18
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2012
S P ORT S Soccer results/standings English Premier League Arsenal 1 (Gervinho 42) Chelsea 2 (Torres 20, Mata 53); Everton 3 (Osman 25, Jelavic 32, 38) Southampton 1 (Ramirez 6); Fulham 1 (Petric 10-pen) Manchester City 2 (Aguero 43, Dzeko 87); Manchester United 2 (Nani 51, Kagawa 53) Tottenham 3 (Vertonghen 2, Bale 32, Dempsey 52); Norwich 2 (Morison 61, Holt 87) Liverpool 5 (Suarez 2, 38, 57, Sahin 47, Gerrard 68); Reading 2 (Kebe 58, Hunt 62) Newcastle 2 (Ba 59, 83); Stoke 2 (Crouch 12, 36) Swansea 0; Sunderland 1 (Fletcher 51) Wigan 0. Playing today: Aston Villa v West Brom Playing tomorrow: QPR v West Ham. English Football League results Championship Barnsley 1 Ipswich 1; Bolton 0 Crystal Palace 1; Bristol City 2 Leeds 3; Burnley 2 Millwall 2; Cardiff 3 Blackpool 0; Charlton 1 Blackburn 1; Huddersfield 2 Watford 3; Hull 1 Peterborough 3; Middlesbrough 1 Leicester 2; Wolves 1 Sheffield Wednesday 0. Playing later: Brighton v Birmingham Playing today: Nottingham Forest v Derby Division One Bournemouth 1 Walsall 2; Carlisle 0 Crawley 2; Colchester 3 Hartlepool 1; Leyton Orient 0 Doncaster 2; Milton Keynes Dons 1 Crewe 0; Oldham 0 Coventry 1; Portsmouth 2 Scunthorpe 1; Preston 3 Yeovil 2; Sheffield Utd 1 Notts County 1; Shrewsbury 0 Swindon 1; Stevenage 2 Bury 2; Tranmere 1 Brentford 1. English Premier League table English Premier League table after yesterday’s matches (played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against, points): Chelsea 6 5 1 0 11 3 16 Everton 6 4 1 1 12 6 13 Man Utd 6 4 0 2 14 9 12 Man City 6 3 3 0 12 8 12 Tottenham 6 3 2 1 11 8 11 West Brom 5 3 1 1 7 4 10 Arsenal 6 2 3 1 10 4 9 Fulham 6 3 0 3 13 9 9 Newcastle 6 2 3 1 8 8 9 West Ham 5 2 2 1 5 4 8 Swansea 6 2 1 3 10 9 7 Stoke 6 1 4 1 6 5 7 Sunderland 5 1 4 0 5 4 7 Liverpool 6 1 2 3 9 12 5 Aston Villa 5 1 1 3 5 9 4 Wigan 6 1 1 4 5 11 4 Southampton 6 1 0 5 10 18 3 Norwich 6 0 3 3 4 13 3 Reading 5 0 2 3 6 11 2 QPR 5 0 2 3 3 11 2 English Football League tables Championship Brighton 7 5 1 Cardiff 8 5 1 Wolves 8 5 1 Blackburn 8 4 3 Leicester 8 5 0 Huddersfield 8 4 2 Blackpool 8 4 1 Hull 8 4 1 Leeds 8 4 1 Crystal 8 4 1 M’brough 8 4 0 Barnsley 8 3 2 Bristol City 8 3 1 Nottingham 7 2 4 Burnley 8 3 1 Bolton 8 3 1 Watford 8 3 1 Charlton 8 2 3 Derby 7 2 2 Birmingham 7 2 2 Sheffield 8 2 1 Millwall 8 2 1 Ipswich 8 1 3 P’borough 8 1 0
1 2 2 1 3 2 3 3 3 3 4 3 4 1 4 4 4 3 3 3 5 5 4 7
14 15 12 16 13 14 16 13 15 12 12 12 17 10 15 10 12 9 12 8 11 11 6 8
4 9 7 12 9 9 10 11 14 13 14 12 16 9 15 12 15 10 11 14 17 17 16 17
16 16 16 15 15 14 13 13 13 13 12 11 10 10 10 10 10 9 8 8 7 7 6 3
Division One Tranmere Notts County Keynes Dons Swindon Stevenage Walsall Crawley Town Sheffield Utd Preston Doncaster Brentford Carlisle Yeovil Leyton Orient Crewe Shrewsbury Portsmouth Bournemouth Scunthorpe Colchester Oldham Coventry Hartlepool Bury
9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 8 9 9 9 8 9 9 9 9 9 9 8 9 8 9
6 5 5 5 4 5 5 3 4 4 3 3 3 3 2 2 2 1 2 1 1 1 1 0
3 3 2 2 5 2 1 6 2 2 4 3 1 1 4 3 2 5 2 4 3 3 3 4
0 1 2 2 0 2 3 0 3 2 2 3 5 4 3 4 5 3 5 4 4 5 4 5
22 16 12 14 14 13 12 12 17 11 13 11 13 8 8 11 12 11 6 8 5 8 7 8
5 8 5 8 9 12 13 8 11 6 10 14 13 9 12 11 16 17 15 13 9 15 15 18
