Mahrez takes Leicester closer to last 16, Madrid win big

PARIS, France -- Riyad Mahrez secured another Champions League victory for Leicester City on Tuesday while big boys Real Madrid, Juventus and Borussia Dortmund were also in winning form.

Leicester maintained a perfect record in Group G in their first foray in Europe's elite club competition by edging FC Copenhagen 1-0 at the King Power Stadium with Mahrez getting the only goal of the game.

Islam Slimani headed down a Jamie Vardy cross for Mahrez to score with a close-range volley with the outside of his left foot five minutes before half-time.

With Porto winning 2-1 away to Club Brugge in the group's other game, Claudio Ranieri's side now know a win away to Copenhagen in their next match on November 2 will secure a place in the last 16.

"We're in a good position now," said Ranieri.

"We knew it would be tough. Copenhagen tried until the end. It was difficult at the start, but the performance was good."

In Bruges, Jelle Vossen put the home side in front early on but Miguel Layun lashed in the equaliser midway through the second half and Andre Silva scored a stoppage-time winner from the penalty spot.

For Porto goalkeeper Iker Casillas it was a 92nd win in the Champions League, allowing him to surpass Barcelona legend Xavi Hernandez and establish a new record.

Leicester's Premier League rivals Tottenham Hotspur found themselves hanging on for a point as they claimed a 0-0 draw away to Bayer Leverkusen in Germany in Group E.

A Vincent Janssen header that came back off the bar was the closest Spurs came to scoring at the BayArena.

The home side piled on the pressure in the second half but Javier Hernandez was denied by a brilliant save on the line by Hugo Lloris and Stefan Kiessling missed a great chance late on.

"We can be pleased with the point," said Lloris.

"The game turned in the second half, Leverkusen pressed high and we struggled a bit. I think the draw is a good result for us."

Just three points separate all four teams in the section, but it is Monaco who are on top after coming from behind to draw 1-1 at CSKA Moscow.

Ivorian striker Lacina Traore, on loan from Monaco, scored against his parent club in the 34th minute but Bernardo Silva equalised for the visitors late on.

- Trouble mars Madrid win -

Reigning champions Real Madrid cruised to a 5-1 victory at home to Legia Warsaw in Group F after supporter violence marred the build-up to the game at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Five fans and two police officers were treated for minor injuries following clashes outside the stadium before kick-off.

When the game began, Vadis Odjidja struck the post for the visitors before Gareth Bale fired in the opener and a Marcelo shot went in off Tomasz Jodlowiec.

Miroslav Radovic pulled one back from the penalty spot but Marco Asensio made it 3-1 before the interval and substitutes Lucas Vazquez and Alvaro Morata added further goals in the second half.

Zinedine Zidane's side are level on seven points at the top of the group with Borussia Dortmund, who were 2-1 winners over Sporting Lisbon in Portugal.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang burst through for an early opener and a superb Julian Weigl strike made it 2-0 but Dortmund were hanging on after Bruno Cesar reduced the deficit midway through the second half.

In Group H Juan Cuadrado came off the bench to score a late winner as 10-man Juventus beat Lyon 1-0 in France.

Gianluigi Buffon was in fine form for the Italian champions as he saved a first-half Alexandre Lacazette penalty, while Juve had Mario Lemina sent off early in the second period.

But Cuadrado netted the winner 14 minutes from the end as the hosts failed to make their man advantage count.

"I should thank Mario Lemina for his sending-off because I thought we played better with a man less," said Juve coach Massimiliano Allegri.

They are level at the top of the group with Sevilla, who were 1-0 winners away to Dinamo Zagreb in Croatia, Samir Nasri netting the only goal.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

PREMIER LEAGUE: Champions Leicester and struggling Sunderland party

LONDON - Leicester City celebrated their gloriously unlikely Premier League triumph in a fitting manner with a 3-1 victory over Everton in front of their overjoyed, partying fans at the King Power Stadium on Saturday.

