Four-star Mbappe helps PSG break 82-year-old record

Agencies
October 8, 2018

Paris, Oct 8: Kylian Mbappe tore Lyon to shreds on Sunday with four goals as a 5-0 thrashing at the Parc des Princes saw Paris Saint-Germain set a new French top-flight record of nine straight wins to start a season.

Thomas Tuchel's Ligue 1 leaders broke the 82-year-old record of eight consecutive wins set by Olympique Lillois in 1936, having equalled the mark with their 3-0 victory at Nice last weekend.

A Neymar penalty gave PSG a ninth-minute advantage, but Presnel Kimpembe was sent off just after the half-hour mark to give Lyon hope.

Bruno Genesio's side threw away their man advantage, though, as Lucas Tousart was dismissed, and after missing a string of chances, the sensational Mbappe capped a virtuoso display by scoring four times in 13 minutes to seal history for PSG.

The capital-city giants, bidding for a sixth title in seven seasons, are already eight points clear of second-placed Lille at the top of the table, with Lyon five points further back in sixth.

Lyon endured the worst possible start to the match, as star man Nabil Fekir was forced off injured in the seventh minute, and the hosts were awarded a spot-kick just seconds later.

Mbappe raced to reach a loose ball, and visiting goalkeeper Anthony Lopes needlessly charged off his line to bring down the teenager.

Neymar stepped up and sent Lopes the wrong way with a stuttering run-up to score his 11th goal of the season.

Lyon responded well, though, with veteran goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon having to shovel a Memphis Depay free-kick over the bar, before Di Maria was fortunate not to concede a penalty for handball.

The reigning champions thought they had got lucky again when Kimpembe was only shown a yellow card for a nasty tackle on Tanguy Ndombele, but with the young midfielder lying stricken on the ground, a video review resulted in the centre-back's punishment being upgraded to red.

But Lyon shot themselves in the foot on the stroke of half-time as Tousart tripped Mbappe inside the PSG half and was given a second yellow card.

OL should have equalised early in the second period, but Maxwel Cornet contrived to miskick with the goal at his mercy.

Cornet, who came on for Fekir, almost scored in bizarre circumstances shortly after, as a Silva clearance ricocheted off his back and bounced back off the base of the post.

Eight-minute hat-trick

Mbappe almost put PSG out of sight three times in the space of five minutes -- powering clear after Cornet's unwitting effort and drilling against the far post, seeing Lopes dive at his feet as he ran through one-on-one, and shooting too close to the Lyon 'keeper.

But the World Cup-winner's persistence finally paid off in the 61st minute as he latched onto the ball inside the area after Neymar had burst forward, turned his man and smashed the ball in off both posts.

Confidence was coursing through PSG, and the floodgates opened as centre-back Marquinhos drove into the box and squared for Mbappe to stab in his eighth goal of the campaign.

Neymar soon sent the 19-year-old bearing down on goal yet again, and Mbappe lofted the ball into the net to complete an incredible eight-minute hat-trick.

He was not done there, though, as he pounced to slam home his fourth with 16 minutes left after Neymar had seen a low shot blocked.

Monaco crisis intensifies

Earlier on Sunday, 10-man Monaco slumped to a fifth defeat in nine Ligue 1 matches as former PSG outcast Hatem Ben Arfa earned Rennes a 2-1 victory with his first league goal since April 2016.

Leonardo Jardim's Monaco, runners-up to PSG last season, remain winless since the opening weekend and above the automatic relegation spots only on goal difference.

Elsewhere, ex-Japan coach Vahid Halilhodzic saw his Nantes side beaten 3-0 at Bordeaux on his return to French football, while Kostas Mitroglou and Florian Thauvin scored as Marseille climbed to third following a 2-0 victory over Caen.

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Agencies
June 7,2020

Mumbai, Jun 7: The Mumbai airport became home for a 23-year-old Ghanaian footballer for 74 days after he got stranded there due to the coronavirus-induced lockdown that led to cancellation of flights.

The ordeal of Randy Juan Muller reminded people of Tom Hank's character in the Hollywood film "The Terminal", and it ended after Yuva Sena, the youth wing of the Shiv Sena, reached out to help him.

Muller has now shifted to a local hotel and is waiting for airlines to resume operations so that he can fly home.

The Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) also provided him all help, including food, and allowed him to use the airport WiFi network to make calls, an official said.

Muller, a Ghana national who used to play for a club in Kerala, was scheduled to fly home by Kenya Airways flight when the lockdown was announced and he found himself stranded at the Mumbai airport.

"He would spend his time at the airport's fancy artificial gardens and somehow buy food from stalls and pass his time with the airport staff. Muller told me the airport staff was very helpful," Yuva Sena office-bearer Rahul Kanal said.

A security officer at the airport gave him mobile phone to call his family back home.

