QSL RESULTS: Al Ahli beat Al Sailiya 2-0; Al Gharafa beat Al Kharaitiyat 2-0. TODAY: Al Arabi vs Umm Salal; Al Rayyan vs Al Wakrah

MONDAY 19 OCTOBER 2020

Star Zverev dominates Auger-Aliassime to clinch first ATP crown of the yearFelix (Auger-Aliassime), you're an unbelievable player. I know it doesn't mean much right now, but I'm sure you're not only going to win one title, you're going to win multiple titles in your career, bigger titles than this.

Sport |08Alexander Zverev

Sport

Nasser seals record-extending seventh Cyprus Rally triumphTHE PENINSULA— NOCOSIA

Qatar’s Nasser Al Attiyah, yesterday clinched the Cyprus Rally title for the seventh time in his career, retaining the crown by using his vast experience.

Nasser was driving a Volkswagen Polo R5, co-driven by the Frenchman Mathieu Baumel. This was his second victory this year in the Middle East Rally Championship (MERC) from two events.

The third and final round of the MERC - the Rally of Lebanon - will be held next month.

Nasser is the most suc-cessful competitor in Cyprus with seven titles, with Sebastian Loeb second on the list with four victories. Also, this was Nasser’s 16th title win in Cyprus as he also claimed Troodos Rally crowns nine times.

With the win, the Qatari rally star remains on track for his 16th title in the Middle East Rally Championship – 10th consecutive.

Meanwhile, the current leader of the local champi-onship Panagiotis Yiangou / Panagiotis Kyriakou, fin-ished in the second place with a Hyundai i20.

They had a steady race and despite the problems they faced in the Saturday’s stage, they counterattacked yesterday and finished second, taking the prize “Loris Ellinas” given to the first Cypriot crew, in honour of the first winner of the Cyprus Rally in 1970.

The podium was com-pleted by Christos Demos-thenous / Costas Pavlou with a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX. They made a lasting coun-terattack after S.S. 2 when they had fallen 12th.

Two other Cypriot Lancer followed with Savvas / Papandreou in 4th place

and Roussos / Giannakou in 5th. The two 2WD category was won by Chrysostomos Panteli / Thomas Theo-fanous with Ford Fiesta in front of Televantos / Stavrou with Peugeot 208.

21 crews started the race, 13 of which managed to

finish the first day. Utilising the Rally2 regulation, six of those who left, returned yes-terday (18/10) to finish 16. The race covered a total of 510km of which 178 km were the ten special stages.

It has always been not enough to be the fastest to

win the Cyprus Rally. But usually Nasser did it too, reaching the finish line first, being faster and more durable.

Nasser was happy to drive with consistency without “hurting” the Volkswagen Polo. He won only three stages, thus in one stage they have shared the victory with Alex Tsouloftas.

The Cypriot driver, who also raced with a Volkswagen Polo won the first three races (in the third he had the same time as Nasser) and another three yesterday (18/10).

However, his fight was lost when in S.S. 4 broke the rear right axle and retired on the next stage.

The 2018 winner Simos Galatariotis, was also very fast yesterday (18/10), winning a special stage and finishing in the top three in three more.

On the first day he went off the road on the first route and could not return.

Also yesterday, Qatar’s Nasser Saadon Al Kuwari, teaming up with Kuwait’s Mshari Al Thefiri with Mit-subishi Lancer Evo X clinched the MERC2 victory.

Qatar rally star remains on track for 16th MERC title

CYPRUS RALLY: OVERALL CLASSIFICATIONRK/DRIVER, NAVIGATOR COUNTRY CAR TIME1. Nasser Al Attiyah / Baumel Qatar / France Volkswagen Polo 2:46:25.1

2. Yiangou / Kyriakou Cyprus Hyundai i20 + 17:10.4

3. Demosthenous/ Pavlou Cyprus Mitsubishi Lancer + 19:03.2

4. Savva / Papandreou Cyprus Mitsubishi Lancer + 20:29.4

5. Roussos / Yiannakou Cyprus Mitsubishi Lancer + 22:03.6

11. Chr. Panteli / Theophanou Cyprus Ford Fiesta 2WD + 32:32.7

Nasser Saadon Al Kuwari poses with Cyprus Rally MERC2 trophy.

Qatar’s Nasser Al Attiyah (right) and his co-driver Mathieu Baumel celebrate after winning the Cyprus Rally, yesterday.

Rins battles past Marquez to win Aragon MotoGP as Mir takes leadAFP — ALCAÑIZ, SPAIN

Alex Rins held off compatriot Alex Marquez to win the Aragon MotoGP yesterday with another Spaniard Joan Mir finishing third to take the championship lead from Fabio Quartararo.

Suzuki’s Rins became the eighth winner in this season’s ten races as the vacuum created by the early season injury to reigning champion Marc Marquez has created a volatile and unpredictable title race.

This is the third victory for the 24-year-old Rins who won twice last year but was injured at the beginning of this season.

He sliced through the field after starting 10th on the grid.

“I had a very good start,” he said.

The other Suzuki factory rider Mir takes over the champi-onship lead even though he has not won a MotoGP race.

He has 121 points in the championship ahead of Quar-tararo (115), Spaniard Maverick Vinales (109) and Italian Andrea Dovizioso (106).

“I’m trying to be as consistent as I can,” Mir said. “I’m happy to be on the podium.”

Frenchman Quartararo, who started from pole, struggled and finished down in 18th place.

One of the riders attempting

to fill the void left by Marquez is his younger brother and Honda teammate Alex Marquez who, after a slow start to his rookie season, has finished second in two straight races.

“It’s a pleasure to be on podium with a second place,” said Marquez.

“Next week we will try harder.”

Six-time champion Marc

Marquez was overjoyed. “I am the brother of Alex Marquez,” he tweeted in Spanish.

Meanwhile, seven-time MotoGP world champion Val-entino Rossi’s quarantine after testing positive for Covid-19 means he will also have to miss next weekend’s Grand Prix of eruel at the same Aragon circuit.

“Due to Italian law, Valentino Rossi will be unable to attend the Gran Premio de Teruel event,” said a Yamaha team statement.

The 41-year-old Italian, who sat out of yesterday’s race, has to compete a 10-day quarantine and test negative before he can return to the circuits.

In Moto3, young Italian Tony Arbolino must quarantine after coming into contact with a fellow passenger to Spain who tested positive for the virus.

Spaniard Jorge Martin, who rides in Moto2, missed two races in September after a positive test.

Suzuki Ecstar’s Spanish rider Alex Rins celebrates on the podium after winning the Aragon MotoGP, yesterday.