21 18 17 17 17 17 16 15 14 14 13 12 10 10 10 9 8 8 8 7 6 6 6 4
Division Two Gillingham Port Vale Fleetwood Accrington Exeter Bradford Rochdale Cheltenham Burton Albion Rotherham Southend York Northampton Chesterfield Torquay Plymouth Oxford Utd Morecambe Aldershot Redbridge Bristol Rovers AFC Wimbledon Wycombe Barnet
9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 8 9 8 9
7 6 5 5 5 5 4 4 4 4 4 3 3 2 2 2 3 2 2 1 1 2 1 0
1 1 2 2 1 1 3 3 2 2 2 4 4 6 6 4 0 2 2 4 4 1 1 2
1 2 2 2 3 3 2 2 3 3 3 2 2 1 1 3 6 5 5 4 3 6 6 7
18 22 14 14 18 16 14 11 18 17 13 15 13 13 10 10 11 12 7 10 6 9 7 4
6 11 8 10 13 11 12 10 14 13 11 13 11 11 8 13 19 17 12 13 14 20 14 18
22 19 17 17 16 16 15 15 14 14 14 13 13 12 12 10 9 8 8 7 7 7 4 2
Scottish Premier League table Celtic 7 4 2 Motherwell 8 3 4
1 1
13 13
7 14 10 13
Division Two AFC Wimbledon 2 Accrington 1; Aldershot 0 York 1; Bradford 0 Port Vale 1; Burton 3 Northampton 3; Chesterfield 1 Torquay 1; Dagenham and Redbridge 3 Wycombe 0; Exeter 1 Bristol Rovers 2; Fleetwood 2 Barnet 1; Gillingham 1 Rochdale 2; Plymouth 1 Southend 1; Rotherham 3 Oxford 1. Scottish Premier League Aberdeen 2 (McGinn 4, Rae 71) Hibernian 1 (Doyle 33); Dundee 1 (Conroy 22-pen) St Johnstone 3 (Tade 16, Craig 27, MacLean 52); Hearts 1 (Zaliukas 88) Kilmarnock 3 (Sheridan 32, 51, 62); Inverness CT 4 (Foran 31, 35, Shinnie 70, Roberts 73) Dundee Utd 0; Motherwell 0 Celtic 2 (Hooper 32, Cummins 35-og); St Mirren 5 (Thompson 39, 89, Guy 54-pen, Parkin 59, McLean 64) Ross County 4 (Vigurs 11, Munro 45, Quinn 79, 80). Scottish Football League results First Division Airdrie 2 Morton 3; Cowdenbeath 1 Falkirk 1; Hamilton 0 Dunfermline 3; Livingston 5 Dumbarton 0; Raith 1 Partick 1. Second Division Ayr 3 Brechin 0; Forfar 4 Albion 2; Queen of the South 1 Alloa 0; Stenhousemuir 2 Arbroath 2; Stranraer 2 East Fife 6. German League results Bayer Leverkusen 2 (Sam 50, 62) Furth 0; Werder Bremen 0 Bayern Munich 2 (Luis Gustavo 81, Mandzukic 83); Nuremberg 0 VfB Stuttgart 2 (Ibisevic 1, Harnik 75); Hoffenheim 0 FC Augsburg 0; Hamburg 1 (Rudnevs 20) Hanover 0; Dortmund v M’gladbach. Spanish La Liga results Valencia 2 (Feghouli 12, Viera 59) Real Zaragoza 0; Malaga 4 (Joaquin 13-pen, Saviola 28, Amaya 73-og, Isco 74) Real Betis 0. Kilmarnock St Mirren Hibernian Aberdeen St Johnstone Hearts Inverness CT Ross County Dundee Utd Dundee
8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 7 8
3 3 3 2 3 2 1 1 2 1
3 3 3 5 2 3 5 5 2 1
2 2 2 1 3 3 2 2 3 6
12 14 12 8 9 9 15 7 7 3
8 13 12 7 10 9 16 8 10 13
12 12 12 11 11 9 8 8 8 4
Scottish Football League tables First Division Partick 7 6 1 Dunfermline 7 6 0 Morton 7 4 2 Raith 7 3 2 Cowdenbeath 7 3 1 Livingston 7 2 2 Airdrie Utd 7 2 1 Falkirk 7 1 3 Hamilton 7 0 3 Dumbarton 7 0 1
0 1 1 2 3 3 4 3 4 6
16 18 15 8 12 10 10 7 5 4
4 3 10 5 11 11 12 11 15 23
19 18 14 11 10 8 7 6 3 1
Second Division Queen of the South Forfar Arbroath Alloa Stenhousemuir Ayr Albion Brechin East Fife Stranraer
7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7
6 5 3 3 2 2 2 2 1 1
1 1 3 1 4 1 1 0 2 2
0 1 1 3 1 4 4 5 4 4
17 17 13 12 13 13 10 5 11 7
2 7 14 8 13 16 15 14 12 17
19 16 12 10 10 7 7 6 5 5
Spanish La Liga table Barcelona 5 Malaga 6 Atletico 5 Real Mallorca 5 Sevilla 5 Real Betis 6 Valencia 6 Real Madrid 5 Rayo Vallecano 5 Levante 5 Deportivo 5 Celta Vigo 5 Valladolid 5 Real Sociedad 5 Real Zaragoza 6 Athletic Bilbao 5 Getafe 5 Granada 5 Espanyol 5 Osasuna 5
