Al-Ittihad halt Al-Hilal march after Saudi Clasico draw

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Al-Hilal showed superiority through most of the game but Al-Ittihad managed to eke out a draw. (SPA)
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Updated 27 December 2020
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Al-Ittihad halt Al-Hilal march after Saudi Clasico draw

  • Champions Al-Hilal will go into 2021 as SPL leaders

DUBAI: Al-Ittihad ensured that Al-Hilal will not go into 2021 with a potential six-point lead at the top of the Saudi Professional League after securing a 1-1 draw against the champions at King Saud University stadium in Riyadh.

It could have been so much better for Al-Ittihad, having led by a solitary goal going into the last five minutes of the match.

After a disastrous 2019-20 season for Ittihad, one that saw them flirt with relegation, the Jeddah club came into the Saudi Clasico in far better shape than they had been for some time, in fifth place and with 14 points already on the board. Still, few would have expected anything other than a home-win Al-Hilal in the 10th round of the season, and last of the year.

The early stages of the match had brought few clear-cut chances, with Andre Carrillo looking lively for Al-Hilal, while Egyptian international Ahmed Hegazi, on loan from West Brom, proved a solid presence at the back for Al-Ittihad.

And it was Al-Ittihad who took the lead 20 minutes on through Abdulrahman Al-Aboud’s superb curling strike.

As expected, Al-Hilal came out for the second half with greater purpose while Al-Ittihad looked to soak the pressure and hit them on the break.

Carrillo and Bafetimbi Gomis carried the home team’s greatest threat, and with 20 minutes left Salem Al-Dawsari’s shot from inside the penalty area was deflected just wide for a corner.




Al-Hilal showed superiority through most of the game but Al-Ittihad managed to eke out a draw. (SPA)

Al-Hilal continued to dominate possession — and would end the match with 70 percent superiority — but this did not translate into many dangerous chances.

With nine minutes left, Nasser Al-Dawsari and Saleh Al-Shehri replaced Mohammed Al-Breik and Jang Huyn-soo as Al-Hilal coach Razvan Lucescu desperately looked to save the match.

The move paid dividends, with Al-Shehri meeting Sebastian Giovinco’s pinpoint free-kick with glancing header to secure a 1-1 draw for Al-Hilal five minutes from the end. The result leaves Al-Hilal four points ahead of second-place Al-Ahli, who have a game in hand.

“I came in pretty late in the half when were one goal down, and I had certain instructions from the coach which I will keep private,” Al-Shehri said. “I’m grateful I scored, of course we had ambitions of winning the match but a point is better than nothing.”

Ittihad captain Karim El Ahmadi was disappointed that his team did not secure the win.

“Al-Hilal had chances, but we also had chances to make it 2-0,” the Moroccan midfielder said. “To come to Al-Hilal and get a 1-1 draw against a big team is a good result. But looking at the chances that came our way, we could have won.”

He also had special praise for the team’s new-found defensive resilience.

“Al-Hilal have great control and great players,” El Ahmadi said. “You always have to double-mark their individual attackers, and we didn’t give them too many chances today. Hopefully we can win our next match. We’ve had an unbeaten run of 11 matches and we can see the improvement in the team.




Al-Hilal showed superiority through most of the game but Al-Ittihad managed to eke out a draw. (SPA)

Al-Hilal defender Al-Breik said that Al-Ittihad had proven a tough opponent as anticipated.

“We expected the match to be tough,” the Saudi International said. “We were hoping for a win, of course, to put more distance between us and the challengers. But today we came up against a worthy opponent, and I would say the draw was a fair result.”

Ittihad keeper Marcelo Grohe praised his teammates for their defensive solidity but felt disappointed at the outcome.

“Sadly we conceded that late equalizer but I have to congratulate the players for their positive attitude and the performance,” the Brazilian said. “A draw against such a strong team is good result. But I hope we learn from our mistakes, and we don’t repeat them in the coming matches.

He also said that the addition of Hegazi has improved the understanding and cohesion in the back line.

“There is no doubt Hegazi is a quality footballer — he’s an international plays and played in the Premier League — he’s a big player,” Grihe said. “But it’s not just him, there was an improvement in all of our defenders, and personally I’m very happy to play behind this defensive line.”

Al-Ittihad coach Fabio Carille insisted that his team did not intend to simply sit back after taking the lead, and that they had looked to increase their lead.

“We did not take advantage of our chances,” he said. “Perhaps we were missing the confidence that comes from winning regularly, but in general the team has improved significantly, especially compared to last season. It took Al-Ittihad half of last season to get 15 points and here we are now with 15 points. The difference is clear.”

