Liverpool, Chelsea, Spurs reach League Cup semis
LONDON: A much-changed Chelsea side featuring three teenaged debutants beat Brentford 2-0 on Wednesday to reach the League Cup semi-finals where they will face London rivals Tottenham Hotspur.
An own goal 10 minutes from time by Pontus Jansson broke the deadlock at Brentford before a Jorginho penalty sealed victory for Thomas Tuchel’s Covid-hit side. In a thriller at Anfield, a weakened Liverpool side came back from the brink to beat Leicester City on penalties after a 3-3 draw, setting up a semi-final against Arsenal.
Jamie Vardy’s early double gave Leicester a 2-0 lead and James Maddison’s rocket shot made it 3-1 after Alex OxladeChamberlain had pulled a goal back. But Diogo Jota struck in the 68th minute before Takumi Minamino levelled in the sixth minute of stoppage time.
Minamino then spurned a chance to send Liverpool through in the ensuing penalty shoot-out as he blazed his effort over the bar. But Liverpool keeper Caoimhin Kelleher then saved Ryan Bertrand’s effort, his second save of the shoot-out, before Jota converted to win it for Liverpool. Antonio Conte’s Tottenham, runners-up to Manchester City last season, made it through to the semis with a 2-1 home win against West Ham United—all the goals arriving in a five-minute spell in the first half.
Two more PL games postponed due to Covid
Covid-19 cases in the visiting teams have forced the postponement of the Liverpool vs Leeds United and Wolverhampton Wanderers vs Watford games scheduled for Boxing Day, the Premier League announced on Thursday.
The number of Premier League games called off due to Covid-19 outbreaks is now up to 12 in the last two weeks but the League said it was their intention to continue playing fixtures “where safely possible”.
“Following postponement requests from Leeds United and Watford as a result of Covid-19, the Premier League Board met this morning and regrettably agreed to call off the two affected clubs’ Boxing Day fixtures,” it said in a statement.
“The Board today (Thursday) was able to make its decisions in advance of Boxing Day to give clarity to clubs and their supporters. We apologise for the inconvenience and disruption caused to those fans’ festive plans.” The League said Leeds would have been unable to fulfil the fixture due to having a number of players down with Covid-19, injuries and illness.
Leeds said all the Covid cases they have experienced are asymptomatic. The club’s training ground will be closed for two days on the advice of Public Health England.
Watford, who have already had two games called off this month, continue to have an insufficient number of players to field a team, the League said.
The Premier League only grants a postponement if a club has fewer than 14 players available, with the board examining requests on a case-by-case basis.
Benzema brace as Real Madrid beat Bilbao
BARCELONA: Karim Benzema struck two quick goals to lead Real Madrid to a 2-1 win at Athletic Bilbao in a La Liga game missing several players because of coronavirus infections.
Defending champions Atletico Madrid slumped to a fourth consecutive league defeat after losing 1-2 at Granada, extending their worst run in the league since Diego Simeone took charge a decade ago.