20 TIMES SPORT THE TIMES OF INDIA, MUMBAI

MONDAY, JANUARY 30, 2017

Barca salvage late draw Getty Images

EXTRA TIME

West Ham agree

Catalans Denied
Early Goal Though
Ball Crosses Line
By Nearly A Metre
Madrid: Lionel Messi set up Luis Su-
arez's 90th-minute equaliser to help
Barcelona salvage a 1-1 draw at Real
Betis on Sunday, but the result could
leave the Catalan club even further
adrift of the Spanish league lead.
This result wasn't in our plans,
but we have the entire second half of
the league still to play and we have to
keep putting pressure on the teams
ahead of us, Barcelona coach Luis
Enrique said. The most consistent
team at the end will win. It feels like
we won a point today.
LA LIGA
Barcelona were outplayed during
most of the match, and the hosts ope-
ned the scoring in the 73rd minute af-
ter goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Ste-
gen failed to get to a corner kick
cross. Betis forward Alex Alegria got
to the loose ball and easily scored
from in front of the net.
Betis had a few good chances to
put the game away, the best one came
when striker Ruben Castro broke
A STEAL: Barcelonas Luis Suarez celebrates after scoring a last-gasp equaliser against
Real Betis in their La Liga clash on Sunday. Lionel Messi assisted the goal
free toward the goal in the 80th but
couldn't beat the goalkeeper from
close range.
We had more chances but we co-
uldn't capitalize on them, Alegria
said. It's never a bad result to draw
against Barcelona, but after the ga-
me that we played today, it's a shame
that we didn't get the victory.
Barcelona should have been
awarded an earlier equaliser when
the officiating crew failed to see a
ball that clearly crossed the goal line
before being cleared by a defender.
The ball was nearly a metre insi-
de the goal but the linesman ruled
that it didn't go in. Another similar
play happened just a few moments la-
ter, but on this occasion the ball appe-
ared to be on the goal line when it was
cleared by a defender.
The defending champions finally
equalised after Messi stole the ball
outside the box and immediately
sent a perfect through ball to Suarez,
who found the low right corner as the
goalkeeper charged from the net.
It took us too long to get going,
said Suarez, who scored his league-
leading 16th goal. We have to admit
that we didn't play a very good
match.
Atletico held in stalemate
Atletico Madrid's title chances took
another hit after a scoreless draw at
promoted Alaves in the Spanish lea-
gue on Saturday.
It was the second consecutive lea-
gue draw for Atletico, keeping Diego
Simeone's team in fourth place, se-
ven points off the lead. It is also in
danger of dropping further behind
in the fight for an automatic spot for
the Champions League, as it was five
points behind third-place Barcelo-
na. The leaders play on Sunday.
We won a point, which is more
than we could have hoped for in this
game,'' Simeone said. It was not a go-
od game in general. We need to im-
prove.
Atletico, who won three in a row
before enduring the two consecutive
setbacks, were outplayed by Alaves
during most of the match at Mendi-
zorroza Stadium. The host's best sco-
ring chance was a close-range shot
by Victor Laguardia that struck the
crossbar in the 30th minute. Off the
rebound, striker Deyverson's header
missed the open net. AGENCIES
to Payet transfer
France international Dimitri
Payet's long drawn out trans-
fer saga ended on Sunday as
Premier League side West
Ham agreed to sell him to
Ligue 1 outfit Marseille for a
reported 25million The
29-year-old, who starred for
the Hammers last season
scoring 12 goals, had effec-
tively gone on strike at the
beginning of the month.
West Ham United can con-
firm that a 25m fee has today
been agreed for the transfer
of Dimitri Payet to Olympique
de Marseille, tweeted the
club on their Twitter page.
We're going home, Payet
later tweeted alongside a
photo of a small private plane
with its door open.
Inter beat Pescara 3-0,
move to fourth
Inter Milan coach Stefano
Piolo warned Serie A his team
was yet to peak after it beat
bottom club Pescara 3-0 for
its ninth successive victory in
all competitions on Saturday.
Danilo D'Ambrosio, Joao
Mario, and Eder scored for
Inter to jump above Lazio and
into fourth place, two points
below Napoli and three below
Roma. Napoli hosts Palermo
about situations, players and
all games. It was an important
game for us and we couldn't
deliver, he said.
Flares hurt cameraman,
steward in Leverkusen
Bayer Leverkusen could face a
heavy fine after a German
Football League (DFL) cam-
eraman and a steward were
injured by flares ignited by
home fans before a Bundesli-
ga match. 'Ultra' (hardcore)
Leverkusen fans amongst
home supporters ignited
bangers and flares ahead of
Saturday's home 3-2 defeat to
Borussia Moenchengladbach
at the BayArena. A DFL cam-
eraman suffered a foot injury
when a firework landed near
his foot, and was unable to
keep working, while a Lev-
erkusen steward suffered a
blast trauma.
Sex abuse scandal a
disgrace: Beckham
England football icon David
Beckham labelled the histor-
ical sex abuse scandal that
has rocked the sport as a
disgrace. There was never
anything like that, said the
41-year-old. It is disgraceful
and something has to be
done. The closest we ever
came to that was when
certain professionals in the
senior team would make us

