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Barcelona edge Real Sociedad 2-0, Real Madrid held by Valencia

May 10, 2015

Madrid, May 10: Barcelona was one victory away from clinching the Spanish league title after Real Madrid fell four points adrift on Saturday, when Cristiano Ronaldo missed a penalty in a 2-2 home draw to Valencia.

Barcelona

Barcelona cruised to a 2-0 win over Real Sociedad at Camp Nou to put the pressure on Madrid with only two more rounds to play.

Madrid appeared set to keep pace after Gareth Bale and Ronaldo hit the woodwork early, but Paco Alcacer and Javi Fuego struck for Valencia before goalie Diego Alves smothered Ronaldo’s spot kick in first-half injury time.

Pepe and Francisco “Isco” Alarcon leveled for Madrid in a dramatic second half at the Santiago Bernabeu that concluded with Valencia clinging to a draw that may cost the hosts the title.

Barcelona can dethrone Atletico Madrid with a win at its Vicente Calderon in the next round. If, and when, that match is played. The final two rounds are in doubt after the Spanish federation announced it was suspending all matches from next Saturday in protest at a proposed law regulating the sale of broadcasting rights.

After a second slip to fourth-place Valencia this season, Madrid’s best chance for silverware depends on overturning its 2-1 loss against Juventus in their second-leg Champions League semifinal on Wednesday.

“It’s very difficult for us now, but we have to wear these colors with pride, and try to win our games,” Pepe said. “We have to pick ourselves up for Wednesday’s match.”

Bale curled a free kick off one corner of the goalframe in the 14th, and four minutes later Ronaldo thumped a header off the other as Madrid looked set to romp.

But that was when Jose Gaya, the 19-year-old left back who ended months-long rumors of a move to Madrid by extending his contract on Friday, placed a perfect cross for Alcacer to stab under goalkeeper Iker Casillas in the 19th.

The Madrid crowd then received the double blow of midfielder Toni Kroos leaving with a left-thigh injury a minute before Fuego was left unmarked to head in Dani Parejo’s free kick in the 26th.

After Madrid’s Javier Hernandez also hit the post, Gaya gave Madrid a lifeline when he fouled Bale in the box just before halftime, but Alves increased his fame as a spot kick specialist by saving Ronaldo’s try.

Pepe powered in a header from James Rodriguez’s corner kick to halve the difference in the 51st.

Valencia had settled down in defense when Isco curled in a long-range strike with six to go, sparking a last-gasp push by Madrid that ended only with the final whistle.

“The result isn’t good, but the match was the complete opposite,” Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said. “We fought until the end and had many chances to score … three balls off the woodwork, a missed penalty … but it wasn’t enough.”

Sociedad was fortunate to escape a scoreless first half at Camp Nou, but Neymar broke through in the 51st with his 35th goal of the season after Lionel Messi’s pass was headed on by a defender for the Brazilian to nod home.

Substitute Pedro Rodriguez netted from an acrobatic bicycle kick to secure the points with five minutes left, in a rare moment to shine for the forward who has spent most of the campaign on the bench.

“These three points were vital,” Barcelona coach Luis Enrique said. “The outcome was never in doubt. My players never let up for even a second.”

Barcelona’s 1-0 loss at Sociedad on Jan. 4 marked the low-point of the Catalan club’s season. Since then, it has won 28 of its last 30 games, and is in the running for three trophies — having reached the final of the Copa del Rey, and with one foot in the Champions League final after beating Bayern Munich 3-0 this week. Their second-leg semifinal is on Tuesday.

There was also drama in the fight to avoid relegation as Albert Lopo’s last-gasp header to salvage Deportivo La Coruna a 1-1 draw at Athletic Bilbao altered three teams’ place at the bottom of the table.

Deportivo, Eibar and Granada, which earlier beat already-relegated Cordoba 2-0, were left tied on 31 points. But the tiebreakers meant Deportivo escaped the drop zone, while Granada was left in 18th and Eibar fell to 19th.

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News Network
March 23,2020

Colombo, Mar 23: Sri Lankan batting great Kumar Sangakkara has said he is currently in self-quarantine, following his government's guidelines for those recently returning from Europe, which has now become the epicentre of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The authorities are concerned over people returning from the most-affected COVID-19 countries in Europe not registering with the police and practising isolation.

"I have no symptoms or anything like that, but I'm following government guidelines," Sangakkara told News First.

"I arrived from London over a week ago and the first thing was there was a news bulletin saying that anyone who had travelled from within March 1 to 15 should register themselves with the police and undergo self-quarantine. I registered myself with the police."

The former captain said this even as the government confirmed there have been at least three cases of recent returnees attempting to hide the novel coronavirus symptoms from authorities.

