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A22
SPORTSThursday 21 January 2016
Spanish Roundup:
Atletico draws Celta; Barcelona beats Athletic in Copa election day looms
TALES AZZONI
AP Sports Writer
MADRID (AP) — Atletico
Madrid and Celta Vigo
played to a 0-0 draw and
Barcelona defeated Ath-
letic Bilbao 2-1 in the quar-
terfinals of the Copa del
FC Barcelona’s Arda Turan of Turkey, left, duels for the ball with Athletic Bilbao’s Oscar De Marcos,
during the Spanish Copa del Rey soccer match, round 8, first leg, between Athletic Bilbao and FC
Barcelona , at San Mames stadium, in Bilbao northern Spain, Wednesday, Jan. 20 2016.
Rey on Wednesday.
Barcelona got the away
victory but Aritz Aduriz’s
late goal kept Athletic alive
going into next week’s sec-
ond leg at the Camp Nou.
Atletico and Celta will play
the return match at the Vi-
cente Calderon Stadium in
Madrid, where Atletico has
won its last nine matches.
Atletico relied on solid de-
French Roundup:
Monaco, Lyon and Marseille advance in French Cup paigning alongside rivals in
PARIS (AP) — Five-time win-
ner Monaco was pushed to
extra time before securing
its spot in the round of 16 of teams level in the 63rd min-
the French Cup with a 3-1
win over second-tier Evian
on Wednesday.
Playing with a reshuffled
but strong team featuring
Ricardo Carvalho, Joao
Moutinho and Bernardo
Silva, Monaco looked frag-
ile throughout and failed
to extend its lead follow-
ing Lacina Traore’s opener
in the 45th minute with a
fending to keep the hosts
from scoring, but Diego
Simeone’s team failed to
take its chances on coun-
terattacks.
Celta nearly scored in the
82nd but Gabi Fernandez
cleared the ball just in front Barcelona was set for a 2-0
of the goal line to maintain
the deadlock.
“It was an open match, but
they had more ball posses-
sion,” Simeone said. “Now
any draw other than 0-0 will
benefit them. We need the
victory at any cost.”
The sides had met in the
Spanish league just 10 days
ago, with Atletico winning
2-0 in Vigo.
header from close range.
Former Monaco midfielder
Morgan Kamin pulled the
ute with a powerful strike as
Evian created the second
half’s best chances. But
Mario Pasalic converted a
good cross from Moutinho
to put the visitors back in
command in the 104th.
Helder Costa then sealed
Monaco’s win from substi-
tute Ilyes Chaibi’s assist.
Lyon defeated third-divi-
sion side Chambly 2-0 with
Atletico Madrid leads the save to secure the win.
Spanish league with 47 Munir El Haddadi gave Bar-
points from 20 games. Bar- celona the lead in the 18th
celona is two points behind after a cross by Ivan Rakit-
from 19 games. Celta is fifth ic, and Brazil striker Neymar
with 34 points, also from 20 increased the lead in the
games. 25th after a long ball sent
into the area.
“Athletic pressured a lot,”
Barcelona coach Luis En-
rique said. “It was compli-
cated, but I’m satisfied with
the result despite conced-
(AP Photo/Alvaro Barrientos) ing the late goal.”
The Catalan club got the
win at the San Mames in Bil- win — its fifth in a row — de-
bao, but Aduriz found the spite playing without Lionel
net in the 89th after Barce- Messi and Luis Suarez. Messi
lona defender Dani Alves was rested after receiving
failed to clear a ball from a knock on his right leg in
inside the area. the Spanish league game
Athletic almost equalized a against Athletic over the
couple of minutes later af- weekend, while Suarez
ter a ball deflected in front served the last of his a two-
of the goal, but Barcelona game suspension for insult-
goalkeeper Marc-Andre ing Espanyol opponents in
ter Stegen made a good the first leg of the round of
16 of the Copa del Rey.
Suarez, the Spanish
league’s top scorer with
18 goals, netted a hat trick
in Barcelona’s 6-0 rout of
Athletic in the league on
Sunday. The Basque club
played that game with 10
men after goalkeeper Gor-
ka Iraizoz was sent off for a
foul that prompted a pen-
alty kick to Barcelona in the
fourth minute.
The quarterfinal matchup
is a rematch of last year’s
final in the Copa del Rey,
which Barcelona won 3-1.
The teams also met in the
Spanish Super Cup final
a few weeks later, when
Bilbao came out on top
to win its first major title in nations” in Africa and the
more than 30 years.q
goals from Maxwell Cornet the evening with a 4-2 vic-
and Mathieu Valbuena on tory over Lille on penalties
a bad pitch that had been after the teams drew 1-1.
damaged by frost. Among other top-division
Valbuena, who has been teams to advance were
struggling for form for most 10-time winner Marseille,
of the season, scored his Troyes, Lorient and Nantes.
first goal since October Marseille beat fellow first-
last year. “Mathieu played division team Montpellier
an important role in our 2-0 to secure a first home
win, displaying a posi- win at the Velodrome since
tive spirit that helped the November.
team move forward,” Lyon Title holder Paris Saint-Ger-
coach Bruno Genesio said. main advanced to the next
Fourth-division Trelissac pro- round on Tuesday with a
duced the shock result of 2-1 win over Toulouse.q
FIFA voters publicly
declare support as
AMMAN, Jordan (AP) —
Five weeks before elec-
tion day, some of the 209
FIFA member federations
are publicly pledging their
votes in the presidential
race. Prince Ali of Jordan
said Wednesday that the
Iraqi soccer federation will
vote for him on Feb. 26 in
Zurich. The German and
Swiss federations gave
their expected support to
UEFA general secretary Gi-
anni Infantino, who is from
Switzerland.
“Gianni Infantino is the
candidate of the Europe-
ans and the best candi-
date,” Reinhard Rauball,
interim leader of the Ger-
man soccer federation,
said after a meeting of its
presidium.
Prince Ali got formal pub-
lic support from UEFA —
but not the Asian Football
Confederation — when he
tallied 73 votes in losing to
Sepp Blatter in May.
Iraq is expected to be
joined by other Asian
voters for Prince Ali next
month despite, AFC presi-
dent Sheikh Salman of Bah-
rain claiming unanimous
support for his campaign
from executive committee
members. Jerome Cham-
pagne of France and
South African businessman
Tokyo Sexwale are also in
the running.
Prince Ali’s campaign
team said in a statement
he also has “picked up
private commitments of
support from several other
Caribbean. He met with
the Iraqi sports minister and
soccer officials in Amman
on Monday after cam-
Ghana, Rwanda and Anti-
gua. “Iraq’s vote will go to
Prince Ali because Prince
Ali has always supported
the development of foot-
ball in Iraq, Jordan and our
region,” federation presi-
dent Abdul Khaliq Masood
said.
UEFA members, including
53 FIFA voters, will meet on
Friday in Nyon, Switzerland,
to discuss election strategy
after a meeting of its ex-
ecutive committee, which
includes Swiss federation
president Peter Gillieron.q