MotoGP1. Alex Rins (ESP/Suzuki): 41mins 54.391sec, 2. Alex Marquez (ESP/Honda) at 0.263sec, 3. Joan Mir

(ESP/Suzuki) 2.644, 4. Maverick Vinales (ESP/Yamaha) 2.880, 5. Takaaki Nakagami (JPN/Honda-LCR) 4.570, 6. Franco Morbidelli (ITA/Yamaha-SRT) 4.756, 7. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA/Ducati) 8.639, 8. Cal

Crutchlow (GBR/Honda-LCR) 8.913, 9. Jack Miller (AUS/Ducati-Pramac) 9.390, 10. Johann Zarco (FRA/Ducati-Avintia) 9.617

Selected18. Fabio Quartararo (FRA/Yamaha-SRT) 21.498

Standings (after 10 of 14 races)1. Joan Mir (ESP) 121 points, 2. Fabio Quartararo (FRA) 115, 3. Maverick Vinales (ESP) 109, 4. Andrea

Dovizioso (ITA) 106, 5. Takaaki Nakagami (JPN) 92

ARAGON GRAND PRIX RESULTS

Yamaha will not enter replacement for virus positive Rossi in Teruel GPREUTERS — ALCAÑIZ, SPAIN

Valentino Rossi (pictured) has been ruled out of next weekend’s MotoGP Teruel Grand Prix and Yamaha will not enter a replacement rider for the nine-times world champion who is self-isolating after testing positive for COVID-19, the team said yesterday.

Rossi travelled back to his home in Tavullia, Italy, after last weekend’s French Grand Prix and confirmed on Thursday that he had con-tracted COVID-19, ruling him out of yester-day’s Aragon Grand Prix.

Yamaha said Rossi had to self-isolate for 10 days from the date he tested positive as per guidelines in Italy, meaning he also would not be ready for the October 25 race in Teruel, Spain.

“Yamaha has carefully weighed their options and decided not to enter a replacement rider to substitute for Rossi for the Gran Premio de Teruel,” Yamaha said in a statement, ruling out a return for test rider Jorge Lorenzo.

“This decision was based on the high stress that is put on Yamaha’s MotoGP project members during this COVID-19 influenced season.”

Rossi will have to test negative for the novel coronavirus before getting back to action and the earliest he can make his MotoGP return will be at the European Grand Prix in Valencia from Nov. 6-8.

Yamaha said they would focus their efforts on supporting Maverick Vinales in the Teruel race and provide a further update on Rossi’s condition in the week after.

Rossi, 13th in the championship standings with 58 points, has failed to finish in each of the last three races, crashing out on the first lap of the French Grand Prix.

Rossi travelled back to his home in

Tavullia, Italy, after last weekend’s French

Grand Prix and confirmed on Thursday

that he had contracted COVID-19, ruling

him out of yesterday’s Aragon Grand Prix.

AFP – LONDON

West Ham ruined Gareth Bale’s Tottenham return with a stunning late fightback from three goals down to rescue a thrilling 3-3 draw, while Fulham’s Aleksandar Mitrovic endured a penalty nightmare in a 1-1 draw at Sheffield United yesterday.

Tottenham were leading 3-0 when Bale came on as a 72nd minute substitute for his first appearance since joining on a season-long loan from Real Madrid.

But Bale suffered a debut to forget as Tottenham capitulated in astonishing fashion.

The Wales star was one of the main Tottenham culprits as he missed a golden opportunity to wrap up the points before West Ham’s Manuel Lanzini snatched a stoppage-time equaliser.

Tottenham took the lead with just 45 seconds gone when Son Heung-min and Harry Kane com-bined to create a goal for the seventh time this season.

Kane was the catalyst, dropping deep into midfield before unfurling a majestic long pass that found Son, who cut into the West Ham area and curled his shot into the far corner.

It was Kane’s turn to get on the scoresheet in the eighth minute as he nutmegged Declan Rice and fired into the bottom corner from the edge of the area.

Tottenham’s sizzling start fea-tured a third goal in the 16th minute, with England captain Kane heading in from Sergio Reguilon’s pin-point cross for his 10th goal of the season.

Having crushed Manchester United 6-1 in their last game before the international break, Jose Mour-inho’s side looked odds on for another emphatic victory.

Back at Tottenham seven years after leaving for Real in a then world record deal, Bale hopes to prove he is still a world-class talent despite a long spell out of favour with Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane.

But it was West Ham who were the dominant force after Bale’s introduction to replace Steven Bergwijn.

Fabian Balbuena nodded in from Aaron Cresswell’s cross after 82 minutes and Davinson Sanchez’s headed own goal from Vladimir Coufal’s delivery three minutes later left Tottenham panicking.

Bale should have scored in stoppage-time, but he shot wide after bursting into the area and Lanzini made him pay with a bril-liant 25-yard blast into the top corner.

It was just the third time in

Premier League history that a side has avoided defeat despite trailing by at least three goals going into the 80th minute.

At Bramall Lane, Fulham’s Mitrovic fired over with his second half penalty after Jack Robinson handled.

On-loan Leipzig winger Ademola Lookman put Fulham ahead in the 77th minute with a superb solo effort, beating two men before firing into the roof of the net.

But Serbia international Mitrovic was penalised for a high foot on Robinson in the 85th minute following a VAR check and Billy Sharp made him pay as he drove his penalty down the middle.

Mitrovic is the first player to commit the unwanted penalty double in the same Premier League

game since Mikel Arteta for Arsenal against Fulham in 2012.

United also avoided defeat for the first time in five games this season.

Alexis Mac Allister’s first Premier League goal gave Brighton a dramatic 1-1 draw at rivals Crystal Palace. Palace took the lead in the 19th minute when Tariq Lamptey was harshly adjudged to have pulled down Michy Batshuayi in the penalty area.

Ivory Coast forward Wilfried Zaha sent Brighton keeper Mat Ryan the wrong way from the spot for his fourth goal of the season.

But, after a poor clearance from Palace defender Joel Ward, Argentine substitute Mac Allister fired home via a slight deflection from the edge of the area in the 90th minute.

11MONDAY 19 OCTOBER 2020 SPORT

Pirlo laments carelessness as Juve drop more pointsREUTERS – CROTONE, ITALY

Juventus coach Andrea Pirlo was left to fret over two more dropped points and the “care-lessness” of his team on Saturday after they were held 1-1 at promoted Crotone, who had lost all their previous Serie A games this season.

Just as they did in the 2-2 draw at AS Roma three weeks ago, Juve had a player sent off midway through the second half -- this time Federico Chiesa -- leaving them with an uphill battle.

“Unfortunately, in the last two matches we have been reduced to ten men due to our carelessness so we had to battle through. But we are a young team that needs more work,” said Pirlo.