A Twitter user brought Muller's plight to the notice of Maharashtra Tourism Minister Aaditya Thackeray following which Kanal reached out to the footballer and helped him move into a hotel.

On Saturday, Muller thanked Thackeray and Kanal for their help.

"Thank you Aaditya Thackeray, Rahul Kanal. Thank you very very so much. I appreciate what you have done. Salute," he said.

Kanal in a tweet said when he met Muller at the airport, the latter cried with happiness.

"Have no words to salute his willpower and fight for survival in such circumstances at this age," Kanal said.

An official at the Mumbai International Airport Ltd said the footballer was provided all help.

"All personnel at the airport, including from MIAL and CISF, gave him every possible help during his stay at the airport. Besides food, he was also allowed to use the airport WiFi network to make calls. Airport staff would recharge his phone at their own expense," the official said.

The 2004 film "Terminal" of Steven Spielberg was about a man stranded at a US airport after being denied entry into the country and a military coup back home.

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Agencies
August 7,2020

Islamabad, Aug 7: Former Pakistani fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar, known for his blistering deliveries on the cricket field, recently baffled many with a deadly off-field bouncer by claiming he is willing to eat grass if it enabled an increase in budget for his country's Army!

"If Allah ever gives me the authority, I will eat grass myself but I will increase the budget of the army," said Akhtar in an interview with ARY News.

The 'Rawalpindi Express', considered the fastest bowler in history said he does not understand why the civilian sector cannot work in collaboration with the Armed forces.

"I will ask my army chief to sit with me and make decisions. If the budget is 20 per cent, I will make it 60 per cent. If we insult each other, the loss is ours only," the once feared fast-bowler said.

Akthar had also claimed to ARY News interview that he was willing to take a bullet for his country and had turned down a county stint just because he wanted to fight the 1999 Kargil War.

Ties between India and Pakistan have been strained in the recent months over several issues, the latest being Pakistan's attempt to broach in the UNSC the issue of Kashmir on the first anniversary of the India's move to scrap the special status of Jammu and Kashmir and to split the erstwhile state into two union territories .

Pakistan also has not been in a good financial position and under prime minister Imran Khan, himself an all rounder cricketer, has added nearly USD 22 billion, that is 35 per cent to the nation's international debt pile in the last two years, according to an Asia Times report in July.

While Pakistan recently received USD 1.39 billion from the IMF to cushion the economic shocks caused due to COVID-19 outbreak, Akthar had a few months ago proposed that a joint cricket match be played between India and Pakistan to raise funds to fight the coronavirus. The suggestion that was put down by cricketers in India.

Meanwhile the 'Pindi boy' whose deadly pace and bounce was once dreaded by batsmen had recently taken to Twitter to deny former India cricketer Virender Sehwag's claim of sledging him.

Sehwag along with other Indian crickerters such as Harbhajan Singh and even Rahul Dravid had been at the receiving end of Akthar's sledging and antics during their playing days.

"Yes, totally self made story by him. Mujhe yeh bol k bach k jana kidhar tha us nay," Akthar tweeted to a report in which Sehwag claimed that he had sledged the 'Rawalpindi Express' by telling him that Sachin Tendulkar was his father.

During an awards ceremony Sehwag had recounted that fed up with Akthar's sledging and retaliated by telling him to say the same things to Tendulkar, who smashed the 'Pindi boy' for a six. Sehwag quipped that he told Akthar then that "Baap baap hota hai".

In the recent ARY interview, asked about the allegation made against him by former India cricketer Virendra Sehwag that he makes pro-India comments for greater following on social media channels, Akhtar said, "I cannot talk on the basis of hate." 

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News Network
January 8,2020

Indore, Jan 8:  India skipper Virat Kohli has added yet another feather to his cap by becoming the fastest player to score 1,000 runs in T20I cricket as a captain. Kohli played an unbeaten knock of 30 during India''s seven-wicket win over Sri Lanka in the second T20I of the ongoing three-match series on Tuesday evening.

Kohli achieved the milestone of scoring 1,000 runs as captain in his 30th T20I inning. He is the second Indian and sixth overall after MS Dhoni to have achieved the feat. Dhoni had scored 1112 runs in 62 T20I games as captain.

Faf du Plessis (1273 runs from 40 games), Kane Williamson (1083 runs in 39 games), Eoin Morgan (1013 runs in 43 games) and Ireland''s William Porterfield (1002 runs in 56 games) are other captains on the list.

During India''s emphatic victory at the Holkar Stadium, Kohli also surpassed team-mate Rohit Sharma, who has been rested for the series, as the top run-getter in the T20Is. Kohli now has 2663 runs from 71 innings.

Both had finished 2019 as joint top-scorers in T20Is, with 2633 runs each.

India, already with an unassailable lead of 1-0 in the series, will now face Sri Lanka in the final T20I on Friday in Pune. The first match between the two teams was called off without a ball being bowled due to wet patches on the pitch in Guwahati last Sunday.

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