Earlier in the day, 14th-placed Al-Nassr missed an opportunity to ease their relegation worries by drawing 2-2 at home to Damac, which sits one place below them in the table. Al-Shabab, meanwhile, strengthened their grip on third place with a fine 3-1 win over Al-Batin.


Olympic organizing team unveiled for 2030 Winter Games in French Alps

Updated 19 February 2025
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Olympic organizing team unveiled for 2030 Winter Games in French Alps

  • A bid hastily pulled together in 2023 was approved by the International Olympic Committee only last July — in Paris on the eve of a hugely successful Summer Game
  • The project is now led by Edgar Grospiron, a freestyle skiing gold medalist in 1992 when France last hosted the Winter Games and a late hire in recent days as president of the organizing committee
  • The French Alps organizing committee has a prudent operational budget of €2 billion ($2.1 billion)

LYON, France: Just five years before the opening ceremony, French organizers of the 2030 Winter Games put on a united front Tuesday to unveil the team given the tightest schedule of any modern Olympics.

The 2030 French Alps Olympics must tie together snow and sliding venues in the mountains with skating and curling arenas among the palm trees on the Riviera coastal city Nice.

A bid hastily pulled together in 2023 was approved by the International Olympic Committee only last July — in Paris on the eve of a hugely successful Summer Games — and even then with a special exemption to wait several months for guarantees from the national government.

The project is now led by Edgar Grospiron, a freestyle skiing gold medalist in 1992 when France last hosted the Winter Games and a late hire in recent days as president of the organizing committee.

“What’s important now is that from now we organize it, we deliver it,” Grospiron said at a slick launch event at the stadium of soccer club Lyon, aiming for a Winter Games that is “impeccable and irreproachable.”

Grospiron spoke after a parade of national and regional political figures, including sports minister Marie Barsacq and Michel Barnier, who as prime minister last October signed off the government’s support.

Layers of lawmakers’ support has been vital to a project that still needs an ice arena built in Nice and a venue for speed skating, which could end up in Italy or the Netherlands.

The popular success and expertise gained at the Paris Olympics was stressed as a foundation for the Winter Games which used to be given seven years by the IOC to organize.

“We are not starting from zero,” the IOC’s executive director of Olympic Games, Christophe Dubi, told The Associated Press. “We had a great shortcut and it’s called Paris 2024. Many of those things we can cut and paste.”

The IOC started 2023 with no clear candidate and a shrinking pool of options to host a cost-effective and sustainable Winter Games in 2030. A Swedish project centered on Stockholm seemed favored before a French bid emerged out of the IOC’s strong pre-Paris relations with President Emmanuel Macron and national Olympic officials.

France’s win was confirmed on the same day in Paris as the 2034 Winter Games were awarded to Salt Lake City with four extra years to prepare. Its organizing team was unveiled in Utah last week.

“We are the cradle of Olympism,” said David Lappartient, leader of the French Olympic body and a candidate in the IOC presidential election next month. France already hosted three Summer Games in Paris and three previous Winter Games: Chamonix in 1924, Grenoble in 1968 and Albertville in 1992 that Barnier helped organize.

The French Alps organizing committee has a prudent operational budget of €2 billion ($2.1 billion) and speakers Tuesday stressed the need for a project that was financially sober and in moderation.

A key theme also was adapting to climate change and delivering an Olympics and subsequent Paralympic Winter Games that are sustainable.

“I would never pretend that the games want to save the world,” Grospiron said, “but I think we can contribute to changing how it moves forward.”

Rising to environmental challenges was stressed by the head of the Provence-Alpes-Cote d’Azur region that includes Nice and Marseille. Renaud Muselier cautioned that in dealing with the reality of climate change “defeatism has the same effect as skepticism.”


Bayern score late to see off Celtic in Champions League

Updated 19 February 2025
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Bayern score late to see off Celtic in Champions League

  • Bayern will face either their fellow German rivals Bayer Leverkusen or Spanish giants Atletico Madrid in the last 16

