Last-gasp winner caps Leipzig fightback
SHAH Firdaus Sahrom gets a timely boost for the Tokyo Olympics, beating his illustrious compatriot, Azizulhasni Awang, for gold at the Victorian Keirin Championships.
A last-gasp Alexander Sorloth goal sealed RB Leipzig’s dramatic 3-2 comeback win at home to Borussia Moenchengladbach on Saturday and kept them in the thick of the Bundesliga title race.
Leipzig fought back with second-half goals by Christopher Nkunku and Yussuf Poulsen before Sorloth’s winning header in the 93rd minute after Gladbach had led 2-0 at half-time.
“We’ll try everything to keep the Bundesliga exciting,” said Leipzig coach Julian Nagelsmann.
“We have to keep the momentum. It was an extremely important victory in terms of the table.
“We didn’t look good when we conceded the goals, but were incredibly strong in the second half.”
The victory keeps secondplaced Leipzig two points behind leaders Bayern Munich, who earlier romped to a 5-1 home win over Cologne.
Earlier, Bayern bounced back after taking just a point in their previous two league games as midfielder Leon Goretzka created three goals in their rout of Cologne.
Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting headed Bayern into an early lead before Robert Lewandowski, the league’s top scorer, struck twice to increase his league tally to 28 goals this season.
Serge Gnabry came off the bench to claim two late goals behind closed doors at the Allianz Arena on his first appearance since tearing a thigh muscle in Bayern’s Club World Cup final win in Qatar.
Cologne struck through Ellyes Skhiri, who chipped Manuel Neuer four minutes after the break.
Coach Hansi Flick made just one change — Choupo-Moting for Kingsley Coman — from the side which beat Lazio 4-1 in the Champions League on Tuesday.
Wolfsburg remain third, seven
points behind Bayern, after their 2-0 home win over Hertha Berlin, whose defender Lukas Kluenter turned the ball into his own net before Maxence Lacroix scored the hosts’ second.
England winger Jadon Sancho converted a penalty and Brazil midfielder Reinier scored his first goal for the club as Dortmund stayed fifth with a 3-0 home win over Arminia Bielefeld.
Manchester City’s centre-backs Ruben Dias and John Stones both struck as the Premier League leaders beat West Ham 2-1 on Saturday, while West Brom enlivened the battle to beat the drop with a controversial 1-0 win over Brighton in which the Seagulls missed two penalties.
Pep Guardiola’s men are now 13 points clear thanks to a 20-game winning run in all competitions that has seen them close in on an unprecedented quadruple of trophies.
For the first time in recent weeks, City showed signs of fatigue, though, and needed the dominant centre-back pairing that has been a huge part of their success defensively this season to also make their mark at the other end.
“After 10 or 15 minutes today we realised we were not going to paint anything beautiful,” said Guardiola.
“When you play a lot of games in the league and then the Champions League - this is normal. We were lucky to get all three points.”
Kevin De Bruyne made just his second start since returning from a hamstring injury and the Belgian’s teasing cross was powered home by Dias for his first City goal since joining from Benfica in September.
City had kept eight clean sheets in their previous 10 league games, but West Ham showed why they are fourth and pushing to edge out the likes of Liverpool, Chelsea, Tottenham and Arsenal to qualify for next season’s Champions League.
“I’m really disappointed we didn’t get a point,” said West Ham boss David Moyes.
“It was a terrific performance. We came here and tried to match a top side — and for long periods we did.”
Michail Antonio had already threatened an equaliser by hitting the post before he did level by tapping home Jesse Lingard’s mishit shot just before half-time.
But City’s determination to keep winning shone through in the second-half as Stones smashed home Riyad Mahrez’s pass for the winner on 68 minutes.
West Brom kept their hopes of avoiding the drop alive with just a second win in 13 games under Sam Allardyce in a match overshadowed by a surreal moment of refereeing by Lee Mason that cost Brighton an equaliser.
Kyle Bartley’s early header gave West Brom the lead before Pascal Gross and Danny Welbeck both hit the woodwork either side of half-time from the penalty spot for the visitors.
Brighton did have the ball in the net when Lewis Dunk’s quickly taken free-kick, after Mason had whistled for it to be taken, caught Sam Johnstone napping.
Mason initially did not award the goal before reversing his decision. However, after reviewing the incident on VAR, the goal was ruled out as the referee changed his mind for a second time.
“It’s embarrassing, it’s just a horrendous decision,” said Dunk. “I said to the ref ‘can I take it’, he blew his whistle and I took it. I don’t think he knew what he was doing.”
In a statement, the Premier League said: “Referee Lee Mason has overturned the goal because the whistle had been blown a second time before the ball had crossed the line.”
Victory for the Baggies hauls Allardyce’s men to within eight points of safety, while Brighton remain just four points clear of the drop zone in 16th.
Newcastle are also now four points clear of the bottom three despite blowing the lead to draw 1-1 at home to Wolves.
Jamaal Lascelles’s towering header put the Magpies in front before Ruben Neves equalised for Nuno Espirito Santo’s men, who remain in 12th.
Aston Villa coped without the injured Jack Grealish and kept their bid for the top four alive with a 1-0 win at Leeds.
Anwar El Ghazi’s early strike moved eighth-placed Villa to within six points of West Ham with two games in hand to come.
WHEN the going gets tough, the tough get going.
The proverb best describes the Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC), who were facing a losing battle in hosting the Malaysia Hockey League (MHL) but rose against all odds to make it happen.
The MHL starts with the men’s tournament on March 11, followed by the women’s event four days later.
Both competitions end on April 3. While many tournaments became victims of the Covid-19 pandemic, the MHC were determined to host the MHL.
And it became a reality when the National Security Council (NSC) and the Health Ministry gave the green light.
However, the MHL this year will go down in the history books as the most expensive edition due to its strict Covid guidelines.
MHC president Datuk Seri Subahan Kamal said the total cost for the tournament will be around RM2 million.
MHL will be akin to hosting the international Azlan Shah Cup as the MHC want to lead the way in opening up the field and become a role model for other sports to follow suit.
“The MHL will be the most expensive task ever for the national body.
“However, the MHC want to become a role model for other associations to follow as we need to reopen the field ahead of our international qualifiers this year.
“It is expected to cost around RM2 million to host the MHL.
“We will bear the costs of Covid-19 testing, food and lodging for 600 officials and players, who will stay in a sports bubble for three weeks,” said Subahan.
The national men and women’s senior and junior teams will be involved in several international tournaments this year, and the MHL is the first step.
The youth teams will play in the men’s Junior Asia Cup (July 1-10) and the women’s Junior Asia Cup (Aug 16-21), while the seniors have their respective Asia Cups.
Shah Firdaus Sahrom (left) and Azizulhasni Awang with their medals at the Victorian Keirin Championships in Australia yesterday.
FADHLI ISHAK