5 4 4 3 3 3 2 2 2 2 1 2 2 2 2 1 1 0 0 0
0 2 1 2 2 0 2 1 1 1 3 0 0 0 0 2 1 2 1 1
0 0 0 0 0 3 2 2 2 2 1 3 3 3 4 2 3 3 4 4
14 10 15 7 6 10 8 7 6 7 7 6 4 6 5 8 6 2 7 3
3 2 7 3 2 13 8 4 7 9 7 6 5 9 8 12 10 8 11 10
15 14 13 11 11 9 8 7 7 7 6 6 6 6 6 5 4 2 1 1
German League table Bayern Munich 6 Eintracht 5 Schalke 6 Hanover 6 Dusseldorf 6 Leverkusen 6 Dortmund 5 Werder Bremen 6 Hoffenheim 6 Hamburg 6 Nuremberg 6 M’gladbach 5 SC Freiburg 5 Wolfsburg 5 Stuttgart 6 Mainz 5 Furth 6 FC Augsburg 6
6 4 3 3 2 3 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 0
0 1 2 1 4 1 2 1 1 1 1 3 2 2 2 1 1 2
0 0 1 2 0 2 1 3 3 3 3 1 2 2 3 3 4 4
19 14 12 14 6 9 11 9 10 8 7 7 7 2 5 4 2 2
2 7 7 9 2 7 8 10 12 10 11 7 8 8 12 8 10 10
18 13 11 10 10 10 8 7 7 7 7 6 5 5 5 4 4 2
Matches on TV (Local Timings) English Premier League Aston Villa v West Bromwich Abu Dhabi Sports HD 3 Abu Dhabi Sports HD 5
18:00
Spanish League Granada v Celta Aljazeeras Sport +2 Aljazeeras Sport 2 HD
13:00
Valladolid v Rayo Aljazeeras Sport +2 Aljazeeras Sport 2 HD
17:00
Osasuna v Levante Aljazeeras Sport 9
19:00
Real Madrid v Deportivo Aljazeeras Sport +2 Aljazeeras Sport 2 HD
20:50
Espanyol v Atletico Aljazeeras Sport +8
22:30
El Shaarawy shines as Parma hold Milan MILAN: Italy under-21 striker Stephan El Shaarawy scored his fourth goal in six Serie A games as a dominant AC Milan were held 1-1 away to Parma yesterday. El Shaarawy, who is part Egyptian, gave Massimiliano Allegri’s embattled side a huge boost with two goals in mid-week as the Rossoneri beat Cagliari 2-0 to register their first win of the season at the San Siro. And the 19-year-old forward boosted his growing reputation by opening the scoring against Parma with a fine individual goal in the 50th minute. It was end-to-end stuff at the Ennio Tardini stadium and Parma, with only one win so far this season, claimed an equaliser when midfielder Daniele Galloppa’s freekick from 20 yards beat Christian Abbiati at his near post. The result allowed Allegri’s side to move up to ninth ahead of the rest of the weekend’s fixtures. After weeks of waiting, Bojan Krkic was finally handed his Milan debut in the centre of a three-man attack with El Shaarawy and Kevin-Prince Boateng. Boateng was the first to test Antonio Mirante, although his 20yard shot on the quarter-hour was scooped up by the goalkeeper, who then got down low to save the Ghanaian’s header from Antonio Nocerino’s superb cross. Parma’s chances until then had been rare and defender Aleandro Rosi was left frustrated when his ambitious volley on the edge of the area swerved wide of Christian Abbiati’s goal. El Shaarawy then launched a counter-attack and impressed as he muscled his way past three Parma players on the left only for his lay-off to Bojan to go begging.
Moments later his pass to Bojan on the edge of the area allowed the Spaniard a touch before he unleashed a superb right-foot shot that dipped over Mirante’s crossbar. Five minutes after the restart the pair combined again and this time
Boateng seeing his close-range header go wide of the post. Parma gave Milan a scare when Greek midfielder Sotiris Ninis’s cross caused panic in the area. It took a deflection and left Abbiati all at sea, only for Massimo Gobbi to