Jamie Vardy, with a double, and Andy King scored the goals that left the home supporters in raptures even before they could savour the almost unthinkable sight of captain Wes Morgan and manager Claudio Ranieri lifting the trophy after the final whistle.

There were more celebrations at the Stadium of Light where Jermain Defoe was again the toast of Sunderland after his winner in a 3-2 victory over Chelsea lifted them out of the relegation zone, leaving Newcastle United and Norwich City on the verge of the drop.

Rafa Benitez's Newcastle, a point behind north-east neighbours Sunderland in 18th place having played a game more, would then be relegated along with Norwich who are second from bottom.

After the nerve-shredding drama at the other end of the table, Leicester were able to relax in the day's late game and revel in the triumph that has been making headlines all over the world.

Free pizzas and beer for the fans and a stirring rendition of Nessun Dorma by Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli in a Leicester shirt was the order of a surreal day before the Foxes showed no ill-effects from their week's heady celebrations since being crowned champions on Monday.

The "Jamie Vardy's having a party" chant was belted out by the supporters as the England striker took his season's goal tally in the league to 24.

The only false note came when the forward blasted his second penalty of the day high over the bar in the 72nd minute with Leicester already cruising at 3-0.

CLUB STALWART

It seemed perfect that the goals should arrive from Vardy, whose amazing rise from minor-league obscurity reflects City's own soaring journey, and King who has been a club stalwart through the thinnest of times.

Leicester's victory gave them a 10-point lead at the top of the table with the champions having one game to go, at Ranieri's former club Chelsea next weekend.

United's win at Norwich, courtesy of Juan Mata's fifth goal against the Canaries, left them in fifth place, one point behind neighbours Manchester City who occupy the fourth Champions League qualification spot and face fellow contenders Arsenal on Sunday.

West Ham United's push to play Champions League football in their first season in the Olympic Stadium looked bleak following a surprising 4-1 hammering by Swansea City in their final Saturday afternoon game at the Boleyn Ground.

Sunderland manager Sam Allardyce was full of praise for former England marksman Defoe after a result that he felt demonstrated the depth of his side's character.

"You give Jermain Defoe a chance and generally he at least hits the target," said Allardyce.

"We've crawled out of the bottom three by the number of goals he's scored. Without him I dread to think where we'd be as a team."

Twice Sunderland had to come from behind, first after Diego Costa had put Chelsea ahead and then, following Wahbi Khazri's equaliser, after Nemanja Matic had put the visitors 2-1 up on the stroke of halftime.

Three minutes after Fabio Borini's 67th-minute equaliser, Defoe, capitalising on a poor clearance from John Obi Mikel, smashed home the winner.

Terry received his marching orders deep into injury time for a second bookable offence, a decision Chelsea manager Guus Hiddink called "a little bit over the top".

Benitez sounded almost resigned to Newcastle's fate after their failure to dent a surprisingly resolute Villa rearguard.

"It was an opportunity to stay ahead of Sunderland and we couldn't do it," said the Spaniard. "We are disappointed."

(Editing by Tony Jimenez and Clare Fallon)

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Premier League 2015-16: The Davids' time to shine

No matter how your favorite Premier League team is faring at the moment, you have to admit that the current season is interesting and loaded with drama.

The two great stories are traditional powers floundering with the underachieving clubs turning out great results and the managers of top sides losing their jobs or seem to be on the verge of getting axed. Regarding the latter, that’s nothing unusual because of the pressure to win and their big wages.

Following the Boxing Day results, the results confirmed the nature of this most improbable season. Unlikely Leicester City atop the league with 38 points, two ahead of second place Arsenal (shocking 4-0 losers to Southampton and missing a huge chance to leap into first spot) despite its December 26 loss to inconsistent Liverpool, 1-nil.

Manchester City is third, while Tottenham is fourth. Manchester United, the gold standard for Premier League squads, is in sixth spot after absorbing a fourth straight loss, this one a 2-nil loss to Stoke City.

Where is Chelsea and Liverpool in the standings? The latter is at eighth place having just arrested a shocking skid after being bloodied in the nose by Watford, held to a 2-2 draw by West Brom and a loss to Newcastle, 2-0.

