noushad Thekkayil AFC Champions League (East) will be played between November 18 and December 13, 2020. The AFC Champions League petitive Continental football (East) will resume from the once again.” By Yash Mudgal motivation to complete the ti- AFC AFC General Secretary Dato’ positive collaboration for the Group Stage and continue Doha tle hat-trick of the season after Kuala Lumpur Windsor John said: “We are AFC Champions League (East). through the Round of 16 to the AFC CHAMPIONS LEAGUE their triumph in Sheikh Jassim extremely grateful for the out- “Everything from the arrival Quarter-fi nals and Semi-fi nals. EAST GROUPS Cup and Qatar Cup this season. standing support of the QFA of the teams, the effi cient im- The venue for the Final, which Group E: FC Seoul (KOR), Beijing t has been almost a decade Wolves coach Xavi Hernan- he AFC Champions and are pleased that we can now migration process, the rigor- is scheduled to be played on FC (CHN), Melbourne Victory since Al Arabi won a title dez admitted his team would League (East) is to be build on the success of the AFC ous health screenings, hotels December 19, 2020, will be con- (AUS), Chiangrai United (THA) and their coach Heimir Hall- miss the top players but felt it is played in Doha, Qatar, Champions League (West) while with biosecurity measures, to fi rmed in due course. Group F: FC Tokyo (JPN), Ulsan grimsson has been forth- a great opportunity for the young after an agreement was looking forward to the remain- the state-of-the-art training QFA Secretary-General Man- Iright about their ambition to end players to make their presence Hyundai FC (KOR), Shanghai Shen- Treached yesterday between the ing exciting matches in Asia’s facilities and stadiums were of soor al-Ansari said: “We are that drought against a weakened felt. hua FC (CHN), Perth Glory (AUS) Asian Football Confederation premier club competition. the highest possible standard as very happy to provide a safe en- Group G: Vissel Kobe (JPN), Al Sadd side in the 2019-2020 “We are very happy to be play- (AFC) and the Qatar Football “We recognise the huge the AFC insisted that the welfare vironment for the AFC in order Johor Darul Ta’zim (MAS), Ooredoo Cup fi nal at the Abdul- ing in this fi nal. To be honest, Association (QFA). amount of work undertaken by and well-being of the players, to complete the AFC Champi- Guangzhou Evergrande FC lah bin Khalifa Stadium in Al Du- I did not expect that we would The AFC Champions League the QFA, in conjunction with the offi cials and match offi cials was ons League and look forward to (CHN), Suwon Samsung Bluew- hail today. qualify for this game. We have to (East), which will be played be- AFC, the Qatar Local Authori- our top priority. hosting the leading clubs from ings (KOR) “The Ooredoo Cup fi nal is an play with a group of players who tween November 18 and Decem- ties and Ministries, to ensure “Through the planning and the East Zone during Novem- Group H: Yokohama F Marinos important milestone for us as it are not on national team duty. ber 13, 2020, follows the suc- the smooth delivery of the AFC delivery of these extremely ber and December. Qatar knows (JPN), Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors has been a really long time since The fi nal is a big opportunity for cessful completion of the West Champions League (West) and strict and eff ective protocols, I how important football is to FC (KOR), Sydney FC (AUS), Al Arabi won a trophy. It is also a the young players. I’ve told them Zone competition in Qatar. we look forward to a similarly am delighted that we will be able Asia, so is pleased to be able to Shanghai SIPG FC (CHN) good opportunity for us to turn to take advantage of it. These things around. We need to win youngsters are the future of the the trophy,” Hallgrimsson said at club, I hope they enjoy the occa- the pre-match press conference. sion and prove themselves,” Xavi Trophies have been rare for said. Qatar’s Nasser al-Attiyah wins third stage of Andalucia Rally The Dream Team in the recent The former champions (2010- past; they won their last title in 2011) will have the experience of 1997 — the Sheikh Jassim Cup. midfi elders Rodrigo Tabata and However, the seven-time Qa- Santi Cazorla. tar league champions, whose “This fi nal is a good chance for last league title was also in 1997, our young players in particular. is full of motivation against Al We have plenty of experienced Sadd , whose preparations are players as well. I hope we will be marred by the absence of their successful and emerge as cham- several senior players. pions,” Tabata said. Ten Sadd players are away Al Arabi’s striker Sebastian with the Qatar team preparing to Soria also feels that they have a play Ghana in the international big opportunity today. friendly on October 12 and some “We had more than a month of their foreign players are also to work and prepare for the fi nal on national duty for their friend- after we qualifi ed for it. We’ve lies. trained well. We had played some “I had watched Al Sadd play good games last season. I am Qatar SC the other day in round happy that I am a part of Al Arabi two of the 2020-21 Ooredoo Cup. this season. I already played two They had some 10 players in the matches in this season’s Ooredoo Qatar national team camp, yet Cup and have confi dence in our they had depth in their squad. abilities. We have a big chance,” Al Sadd is always a tough team,” Soria said. said the Icelander. Taking about Sadd’s inexperi- “We had a good pre-season enced side, Soria said, “The most camp, even though a brief one. important thing is the attitude. Chances are same for both teams We must have a strong mentality. in this match. We must be play- Al Sadd may be without many ing at our best. We will also be top players, but we are focusing missing some players due to on our game and winning the national duty and injuries. But Cup. We are in the fi nal because that’s not important. We will we played well in the games prior Qatar’s Nasser Saleh al-Attiyah and French co-driver Mathieu Baumel in action in their Toyota Hilux during the third stage of the Andalucia Rally in Spain yesterday. play to our capabilities.” to it.” Al-Attiyah won the stage after Yazeed al-Rajhi of Saudi Arabia was penalised 10 minutes for overspeeding. The three-time Dakar Rally champion now leads the general Though Al Sadd is not fi eld- In the semi-fi nals, Al Arabi classification going into the final stage. (Twitter/Andalucia_Rally/ODC/Charly Lopez) ing their top team, the 14-time defeated Al Rayyan 2-1 and Al league champions also have the Sadd beat Al Ahli 2-0. Gulf Times 2 Saturday, October 10, 2020 TENNIS FRENCH OPEN Rafa reaches 13th French Open fi nal Spaniard downs Schwartzman in straight sets in semi-final Agencies 48 unforced errors and converting Paris, France just three of his 12 break points. “It’s diff erent playing against Djokovic, Federer, Rafa, these guys. welve-time champion Rafael Is not easy playing them fi ve sets be- Nadal reached his 13th French cause you have to play your best ten- Open fi nal yesterday with a nis maybe for three, four hours, fi ve 6-3, 6-3, 7-6 (0) win over Ar- hours. Physically it’s very hard,” he Tgentina’s Diego Schwartzman. admitted. For 34-year-old Nadal, it was a “Physically it’s very hard. Mentally 99th win at Roland Garros since his it’s very hard. To improve and to beat 2005 debut and put him just one vic- the best guys on tour, you have to play tory away from equalling Roger Fe- them and you have to beat them. I like derer’s all-time record of 20 Grand to play fi ve sets. I feel really good to- Slam titles. day. Physically I was perfect. He is also into his 28th fi nal at the “But, yeah, it’s tough to keep the majors and has not dropped a set in level really high against these guys for the tournament this year. 6in (1.68m) player aff ectionately maybe more than three hours.” Novak Djokovic, the 2016 champi- known as ‘El Peque’ (‘shorty’), as the Schwartzman, who will break into on in Paris and chasing an 18th Grand 28-year-old was broken again in the the top 10 when the rankings are Slam title, was up against Greek fi fth fourth game.