Pirlo was handed his first coaching role in August after Juve sacked Maurizio Sarri and said he had still had little time to work with his team which includes several young new

signings such as Chiesa, Dejan Kulusevski and Weston McKennie.

American midfielder McK-ennie was missing on Saturday having returned a positive test for COVID-19, as was Cristiano Ronaldo who tested positive on duty with the Portugal national team.

“We have worked very little in these first few months, the players have been on the national team and the young-sters need to gain experience playing these first games,” he said.

Juventus, chasing a 10th straight title, have eight points from four games and have dropped four behind leaders AC Milan.

“We knew there would be many teams fighting for the title, it will be a battle day-by-day,” said former Juve midfielder Pirlo. “We have to pick up points. Unfortunately we are losing some on the road but we will be back in front soon”.

Juventus Turkish defender Merih Demiral (left) vies for the ball with Crotone’s Italian forward Luca Siligardi during the Italian Serie A match played at the Ezio Scida Stadium in Crotone, on Saturday.

IPL clears Narine’s bowling action

AFP – DUBAI

West Indies spinner Sunil Narine has been taken off the warning list for suspected bowling action in the Indian Premier League, the tournament’s organisers said yesterday.

The Kolkata Knight Riders off-spinner was reported for suspected chucking during a game on October 10 and another report would have resulted in a bowling ban from this season’s tournament.

Kolkata appealed to the IPL’s suspect bowling action committee to review Narine’s action.

“KKR requested for an Official Assessment of Mr Nar-ine’s action from the IPL Suspect Bowling Action Com-mittee, submitting action footage in slow motion with back and side angles,” the IPL said in a statement hours before Kolkata’s game against Sunrisers Hyderabad.

According to the International Cricket Council, bowlers are allowed to bend their elbow by up to 15 degrees, beyond which the action is deemed illegal.

The 32-year-old has been reported for chucking several times during his nine-year-old interna-tional career.

He was barred from bowling in 2015 by the ICC but came back with a re-mod-elled action. His action was also under scrutiny in the 2018 Pakistan Super League.

Kane's heroics in vain as West Ham spoil Bale’s return

Al Ahli extend unbeaten run as Al Gharafa clinch convincing win over Al KharaitiyatTHE PENINSULA – DOHA

Al Ahli maintained their unbeaten run in the new QNB Stars League season when they blanked Al Sailiya 2-0 while Al Gharafa followed in similar manner against Al Kharaitiyat yesterday in their respective Round 4 matches.

It was Al Ahli's fourth consec-utive win.

At the Al Arabi Stadium yes-terday, Hernan Perez (second minute) and Abdulrasheed Umaru (57th minute) scored for Al Ahli, who raised their points tally to 12 as they became the only team to win all of their matches in this sea-son's QSL so far.

Al Sailiya stood on four points from as many games.

Al Ahli’s earlier wins were against Al Wakrah (2-1), Al Arabi (2-0) and Al Khor (1-0) in that order. Perez was the architect of The Brigadiers’ brilliant show as provided assistance for Umaru’s goal as well.

Al Ahli opened the scoring so early in the game and Al Sailiya in

fact never recovered from the shock. Nothing went The Per-egrines’ way as the reinforced squad this season, consisting of new recruits Tiago Bezerra, Mohanad Ali and Ahmed Ham-moudan, struggled to find a footing. Perez scored as he pounced on a minus pass by Al Sailiya captain Majdi Siddiq to team-mate Ghanem Al Qahtani, who failed to receive the ball

before the Paraguayan took control and placed it in past goal-keeper Amine Lecomte.

Changing ends, Tiago sent a free-kick wide before Umaru found the target, with Perez pro-viding him with a cross from the right. Al Ahli’s Hazem Shehata made two serious attempts at the goal, but failed to score on both occasions.

Elsewhere, at Al Gharafa

Stadium, Koo Ja-Cheol (67) and Jonathan Kodjia (85) sealed the victory for the hosts. With this result, Al Gharafa raised their points tally to 9 while Al Kharaitiyat remained at three points.

Today, Al Arabi will host Umm Salal in the day's first kick-off. Al Rayyan face Al Wakrah at Al Gharafa Stadium in the final match of the round.

YESTERDAY'S RESULTSAl Ahli 2-0 Al Sailiya

Al Gharafa 2-0 Al Kharaitiyat TODAY'S FIXTURES

5:30pm: Al Arabi vs Umm Salal at Al Arabi Stadium7:45pm: Al Rayyan vs Al

Wakrah at Al Gharafa Stadium

KKR beat SRH in super-over thrillerIANS – DUBAI

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) emerged victorious in yet another dramatic contest as the Eoin Morgan-led side defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in a Super Over at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium yesterday.

SRH could only manage two runs off three deliv-eries in the Super Over as Lockie Ferguson picked David Warner and Abdul Samad before KKR easily chased down the target with two balls to spare.

This was KKR's first win in the Super Over. The Morgan-led side are now on 10 points while SRH have six from nine games.

Before the Super Over, SRH were chasing a 164-run target. They started on a positive note, as openers Jonny Bairstow (36) and Kane Williamson (29) took their side to 57 runs in the initial six overs.

However, just after the mandatory field restric-tions were over, Lockie Ferguson struck to send back his New Zealand captain Williamson. Incoming batsman Priyam Garg (4) also became a victim of Fer-guson in the ninth over before Varun Chakravarthy further jolted SRH after dismissing a well-settled Bairstow in the 10th.

It left SRH reeling at 70/3 before Ferguson further worsened the situation for the 2016 champions as he dismissed Manish Pandey (6).

SRH skipper David Warner (47 not out) and Vijay Shankar (7), who were in damage-control mode, were involved in a brief 27-run partnership before Pat Cummins applied brakes on the latter's stay in the 16th over.

Abdul Samad chipped in with a valuable 23 before falling while Warner kept the fight on at the other end.

With 18 needed off the final over, Warner smacked three boundaries off Andre Russell and three more runs from the over took the game into the Super Over. Warner's unbeaten innings contained five boundaries.

Earlier, some collective batting effort helped KKR post 163/5. Opener Shubman Gill was the highest scorer with his 36-run knock while Nitish Rana and Rahul Tripathi chipped in with 29 and 23 runs respectively top the batting order.

Brief scores: KKR 163/5 (Shubman Gill 36, Eoin Morgan 34; Thangarasu Natarajan 2/40) vs SRH 163/6 (David Warner 47 not out, Jonny Bairstow 36; Lockie Ferguson 3/15)

Punjab prevail in double super-over battle against MI

IANS – DUBAI

It took two Super Over deciders to decide who was the ‘king of Sunday evening. Quite aptly, Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) kept their nerve to edge out Mumbai Indians (MI) in an edge-of-the-seat IPL thriller.

