Messi double secures Barcelona comeback win against Spartak

September 20, 2012

messi

Barcelona, September 20: Lionel Messi came to the rescue with a late double to earn Barcelona a 3-2 victory over Group G opponents Spartak Moscow on Wednesday as the Catalans stuttered in the opening match of their Champions League campaign.

Barca are aiming for their third Champions League trophy in five years but could have had their first home defeat in the competition in nearly three years when Romulo gave the visitors the lead on the hour mark.

The hosts have made a blistering start in La Liga with four straight wins and went ahead early on through Cristian Tello, but an own-goal from Dani Alves after 29 minutes brought Spartak back into the contest.

Barca were enjoying the vast majority of the play but Romulo's second-half goal left them staring at potentially their first loss at the Camp Nou since another Russian club, Rubin Kazan, won here in 2009.

Messi, though, put their European ambitions back on track with two poacher's goals inside the last 20 minutes.

Spartak's Spanish coach Unai Emery had never beaten Barcelona during his time in charge of Almeria or Valencia and it was always likely to be a severe test as his new charges arrived in the Catalan capital.

However, if they were looking for any weaknesses then the Barca backline has not looked particularly comfortable of late and they were missing two integral parts in Carles Puyol and Jordi Alba.

Spartak's game plan, to defend deeply, was clear from the start, but inviting Barca to attack can be a dangerous tactic at the Camp Nou as they invariably find a way through.

Tello should have given the home side the lead after 10 minutes but he scooped his shot round the post following a delightful through ball from Messi.

While Barca were dominating, their situation deteriorated at the back as Gerard Pique had to go off a couple of minutes later having injured his leg while shooting and Alex Song was forced to step into the defence.

A physical Spartak side had a distinct height advantage but it mattered little while they ball was at the other end, and Tello made up for his earlier miss with a fine shot from the edge of the area to give Barca the lead.

The youngster stepped inside Kirill Kombarov before slotting past 'keeper Andriy Dykan and into the far corner.

Tito Vilanova's men looked comfortable at that point, but Spartak drew level from a rare breakaway, Emmanuel Emenike making a marauding run down the right before seeing his harmless pass steered into his own goal by Dani Alves on the back foot.

Barca once again went on the offensive and Spartak were left hanging on against waves of attacks, with Sergio Busquets coming within a whisker of scoring with a header which he glanced wide from a corner.

After the restart the intensity dropped out of Barca's play and the game began to open up.

Messi forced a good save out of Dykan at one end and then Spartak stole into the lead as Aidan McGeady supplied the Brazilian Romulo, who finished clinically into the corner.

Vilanova took off Alves and switched to a three-man defence as they looked to get back in the game and Messi once again proved to be the difference.

He first knocked in a Tello pass from close range on 71 minutes and then headed home an Alexis Sanchez cross with ten minutes to go.


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News Network
February 10,2020

Potchefstroom, Feb 10: India's under-19 cricket team manager Anil Patel says the ICC has taken a serious view of the aggressive celebrations by Bangladesh players after their World Cup triumph and will be reviewing the footage of the final game's "last few minutes".

Some Bangladeshi players got carried away while celebrating their historic three-wicket win over India in the final on Sunday. While their captain Akbar Ali apologised for the "unfortunate incident", his Indian counterpart Priyam Garg said their reaction was "dirty".

"We don't know what actually happened," Patel told 'ESPNCricinfo' on Sunday.

"Everybody was in a shock, absolutely, but we don't know what happened exactly. The ICC officials are going to watch the footage of the last few minutes and they are going to let us know," he said.

Even when the match was on, the Bangladesh players were overly aggressive while fielding and their lead pacer Shoriful Islam sledged the Indian batsmen after every delivery.

As soon as the match ended, it became tense with Bangladeshi players rushing to the ground and displaying aggressive body language. The two teams nearly came to blows before the situation was defused by the coaching staff and on-field officials.

Patel claimed that match referee Graeme Labrooy met him and expressed regret at what transpired on the field.

"The referee came to me. He was sorry about the incident. He clarified the ICC is going to take very seriously what has happened during the match and the last session. They are going to witness the footage and they will tell us in the morning (Monday)."

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Agencies
April 2,2020

Lausanne, Apr 2: The postponement of the Tokyo Olympics and the shutdown of the sporting calendar because of the coronavirus pandemic are going to hit international sports federations hard financially.

Many sports that are part of the Games depend heavily on the payouts every four years from the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

"The situation is tense and very gloomy. An assessment will be made, but clearly some posts are under threat," said an official of a major international federation.

The 28 international federations (IF) of the sports that were due to be present at the Tokyo Olympics, would have received substantial sums from the IOC.

