Peoples Daily Weekend, Saturday 28 February - Sunday 01 March, 2015. Edition.

Page 54

Page 54

Sports

Weekend fixtures

“Manchester City won’t sell Toure for £250m”

Barclays Premier League CAF Champions League 2015 Township Rollers v Kaizer Chiefs Mamelodi Sundowns v St Mitchel United Barclays Premier League West Ham United v Crystal Palace Newcastle United v Aston Villa Stoke City v Hull City Burnley v Swansea City Manchester United v Sunderland vory Coast captain Yaya W/Bromwich Albion v Southampton Toure has been labelled Liverpool v Man. City Manchester City’s Lionel Arsenal v Everton Messi by his agent, who Chelsea v Tott. Hotspur also insists the club’s bosses French Ligue 1 wouldn’t sell him for £250 Lille v Lyon million. Bordeaux v Reims Stade Toure has been subject Lens v Rennes to speculation with Inter Lorient v Bastia Stade boss Roberto Mancini, who Metz v Evian brought the 31-year-old to City Toulouse v St Etienne in 2010, openly expressing his Nantes v Guingamp interest - but his agent Dimitri Montpellier v Nice Seluk ruled out a move. Monaco v PSG “Sheikh Mansour wouldn’t sell Yaya not even for £250 German Bundesliga Hertha BSC v FC Augsburg million,” Seluk told The 1899 Hoffenheim v 1. FSV Mainz 05 Mirror. Bayer 04 Leverkusen v Sport-Club “He is their most important Borussia Dortmund v FC Schalke 04 player as their results when Hannover 96 v VfB Stuttgart he was at the Africa Cup of Eintracht Frankfurt v Hamburger SV Nations proved. Borussia Mnch v SC Paderborn 07 “The only game they won SV Werder Bremen v VfL Wolfsburg was at Stoke and before that their last win in the Premier Italian Serie A League without Yaya was in Chievo v Milan Cagliari v Verona Atalanta v Sampdoria Cesena v Udinese Genoa v Parma Palermo v Empoli Sassuolo v Lazio Internazionale v Florentina Torino v Napoli

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Spanish La Liga Granada CF Rayo Vallecano Almeria Malaga Valencia CF Eibar Sevilla Real Madrid

v v v v v v v v

Barcelona Levante Dep. de La Cor Getafe Real Sociedad Athletic Club Atlet de Madrid Villarreal

CAF U17 Championship Nigeria v Guinea South Africa v Mali

Barcelona aiming to put pressure back on Real Madrid

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arcelona visits second-frombottom Granada in La Liga today, hoping for a victory in order to put pressure back on leaders Real Madrid. Luis Enrique’s side fell to a shock 1-0 home loss at the hands of Malaga last Saturday, allowing Real to move four points clear with their comfortable 2-0 success at Elche a day later. Once again, Barca is scheduled to play earlier than their title rivals, with Real - and third placed Atletico Madrid facing Villarreal and Sevilla respectively on Sunday. Following their Liga disappointment against Malaga, Barca were back to nearer their fluent best in midweek with a 2-1 victory at Manchester City in the UEFA Champions League last-16 first leg. Luis Suarez scored both goals for the Catalan giants - taking his season tally to nine - and the Uruguayan appears to be finally hitting his straps after a frustrating start to life in Catalonia.

PEOPLES DAILY Weekend, Saturday 28,- sunday 1, march, 2015

April last year.” Seluk also insisted Toure makes players like Sergio Aguero and David Silva look better, and believes the club’s bosses would never allow his departure. “City have some great players. But Aguero scores goals because of Yaya and Silva plays well when he has Yaya. He organises the entire team and gives them control of games,” he added. “Even if Pellegrini wanted to sell Yaya, the Sheikh and Khaldoon (Al Mubarak, City’s chairman) would not allow it. “Barcelona has Messi and Madrid have Ronaldo. Manchester City have Yaya Toure.” Toure has made 27 appearances for City this season, scoring nine goals.

Yaya Toure

Newcastle praises Manchester United, rejuvenated Aston Villa Sunderland clash: Poyet eyeing another

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underland boss Gus Poyet believes Manchester United is vulnerable as his side go in search of back-to-back Old Trafford victories in the Premier League today. Sebastian Larsson’s strike secured a 1-0 triumph for the Wearsiders last term as their improbable bid for top-flight survival hit top gear against a side still reeling from David Moyes’ sacking. United are once again wounded heading into the clash after a 2-1 defeat to Swansea City last weekend, allowed Liverpool and Tottenham to move within striking distance in the race for a

Sunderland head coach Gus Poyet

top-four spot. While Louis van Gaal’s tactics have been scrutinised this season, the Dutchman continues to get positive results at home - United have won 10 of their 13 home league matches this season. United have remained unconvincing, though, and Poyet pinpointed their recent win over Burnley which saw the team’s efforts jeered by the Old Trafford faithful as cause for optimism. “Van Gaal was not happy about Burnley game but they scored three goals, but Burnley had plenty of chances,” the Uruguayan told the club’s official website.

Newcastle United manager John Carver

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ewcastle United manager John Carver expects an Aston Villa team with a “new lease of life” to provide a tough test in today’s Premier League encounter at St James’ Park. Carver’s men were thumped 5-0 by defending champions Manchester City last time out in a game that marked the low point in a run of just one win in their last eight. A home match against relegation-threatened Villa - who has not won in the league since December 7 - presents a chance for Newcastle to end that dismal streak. Despite the visitors’ 2-1 home defeat to Stoke City in Tim Sherwood’s first game in charge, Carver has already seen improvements in the Midlands

club. The hosts have received a morale boost with the news that midfielder Jonas Gutierrez is in the senior squad for the first time since recovering from testicular cancer. Remy Cabella is a doubt with a knee problem that forced him to miss the drubbing at the Etihad Stadium, while Jack Colback is suspended. Teenage winger Rolando Aarons (hamstring) is still out and is joined on the sidelines by Siem de Jong (lung), Paul Dummett (knee), Robert Elliot (thigh), Steven Taylor (Achilles) and Cheick Tiote (knee). Villa’s only confirmed injury absentee is Kieran Richardson because of a knock. Ron Vlaar is banned, while Aly Cissokho, Alan Hutton and Philippe Senderos (calf) are all doubts.


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