The Malaysian Insider :: Sports
The Malaysian Insider :: Sports |
| Juve light up new stadium in style, Roma lose Posted: 11 Sep 2011 08:41 AM PDT  Del Piero controls the ball during the Serie A match against Parma at the Juventus stadium in Turin September 11, 2011. — Reuters pic Swiss right back Stephan Lichtsteiner got the party started at Juve's 41,000-seat arena, which still does not have an official name after a failure to find a sponsor, when he converted fellow new signing Andrea Pirlo's great dinked pass. Three excellent goals followed in the second half with Simone Pepe blasting home, new midfielder Arturo Vidal scoring spectacularly and ex-AC Milan playmaker Pirlo capping a wonderful debut by again expertly setting up Claudio Marchisio. Once mighty Juve have finished a lowly seventh in the last two seasons as they struggled to recover from their 2006 match-fixing demotion but the new stadium, signings and coach have revived supporter hopes that their glory days could return. "I need to thank all our fans, they kept us going for the whole game and gave the lads a real push. It's been the start that we were waiting for," new boss Conte, who won the 1996 European Cup with Juve as a midfielder, told reporters. Sunday's performance bodes well with Parma's Sebastian Giovinco, co-owned by the hosts, only scoring from the spot late on after Juve's Paolo De Ceglie was dismissed for a professional foul. The only other downside for Juve was a bare-looking pitch in the packed new arena, built on the site of their former Stadio Delle Alpi home and the first ground to be owned by an Italian club. Serie A's first round of matches last weekend were postponed because of a player strike over contracts but the season got underway on Friday when champions AC Milan drew 2-2 at home to Lazio. Napoli won 3-1 at Cesena on Saturday and Inter Milan travel to Palermo later today. Roma, sixth last term, have spent millions on new players since being taken over by American investors but a 2-1 home defeat by Cagliari left new coach Luis Enrique scratching his head. Daniele Conti, son of former Roma stalwart Bruno, grabbed the opener midway through the second half after a mistake by new Roma defender Jose Angel, who was soon sent off for a rash tackle. Moestafa El Kabir added the Sardinians' second in injury time before Daniele De Rossi's consolation. Spaniard Luis Enrique started veteran Roma forward Francesco Totti despite tensions between the pair in close-season but neither he nor the likes of new signing Bojan Krkic could especially threaten. Udinese got over their disappointment in missing out on the Champions League group stages with a 2-0 win at Lecce while Fiorentina beat local rivals Bologna 2-0 in Florence. Among the promoted clubs, Atalanta reduced their six-point deduction for player match-fixing last season by a point after a 2-2 draw at Genoa and Novara levelled late on to draw 2-2 at Chievo. Siena were held to a goalless draw at Catania. — Reuters |
| With Monza win, Vettel has one hand on title Posted: 11 Sep 2011 07:45 AM PDT  Vettel celebrates on the podium after winning the Italian F1 Grand Prix at the Monza circuit September 11, 2011. — Reuters pic The 24-year-old German, who had started on pole position for the 10th time in 13 races, stretched his overall lead to a mighty 112 points after Australian team mate and closest rival Mark Webber crashed out. With only 150 points remaining to be won from the last six grands prix, Vettel has now won eight races this season and can clinch the title at the next one in Singapore on September 25. McLaren's Jenson Button finished runner-up for the third season in a row at Monza with Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, last year's winner from pole, giving the sea of red-shirted fans something to cheer about with third place at his team's home race. Vettel, who took his first Formula One win at Monza with Red Bull's Italian-based sister team Toro Rosso on 2008, let all the emotions flood out on his return to the podium. He now has 284 points to double world champion Alonso's 172 and Button's 167. "When you stand up there you feel so blessed," said Vettel who slowed and swerved across to the pit wall with one finger raised as he crossed the line. "Obviously the first one was very special but to be back here...incredible," he gasped. "I really had a very, very good race car and a fantastic day today. "It's the best podium in the world. The only thing that could make it better is probably wearing a red suit." On a sweltering afternoon in the royal park near Milan, Alonso had the home fans leaping in excitement at the start by seizing the lead, roaring past Vettel with one wheel on the grass, from fourth place on the grid. The Spaniard held his advantage for the first four laps thanks to the safety car, which had to be deployed immediately after Italian Vitantonio Liuzzi lost control of his HRT, skidding across a corner and slamming into Vitaly Petrov's Renault. Germany's Nico Rosberg was also caught in the mayhem, retiring his Mercedes on the spot. McLaren's Lewis Hamilton finished fourth after a thrilling battle with the old master Michael Schumacher, a five-time winner at Monza in his glory days with Ferrari, and then striving in vain to catch Alonso over the closing laps. Schumacher gave no quarter, his defensive driving prompting a frustrated Hamilton to question whether the seven-time champion's moves were legal. That triggered a veiled warning from Mercedes team boss Ross Brawn to Schumacher, reminding him to leave enough space at the Ascari chicane. While Hamilton and Schumacher tussled, Button caught them both napping and passed in quick succession. "I don't know if we could have challenged Sebastian today... it's a pity we had such a poor start," said Button, who qualified third but was sixth at the end of the first lap. Schumacher, with plenty of fans in the throng of flag-waving tifosi flooding onto the finish straight for the podium celebrations, finished fifth ahead of former Ferrari team mate Felipe Massa. Massa was the last unlapped driver on a day when only 15 of the 24 starters finished at the fastest circuit on the calendar. Spain's Jaime Alguersuari was seventh for Toro Rosso and Britain's Paul di Resta, of Italian descent, eighth for Force India. Brazilian Bruno Senna, nephew of the late triple champion Ayrton, scored his first points in Formula One with ninth place for Renault and Swiss driver Sebastien Buemi claimed the final point for Toro Rosso. — Reuters |
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