47 sport
30 October, 2016
Sunday Tribune
Salami
Salami nets 15th goal in Finland One of Aguero’s goals against West Brom. PHOTO: DAILY MAIL.
City end 6-game winless run, spank West Brom 4-0
M
ANCHESTER City returned to the top of the Premier League in emphatic style as 4-0 victory at West Brom ended Pep Guardiola’s worst run in management. City and boss Guardiola were without a win in six matches in all competitions, but Sergio Aguero flashed in Ilkay Gundogan’s through ball to give them the lead in the 19th minute. The Baggies were flat and Aguero struck again in the 28th minute, punishing hesitant defending with a powerful, top-corner finish. West Brom improved hugely after the break but failed to take their chances before Gundogan twice slotted home - first from Aguero’s chip and then after being found by
Kevin de Bruyne. The win means City leapfrog Arsenal, who won 4-1 at Sunderland earlier in the day, into first place in the table with 10 matches played. Tony Pulis’ side struck the post through Gareth McAuley late on and should have got one back at 2-0 through Salomon Rondon, but they slip to 15th and are now without a win in their past five games. Aguero’s last goal for City came in the 3-1 league victory at Swansea on September 24, which was also City’s most recent win before Saturday’s game. The Argentina striker’s first was rifled in brilliantly after his clever run was matched
by Gundogan’s quality pass into the space between West Brom’s two centre-backs. His second was spectacular, but equally simple. McAuley and Jonas Olsson both should have cleared a loose ball on the edge of the box but hesitated, allowing the 28-yearold to set himself up and smash home. That was his seventh league goal of the season - the joint best return with Chelsea’s Diego Costa - and ends a spell of six matches without a goal. West Brom’s players were obviously deflated by Aguero’s two goals in nine minutes, so Pulis deserves credit for managing to galvanise his side into producing a spirited secondhalf display.
NIGERIAN international, Gbolahan Salami powered KuPS to a 1-0 victory over PS Kemi in the Finnish Premier League encounter on Friday night. The former Shooting Stars Sports Club (3SC) forward, who recently broke club’s 15-year-old goal record, set by Ilja Venalainen (2012) and Peter Sampoalso (2001) with 12 goals each at the Kuopio Football Stadium scored the only goal of the game in the 13th minute, to bring his tally for the season to 15 goals. Salami, it will be recalled, joined the Finnish topflight from Warri Wolves, after finishing the 2014/15 Nigeria Professional Football League season as the highest goal scorer with 17 goals.
Arsenal increase pressure on Moyes with 4-1 defeat ARSENAL increased the pressure on Sunderland manager, David Moyes with a comfortable 4-1 victory over a Black Cats side who remain bottom of the table and without a Premier League win this season. Alexis Sanchez put the Gunners ahead when he got in front of defender Lamine Kone to head in Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s cross. The dominant visitors had a strong penalty appeal turned down after Sanchez looked to have been brought down before Jermain Defoe equalised from the spot after keeper Petr Cech had fouled Duncan Watmore. However, Arsenal reasserted their authority and lead with three goals in six minutes and 20 seconds. Olivier Giroud came on to replace Nigerian international, Alex Iwobi in the 69th minute to guide in a shot and then headed in a Mesut Ozil corner, while Sanchez’s close range effort was the signal for the home fans to start streaming out of the Stadium of Light. The win initially moved Arsenal
top of the Premier League - but Manchester City’s victory over West Brom also on the day later knocked them off the summit. “It was a mental test when we were at 1-1. We missed so many chances, so many opportunities, and I was worried we could lose but we have shown great strength to bounce back,” Wenger said after
the match. “In the Premier League at 1-1 you can lose the game but it was about how we responded. Do we panic, give up, feel sorry for ourselves? We responded well and in the end it was a comfortable win. “It was an important result for us. We had six wins, then one draw at home, which was disappointing, and
a second draw or defeat would have been like we had dropped our level.” On his introduction of Giroud, who then scored twice in the next seven minutes, Wenger added: “The manager has an easy credit when he has quality players on the bench and you don’t need to be a special manager to make this decision. It was 1-1 and we had Giroud on the bench.”
Sanchez... celebrating yesterday.
Messi, Neymar, others given new cars at Barca THE first team members of FC Barcelona received their brand new Audi vehicles for the 2016/17 season on Thursday. During the event held at the Camp Nou, next to the 1899 Auditorium, Luis Enrique’s men took part in several fun games and activities alongside the new models of Barça’s premium partner. Once Thursday’s training session had ended, the players headed to the Camp Nou where president Josep Maria Bartomeu and various directors of Audi were present to get things underway.
After that, it was time for the players to drive off, one by one, in their shiny new automobiles. Each player was able to choose a brand new, really expensive luxury vehicle. Take a wild guess who picked out the most expensive car out of the bunch. Yep, it was Neymar. The Brazilian drove home the Audi RS7, which is valued at around $164,590. The one Messi got, which many others did as well, starts at about $75,000. The squad and manager Luis Enrique took part in a driving skills circuit set up by the club partner before receiving the cars they’ll drive
this season. Here’s what each player picked, according to Globo. •Lionel Messi: Audi Q7 3.0 TDI (272 CV) •Denis Suarez: Audi Q7 3.0 TDI (272 CV) •Aleix Vidal: Audi Q7 3.0 TDI (272 CV) •Luis Suarez: Audi Q7 3.0 TDI (272 CV) •Gerard Pique: Audi Q7 3.0 TDI (272 CV) •Ivan Rakitic: Audi Q7 3.0 TDI (272 CV) •Javier Mascherano: Audi A7 Sportback 3.0 TDI (272 CV) •Jeremy Mathieu: Audi A7 Sportback 3.0 TDI (272 CV).