The Malaysian Insider :: Sports
The Malaysian Insider :: Sports |
| Gervinho sees Roma past Juventus in Cup quarters Posted: 21 Jan 2014 02:44 PM PST Roma, defeated in last year's final by city rivals Lazio, will find out their last four rivals following the quarter-final tie between Napoli and Lazio on January 29. Roma had suffered a 3-0 league defeat to Juventus a fortnight ago and with the hosts losing last season's final to Lazio, coach Rudi Garcia fielded a full-strength side at a packed Olympic Stadium. Juve counterpart Antonio Conte, meanwhile, took the opposite approach. He rested keeper Gianluigi Buffon, a number of midfield stars including Paul Pogba, Kwadwo Asamoah and Stephan Lichsteiner and strikers Carlos Tevez and Fernando Llorente. In the end, Conte's strategy backfired as Roma's far more enterprising approach paid dividends. Captain Francesco Totti told Rai Sport: "We wanted this win at all costs... tonight we matched a great Juve side." Asked who Roma would prefer to meet in the final four, Totti added: "That's their problem, not ours." Conte claimed he was "happy with my players' performance" and said he had no regrets about replacing his top players with those who often warm the substitutes bench. "The Cup is a competition like any other but we've always seen it as an opportunity to give certain players time on the pitch, that's nothing new for us. "We need to have all our players on form for the championship and for the Europa League." Roma dominated the early exchanges but it took until late in the half for them to threaten the Juventus goal. Vasilis Torosidis whipped in a superb curling ball at the far post with which Kevin Strootman, at full stretch, narrowly failed to make contact. Totti then saw his volleyed snapshot go wide, while Alessandro Florenzi failed to reach Gervinho's ball when it was fired across the box. Juve had the ball in the net shortly after the restart when Federico Peloso headed home from close range, but his effort was ruled out after Mauricio Isla's curling cross from deep on the right was ruled to have gone out of play. Florenzi was next to come close with a header from Torosidis which took Juve's number two keeper Marco Storari by surprise but the second half was nowhere near as productive as the first. As the game stalled, Garcia replaced Florenzi with Miralem Pjanic while Conte attempted to waken his team from their relative slumber by replacing striker Sebastian Giovinco with Llorente on 77 minutes. Garcia's switch was to pay dividends, Pjanic reaching the ball, before Andrea Barzagli, to stride forward and feed Strootman deep on the left. The Dutchman's cross arrived in the box and Gervinho did well to tap the ball home with the side of his right boot in the 79th minute. Roma were fired up and Totti delivered the ball for Gervinho which the striker missed, and minutes later the Ivorian sent a low, weak shot into the arms of Storari after late substitute Adem Ljajic had carried the ball from midfield. Pjanic then came close with a shot in injury time, while Juve's frustrations boiled over with Chilean Arturo Vidal cautioned for dissent. On Wednesday Milan host Udinese for their second match under new coach Clarence Seedorf with high-flying Fiorentina away to Serie B side Siena a day later. - AFP, January 22, 2014. |
| Benzema edges Real Madrid towards Cup semis Posted: 21 Jan 2014 02:39 PM PST Karim Benzema got the only goal of the game as he headed home Alvaro Arbeloa's cross on 25 minutes. Espanyol were indebted to goalkeeper Kiko Casilla for not having an even greater deficit to overcome next Tuesday at the Santiago Bernabeu as he made a string of fine saves to keep his side in the tie. However, they should have snatched a draw on the night as Colombian striker Jhon Cordoba fired straight at Iker Casillas when played through on goal eight minutes from time. That save extended Casillas personal record of not having conceded for the last 592 minutes in which he has kept goal and Real boss Carlo Ancelotti lauded the Spanish captain's professionalism having been dropped from La Liga duty in favour of Diego Lopez action for over a year. "I congratulate Iker because he is doing very well, he deserves his record for his professionalism," he said. "He made a save at the end and has played very well in all the games in which he has played. We have a lot of games at the moment and so both (goalkeepers) are playing the same number of games and Iker is as important as Diego Lopez is." Ancelotti had named a very strong starting line-up and was rewarded with a commanding display from his side as they extended their unbeaten run in all competitions to 18 games. And the Italian was delighted to take a lead into the second-leg despite holding on a little towards the end. "This is the quarter-finals of the Cup so you have to play your strongest team and it is clear that the tie is still alive. "We only struggled in the last 20 minutes. I thought the team did very well and played with quality, rhythm and intensity. "We kept a clean sheet, the team played well and I am happy. It is normal when you miss a lot of opportunities to score the second goal then you will suffer a bit towards the end." Cristiano Ronaldo had his side's first serious effort on goal with a low drive that Casilla did very well to turn onto the inside of the post. Madrid did take the lead midway through the half as Gareth Bale flicked on Arbeloa's cross and Benzema powered home a header for his 14th goal of the season. Casilla then saved from Benzema and a Bale free-kick, whilst Angel di Maria ballooned another clear opening well over the bar. Espanyol posed more of a threat at the beginning of the second period as Garcia curled an effort inches wide of Casillas' right-hand post. However, the visitors should have left Barcelona with a more substantial lead as Casilla denied Arbeloa twice from close range before Benzema forced the keeper into another smart save low to his left when he should have squared for the completely unmarked Ronaldo in the middle. And Madrid were nearly made to pay as Casillas had to make a brave block from Cordoba before Marcelo cleared off the line following a goalmouth scramble in the latter stages to seal the victory and a sixth consecutive clean sheet for Los Blancos. - AFP, January 22, 2014. |
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