BABY JOY FOR CYCLING’S GOLDEN COUPLE
Madrid old boy sparks rout of Barca
LAURA KENNY announced last night that she is expecting her first child with new husband Jason, immediately casting doubt on the cycling futures of Great Britain’s golden couple. The nation’s most successful female Olympian posted a touching photograph of two adult bicycles and a tiny child’s bike on social media and was flooded with messages of congratulation from friends in response. The couple’s agent later confirmed the news, saying their respective families were ‘absolutely thrilled and delighted with the news’. While insiders at British Cycling believe Laura, 24, has timed this pregnancy so she can return to competition and add to her four Olympic golds in Tokyo in 2020, there is growing speculation that husband Jason, 28, may not be looking to compete in Japan. He was in peak form on the track at the Rio Games last summer, a class above his rival sprinters in securing three more golds to match Sir Chris Hoy’s six and so join his former international team-mate in becoming the country’s most successful Olympian. But insiders note the fact that Kenny has barely been seen at the National Cycling Centre in Manchester since and is not currently with the other elite track sprinters at a training camp in South Africa. Indeed, Kenny is not expected to contest the UCI World Track Championships in Hong Kong in April either. The couple were married last September.
BIRTHDAY boy Angel di Maria scored twice as Paris Saint-germain ripped Barcelona to shreds in Paris, suggesting that after six years of incredible spending they have finally arrived at the Champions League top table.
It had to be Di Maria with his Real Madrid past and his love-heart celebration, but this was a stunning team performance that left Barca shell-shocked and facing elimination from Europe at the last-16 stage for the first time since Liverpool knocked them out in 2007.
‘We could have stood on our heads and it would have been the same result,’ said Barcelona manager Luis Enrique, whose future at the club looks bleak after such a humiliating loss.
Things started badly for Barcelona when Samuel Umtiti up- ended Julian Draxler on the edge of the area on 18 minutes and Di Maria stepped up to take the free-kick.
It wasn’t his greatest but it was enough to beat Luis Suarez’s jump and fly past a static Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
Draxler would torment Barca for the rest of the half and his shot on 22 minutes almost crept in at Ter Stegen’s near post.
Leo Messi was anonymous apart from one free-kick he hit straight at the wall and he was then caught in possession by Adrien Rabiot.
From Messi’s lapse came the second goal. Marco Verratti motored forward and released Draxler, who shot past Ter Stegen to give the home side a deserved 2-0 half-time lead.
Despite the first-half horror show from Barcelona it was PSg who started the second 45 minutes as if their Champions League survival depended on it.
Verratti, Rabiot and Blaise Matuidi continued to overrun Barca midfielder Sergio Busquets and on 55 minutes Di Maria scored his second. Matuidi got away from Andre gomes and fed Di Maria, who wriggled into space and curled the third goal into the top righthand corner of Ter Stegen’s net.
It was vintage Di Maria and it pushed Barcelona towards the Champions League exit.
Di Maria, who went off to a standing ovation on the hour, said later: ‘It’s a very special day. It’s impossible to have a better performance and birthday.
‘We controlled the game for 90 minutes. There is still more to do at Camp Nou, they will put pressure on us and to get through we’ll have to do the same as we did tonight.’
The Argentine showed all the form he failed to display at Old Trafford, where he was hindered by Louis van gaal’s tactical strait-jacket and by his own failure to adapt quickly to Manchester.
Verratti hobbled off after twisting his knee in a clash with Messi but it made no difference to the game. Barcelona were still wide open in midfield.
Neymar was robbed by Thomas Meunier, who released Edinson Cavani to rifle a shot past Ter Stegen. The Uruguayan celebrated as if PSg had won the European Cup. They are very close to having knocked out one of the favourites, so who’s to say they won’t?
Despite now needing a miracle, Barcelona refused to give up on the tie. Busquets said: ‘We have to plan something different for the second leg. We have to try.’
And coach Enrique added: ‘Half the game is still left. I have not lost all hope. We don’t need four goals — we need five, but why are we not going to dream that we can do it?’