MUNICH, Germany: Bayern Munich secured their place in the last 16 of the Champions League with a 94th minute strike by Alphonso Davies on Tuesday to secure a 1-1 draw on the night and a 3-2 aggregate win.
Bayern will face either their fellow German rivals Bayer Leverkusen or Spanish giants Atletico Madrid in the last 16.
Celtic had led 1-0 since the 63rd minute and the Scottish side had been on the verge of taking the German giants to extra time and pulling off their first ever win in Germany.
But with Harry Kane off injured and time running out, Davies stepped up as Bayern’s savior, tapping in after Celtic keeper Kasper Schmeichel had kept out Leon Goretzka’s header.
Bayern went into this game 2-1 up from last week’s first leg at Celtic Park and seeking to stretch their unbeaten run to seven games in all competitions.
Bayern dominated possession in the first half but Celtic were more dangerous with at least three clear cut chances to score before the break.
Former Bayern Munich second-team player, Nicolas Kuehn beat Manuel Neuer but Raphael Guerreiro cleared off the line.
Moments later, Alistair Johnston flashed a dangerous ball across the Bayern goal. With Neuer stranded the ball flew just beyond Daizen Maeda.
Then Maeda missed a golden opportunity to put Celtic ahead. When Dayot Upamecano was forced into a stray pass, Kuehn led the surge forward and fed Maeda, who blazed over with Kuehn and Jota in support.
Bayern dominated the ball on a freezing night but suffered with a lack of quality in attack.
Serge Gnabry was wasteful while Kane sometimes cut an isolated figure, starved of service.
The England captain’s best chance saw him rattling the bar with a snapshot after Josip Stanisic picked him out from the right.
That would be Kane’s final action. The striker was withdrawn at half time, feeling the effects of an injury picked up against Bayer Leverkusen on Saturday.
Bayern upped the pressure after the break and fashioned a clear chance when Goretzka went clean through. Schmeichel, however, made a crucial stop to keep Celtic in the game.
Soon after, Celtic were in front. Maeda seized on a loose pass by Josip Stanisic and helped it on toward Kuehn. Min-Jae Kim reached the ball first but could not clear and Kuehn was able to take a touch and find the bottom corner.
It was a goal that shocked the Allianz Arena and threatened Bayern’s record of 20 European home games unbeaten. Celtic were delivering on coach Brendan Rodgers’ pre-match battle cry to show bravery.
Bayern sought an equalizer but Vincent Kompany’s side were reduced to long-range shots, with Schmeichel pulling off saves from Joshua Kimmich, Michael Olize and substitute Leroy Sane.
Celtic were moments away from inflicting Bayern’s first defeat by a Scottish team and taking the tie into extra-time but the game had a sting in the tail. Olize delivered a pinpoint cross that was met by Goretzka.
Schmeichel saved but Davies scrambled the rebound home off his shin to send Bayern through to the last 16.


Ancelotti downplays Guardiola’s suggestion Man City have 1 percent chance of eliminating Madrid in playoffs

Updated 18 February 2025
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Ancelotti downplays Guardiola’s suggestion Man City have 1 percent chance of eliminating Madrid in playoffs

  • “He doesn’t really think that,” Ancelotti said on Tuesday in a pre-match news conference
  • Guardiola later said he lied a bit when he talked about the 1 percent, and that he knows City’s chances of reversing the first-leg defeat are higher than that

MADRID: Coach Carlo Ancelotti is not buying Manchester City rival Pep Guardiola’s suggestion that his own side have only a 1 percent chance of eliminating Real Madrid in the Champions League playoffs on Wednesday.
Madrid rallied late to win the first leg 3-2 last week in England to seize control ahead of their home match at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium.
After City’s 4-0 win over Newcastle in the Premier League on Saturday, Guardiola said his team would arrive in the Spanish capital with a “1 percent” chance of going through to the round of 16.
“He doesn’t really think that,” Ancelotti said on Tuesday in a pre-match news conference. “Tomorrow I’ll ask him before the match if he really thinks that they only have a 1 percent chance. He thinks he has more than that, just as we don’t think that we have only a 99 percent chance. We know that we have an advantage, and we have to make the most of it.”
Guardiola later said he lied a bit when he talked about the 1 percent, and that he knows City’s chances of reversing the first-leg defeat are higher than that.
“You have to play an almost perfect game,” he said. “The result was not so good, we usually come into the second leg with a better result, so it is not the perfect situation. We have to attack, we have to score goals. We want to win, so let’s see if we can adjust some things that didn’t work in the first leg.”
Ancelotti said he was not one of those coaches who liked to fully downplay his team’s advantage.
“It’s foolish to say that we will prepare for the game as if we were tied 0-0,” he said. “Nobody will believe you because it’s a fact that we scored three goals and City two. You can’t change that. We have to try to play the same way as we played a week ago, but without forgetting that we have an advantage.”
Guardiola has never failed in 16 seasons of coaching — four at Barcelona, three at Bayern and nine in Manchester — to take his team to the last 16. The 2012-13 season was the last time City did not play at that stage.
City have been struggling recently, though, and Guardiola said that has to be taken into consideration.
“This season the reality is we have been miles, miles away,” he said. “The results have been poor.”
Madrid got the better of City in the quarterfinals last year, and with a 3-1 win in extra time in the semifinals in 2022. Each time Ancelotti’s team went on to win the title, extending the club’s record to 15 Champions League trophies.
Ancelotti can count on central defender Antonio Rüdiger, who has recovered from the muscle injury that has kept him out in recent weeks. Against City last week, Ancelotti fielded an improvised back line who played together for the first time.
Ferland Mendy, youngster Raúl Asencio and midfielders Aurélien Tchouaméni and Federico Valverde played at the back in England.
Ancelotti said Rüdiger can start on Wednesday, though he didn’t say whether the central defender would replace Tchouaméni or the 22-year-old Asencio.
It is the fourth consecutive season in which the teams are facing each other in the Champions League, with City prevailing in the semifinals two seasons ago on their way to winning the European title for the first time.