area after being tackled by Riccardo Montolivo. Galloppa’s free-kick from 20 yards out appeared to take a slight deflection in the defensive wall before beating Abbiati at his near post. Allegri replaced Boateng with
ITALY: Parma’s Massimo Gobbi (right) vies for the ball with AC Milan’s Bojan Krkic Perez of Spain, during their Serie A soccer match.—AP Milan got the goal they deserved; Bojan’s pass to El Shaarawy allowing the ‘Little Pharaoh’ to stride past Cristian Zaccardo and beat Mirante at his near post. Milan were dominating, with Bojan spurning a chance for a firsttime shot on 51 minutes and then
send his effort wide. At the other end, Boateng latched on to a poor Parma clearance on the hour mark but his powerful drive was parried by Mirante. Despite Milan’s protests, Ninis won a free-kick on the edge of the
Brazilian Robinho in the 70th minute, while Bojan made way for Giampaolo Pazzini with nine minutes remaining. Milan’s last real chance for a winner was a 25-yard free-kick from Montolivo, which forced Mirante into a dramatic diving save. —AFP
Celtic down Motherwell
GERMANY: Bayern’s Xherdan Shaqiri of Switzerland (right) and Bremen’s Theodor Gebre Selassie of Czech Republic challenge for the ball during the German first division Bundesliga soccer match. —AP
Bayern blank Bremen BERLIN: Goals in the final nine minutes from Luis Gustavo and Mario Mandzukic gave Bayern Munich a sixth league win out of six for the new season as the Bavarians cantered to a 2-0 win at Werder Bremen yesterday. The win took Bayern, seeking to end two years of Borussia Dortmund dominance in the league, five points clear of second-placed Eintracht Frankfurt, who host Freiburg on Sunday. Bayern’s mean machine once again kept a clean sheet — they have conceded just two goals to date — and Gustavo’s 20-metre drive into the top left-hand corner finally broke the deadlock when it looked as if Werder might pinch a point. Gustavo had come on for Peruvian veteran Claudio Pizarro on the hour and coach Jupp Heynckes pulled off another tactical coup in sending on Swiss Xherdan Shaquiri, who combined with Franck Ribery in orchestrating a move which saw Mandzukic finish from close range for his third goal in two games. Bayern, who Tuesday face BATE Borisov in the Champions League, will expect to keep their run of form going next weekend when they take on midtable Hoffenheim. In third placeseven points off the pace-are Schalke, following a 2-2 draw on Friday at Fortuna Dusseldorf. Elsewhere yesterday, Hanover lost the chance to go joint second after a 1-0 loss in Hamburg, now moving up the table after a poor start. Latvian striker Artjoms Rudnevs scored the only goal for the northerners in the 20th minute as the 1983 European champions exited the