However, the postponement of the Games until 2021 could lead to a freeze of their payment.

"We have a lot of IF with substantial reserves, but others work on a different business model, they have income from major events which are suspended, which can be a problem for the cashflow if they don't have enough reserves," said Andrew Ryan, director general of the Association of International Olympic Summer Sports Federations (ASOIF), which is responsible for distributing this money.

The five additions to the Tokyo Games programme - karate, surfing, skateboarding, climbing and baseball/softball - are not eligible.

The Olympic payout totalled 520 million after the Rio Games, four years ago.

"The Olympic money could be less than for Rio 2016," Ryan warned before adding: "My advice is to budget the same as in Rio".

The federations receive money on a sliding scale determined by their audience and size.

The three largest (athletics, swimming and gymnastics) can expect approximately 40 million.

For the second tier, made up of cycling, basketball, volleyball, football and tennis, the sum is 25 million.

For group three, which contains eight sports, including boxing, rowing, judo and table tennis, it is 17 million.

The nine sports in the next level (including sailing, canoing and fencing) receive 12 million.

For the three in the last category (rugby, golf, modern pentathlon) the payout is 7 million.

For the largest associations, such as football's FIFA which has a 1.5 billion nest egg, or basketball body FIBA which has CHF 44.4 million (42 million euros) in reserves, IOC aid represents a small proportion of their income.

For others, it is vital.

"Some IF probably don't have the cashflow to survive one year," said Ryan.

For most federations, the postponement of the Olympic Games has a domino effect, forcing them to reschedule their own money-earning competitions.

"The revenues from these events will eventually come in," said Ryan. "But this impacts the cashflow." World Athletics has already postponed the 2021 World Championships in Eugene, Oregon to 2022.

The International Swimming Federation (FINA) will have to do the same for its World Championships scheduled for next summer in Fukuoka, Japan, when they would probably clash with the Tokyo Games.

"One edition of the World Championships means for us 10 million in revenues," said one sports federation official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"If this income is postponed, totally or partially, for a year, we will face major problems, especially if the IOC money, originally expected in September, is not paid out."

The Singapore-based International Table Tennis Federation has already taken steps, with "the Executive Committee agreeing to reduce their expenses and senior staff offering to take a salary reduction," said marketing director Matt Pound, but, he added,"further cuts will take place if needed."

- 'Significant loss of revenue' -

The ITTF has suspended all its competitions until June and that is costly.

Kim Andersen, the Danish president of London-based World Sailing, said commercial revenues are not immune.

"The IOC will eventually pay out its aid, but what weighs most heavily is the uncertainty about whether our competitions will be held and whether our sponsors will be maintained," he said.

The IOC is not prepared to go into details of what it plans.

"It is not possible at this stage to assess the overall impact" of the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics, an official told AFP.

"It depends on a number of variables that are currently being studied." According to an official of one federation: "the IOC will discuss on a case-by-case basis, sport by sport".

Another option is for the federations to ask for a share of the public aid set up to deal with the coronavirus crisis, in Switzerland, where 22 ASOIF members are based and also in the United Kingdom, home of World Sailing.

"Can sports federations benefit from federal aid? The answer is yes, in principle," Philippe Leuba, State Councillor of the canton of Vaud, in charge of the economy and sport, told.

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News Network
February 5,2020

Aukland, Feb 5: Striker Navneet Kaur scored a brace to guide the Indian women's hockey team to a convincing 3-0 win over New Zealand in the last game of its five-match tour here on Wednesday.

Navneet found the net in the 45th and 58th minutes, while Sharmila scored a field goal in the 54th minute as India drew curtains on the New Zealand tour on a bright note.

After a goalless opening two quarters, Navneet finally broke the deadlock for India in the 45th minute.

Sharmila then doubled the lead when she struck a powerful shot past the New Zealand goalkeeper in the 54th minute. Navneet found the net again just two minutes from the final hooter with a beautiful field strike.

India began the tour by thrashing New Zealand Development squad 4-0 before suffering close 1-2 and 0-1 defeats to the home senior team.

In penultimate game of the tour, skipper Rani's lone strike handed India a 1-0 win over Great Britain.

"...I am happy we produced three goals against New Zealand in the last match. This tour gave us a good insight about where we need to improve and one of the things is to create faster play than we do now," said India's chief Coach Sjoerd Marijne.

Commenting on his side's performance during the tour, Marijne said, "Sometimes we tend to keep the ball too long on the stick and then we create pressure. We need to avoid that by passing faster.

"On the defence side, we need to be a bit more calmer and need to improve our tackling. We will have a four week camp after a short break when we return home and we will be working on these points."

The Indian team will return home on February 7.

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