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Tuesday August 22, 2017

REAL MADRID’S winning streak shows no signs of abat-ing as the European champion began its defense of La Liga with a comfortable 3-0 win at Deportivo la Coruna.

Gareth Bale, Casemiro and Toni Kroos were on target for the visitors, but Madrid’s night at La Riazor ended on a sour note when captain Sergio Ramos was shown the 23rd red card of his Real career.

“Clearly I am not happy with what happened with Sergio,” said Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane.

“I don’t like seeing my players get sent-off, but we can’t change it now.”

Ramos could have been dis-missed earlier in the second-half when he only received a yellow card for a slap on Deportivo defender Fabian Schar.

However, he tied a record for 18 red cards in La Liga with a second booking for an elbow on Borja Valle in the dying embers of the match.

“In general we can be happy with our performance,” added Zidane.

“It isn’t an easy place to come and they had chances to score.”

Deportivo were left to rue two big opportunities missed by Florin Andone in the fi rst 10 minutes, whilst the Romanian international also saw a late penalty saved by Keylor Navas.

Zidane made four changes from the side that completed a 5-1 aggregate hammering of Barcelona in the Spanish Super Cup on Wednesday.

Victory in midweek sealed a fourth trophy for Zidane’s men in as many months after lifting

La Liga, the Champions League and UEFA Super Cup.

However, far from its invinci-ble form of late, Real was lucky to escape unpunished from a slow start.

Navas fl ew to his left to turn Andone’s fi rst effort from a narrow angle to safety, but should have been beaten when the forward fi red straight at the Costa Rican when clean through moments later.

There was no way back for Deportivo once Madrid took the lead on 20 minutes as Bale pounced on Karim Benzema’s scuffed shot to fi re into an

unguarded net for his fi rst goal of the season.

A wonderfully worked team goal followed six minutes later as Real moved the ball all over the pitch before Marcelo’s low cross was turned home by Casemiro.

Bale turned provider for Real’s third just after the hour mark as Kroos’s defl ected effort from the edge of the box found the top corner.

Andone missed another chance for a consolation when his poorly hit spot-kick was easily turned behind by Navas two minutes from time before Ramos saw red.

Madrid moves to the top of the table thanks to its better goal dif-ference ahead of Barcelona, who beat Real Betis 2-0 in emotional circumstances at the Camp Nou earlier Sunday.

In Barca’s fi rst home match since a pair of terrorist attacks killed 14 people and wounded around 120 in Barcelona’s bustling Las Ramblas boule-vard and the nearby seaside resort of Cambrils, Barcelona players wore black armbands and shirts with “Barcelona” replacing individual names on the back.

(SD-Agencies)

CHINESE Super League cham-pion Guangzhou Evergrande and big-spending Shanghai SIPG take their domestic rivalry onto the continental stage when managers Luiz Felipe Scolari and Andre Villas-Boas face off in the fi rst leg of the Asian Champions League quarterfi nals today.

Both clubs have become dominant forces in Chinese soccer, with cash-rich SIPG spending heavily to supercharge its attempt to deny Guangzhou a record-extending seventh domestic title.

Guangzhou has won the CSL title in each of the last six seasons and been crowned Asian cham-pion twice since 2013.

And, despite its rival splashing out on Brazilian trio Oscar, Hulk and Elkeson, Scolari’s men hold the upper hand going into the fi rst leg.

“We have done very well in our last two games,” Scolari said after a 3-0 win over Shanghai Shenhua on Saturday saw his side extend its lead over SIPG in the league to eight points.

“The players repaid my trust with an excellent performance. We are a team and working together for the championship.

“I can’t be sure about our line-up for next week’s Asian Champions League game, it will depend on the players’ situation at that moment.

“But after Paulinho’s depar-ture and Huang Bowen’s injury our midfi eld faces challenges.”

Evergrande has been weakened by the sale of Brazilian Paulinho to Barcelona after the former Tottenham Hotspur midfi elder played a key role in an under-performing Guangzhou navigat-ing its way through the earlier stages of the competition.