Sarita breaks no Walcott-Welbeck show helps

on Sunday, a few hours after do a funny dance in front of
Roma plays at Sampdoria. our heroes at the time. It was
Inter visits Juventus next humiliation but that was just

Arsenal knock out Saints

weekend, after the Italian Cup to teach us a lesson.

sweat in pro debut Getty Images

Imphal: Indian woman
boxer L Sa-
rita Devi
comfortab-
ly outpun-
ched Zsofia
Bedo of
Hungary to
make a winning start to
her professional career in
the IBC Fight Night at the
Khuman Lampak Stadi-
um, here on Sunday .
Zofia Bedo had chal-
lenged to reduce Sarita to
tears but it was Sarita who
settled the scores in the
ring in front of roaring
fans at her hometown.
Sarita won the bout by
unanimous verdict.
The Asian Games in-
cident was very painful. I
had to erase those sad me-
mories. That was one big
factor I decided to turn
pro. For any mother to stay
away and not to feed her
child is the biggest sacrifi-
ce. I made that sacrifice for
this day, said Sarita, whi-
le hugging her three-year-
old son in the ring.
Having established a
winning edge after three
rounds, Sarita was deter-
mined to silence her rivals
for once and ever.
PRO BOXING
The 2014 Glasgow Com-
monwealth Games Silver
medallist, Sarita proved
her overall superiority
and made it clear that she
is here to stay in the profes-
sional world.
Earlier, Pinki Jangra
justified the giant killer
tag in her first ever profes-
sional bout. The 26-year-
old Haryana girl beat Clau-
dia Ferenczi of Slovakia in
the IBC Fight Night.
Pinki won the bout 40-
36, 40 36, 40- 36 by unanimo-
us verdict. PTI
Southampton: Theo Walcott
struck a hat-trick against his
former club after Danny Wel-
beck scored twice on his first
start since a knee injury in
May as Arsenal thrashed So-
uthampton 5-0 in the fourth
round of the FA Cup at St Ma-
ry's on Saturday.
FA CUP
It was a match between
two weakened teams, but the
strength in depth of Arsenal,
FA Cup winners in 2014 and
2015, ensured the visitors won
out. Arsenal manager Arsene
Wenger will have been especi-
ally pleased with the perfor-
mance of Welbeck, who had
not started since a 2-2 draw
away to Man City in May.
It was only the Gunners'
second win at St Mary's in se-
ven attempts and was sweet
revenge for a 4-0 defeat at the
south coast ground in the Pre-
mier League last season.
in the second half.
Arsenals Theo Walcott gets to
keep the match ball for scoring a
hat-trick against Southampton
the two line-ups was plain
Welbeck put Arsenal ahe-
ad with his first goal since the
winner in a 1-0 victory over
Norwich on April 30 last year
and added a second before
Walcott got in on the act befo-
quarterfinal at home to Lazio
on Tuesday. Dussuyer resigns as
Ivory Coast coach
re the break, adding two more Blame me, says Klopp Michel Dussuyer on Sunday
after Reds crash out stood down as Ivory Coast
Both managers made 10 Jurgen Klopp accepted re- manager following his team's
changes to the teams that sponsibility for Liverpool's early elimination at the Africa
started their previous mat- stunning FA Cup fourth round Cup of Nations. The French-
ches, with Southampton ha- exit as Championship club man's decision to resign after
ving reached the League Cup Wolves earned a shock 2-1 win 18 months in the post was
final after a strenuous mid- at Anfield. I'm responsible, I announced by the Ivorian
week tie against Liverpool at feel responsible for this football federation. The
Anfield. Only young central performance, Klopp said. I appropriate measures will be
defender Jack Stephens kept
his place, while goalkeeper
thought we could do better
and obviously we couldn't. I
put in place to find his succes-
sor, a federation statement
Harry Lewis, whose only pre- have to think about this, learn said.
AFP
vious first-team games for the
Saints had been made in the
third-round tie and replay
against Norwich City, repla-
ced Fraser Forster ahead of
regular second-choice Stuart
Taylor.
The relative strength of
and Wenger, serving the first
match of his four-game to-
uchline ban for pushing fo-
urth official Anthony Taylor
during the 2-1 victory over Manchester Uniteds Marouane Fellaini (2nd from L) celebrates
Burnley, was able to relax in after scoring against Wigan Athletic on Sunday. United won 4-0
the directors' box. AFP