drop zone. Bayer Leverkusen thanked two quickfire second-half goals from Sidney Sam, their German-born Nigerian, to see off promoted Furth 2-0. The win took Leverkusen joint fourth in the table. Bosnian striker Vedad Ibisevic, meanwhile, scored the fastest goal of the Bundesliga season to date as he netted after just 24 seconds for Stuttgart at Nuremberg, nipping onto an underhit backpass from Brazilian defender Marcos Antonio to fire past keeper Raphael Schaefer. A 75th-minute goal from Martin Harnik clinched the points as Stuttgart won their first match of the campaign. Hoffenheim and Augsburg parted scoreless to leave the latter rooted to the foot of the table with just two points while Dortmund were later hosting Borussia Moenchengladbach. The match at Hoffenheim went ahead against a difficult backdrop for the home side with their 22-year-old teammate Boris Vukcevic still in a coma and in critical condition following a car crash on Friday afternoon. Hoffenheim said in an earlier statement his situation had not changed sufficiently to give a prognosis on his chances of pulling through and manager Andreas Mueller said “the team were shocked” by the news of his accident. Mueller revealed the team had at first thought of asking for the match to be called off but decided they should go ahead. “Boris is a fighter - and we will fight for him,” he said ahead of the encounter. Bild daily quoted Vukcevic’s parents as urging the team to “play for our Boris.” —AFP
GLASGOW: Two goals in three first-half minutes gave Celtic a 2-0 win at Motherwell yesterday that sent the Hoops above their opponents and to the top of the Scottish Premier League for the first time this season. Darren Randolph had already twice denied Gary Hooper, who scored all four goals in Celtic’s win over Raith Rovers in midweek, before the striker latched on to a floated pass from Kris Commons to finish low past the goalkeeper in the 32nd minute. The unfortunate Adam Cummins then fired past his own keeper in the 35th minute as he attempted to clear Scott Brown’s fiercely driven cross from the left. Cummins’ day got worse in the 55th minute when he was shown a straight red card for hauling down Commons in the box, but Randolph saved Brown’s weak spot-kick. The win moves Celtic one point above Motherwell and gives them a confidence boost before their Champions League away match against Spartak Moscow on Tuesday. “I thought we were brilliant today from start to finish. That’s the best we have played at Fir Park certainly in my time here as player, coach and manager,” said Celtic manager Neil Lennon. “Psychologically we have gone top of the league so it’s a good marker for us going into the game on Tuesday.” Motherwell manager Stuart McCall was relived to escape with only a 2-0 defeat. “Today you saw a rampant Celtic side. You only had to look at the subs bench - that’s the strongest they’ve been all season,” McCall said. “If Celtic are playing well — and they certainly played well today — then nobody in this league will live with them.” Georgios Samaras and Joe Ledley took their places on the Celtic bench after returning from injury, while Motherwell made two changes to the side that were knocked out the League Cup by Rangers in mid-week. Celtic carved out the first chance in the 10th minute when James Forrest slipped in Hooper, but the striker’s shot was well blocked by Randolph. Zaine Francis-Angol made a mess of the clearance, allowing Hooper to then pick out Commons, but the Well defender recovered to put the Celtic player off his shot. Charlie Mulgrew then cleverly teed Brown up from a short freekick at the edge of the box, but Randolph dived to his right to keep out his low