The 29-year-old scored fi ve times in eight games, including in the away-goals win over Japa-nese champion Kashima Antlers in the last 16.

“Paulinho’s a great player and was an important member of our team,” Guangzhou captain Zheng Zhi said.

“But every team has players come and go. Of course his departure will have some impact on us, but we believe his spot can be fi lled by lots of players on our team.”

While Evergrande leads in the league, SIPG holds the upper hand in the Chinese FA Cup, with Villas-Boas’ team claiming a 2-1 win when the two teams met in the fi rst leg of the semifi nals played last week.

But with its challenge for the league title ebbing away, the pres-sure is mounting on ex-Chelsea and Spurs boss Villas-Boas to take SIPG into the semifi nals of the Asian Champions League for the fi rst time in the club’s history.

The winner of the Chinese duel will meet either Urawa Red Diamonds or Kawasaki Frontale, both from Japan, in the semifi -nals. (China Daily)

TWO goals from Marcos Alonso gave Chelsea a 2-1 victory over Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday in the fi rst-ever Premier League game at Wembley Stadium.

For all the noise and wall of fl ags that greeted their arrival, Spurs needed an early goal to feel at ease in their new sur-roundings.

It was Chelsea, though, who made the breakthrough against the run of play on 23 minutes when Alonso thumped home a superb free kick from 20 meters after Dele Alli had fouled David Luiz.

The shock jolted Spurs who spent much of the game pep-pering Chelsea’s goal, with Harry Kane hitting the post and Chris-tian Eriksen also going close.

They eventually got a goal on 82 minutes but only when Michy Batshuayi headed an Eriksen free kick into his own goal two minutes after coming on as a substitute.

The striker looked discon-solate but the goal heralded a frantic fi nale in which Totten-ham had a penalty appeal turned down and Chelsea scored on the counter-attack after 88 minutes

when Luiz intercepted and Pedro fed Alonso on the overlap.

The fullback shot low but must have been as surprised as anyone when goalkeeper Hugo Lloris somehow let the ball through.

“We played a very good game,” said Alonso. “I don’t think I ever hit a better free kick than the fi rst, not even in training.”

Midfi elder Luiz was at the heart of most that was good about Chelsea, breaking down

Tottenham attacks and pushing his team forward. Asked what instructions he had received from manager Antonio Conte, Luiz said: “Run.”

It was Chelsea’s fourth suc-cessive win over Spurs at the national stadium and hardly bodes well for Tottenham’s temporary home while their new stadium is being built. In their past 11 games at Wembley, Spurs have won only twice.

(SD-Agencies)

WHILE the Cavaliers are report-edly preparing for the possibility that this season will be LeBron James’ last in Cleveland, a fellow NBA superstar thinks James could be headed to New York.

Clippers forward Blake Griffi n explained his contrarian theory on the View From The Cheap Seats podcast, saying he thinks James’ side has something “brewing” but it isn’t a plan to play in Los Angeles as many suspect.

“I could see [LeBron] going to New York before L.A. I still think, when you go to the Garden, it’s a completely different feeling,” Griffi n said.

James re-signed with the Cavs on a three-year deal worth US$100 million last August, but the 32-year-old superstar can opt out of the fi nal year of his contract and become an unrestricted free agent after the 2017-18 season.

According to ESPN, James is intrigued with pursuing a Lakers exit plan, but Griffi n doesn’t see it happening. (SD-Agencies)

Alonso double spoils Spurs’ opener

Real Madrid eases past DeportivoEvergrande out to end SIPG’s dream

LeBron going to Knicks,Griffi n says

Real Madrid’s defender Dani Carvajal (L) jumps for the ball with Deportivo La Coruna’s Costa Rican midfi elder Celso Borges at the Municipal de Riazor stadium in La Coruna on Sunday. SD-Agencies

Chelsea’s Marcos Alonso celebrates scoring its second goal against Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday. SD-Agencies