KXIP managed to stop MI from chasing down a target of six in the first Super Over and in the second Super Over Chris Gayle and Mayank Agarwal scored the required 12 runs to take them to a win at the Dubai International Stadium.

Agarwal also played a crucial role in ensuring that MI only scored 11 runs in their second Super Over and not 15 when he leapt back to catch the ball while being air-borne at long on boundary line and threw it back in to deny Kieron Pollard a six.

Earlier, chasing a target of 177, the equation came down to KXIP needing nine to win off the last over. MI’s Trent Boult made sure that the task turned out to be difficult for them despite Chris Jordan hitting a four off the second ball.

With the situation coming down to them needing two off the last ball, Jordan failed to make it back for his second due to a bizarre semi-circle he ran at the non-striker’s end, leaving him more than a pitch away from the wicket by the time he made his way back.

KXIP ended their innings on 176/6 wickets, which was also MI’s score at the end of their 20 overs.

Tottenham Hotspur’s Harry Kane scores their third goal.

Al Ahli's Abdulrasheed

Umaru celebrates with team-mates

after scoring their second goal.

AFP – PARIS

European football is reeling with stadiums largely empty and revenues down, but it is business as usual on the field for the continent’s biggest clubs this week as the Champions League group stage gets underway and Bayern Munich begin their defence of the trophy.

Hansi Flick’s all-conquering team have a glamour tie to get things going, at home to Diego Simeone’s Atletico Madrid on Wednesday.

It will be a fascinating contest, and as Bayern’s Thomas Mueller admitted after the draw was made, “the pressure is on you straight away when you are the holders.”

Before that, tomorrow, Paris Saint-Germain return to the competition following their defeat by Bayern in last season’s final as they take on Manchester United.

They are arguably the week’s two standout ties and would be spine-tingling occa-sions under the lights before a full house, as would Liverpool’s trip to play Ajax in Amsterdam.

But those games will go ahead behind closed doors. After all, while UEFA is allowing clubs to open stadiums up to 30 percent of capacity, it all depends on the green light of local authorities.

The few who attended Bay-ern’s final win over PSG behind closed doors in Lisbon just two months ago can attest to how surreal that occasion was, and yet the quality of the football was not in question.

And so there will be a spec-tacle on the pitch if not in the stands, with Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo due to face each other when Barcelona and Juventus clash in Group G.

Last season, long before the debacle of Barcelona’s 8-2 humiliation against Bayern in Lisbon, Messi had let slip that “the way we are right now I don’t think it’s enough to win the Champions League”.

They may still be nowhere near good enough, but they and the continent’s other super clubs are again aiming to stave off the four-pronged assault from the Premier League.

For all Barcelona’s current problems, they, Bayern and Real Madrid have won eight of the last 10 Champions Leagues between them, and 10 of the last 15.

It is surely only a matter of time before PSG and Man-chester City get their hands on the silverware they crave more than anything, but if there is to be a surprise winner maybe this is the year.

The very biggest clubs have the strongest squads, yet they are already complaining about the punishing schedule in a season that is more condensed than ever -- the six rounds of group games are being packed into eight weeks up to early December.

Last season’s competition finished nearly three months behind schedule with a series

of one-off knockout ties behind closed doors in Lisbon from the quarter-finals onwards.

UEFA does not envisage repeating that format, insisting this season “will be played out in its entirety, in its existing format with the final in Istanbul”.

The Turkish city was sup-posed to host last season’s final before the pandemic forced a change of plan. It remains to be seen if fans will be able to flock from abroad to the banks of the Bosphorus on May 29 next year.

That is still a long way off, but UEFA has adapted its rules and regulations to try to limit potential disruption caused by the pandemic, including insisting games go ahead as long as each team has at least 13 fit players including one goalkeeper.

Using neutral venues is a possibility in the face of potential travel restrictions, while European football’s gov-erning body has decreed that, even if there are postpone-ments, the group stage will not go on beyond January 28.

Something else facing dis-ruption is the prize pot.

UEFA has not made the amount of its prize money public but a reduction from last season seems inevitable due to the economic downturn.

Then the pot amounted to a fraction over €2bn ($2.3bn) for the Champions League and Super Cup.

Bayern were able to pocket almost €87m for their winning run. To that they could add another €35m from their coef-ficient ranking, with more on top from broadcasters.

It is those riches that the biggest clubs come for, and Bayern will take some stopping again.

10 MONDAY 19 OCTOBER 2020SPORT

Barcelona, Bayern and Real

Madrid have won eight of the

last 10 Champions Leagues

between them, and 10 of the

last 15. It is surely only a

matter of time before PSG

and Manchester City get their

hands on the silverware they

crave more than anything, but

if there is to be a surprise

winner maybe this is the year.

Bayern begin title defence in punishing European autumn

FC Barcelona’s Lionel Messi in action during

the La Liga match against Getafe at the

Coliseum Alfonso Perez, Getafe, Spain on

Saturday.

FixturesOpening fixtures in the 2020/21 UEFA Champions League group phase this

week (kick-offs 1900 GMT unless stated):

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 20 GROUP E

Chelsea (ENG) vs Sevilla (ESP) Rennes (FRA) vs Krasnodar (RUS)

GROUP F (1655 GMT)

Zenit Saint-Petersburg (RUS) vs Club Brugge (BEL)

Lazio (ITA) vs Borussia Dortmund (GER) GROUP G (1655 GMT)

Dynamo Kiev (UKR) vs Juventus (ITA) Barcelona (ESP) vs Ferencvaros (HUN)

GROUP H Paris Saint-Germain (FRA) vs

Manchester United (ENG) RB Leipzig (GER) vs Istanbul

Basaksehir (TUR) WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 21

GROUP A (1655 GMT)

Salzburg (AUT) vs Lokomotiv Moscow (RUS)

Bayern Munich (GER) vs Atletico Madrid (ESP) GROUP B (1655 GMT)

Real Madrid (ESP) vs Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR)

Inter Milan (ITA) vs Borussia Moenchengladbach (GER)

GROUP C Manchester City (ENG) vs FC Porto

(POR) Olympiakos (GRE) vs Marseille (FRA)

GROUP D Ajax (NED) vs Liverpool (ENG)

Midtjylland (DEN) vs Atalanta (ITA)

Messi vs Ronaldo, United, Haaland: What to watchAFP – PARIS

The Champions League group stage kicks off tomorrow with Bayern Munich beginning their defence of the trophy won in Lisbon in August. Here are some of the storylines to watch over the next few weeks:

MESSI VS RONALDOThey are the two greatest

players of their generation with 11 Ballons d’Or between them, and the two highest scorers in Champions League history. Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are now set to renew their individual rivalry when Barcelona and Juventus clash in Group G.

They have not faced off since the Portuguese superstar left Real Madrid for Juventus in 2018.

