Empoli held by Torino

WORLD SPORT
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Celtic face tough
Inter challenge
n Uefa General Secretary Gianni Infantino, left, and ambassador for the Uefa Europa League final in Warsaw Jerzy Dudek present the name of
Liverpool FC during the draw for the Europa League round of 32 in Nyon yesterday. Right, David Harrison, left, Head of Football Operations and
Club Secretary of Everton and Fredy Bickel, right, sport manager of Young Boys attend the draw
PARIS: Celtic face a tricky Europa
League last-32 tie after being drawn
yesterday against Italy’s Inter Milan
as Liverpool take on gritty Turkish
side Besiktas.
For former European heavyweights Liverpool
it will be a return to Istanbul, the scene of their
memorable 2005 Champions League final victory over AC Milan in which current skipper Steven Gerrard scored.
However Celtic face a difficult clash against a
side who have won Europe’s second-tier competition three times.
Liverpool, also three-time winners, who were
dumped out of the Champions League by Swiss
side Basel last week, won their last meeting with
Besiktas 8-0 in the 2007-08 elite European competition.
Besiktas striker Demba Ba, who played in
England for West Ham United, Newcastle
United and Chelsea, told Uefa: “It’s a difficult
pairing.
“Liverpool are having some hard times now.
If we can snatch a good result in the first leg, it
will be an advantage to be playing the second
leg at home.”
EUROPA LEAGUE LAST 32 DRAW
Young Boys (SUI) v Everton (ENG)
Torino (ITA) v Athletic Bilbao (ESP)
Sevilla (ESP) v B. Moenchengladbach (GER)
Wolfsburg (GER) v Sporting Lisbon (POR)
Ajax (NED) v Legia Warsaw (POL)
Aalborg (DEN) v Brugge (BEL)
Anderlecht (BEL) v Dynamo Moscow (RUS)
Dnipro (UKR) v Olympiakos (GRE)
Trabzonspor (TUR) v Napoli (ITA)
Titleholders Sevilla will be up against Borussia Moenchengladbach, fourth in the Bundesliga, in a tie between teams who have won the
competition, or its predecessor the Uefa Cup,
five times between them.
English side Tottenham will take on Italy’s
Fiorentina while Everton were drawn against
Swiss side Young Boys in the first tie out of the
Uefa pots in Nyon, Switzerland on Monday.
Spanish side Villarreal have drawn Salzburg,
who they met in the 2009-10 group stage with
the Austrian outfit winning both games.
Guingamp, the only French club left in the
Ronaldo to lead Real’s
World Club Cup charge
RABAT: World
player
of the year Cristiano Ronaldo enters
the Club World
Cup stage today (starting at
10.30pm, Bahrain time) as he
heads the all star cast from
Real Madrid in their semi-final against Mexican side
Cruz Azul in Marrakesh.
The 10-time European
Champions go into the game
in superb form on a run of 20
consecutive victories and with
their talisman Cristiano Ronaldo having scored 25 goals in 15
league games this season.
“We’ve had an unforgettable year, winning a lot of
titles, especially La Decima
(10th Champions League
title), and are in a good position in the league. We now go
to the Club World Cup with
the intentions of winning
it,” said their coach Carlo
Ancelotti after the 4-1 win at
Almeria at the weekend.
Ronaldo though won’t be
just a one man team.
Goalkeeper Iker Casillas
looks to have returned to
form after a worrying slump,
French international Karim
Benzema is in devastating
form up front and Welshman
Gareth Bale is also flourishing.
However, Colombian star
James Rodriguez and German
World Cup winning midfielder
Sami Khedira will miss the
semi-finals, but Ancelotti says
both should be back for the
final if Real qualify.
Cruz Azul will want to make
the most of their good fortune
in the quarter-final against
Australia’s Asian champions
Western Sydney Wanderers.
They trailed until the last
minute of regular time against
10-man Wanderers before
levelling and then went on to
win 3-1, which also saw their
opponents have another player
sent-off, in extra-time.
Guingamp (FRA) v Dynamo Kiev (UKR)
Villareal (ESP) v FC Salzburg (AUT)
Roma (ITA) v Feyenoord (NED)
PSV Eindhoven (NED) v Zenit (RUS)
Liverpool (ENG) v Beskitas (TUR)
Tottenham (ENG) v Fiorentina (ITA)
Celtic (SCO) v Inter Milan (ITA)
Matches will be played on February 19 and 26
competition, will play Ukrainian side Dynamo Kiev as they look to continue their fairytale run following their first qualification for
the Europa League last 32 by ending Paris
Saint-Germain’s unbeaten Ligue 1 run this
season on Sunday.
Russian side Dynamo Moscow will play
modest Belgian side Anderlecht as Germany’s Wolfsburg take on Sporting Lisbon, and
Ukrainian side Dniepropetrovsk have drawn
Olympiakos of Greece.