Feyenoord knock out 10-man AC Milan to reach Champions League last 16

Updated 18 February 2025
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Feyenoord knock out 10-man AC Milan to reach Champions League last 16

  • Julian Carranza thumped home the winning header in the 73rd minute
  • Argentine attacker Carranza struck for Feyenoord shortly after coming on as substitute

MILAN: Feyenoord reached the last 16 of the Champions League on Tuesday after a 1-1 draw at 10-man AC Milan which took them past the seven-time kings of Europe 2-1 on aggregate.
Julian Carranza thumped home the winning header in the 73rd minute at a frigid San Siro, canceling out Santiago Gimenez’s first-minute opener for Milan and sending the Dutch through to meet either Inter Milan or Arsenal.
Argentine attacker Carranza struck for Feyenoord shortly after coming on as substitute as the away side pushed to reach the next round, while Milan struggled following Theo Hernandez’s sending off early in the second half.
Already on a booking for a needless foul on Anis Hadj-Moussa just before half-time, Hernandez was ruled by referee Szymon Marciniak to have dived in the penalty box when under pressure from Givairo Read.
The France full-back was dismissed, leaving Milan on the back foot after having dominated up to that point.
Hernandez’s sending off and Carranza’s tie-winning header ruined what looked to be Gimenez’s night when he nodded home the opener against his old team after just 36 seconds.
Mexico forward Gimenez has already scored three times for Milan since signing from Feyenoord during the winter transfer window but his sixth goal in the Champions League this season was also his last.
Sergio Conceicao’s Milan are by no means assured of a spot in next year’s tournament as they sit seventh in Serie A, five points off the top four with a game in hand.


Medvedev edges Khachanov in windy Qatar Open

Updated 18 February 2025
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Medvedev edges Khachanov in windy Qatar Open

  • Medvedev, who won the tournament in 2023, scored his first victory over a top-30 player in 2025
  • In match of long rallies, Medvedev did not carve out a break point until the 12th game of the second set

DOHA: World No.6 Daniil Medvedev eliminated compatriot and defending champion Karen Khachanov 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 in the second round of the ATP Qatar Open on Tuesday.
Medvedev, who won the tournament in 2023, scored his first victory over a top-30 player in 2025.
Medvedev, the former world No.1, has not won a tournament since the Rome Masters in spring 2023. He was knocked out in the second round of this year’s Australian Open by teenage American Learner Tien.
In match of long rallies, Medvedev did not carve out a break point until the 12th game of the second set, by which time he was a set down. He took his chance and then went on attack in the third set to win in two hours 30 minutes.


A third Russian former champion, Andrey Rublev, the fifth seed, beat Alexander Bublik 6-3, 6-4.
Alex de Minaur celebrated his birthday by beating Russian Roman Safiullin 6-1, 7-5, even though the Australian did not enjoy the weather.
“They’re tough days, these ones,” said De Minaur. “It’s cold, it’s windy, you probably don’t want to get out of bed. But once you step on court, you have to do everything you can to win. Whether it’s ugly or pretty tennis, you just put the ball in the court, and that’s what I did today.”
“Out went any sort of tactics you had for the match and it was all about surviving more than anything.”
In the evening matches, Novak Djokovic was making his comeback against Matteo Berrettini after his Australian-Open semifinal injury.
Earlier in the day, Djokovic said that Andy Murray would continue as his coach “indefinitely.”
“I expressed my desire to continue the collaboration with him so I am really glad he did accept,” said Djokovic.