Ronaldo is currently self-isolating after testing positive for Covid-19 and will need to pass a negative test before being allowed to feature against Barca in Turin on October 28. The return at the Camp Nou is on December 8.

Both sides should advance from a group also containing Dynamo Kiev and Ferencvaros, but both Messi and Ronaldo are running out of time to win the Champions League again. Messi, now 33, has featured in four victorious campaigns, while 35-year-old Ronaldo has won it five times.

HAALAND TO STAR AGAIN?Erling Braut Haaland was the

star of last season’s Champions League before the competition was interrupted by the coronavirus pandemic.

The Norwegian was a sensation for Red Bull Salzburg in the group stage, scoring eight times. After moving to Borussia Dortmund in the winter he scored two more in the defeat of PSG in the last 16, first leg, although Dortmund ended up losing on aggregate. In total Haaland scored 44 club goals last season, all before turning 20 in July.

He already has 11 this season for club and country and Dortmund will hope he can help them out of a group also containing Zenit Saint Petersburg, Lazio and Club Brugge.

WILL MAN UNITED GET OUT OF THEIR GROUP?

Manchester United begin their campaign at Paris Saint-Germain in a repeat of their dramatic last-16 meeting in 2018-19, when the Red Devils progressed thanks to a controversial late penalty.

That was arguably the high point of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s reign as Old Trafford manager. It was his 14th win in 17 games as caretaker, and soon after he got the job permanently. But United went out to Barcelona in the quarter-finals and did not qualify for last season’s Champions League.

Solskjer’s first full campaign in charge saw United finish third to

return to Europe’s top table, but serious doubts remain about his managerial ability and they are in a tough group, with last season’s semi-finalists RB Leipzig and the Turkish champions, Istanbul Basaksehir, as well as PSG.

The knives will be out for the Norwegian if they fail to make the knockout stage.

THE DEBUTANTSAtalanta may no longer be the

new boys but four teams are appearing in the group stage for the first time.

The most interesting first-timers are Rennes, who had a best-ever third-place finish in France a year on from winning the French Cup.

In Julien Stephan they have one of Europe’s best young coaches, while midfielder Eduardo Camavinga is possibly the hottest young prospect in world football. They are in a difficult group, though, with Chelsea, Sevilla and another newcomer in Russian side Krasnodar.

Midtjylland will have it tough up against Liverpool, Atalanta and Ajax. Meanwhile, after breaking up the domi-nance of the Istanbul giants in Turkey, Basak-sehir will hope to cause problems for PSG, Manchester United and Leipzig.

Being stuck at home was tough, IbrahimovicREUTERS – MILAN

AC Milan forward Zlatan Ibra-himovic, scorer of both goals in their 2-1 derby win over AC Milan on Saturday, admitted that having to stay at home for two weeks was tough after he tested positive for COVID-19.

“Your rhythm drops com-pletely, and the body starts to tremble because it wants to train and play,” he said.

“I was stuck at home for two weeks, it wasn’t easy, mentally it’s tough especially with the high tempo we had beforehand.”

The 39-year-old, who returned to training last week, said he lost some sense of taste but noticed no other symptoms.

“I was being tested every three days to see the result, I told myself I could skip the other games but not the derby. Nobody was going to stop me. We hadn’t beaten Inter for four years in the league and I was hungry.”

Ibrahimovic said he was disappointed to have a penalty saved even though he followed up and scored from the rebound for Milan’s first goal.

“I shouldn’t miss a penalty,” he said.

“The important thing is that the team won. I am the oldest in the squad, I feel a lot of responsibility and I like that feeling as they all follow my

lead and are hungry to win.”

Big win at Newcastle marks start of United season, says Solskjaer

REUTERS – LONDON

Manchester United needed a longer pre-season to prepare for the Premier League campaign but Saturday’s 4-1 win over Newcastle United is a sign that they are firing on all cylinders again, manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said.

The Red Devils recovered from an early own-goal by Luke Shaw to secure a com-fortable victory with late strikes from Bruno Fernandes, Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Marcus Rashford after under-fire skipper Harry Maguire levelled the contest at 1-1.

Solskjaer was pleased with his team’s response to their 6-1 defeat by Tottenham Hotspur before the international break.

“After the last result, that made this game even bigger. Then we were 1-0 down in two minutes, that made it even more so,” Solskjaer told Sky Sports.

“But we showed great resil-ience, great character to come back, handled the setback really well and we were led by an inspirational captain.

“We don’t want to use it as an excuse, but we needed pre-season. We wanted to get to this international break with more points than we have, but now we know our season started today, because we’ve come up to the speed of the game.”

Manchester United’s second victory of the season left them in 14th place with six points from four games. Solsk-jaer’s side next take on Paris St Germain in the Champions League tomorrow before a home clash with Chelsea in the Premier League.

“The boys have come together really well. They know we’ve got a tough and difficult month ahead of us and they’re looking forward to every single

game,” Sol-s k j a e r said.

R 21

Moscow

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looking forward to every singlegame,” Sol-

s k j a e r said.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer

Bayern Munich players celebrate after winning the Champions League final against Paris Saint Germain in Lisbon, Portugal, in this August 23 file photo.

Richarlison, Pickford apologise to Liverpool duoREUTERS – LONDON

Everton forward Richarlison has issued an apology to Liverpool’s Thiago Alcantara for his dangerous challenge on the midfielder towards the end of Saturday’s 2-2 draw in the Premier League.

Thiago eventually got up from Richarlison’s red-card tackle and created the opening for a late disallowed goal by Jordan Henderson but later reported an injury.

“Everyone who knows my background knows that I was never a violent player,” Rich-arlison said in a statement, blaming his heavy lunge on “sheer over-dedication”.

“I did not enter that dispute with the intention of hurting Thiago... I already sent a message to him apologising and I also do it here publicly. I hope he hasn’t been hurt and that everything is fine.”

L i v e r p o o l ’ s D u t c h defender Virgil van Dijk was taken off with an injury early in the game following a wild tackle from Everton goal-keeper Jordan Pickford.

Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp said Van Dijk was “not good” and described Pickford’s actions as “not a challenge the keeper can do.” Henderson said the England goalkeeper, who went unpunished after the incident, was sorry for his actions.

“Everyone keeps asking us about it so I’m guessing it’s a red card. It mustn’t be a good challenge,” Henderson told BT Sport.

“To be fair, Jordan came up and apologised to me after the game and (told me) to tell Virgil.”

Zlatan Ibrahimovic

09MONDAY 19 OCTOBER 2020 SPORT

New Zealand’s team perform the Haka in front of Australian players (left) before the second Bledisloe Cup rugby union match in Auckland yesterday.