West Brom is at 13th, while Newcastle is in the relegation zone at 18th. Another Premier League fixture, Aston Villa, is dead last in the 20-team league with only eight points accrued from 20 fixtures. They look to be relegated should their free fall continue.

Chelsea is at 15th spot and hovering above the relegation zone and 20 points adrift of first place in the standings.

Watford, one of those less popular clubs is at seventh having drawn Chelsea and surviving a late penalty kick awarded to the Blues that they flubbed. The week before, they dealt Liverpool a crushing, 3-nil shellacking. Last November, they also defeated Aston Villa, 3-2.

Stoke City, currently at 11th, dealt the two Manchester squads identical 2-0 defeats in the space of three weeks.

West Brom’s best results this season were its 2-1 win over Arsenal and its draw against Liverpool.

Bournemouth, newly promoted to the Premier League for the first time in their 69-year history, fashioned some huge wins over Chelsea (1-0) and Manchester United (2-1) and a 3-3 draw against Everton. They are currently at 14th spot.

Taking at look at four clubs — Leicester, Stoke, Watford and Bournemouth — they averaged L46.5 million in wages -- half the amount paid by the top five big spending English clubs (Man City, Man United, Arsenal, Chelsea, and Liverpool). Despite West Ham being a small club, they technically aren’t because they are one of the five London-based Premier League sides and have been in the Premier League for some time. The aforementioned four sides have been either in the top flight a few years ago or newly-promoted.

Further to the funds available, the money the small clubs have on hand for the transfer window averages a paltry L12.7 million.

The success of the small clubs (and we haven’t even mentioned the upsets of Norwich City) has been due to several factors — smart football minds running the show, strong defensive midfielders and back fours, and underrated but incredible attacking threats.

Smart football minds

Stoke has had two very good managers. Tony Pulis for several years before the even more shrewd Mark Hughes took over last season and rebuilt his reputation after a disastrous spell with Queens Park Rangers.

Leicester brought Italian Claudio Ranieri who had the smarts to keep some of the previous coaching staff’s assistants for some continuity.

Bournemouth’s journey is even more incredible as twice in their history have they come back from bankruptcy to be promoted. The Cherries, as they are known, have received some money (a paltry L25 million in the last three years) from their new Russian owner Max Demin and some of these investments such as in their sports science and video support that is vastly underrated. Both have helped their players perform much better. The front office has managed the influx of money by bringing in smart and sound players, some of who have come in as free transfers. One such is Polish goalkeeper Art Boruc. Midfielder Matt Ritchie from Swindon Town and South African Tokelo Rantie from small Italian side Malmo.

Strong defense

The top two goalkeepers in the Premier League at the moment are Stoke’s Jack Butland and Watford’s Heurelho Gomes.

Leicester features a strong back four and a compact midfield. Watford manager Quique Sanchez Flores builds his game behind a strong back four that likes to hit on counter attacks.

Both have eight clean sheets yet Butland has 73 saves to Gomes’ 52.

New names for attacking threats

Leicester has the duo of Jamie Vardy (league-leading 15 goals) and Riyad Mahrez (tied at second with two others with 13 goals). Stoke has the trio of Marko Arnautovic, Bojan Krkic, and Xherdan Shaqiri. Watford has Odion Ighalo and Troy Deeney.

Bournemouth plays a pass-and-go offense yet will need an even bigger scoring stud upfront as they have only 22 goals against 32 conceded. Callum Wilson has only five goals; a poor ratio of a goal per 108 minutes played.

Following Leicester’s 1-nil loss to Liverpool, their second of the season and their first shut out, there’s talk that they have lost steam and will fall by the wayside. Wherever they finish, the same goes to the small clubs, they will have given this season a memorable flavor.

Oh, hey… all of a sudden that Leicester City shop in the heart of Bangkok (just outside the Siam Paragon mall along Rama I Road) is getting swamped with new fans. That’s pretty good too, right?

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com