Both Sangakkara and his former teammate Mahela Jayawardene have been active on social media, urging Sri Lankans to avoid panic and to exercise proper social distancing, as the country went into curfew on Friday evening.

Sri Lanka has so far reported more than 80 active COVID-19 positive cases in the country.

Across the world, the number of infected has crossed three lakh besides a death toll of more than 14,000 people.

Meanwhile, former Australia pacer Jason Gillespie has also gone into a two-week isolation after returning from the United Kingdom.

Gillespie, who is the head coach at Sussex, had been in Cape Town with the team for a pre-season tour, which was cut short as a result of the coronavirus outbreak.

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Agencies
August 4,2020

New Delhi, Aug 4: Former India women's team captain Anjum Chopra firmly believes that the BCCI has a plan for women's cricket but she wants the Board to communicate its ideas more specifically.

Speaking to news agency, Chopra, who is now a successful broadcaster, said the BCCI is thinking in earnest about the progress of women's cricket.

"It's not that the BCCI is not thinking about women's cricket. I only think they need to be more specific in communication about women's cricket," Chopra said.

"I firmly believe that they must be thinking about women's cricket but the communication all this while has been very specific to men's cricket."

The latest trigger for criticism of BCCI was India's withdrawal from a tour of England in September owing to logistical issues arising out of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Chopra concedes it was "not nice" but Indian players' participation in the women's IPL, in November, will still be useful preparation for next year's ODI World Cup.

"It is heartening to see women's cricket making headlines. They should have been a part of that England tour and it did not feel nice initially but the women's IPL, irrespective of the format, will be helpful for World Cup preparations. Any form of cricket is good preparation," Chopra said.

"Missing out on a tournament is not nice, but logistically there may have been issues. And you can't send an under-prepared team."

"If you see in isolation we may have missed out on an opportunity to play in England. The more the girls play the better it is, before playing a tournament of the stature of World Cup. The assurance from the president is a very good thing."

Chopra welcomed the Sourav Ganguly-led BCCI's decision to hold the women's event in the UAE alongside the IPL, which will run from September 19 to November 10. The women's IPL will coincide with the business end of the men's league.

"I am definitely happy, it's always nice to be part of any cricket anywhere across the world.

"They should have been nearing the final stages of the preparation for the World Cup by now, but because of the pandemic things did not go as planned," she added.

Chopra had a successful international career spanning over 17 years, during which she represented India in a record six World Cups and became the first woman cricketer to appear in 100 One-day Internationals.

She also felt that the pandemic would not have much impact on the women's game that has gained momentum in recent times.

"...Cricket was on pause button...Once cricket resumes and players are back on the park, everything is going to get picked up. It might take some time to get started as everything starts from zero...

"The awareness the women's game has created, I hope it stays. They will just restart, not start after the pandemic."

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News Network
June 6,2020

New Delhi, Jun 6: Former West Indies pacer Michael Holding has come out in support of MS Dhoni, saying that the wicket-keeper batsman indeed wanted to win the match against England in the 2019 World Cup.

India's performance in the World Cup match against England last year has once again become a matter of debate as all-rounder Ben Stokes in his book titled 'On Fire' questioned the intent of the Indian side.

Stokes also said that Dhoni's intent was questionable as he did not go for big shots when India still had a chance to win the match.

However, Holding said that nowadays people tend to write anything in their books.

"Well, people will write anything in books these days, because people are a lot more free with their opinions and when they are writing books, they need to be making headlines at times," Holding said on his official YouTube channel.

"But, to be honest, a lot of people watching that game perhaps wouldn't have arrived to the same conclusion that Ben Stokes arrived at that India were not trying to win," he added.

Holding did say that it seemed like that India did not have the same intensity as they would have had if the match was a do-or-die match.

"It was not the game that India had to win, but I don't think anyone can say that was a team tactic to lose the game. I watched that game and it appeared to me as if India weren't putting up their 100 per cent, but I realised it was not the case when the expression on MS Dhoni's face told me that he desperately wanted to win, so I do not think it was a team decision to not try to win," the former Windies pacer said.

"But I don't think they went with the same intensity of wanting to win the game, say, if it was a do-or-die situation. If it was, we would have seen a different game," he added.

On his official YouTube channel, Holding also said that no team goes in with a set pattern in terms of chasing targets.

In the round-robin stage match against England in Birmingham, India failed to chase down the massive target of 338 and fell short by 31 runs.

That was the only game that India lost in the premier tournament last year before the semifinal loss against the Kiwis.

India's chasing approach, in particular of wicket-keeper batsman Dhoni, was criticised by many, including the fans at home.

As soon as Stokes mentioned Dhoni's lack of intent in his book 'On Fire', Pakistan fans started saying that India deliberately lost the match to knock out their neighbours.

However, Stokes clarified that he never said India lost deliberately and some people were twisting his words.

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