Stunning Clarke leads All Blacks to emphatic win over Wallabies

AFP - AUCKLAND

Wing Caleb Clarke enjoyed a storming first Test start as an aggressive All Blacks downed Australia 27-7 with a rollicking second half in Auckland yesterday to answer their critics after last week’s draw.

After the dramatic Bledisloe Cup series opener ended 16-16, the All Blacks led 10-7 at half-time and scored three quick tries after the restart as they piled on 17 unanswered points in the second period.Bruising wing Clarke, who had the crowd on the edge of their seats every time he touched the ball, evoked memories of Jonah Lomu as the All Blacks played with a renewed physical presence and cohesion.

It was the seventh time in the past 13 years that the three-times world cham-pions have started the annual Bledisloe Cup series with a loss or a draw and immediately bounced back.

“It was tough, but we’re so damn happy,” said All Blacks captain Sam Cane. “There was a lot of pressure this week for a relatively new squad in a lot of ways and I’m really proud of the way we stuck to our plan.

“We worked really, really hard and in the end we managed to break them.”

The four-tries-to-one victory extended the All Blacks’ impressive record at Eden Park, where they have not lost in 44 Tests since 1994 and where Australia have not won since 1986.

They now need to win only one of the two remaining games in the Bledisloe series, which will be played in Australia as part of the upcoming Tri-Nations tournament, to retain the trophy they have held since 2003.

“They were better this week, they raised the bar and got ahead of us,” said Australia captain Michael Hooper.

“We’ll go back home now, getting a couple of days off and regroup. You

know, we’re building. A hit to the confi-dence a bit today, but we’ll go again.”

After being bullied at the breakdown in the first Test, there was added steel to the All Blacks pack with the inclusion of Dane Coles and the tension was evident from the start when almost all 30 players joined in a shoving match between Coles and Taniela Tupou.

When the dust settled, it was con-stant Wallabies attack for most of the first quarter until a carving run by fullback Beauden Barrett put the All Blacks deep in Australian territory, where fly-half Richie Mo’unga opened the scoring with a handy penalty.

Barrett, Sam Cane and Aaron Smith were frequently able to highlight frailties in the Wallabies defensive wall and within five minutes of Mo’unga’s penalty they had the All Blacks back on attack where Smith darted around a ruck to score from close range.

Ned Hanigan, wearing gold for the

first time in two years, set up the Wal-labies’ try with a strong run up to the line, creating a huge overlap which saw Marika Koroibete finish off the move unopposed. But when play resumed in the second half it was a three-try All Blacks blitz in the opening 13 minutes as Jordie Barrett, Ardie Savea and Sam Cane crossed the line in quick succession.

Savea’s try was off a blockbusting run by Clarke, 21, starting for the first time after coming off the bench last week, as he brushed off would-be tacklers in a 30-metre run.

The Wallabies had chances to add to their total but Koroibete was denied one try when he was held up over the line and another when he was brought down just short of the line.

The game was only the second rugby Test worldwide since March, and was played in front of packed stands at Eden Park after New Zealand successfully contained its coronavirus outbreak.

The next Lomu? New bruiser Clarke compared with All Blacks legendAFP - AUCKLAND

The All Blacks may have unearthed the next Jonah Lomu after 21-year-old Caleb Clarke proved to be a one-man demo-lition squad in the All Blacks’ 27-7 whipping of Australia in Auckland yesterday.

Clarke, the son of former All Black Eroni Clarke, takes an uncomplicated approach to using his 1.84 metre, 107 kilo (6ft 1in, 236 pounds) frame.

“When you get the ball, just run. You don’t have to think about anything,” he said after his first Test start, after making his debut off the bench last week in the drawn first Ble-disloe Cup Test.

As the All Blacks lifted their aggression and accuracy in Auckland, much of it was off Clarke’s bruising runs.

The build-up to Ardie Savea’s try was a standout as

Clarke bulldozed his way through most of the Wallabies side before off-loading in sight of the line.

“Michael Hooper grabbed my nuts just then,” Clarke revealed afterwards. “I was really sore. I was trying to push his hand off.”

Clarke also bounced off four tacklers as the All Blacks worked their way towards Aaron Smith’s opening try in the first half.

Wallabies coach Dave Rennie was left counting the cost of 40 missed tackles, many of them on Clarke.

The comparisons between Clarke and Lomu, the former All Blacks wing who is regarded as rugby’s first global superstar, are obvious with both big, fast and direct runners and playing in the number 11 shirt.

The modest Clarke is humbled to be compared to his

hero, who died in 2015 after battling a long-term kidney disorder.

“He was a big part of my childhood and I know he was a big part of my Dad’s life. When he passed away it affected my Dad. He wasn’t the same for a few weeks. I feel like I have a big responsibility to do the jersey justice,” he told Stuff on the eve of the Test.

His father, a 10-Test All Black, played alongside Lomu in 1998.

Such was Clarke’s per-formance that he received a standing ovation from sec-tions of the crowed when he was replaced late in the game.

“I got caught up in the moment. I wanted to jog and clap everyone else but then I

started cramping and I had to walk,” he said.

It was also an emotional time for Clarke having his family there to watch, partic-ularly his grandmother who was widowed earlier this year.

“The more special thing was having my nana there in the crowd... when I saw my nana that’s when the water-works started.”

New Zealand’s Caleb Clarke (centre) makes a break during the second Bledisloe Cup rugby union match between New Zealand and Australia in Auckland yesterday.

All Blacks coach warns Wallabies will ‘fight’ for Bledisloe CupAFP - AUCKLAND

The All Blacks set a “marker” with their convincing win over the Wallabies but they must keep improving if they want to retain the Bledisloe Cup, new coach Ian Foster said yesterday.

The four-tries-to-one, 27-7 win in Auckland was much needed by New Zealand after they began the four-match series with a disap-pointing draw last week in Wellington, Foster’s first game in charge.

But apart from the devas-tation wreaked by sensational rookie Caleb Clarke, it was not the performance Foster was looking for. The All Blacks were 10-7 up at the break before they turned on the style in the second period with three unanswered tries.

“That’s the level we need to start at,” Foster said. “We’ve set a marker down of where we need to be as a team in terms of the mental side of the game and the approach to the physicality and speed of it.

“Was it a perfect per-formance, no it wasn’t... We’ve just got to climb because it’s a tough series. This is a better Wallabies team than I’ve seen for a while and they want to stay in the fight.”

The All Blacks per-formance was a considerable improvement from their display in the 16-16 drawn first Test, while for the Wallabies it was a significant step backwards.

Wallabies coach Dave Rennie had a direct message for his squad about their high error rate, particularly missing 40 tackles.

“Selection can sometimes fix that,” he warned. “We turned the ball over a lot and we missed too many tackles. The individual tackles were poor and we got put under the heat from it.