The first-leg matches will be played on February 19, with the return fixtures seven days later.
Empoli held by Torino
MILAN: Empoli
dominated but were held
to a 0-0 draw at home to
Torino as they stretched
their unbeaten run to five
Serie A matches yesterday.
Both sides are struggling at the foot of the
table, with Torino a point off the bottom
three, two points behind promoted side
Empoli.
Empoli almost took an early lead but
Matias Vecino sent a 30-yard effort just
wide of the top corner and Simone Verdi’s
free kick was palmed round the upright by
Jean-Francois Gillet.
Empoli had Torino pegged back in its own
half for much of the second period but
Gillet was in fine form.
Torino defender Pontus Jansson was sent
off after a second booking in the final
minute.
n Beasley ends career
LOS ANGELES: DaMarcus Beasley, who
represented the United States at four
World Cups, announced his retirement
from international football on his
Instagram account on Monday.
The 32-year-old called time on one of the
longest and most prolific careers of any
US player.
He is the only American to play at four
World Cups and his 121 caps are the
fifth most of any USA
player.
His 17 international
goals put him ninth on
America’s scoring list.
Beasley made his international debut in
2001, spending most of his international
career as a winger before converting to
left back ahead of the 2014 World Cup.
He started all four of the United States
games in Brazil, playing every minute
of the side’s run to the round of 16. He
made his World Cup debut in 2002,
and also played in the 2006 and 2010
editions.
n Rangers and Ashley charged
LONDON: Rangers and Mike Ashley have
been charged by the Scottish Football
Association (SFA) over the minority
shareholder’s dual interest in the club and
English Premier League Newcastle United.
“Except with the prior written consent
of the board no person who is involved
in any capacity ... in the management or
administration of a club may at the same
time either directly or indirectly be involved
in any capacity ... in the management or
administration of another club,” the SFA
said in a statement yesterday.
Ashley owns Newcastle and also has a
10 per cent shareholding in second tier
Rangers.
Gulf Daily News Tuesday, 16th December 2014
31
Kerala Blasters
are on verge of
creating history
W
HO would have thought that
Kerala Blasters, the least
scoring side in the Indian Super
League (ISL), would have a three goal
advantage
in the first
leg of the
ISL semi
final?
Unlike
By Mohammed Hamzah
other
leagues,
(Follow me on Twitter: @FootballMH)
the ISL
combines the format of both the
accumulated points system and
knockout competition in determining
the league’s champions. The top four
teams with the highest accumulated
points in the league play head to head
in two legged semifinals, and the winners face off in a final match to crown
the champions. This system is similar
to the one that was adopted by the
Saudi Premier League up until 2007,
when the league championship was
settled via playoffs. Given the small
number of teams in the ISL (a total
of eight), each side had a chance to
qualify to the tournament’s playoffs.
It also meant that in the final round of
matches a number of teams were in
contention of making it to the playoffs.
Kerala Blasters is the side coached
by former England international
goalkeeper, David James. In order to
qualify to the playoffs, they needed a
stroke of luck to qualify to the semi
finals. Not only did they need to win
their last league game against FC
Pune City, but also hoped that results went their way in other matches
played.
During the semifinals, Kerala faced
the difficult task of hosting Chennaiyin
FC, the team that finished top of the
league with only three defeats throughout the ISL. Ahead of the playoffs,
Chennaiyin FC won in both encounters
against Kerala Blasters. Surprisingly
though, Kerala grasped their opportunity in the first leg of the semifinal and
scored three goals with no return from
Chennaiyin.
Those three goals counted for a
quarter of Kerala’s total goals in the
ISL. Prior to the semi final, Kerala had
never scored three goals in a league
match. It seems as if the team started
its run of results in just the right time,
and is better suited to the playoffs
system.
“Form goes out of the window” in
cup competitions, and so it is anyone’s
game.
The all awaited for ISL final is going
to be played on Saturday, and with
it the first champion of the inaugural
competition will be declared. Having
conceded the least number of goals
in the ISL, Kerala will have to rely on
their defensive strengths in order to
reach Saturday’s final, and fight for the
trophy.
I am not writing Chennaiyin off, especially since they had only lost once
to the other top three (excluding the
playoff against Kerala). In addition,
they remain the league’s top scoring
side, with the competition’s current top
scorer, Elano, in their arsenal. Tonight’s
second leg will be their opportunity to
stage an incredible comeback on their
own turf and in front of their home
fans.
The unique format of the ISL makes
the playoffs more entertaining, and
stressful for fans. The reason being
that you cannot know for certain
which team is going to win the competition. It’s all to play for in the remaining matches, and I’m sure there will
be more surprises along the way to
Saturday’s final.
From the
Sidelines