United’s title hopes hit; Tuchel starts with draw
LONDON: Manchester United’s Premier League title hopes suffered a huge blow on Wednesday with a 2-1 defeat at the hands of bottom-placed Sheffield United while Chelsea started the Thomas Tuchel era with a goalless draw against Wolverhampton Wanderers.
The shock result at Old Trafford leaves Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City a point clear at the top with a game in hand and looking hot favourites to win a third title in four years.
Elsewhere on a busy night of midweek action, Leicester drew 1-1 with Everton, Burnley beat Aston Villa 3-2 and Brighton drew 0-0 with Fulham. Manchester United were sloppy and uninspired from the kick-off and that gave The Blades an opportunity to break the deadlock midway through the first half when Kean Bryan rose to glance home John Fleck’s corner after David de Gea failed to punch clear.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men were level in the 64th minute when an outswinging corner from Alex Telles was met with a thumping header by Harry Maguire. But Sheffield United were back in front again 10 minutes later when United failed to clear and Oliver Burke’s strike went in off the underside of the bar after taking a wicked deflection off Axel Tuanzebe.
Earlier, former Paris Saintgermain boss Tuchel took charge at Stamford Bridge against misfiring Wolves less than 24 hours after replacing the sacked Frank Lampard.
Chelsea struggled to make an impression against Nuno Espirito Santo’s men, whose form has nose-dived in recent months.
But Tuchel did not appear downhearted despite the flat display. “I was very happy performance-wise,” he said. “Unfortunately we couldn’t score. If we take care of our performance like this the results will come.”
Barcelona come from behind to beat Rayo
MADRID: Lionel Messi marked his return from suspension with a goal in the Copa del Rey on
Wednesday as Barcelona survived a scare against Rayo Vallecano to reach the quarter-finals.
With Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid already out, another upset looked on the cards when Fran Garcia gave Rayo a surprise lead at Vallecas early in the second half.
But Messi tapped in Antoine Griezmann’s pass to equalise before turning creator, sending Jordi Alba through, with Frenkie de Jong at the back post to seal a 2-1 victory.
Juventus, Atalanta enter Italian Cup semi-finals
TURIN: Juventus eased past second-division team Spal 4-0 on Wednesday to reach the Italian Cup semi-finals despite resting regulars like Cristiano Ronaldo and Paulo Dybala.
Alvaro Morata and Gianluca Frabotta scored first-half goals for Juventus while Dejan Kulusevski and Federico Chiesa added late strikes.
In the two-leg semifinals, Juventus will face Inter Milan, who eliminated AC Milan in a derby on Tuesday. Earlier, 10-man Atalanta beat visiting Lazio 3-2 and will next face either Napoli or Spezia, who play Thursday.
Aleksei Miranchuk scored the winner for Atalanta four minutes after teammate José Luis Palomino was shown a direct red card for a foul on Manuel Lazzari.
Berat Djimsiti and Ruslan Malinovskyi also scored for Atalanta in an entertaining match that included Lazio goals from Vedat Muriqi and Francesco Acerbi.
Hyderabad rally to hold Bengaluru FC 2-2
GOA: Two late goals in a span of five minutes broke Bengaluru FC hearts as Hyderabad FC came from behind in dramatic fashion to draw 2-2 in the Hero Indian Super League at the Tilak Maidan, Vasco, on Thursday. BFC led 2-0 through goals from Sunil Chhetri (9’) and Leon Augustine (61’). However, Aridane Santana pulled a goal back in the 86th minute before Fran Sandaza scored a 90th-minute leveler, as BFC’S winless run extended to eight games.
Women’s Asian Cup from Jan 20 to Feb 6 next year
NEW DELHI: The 2022 Women’s Asian Cup, to be hosted by India, will be held from January 20 to February 6, the Asian Football Confederation announced on Thursday. The tournament will feature 12 teams, expanded from eight in the previous edition, comprising three groups of four with a minimum of 25 matches being played over 18 days. Eight teams will qualify for the newly-introduced quarterfinals.
The event will also serve as a qualification tournament for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, which will see a record five Asian teams seal their spots to join co-host Australia for the newly-expanded 32-team global showpiece.