“Right across the board we weren’t as sharp as last week and gave them a lot of space and opportunity.”

Much of the damage inflicted by the All Blacks came from 21-year-old Clarke, starting a Test for the first time after making his debut in 10-minute cameo off the bench last week.

His rampaging runs drew immediate comparisons with the great Jonah Lomu, rugby’s first global superstar who retired in 2002 and died in 2015.

Although Clarke did not score himself, he set up a sen-sational try by Ardie Savea and was often instrumental in leading the All Blacks out of their danger zone and on to attack.

Clarke left the field to a standing ovation and Foster said he had delivered the level of performance he wanted from entire squad.

“He just wants the ball and wants to run hard and it’s quite a good thing for us to give him the ball,” Foster said.

People look at the competitors’ boats moored at the starting site of the 2020 edition of the Vendee Globe around the world monohull solo sailing race, in Les Sables-d’Olonne on the opening day of the Vendee Globe village yesterday.

British challenger launches second America’s Cup boatAP - WELLINGTON

British challenger INEOS Team UK launched its second Amer-ica’s Cup sailboat in Auckland yesterday, a day after United States syndicate American Magic also revealed its second generation racer.

The black-hulled monohull, christened Britannia, was lowered gently into the water outside the Team UK base after a small naming ceremony.

Britannia, which will be helmed by four-time Olympic sailing gold medalist Ben Ainslie in the challenger series starting in January, appeared to mark a major development over the team’s first generation sailboat.

“Today marks a landmark moment for all of us,” Ainslie said. “A huge amount of hard work and dedication has gone into designing and building this race boat, including over 90,000 design hours and 46,000 construction hours.

“This is a big step forward for us as a team and we can’t wait to get out on the water in the Auckland Harbour.”

Ainslee said hard work lies ahead if Britain is to win the America’s Cup for the first time since it lost the first match in 1856 to the challenger America.

“The coming months will be an intense time as we will need to make every second out on the water in this new boat count

to get the full potential out of her by the time we start racing in the America’s Cup World Series this December and beyond. But we are all looking forward to taking on this chal-lenge of a lifetime.”

Team founder and chairman Jim Ratcliffe sent a message of support to Ainslie and the British team during the naming ceremony.

“The America’s Cup is a magnificent competition with an extraordinary history and now I believe that for one of the first times in British history we are going to arrive at the start line with a truly competitive boat,” he said.

The Britannia launch was

part of a flurry of activity as the start of racing approaches.

American Magic launched its second generation race

Patriot on Friday and Italian syndicate Prada is due to reveal its second boat Tuesday.

The yachts are all part of the

AC75 class of 75-foot high-tech monohulls which rise out of the water on foils and are capable of extremely high speeds.

The challengers and

defender Team New

Zealand will race against

each other for the first

time in the Christmas

Cup in December. The

Prada Cup challenger

series begins in January

and the 36th America’s

Cup match in which the

top challenger races

Team New Zealand takes

place in March.

08MONDAY 19 OCTOBER 2020Sport

Geoghegan Hart claims Stage 15 win, Almeida clings on to race leadREUTERS — PIANCAVALLO, ITALY

Tao Geoghegan Hart claimed a fifth stage win for Ineos-Grenadiers in this year’s Giro d’Italia when he won the 15th stage yesterday, a 185-km mountain trek, as Joao Alme-ida’s overall lead was whittled down to just 15 seconds.

Briton Geoghegan Hart was the freshest man at the end of the final ascent, a pun-ishing 14.5-km effort at an average gradient of 7.8%, to beat Dutchman Wilco Kel-derman by two seconds.

Kelderman’s Sunweb team mate Jai Hindley of Australia was third, four seconds off the pace, after pacing the leading trio up the climb.

Portuguese Almeida came home fourth, 37

seconds behind the winner. He retained the overall race leader’s Maglia Rosa jersey, with a 15-second lead over Kelderman.

It was a bad day at the office for double champion Vincenzo Nibali, however, who dropped to seventh overall, 3:29 behind Almeida after cracking with 8.8 kilo-metres left on the last ascent.

Ineos-Grenadiers lost team leader Geraint Thomas to a crash early in the race, but they can now count on Geoghegan Hart to mount a challenge in the final week.

The 25-year-old jumped to fourth overall, a distant 2:57 off the pace. But his apparent superiority yes-terday made him a force to be reckoned with three more summit finishes left in the race. Today is a rest day on the Giro.

Team Ineos rider Great Britain’s Tao Geoghegan Hart celebrates his win in 15th stage of the Giro d’Italia 2020, yesterday.

Zverev clinches first ATP crown of 2020 REUTERS — COLOGNE

Top seed Alexander Zverev bagged his first ATP crown of the year after beating Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-3, 6-3 to lift the bett1HULKS Indoor title in Cologne yesterday.

The German, who lost the US Open final last month and exited the French Open in the fourth round, needed only an hour and 20 minutes to get the better of the 20-year-old Canadian thanks to a dom-inant service game.

Zverev, 23, won 80% of his first service points and an overwhelming 88% on his second serve while he also converted four of 10 break points to hand Auger-Ali-assime -- who is still searching for his first title -- a sixth defeat in a final.

“I had a very tough final in New York and the next final I played here I wanted to come out and obviously play my best tennis,” Zverev said.

“Felix, you’re an unbe-lievable player. I know it doesn’t mean much right now, but I’m sure you’re not only going to win one title, you’re going to win multiple titles in your career, bigger titles than this.”

Victory gave Zverev his 12th ATP title and his third on home soil after he won the Munich Open in 2017 and 2018.

Zverev has already qual-ified for the season-ending ATP Finals in London next month but will remain in Cologne for the bett1HULKS Championships next week where he is again the top seed.

Alexander Zverev beats Felix

Auger-Aliassime 6-3, 6-3 to lift the

bett1HULKS Indoor title in Cologne.

The German, who lost the US Open

final last month and exited the

French Open in the fourth round,

needed only an hour and 20

minutes to get the better of the

20-year-old Canadian thanks to a

dominant service game.

Germany’s Alexander Zverev celebrates during the final against Canada’s Felix Auger Aliassime, yesterday.

Djere wins in Sardinia for second ATP trophyREUTERS — SARDINIA

Serbia’s Laslo Djere beat Italy’s Marco Cecchinato 7-6(3), 7-5 yesterday to win his second career ATP title at the Sardinia Open, the final claycourt tour-nament of the year.

Djere capitalised on Cecch-inato’s poor second serve to convert four break points in the match while the Italian also made a slew of errors in the tie-break to hand his opponent the advantage.

The Serb started the second set on the front foot and nearly took a 3-0 lead before the home favourite mounted a comeback.