drive. Celtic were growing in confidence and when Brown picked out Commons down the inside-left channel, the Scotland international came close to catching out Randolph with an audacious lob that landed on the roof of the net. Hooper was thwarted by Randolph and then Francis-Angol before the English striker opened the scoring. Shaun Hutchinson completely missed a lofted pass from Commons, allowing Hooper to get in behind the defence and finish low past Randolph. Celtic only had to wait a little over two minutes to double their advantage when Cummins saw his attempted clearance from Brown’s driven ball into the box fly past his own keeper. Cummins was shown a straight red card 10 minutes into the second period when he hauled down Commons just inside the box after the forward had latched on to a through ball from Victor Wanyama. Brown took the resultant penalty but he sent his tame effort straight down the middle, allowing Randolph to stop with his feet. Brown had a chance to make amends 10 minutes later when he got on the end of Emilio Izaguirre’s cutback, but the midfielder’s volley was well saved by Randolph. Izaguirre then picked out Wanyama with a cross from the left but the Kenyan headed over from six yards. Elsewhere, a late Steven Thompson goal sealed a remarkable 5-4 win for St Mirren over Ross County, Inverness Caledonian Thistle thrashed Dundee United 4-0 and Aberdeen defeated Hibernian 2-1. Cillian Sheridan scored a hattrick as St Johnstone won 3-1 at Tynecastle against Hearts, while St Johnstone defeated Dundee 3-1. —AFP
Malaga take apart Betis MADRID: Malaga maintained their unbeaten start to the season as they cruised to a 4-0 victory over Real Betis with the game turning on an early penalty and the sending off of goalkeeper Casto Espinosa. Manuel Pellegrini’s side now sit in second place on 14 points, one point behind Barcelona, after another fine display of attacking football where they took full advantage of their man extra from the 10th minute.
Casto was red-carded for a foul on Eliseu Pereira and after Joaquin Sanchez converted the penalty, Malaga never looked back. They had a series of chances with Ignacio Camacho hitting the post with a header and then Javier Saviola slotted home the second after 28 minutes following an exchange with Francisco Portillo. Midway through the second half Antonio Amaya put the ball through his own net as he intercepted a Nacho Monreal cross and
then Isco Alarcon finished clinically to add to Betis’ misery. Goals from Sofiane Feghouli and Jonathan Viera in either half gave Valencia a 2-0 victory over Zaragoza to ease the strain on under-fire coach Mauricio Pellegrino. Feghouli was dismissed with half an hour to go for his second yellow card. Later Barcelona take on Sevilla looking to extend their winning start to the campaign to six matches and to increase the pressure
on Real Madrid who face Deportivo La Coruna today. With just a week to go before the top two in Spain go head-to-head in the first ‘El Clasico’ in the league, Barca have built up an eight-point lead over their Madrid rivals whose stuttering start has seen them win just twice. Barca coach Tito Vilanova admits that it will be a tough test against the Andalusian side who have already beaten Madrid this season. —AFP