Messi nets 400th goal as Barca edge past Valencia

April 19, 2015

Barcelona, Apr 19: Lionel Messi scored the 400th goal of his Barcelona career as the Catalans beat Champions League-chasing Valencia 2-0 to move five points clear of Real Madrid at the top of La Liga.

Messi nets

Luis Suarez got Barca off to a flying start as he slotted home the opener after just 54 seconds from Messi's through ball yesterday.

However, it was Valencia who enjoyed the majority of the chances thereafter and they were left to rue Dani Parejo's missed penalty in the first half.

And Messi made sure of all three points with the final kick of the game after Diego Alves had saved his initial effort.

Madrid can move back to within two points of the leaders when they host Malaga later on Saturday.

"We scored in the first minute and then we had problems overcoming their pressing," admitted Barca boss Luis Enrique.

"The victory is deserved because one of the important facets of the game is effectiveness in front of goal. Valencia had a penalty and fortunately Bravo was very good."

Defeat, meanwhile, leaves Valencia now four points adrift of third-placed Atletico Madrid, who beat Deportivo la Coruna 2-1 thanks to a double from Antoine Griezmann.

"We played very well in the first-half and had a lot of good chances," lamented Valencia boss Nuno Espirito Santo.

"We go away hurt, sad and angry because we wanted to win. In the first-half we had too many chances to end up with this result."

Suarez scored two wonderful individual goals as Barca all but secured their place in the Champions League semi-finals with a 3-1 win away to Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday.

And he took less than a minute to pick up from where he left off in the French capital as Sergio Busquets fed Messi and his pass was fired low past Diego Alves by Suarez for his 12th goal in as many games.

However, Valencia went on to dominate the remainder of the opening 45 minutes and were desperately unlucky still to be behind at the break.

Rodrigo flashed a shot just wide before he was deemed to have been brought down inside the area by Gerard Pique.

Parejo's penalty was poorly struck, though, and Bravo made a comfortable save low to his right.

Paco Alcacer then had a hat-trick of chances to grab a deserved equaliser as he turned Andre Gomes's dangerous cross wide, saw a goalbound effort blocked by Pique and struck the outside of the post.

However, it could have been even worse for the visitors had Messi not sliced wide a great chance on his weaker right foot five minutes before half-time.

Enrique introduced Ivan Rakitic for Adriano at half-time in a tactical rejig to gain more control in midfield and Valencia found chances much more difficult to come by in the second period.

Bravo, though, was still needed to come to his side's rescue once more 15 minutes from time when he turned the ball behind from Rodrigo's volley.

But it was Messi who had the final word as he was given all the space he needed to break clear and score his 400th goal in 471 games for Barca in stoppage time as Valencia chased in vain for an equaliser.

Griezmann ensured Atletico maintained their hold on third place ahead of their huge Champions League quarter-final, second leg against Real Madrid in midweek with two stunning early strikes.

The French international thumped home an overhead kick after just five minutes before slotting home his 20th league goal of the season midway through the half.

Oriol Riera pulled a goal back 13 minutes from time, but defeat means Depor remain rooted in the battle to avoid relegation.

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News Network
June 24,2020

New Delhi, Jun 24: Star Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan deeply regrets his "silly mistake" of not reporting a corrupt approach by an Indian bookie to the ICC, leading to his one year suspension from the game.

Shakib was banned for two years, one year of it suspended, for failing to report corrupt approaches during an IPL edition by an alleged Indian bookie named Deepak Aggarwal.

"I took the approaches too casually When I met the anti-corruption guy and told them and they knew everything. Gave them all the evidence and they knew everything that happened," Shakib told Harsha Bhogle on 'Cricbuzz in Conversation'.

"To be honest, that's the only reason I was banned for a year, otherwise I'd have been banned for five or 10 years," he added on the ICC's investigation.

The 33-year-old, who was in brilliant form before the ban, amassing 606 runs in the 2019 World Cup in the UK, said he regrets how he went about the situation.

"But I think that was a silly mistake I made. Because with my experience and the amount of international matches I've played and the amount of ICC's anti-corruption code of conduct classes I took, I shouldn't have made that decision, to be honest."