Djere lost some of his rhythm and made a few errors himself but kept his nerve before eventually breaking

Cecchinato in the final game.Cecchinato was looking to

become the first Italian to win a title on home soil in 14 years but took solace in the fact that his run to the final would see him enter the top 100 in the rankings.

“I’m very happy for this,” he said. “I stayed very focused on my game during the match from the first to the last point. There are so many positive things from the past few weeks.”

Djere, the world number 74, is the third Serbian to win an ATP title this year after world number one and Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic (four titles) and 21-year-old Miomir Kec-manovic, who captured his maiden title in Kitzbuehel.

Jaguars put 12 practice squad players on COVID list

REUTERS — NEW YORK

The Jacksonville Jaguars placed 12 members of their practice squad on the Reserve/COVID-19 list.

One member of the practice squad tested positive and the others were added to the list after contact tracing determined there was a prox-imity issue, the NFL Network reported.

The dozen players are: running back Nathan Cottrell; tight end Ben Ellefson; line-backers Nate Evans and Joe Giles-Harris; wide receivers Terry Godwin, Josh Hammond and Trey Quinn; offensive linemen Jared Hilbers, KC McDermott and Austen Pleasants; and defensive backs Doug Middleton and Josh Nurse.

Defensive end Josh Mauro was also placed on the Reserve/COVID-19 list.

The 29-year-old veteran was suspended for the first five games this season for violating the NFL policy on per-formance-enhancing drugs.

The Reserve/COVID-19 list was created for players who either test positive for the coronavirus or who have been in close contact with an infected person.

The Jaguars, who worked remotely Saturday, are scheduled to host the Detroit Lions. The team said in a statement that it still is planning to play the game.

“As a precautionary measure for (Saturday), we made the decision to conduct our football activities remotely while following NFL protocols and recommendations,” a team statement said.

“This decision was made in consultation with the NFL and the team’s medical advisors. The health and safety of our players, coaches and staff, as well as their families, are our top priority,” the statement added.

Rays reach second World Series as Dodgers force game seven in NLCSAFP — LOS ANGELES

Randy Arozarena clubbed a two-run homer in the first inning and Charlie Morton worked 5 2/3 solid innings as the Tampa Bay Rays advanced to their second World Series in club history with a 4-2 win over the Houston Astros.

Mike Zunino also slugged an early home run as the Rays recovered from the shock of being in a winner-take-all showdown after cruising to vic-tories in the first three games of the American League Cham-pionship Series at Petco Park in San Diego.

Saturday’s game seven allowed the Rays to salvage their season and prevent the Astros from becoming just the second team in Major League Baseball history to storm back from a 3-0 deficit.

Tampa Bay will play either the Atlanta Braves or Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series which begins tomorrow in Arlington, Texas. The Dodgers forced a game seven with a 3-1 win earlier Saturday.

Tampa Bay reached the World Series in 2008 before losing to the Philadelphia Phillies.

Rays starter Morton allowed just two hits, struck out six batters and walked one.

Houston Astros ace Lance McCullers struck out seven but allowed four hits, three runs and two home runs in just 3 2/3 innings of work.

Following a tumultuous off-season and a regular season in which they underperformed,

the Astros regrouped in the postseason.

Their 2017 World Series championship lost much of its luster after a MLB probe found Houston illegally stole oppo-nents’ signs that year.

In the NLCS, the Dodgers used another first-inning scoring burst to stay alive in the play-offs, beating the Braves to force a decisive game seven.

The Dodgers are one win from advancing to their third World Series appearance in four years after pulling level at 3-3 in the best-of-seven series.

Game seven is in the neutral site of Arlington, Texas with a limited number of spectators allowed to attend because of the coronavirus pandemic.

“Our team is very

comfortable,” said Dodgers starting pitcher Walker Buehler. “I expect the same feeling tomorrow.”

Corey Seager and Justin Turner hit consecutive home runs for the Dodgers, who trailed 2-0 and 3-1 in the series but will now play a game seven to keep their bid to win their first World Series title since 1988 alive.

Seager slammed his fifth home run of the series and Turner launched a 418-foot shot to centrefield as the Dodgers long-ball hitters once again took a jackhammer to the Braves’ starting pitcher with three runs in the opening inning.

The Dodgers scored 11 runs in the first inning of game three en route to a crushing 15-3

victory. Buehler worked six superb shutout innings, allowing seven hits and striking out six batters. He allowed no walks.

Buehler said he was fine with being pulled from the game after the sixth inning.

Kenley Jansen needed just six pitches in the ninth inning to get three outs and record the save for the Dodgers, who are in the playoffs for the eighth straight year. It was his second save of the playoffs and first since the wild card round.

The Braves are seeking to go to their first World Series since 1999. In game seven, they will turn to rookie right-hander Ian Anderson, who has yet to give up a run in three play-off starts.

Tampa Bay Rays players celebrate their victory against the Houston Astros in game seven of the 2020 ALCS at Petco Park.

Lopez stuns Lomachenko in lightweight unification title fight

AFP — LOS ANGELES

Unbeaten Teofimo Lopez (pictured) upset Vasiliy Lomachenko by a unanimous decision on Saturday to become the undisputed world light-weight champion in Las Vegas.

Lopez defended his 135-pound IBF lightweight title and seized the WBC, WBO and WBA belts from Ukraine’s Lomachenko who suffered his first loss in six years.

“I am ready to take over the world,” said Lopez, who won by scores of 119-109, 117-111 and 116-112.

Lopez, 16-0 with 12 knockouts, became the light-weight king in a fight that appeared to be closer than the lopsided judges’ scorecards indicated at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino.

In the biggest fight of his career, Lopez, of the US, dom-inated the first half before Lomachenko came storming back in the later rounds to set the stage for a thrilling final round.

At 23, Lopez is the youngest fighter to become a four belt undisputed champion. He did it in an empty MGM arena where spectators were banned because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Lopez received a nasty cut over the right eye from an acci-dental head butt in the final round but was able to continue.

Lomachenko, defending for

the fourth time the title he took from Venezuelan Jorge Linares in 2018, bristled at the decision and immediately left the ring after the scores were announced.

Lomachenko is an unu-sually slow starter and that was the case once again on Saturday.

He didn’t start landing meaningful combinations until the seventh or eighth round which left him with a huge hole to climb out of.

Lomachenko dropped to 14-2 with 10 knockouts. He was coming off a unanimous decision victory over English southpaw Luke Campbell last August in London.

Lomachenko, an Olympic champion in 2008 and 2012, was a 3-1 favourite heading into the fight.

Lopez defends his 135-pound IBF

lightweight title and seizes the

WBC, WBO and WBA belts from

Ukraine’s Lomachenko who suffered

his first loss in six years.