Sindhu, Srikanth survive scare; Saina loses
Jose Mourinho was condemned for his negative tactics after Man United crashed out of the Champions League to Sevilla, with Alexis Sanchez anonymous and Paul Pogba’s confidence apparently in tatters.
United, riding high in the EPL, started the second leg of their last-16 tie on Tuesday as strong favourites to progress to the quarterfinals after a goalless draw in Spain but mustered just four shots on target across both legs. Two late goals from substitute Wissam Ben Yedder gave the home side a mountain to climb and a consolation goal from Romelu Lukaku was far too little, too late, with United exiting the competition 2-1 on aggregate.
Mourinho fielded four forwards — Sanchez, Lukaku, Marcus Rashford and Jesse Lingard — in an attacking-looking line-up at Old Trafford but United only broke free of the shackles in the desperate closing minutes. A stubborn Mourinho, who has won the competition with Porto and Inter Milan, said his side had not put in a “bad performance” but that contrasted with the sour mood in Manchester after a first home European defeat since 2013 to a Sevilla side only fifth in La Liga.
“If you are a team at home, the onus is on you to go out and attack and make sure you take the game away from the opposing team,” said former United defender Rio Ferdinand, who won the Champions League under Alex Ferguson in 2008. The question for fans is why Mourinho is seemingly unable, or unwilling, to set his attacking superstars free.
Pogba, who cost a then worldrecord £89 million in 2016 as Mourinho’s first big signing, was again dropped, this time in favour of the more robust Marouane Fellaini. “There are players in that squad to play good attacking football with the money that’s been spent,” said former United midfielder Paul Scholes.
“Sanchez for one, he just looks a shadow of the player he was,” said Ferdinand. “When he was at Arsenal he was the one everyone looked to for inspiration.” in the first leg how easily they could break down Manchester United’s defence and they did the same in the second leg as well.
good with the ball at their feet, they managed to move the ball around, find the gaps in United’s defensive setup and scored the crucial away goals to take them through. the chants of ‘attack, attack’ from the Old Trafford crowd grew louder but United were set-up to blunt Sevilla’s creativeness.
well in the build-up but they lacked potency in the final third. While Jesse Lingard and Alexis Sanchez weren’t up to the mark, Romelu Lukaku tried all night long but was left isolated for long spells. Lost 2-0 to Barcelona in final
Lost on away goals to Bayern in quarters
Lost 3-1 to Barcelona in final stage group
Lost 3-2 to Real Madrid in last 16 Lost 4-2 to Bayern Munich in quarterfinals qualify
raking in millions of pounds thanks to their global popularity. But on the pitch they have been dismal and stare at another trophyless season if they don’t go all the way in the FA Cup.
would see them catch up with Manchester City, the Premier League leaders, which they last won way back in 2012-13. Their last Champions League title came in
2007-08 season.
Group stage Did not qualify lost 2-1 to Sevilla in last 16 BIRMINGHAM: Star shuttlers PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth prevailed in tough first-round battles but Saina Nehwal exited from the All England Championship after suffering a straightgame defeat against World No 1 and defending champion Tai TzuYing, here on Wednesday.
World No 3 Srikanth recovered from a lopsided opening game to struggle past France’s Brice Leverdez, ranked 23, 7-21, 21-14, 22-20, while Olympic and world championship silver medallist Sindhu staved off a stiff challenge from Thailand’s Pornpawee Chochuwong to prevail 20-22, 21-17, 21-9 in a 56-minute contest.
Srikanth will square off against either China’s Huang Yuxiang or England’s Rajiv Ouseph, while Sindhu faces the winner of the match between USA’S Beiwen Zhang and Thailand’s Nitchaon Jindapol.
Singapore Open champion B Sai Praneeth squandered an opening game advantage to go down 21-13, 15-21, 11-21 to fifth seed Korean Son Wan Ho.
Srikanth was no match for Did not first home loss in Europe since Alex Ferguson’s last Champions League game against Real Madrid.
has scored eight goals in seven Champions League games this season. Leverdez in the first game as he failed to execute his strokes properly with most going wide and long. After a pep talk with coach Pullela Gopichand, Srikanth came back strongly in the second game. He looked more aggressive and his approach earned him dividends as he forced the match into decider after winning 21-14.
In the third game, Srikanth was comfortably placed at 11-6 but Leverdez made fantastic recovery to make it 12-12. The duo fought hard and moved neck and neck till 18-18. Leverdez then won a long rally to grab a 19-18 advantage but Srikanth drew parity.
The Frenchman held a match point but the Indian once again levelled par and grabbed a match point, before converting it.
Sindhu, on the other hand, blew a 11-4 advantage in the opening game as Pornpawee fought back to catch up with the Indian at 14-14. She went to the 20-18 game point advantage before Sindhu clawed back but in the end it was the Thai shuttle who pocketed the game.
Jolted by the reversal, Sindhu surged to a 14-6 and 15-7 lead in the next two games and didn’t lose control despite some spirited fight by Pornpawee.
Saina, who had reached the final in the 2015 edition, couldn’t match up to the precision and athleticism of Tai Tzu and went down 14-21, 18-21. It was Saina’s eighth successive loss to the Taiwanese in five years.
Among others, Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy lost 14-21, 13-21 to second-seeded Japanese combo of Misaki Matsutomo and Ayaka Takahashi, while Jakkampudi Meghana and Poorvisha S Ram went down 14-21, 11-21 to fifth-seeded Japanese combo of Shiho Tanaka and Koharu Yonemoto 21-14, 21-11 in women’s doubles.
The men’s doubles pair of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy also suffered a 20-22, 12-21 loss against the English team of Marcus Ellis and Chris Langride to crash out.
After failing to keep pace with Tai Tzu in the opening game, the 27-year-old Indian blew a 16-11 advantage in the second game to bow out. Saina had lost to Tai Tzu in the final of the Indonesia Masters early this year.