Lesson learnt, Shakib's advice to all young criceters is to never take any such message lightly.

"I regret that. No one should take such messages or calls (from bookies) lightly or leave it away. We must inform the ICC ACSU guy to be on the safe side and that's the lesson I learnt, and I think I learnt a big lesson," he added.

The all-rounder, whose ban ends on October 29, said he became a bit arrogant and never felt he was doing anything wrong by not reporting the bookie's approach immediately.

"Because you do most things right in your life, you tend to get arrogant with some decisions. You may not realise but you're doing wrong by the books. It never came to my mind that I am doing something wrong

"It was just a feeling of 'okay, what's going to happen, leave it' and I continued with my life. But that's the mistake I made. And that happens," Shakib said.

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Agencies
August 3,2020

Silverstone, Aug 2: Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton on Sunday won his seventh British Grand Prix title after a dramatic last-lap at the Silverstone Circuit.

Hamilton and teammate Valtteri Bottas were at the first and second spot respectively until tyre drama struck.

Second-placed man Bottas was the first to suffer as his tyre deflated on lap 50, resulting in 11th place finish. Hamilton also suffered a similar issue before the final few seconds of the race.

However, with Max Verstappen having opted to pit a few laps from the end to try and claim the fastest lap, Hamilton had enough time in hand to just cross the line first, five seconds ahead of Verstappen and the third-placed Ferrari of Charles Leclerc.

McLaren's Carlos Sainz had been set to finish fourth, but his own last lap tyre issue saw him eventually come home P13, allowing Renault's Daniel Ricciardo to claim fourth, following a late pass on the sister McLaren of Lando Norris.

Renault's Esteban Ocon finished sixth, having enjoyed a race-long battle with Lance Stroll's Racing Point, with Pierre Gasly having enjoyed a fine race to finish seventh for AlphaTauri.

Alex Albon finished eighth for Red Bull, having recovered from a lap 1 tussle with the Haas of Kevin Magnussen that saw him fall to last, while Lance Stroll and Sebastian Vettel rounded out the top 10, Vettel holding off a late charge form the recovering Mercedes of Bottas.

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Agencies
February 12,2020

Mumbai, Feb 12: Former Indian greats Kapil Dev and Mohammad Azharuddin have been left disappointed by the behaviour of the Under-19 team after the World Cup final where they were involved in an altercation with their Bangladeshi counterparts.

After Bangladesh won the final beating India by three wickets (via DLS) at the Senwes Park on Sunday, the players of the two teams were seen engaging in an exchange of words and even some pushing and shoving on the field.

"I would like to see the board (BCCI) take some strict action against the players to set an example. Cricket is not about abusing the opponent. I am sure there is enough reason for these youngsters to be dealt with firmly by BCCI," Kapil was quoted as saying by The Hindu.

"I welcome aggression, nothing wrong in it. But it has to be controlled aggression. You can't cross the line of decency in the name of being competitive. I would say it was unacceptable that youngsters put up such an obnoxious display on the cricket field," he added.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has sanctioned five players, including three from Bangladesh -- Towhid Hridoy, Shamim Hossain and Rakibul Hasan --and two from India --Akash Singh and Ravi Bishnoi for the scuffle.

Azharuddin also reiterated what Kapil said, insisting that players need to be disciplined.

"I would take action against the errant Under 19 players, but I also want to know what role has the support staff played in educating these youngsters. Act now before it is too late. The players have to be disciplined," Azharuddin said.

Earlier, Bishan Singh Bedi has lashed out at the Priyam Garg-led team, saying their behaviour was disgusting and disgraceful.

"You bat, bowl and field badly�happens, but there's no excuse for behaving badly. The behaviour was disgusting and most disgraceful. The innocence of that age was not visible at all," Bedi told Mid Day.

Bedi, who represented India in 67 Tests and 10 ODIs, said the behaviour of the Bangladesh cricketers is not our problem.

"Look, what Bangladesh do is their problem, what our boys do is our problem. You could see that there was abusive language used," he said.

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