Super Sunday to see Man City face Liverpool in ‘toughest stadium’
to the clubs or the fans and City were furious after their bus was attacked before last year’s Champions League quarter-final first leg on its way to Anfield, while Liverpool were stunned by footage of City players singing a derogatory version of “Allez, allez, allez” on their plane back from Brighton to Manchester after beating Liverpool to the title last May.
On the pitch they benchmark themselves against each other, which makes the atmosphere even more febrile.
But the most fascinating factor is that of City playing at Anfield, where they have won only once in 38 years and not since May 2003, when Nicolas Anelka scored his second goal, in injury time, to secure a 2-1 win. City have lost 15 of the 22 fixtures in the Premier League era.
Remarkably, it means that City have never won there under Abu Dhabi ownership despite what they have achieved in the past decade. Up until last season’s goalless draw, when Riyad Mahrez missed a late penalty, they had lost each game since 2013-14 — despite finishing every campaign higher in the league.
Chief Reporter
Iran joined Brazil and Russia as three-time champions with a well-contested 6-3 win over Spain in the 2019 Dubai Intercontinental Beach Soccer Cup that concluded at Jumeirah’s Kite Beach, last night.
Making their seventh appearance in the nine years of this annual competition, Iran first won here in 2013 and then a second one last November to come in as defending champions. Only Russia (2011, 2012 and 2015) and Brazil (2014, 2016, 2017) have won the trophy on three occasions each.
Last night, it was the turn of the Iranians to join this elite league as they rode on a superb team effort. Iran have been among the most successful teams here with another runner-up spot (2016) and a couple of third place finishes (2015 and 2017).
The Iranians had six different players scoring along with a long-ranger from goalkeeper
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Thrown into extra-time for the fifth successive time in as many days, it was the older of the Beshr brothers sending in a long distance free kick with just 1.26 min remaining.
Hamid Behzadpour that actually broke the deadlock and set them up on the road to victory at 4-3. Mostafa Kianiharchegani and Saeid Piramoun gave them an early 2-0 lead. But, Llorenc Gomez Leon and Eduard Suarez Molina brought them back for 2-2 by the end of the opening period.
Adrian Frutos Garcia gave Spain the lead from the spot in the second period, but once Mohammadali Mokhtari had tapped in the equaliser it was Iran all the way as goalkeeper Behzadpour, captain Mohammad Ahmadzadeh and Mohammad Masoumizadeh added three more to settle the score.
Hat-trick for UAE
Earlier, Waleed Beshr was the hero of the day as the UAE completed a hat-trick of third places with a 2-1 extra-time win over three-time winners Russia. Beshr pounced on a back pass meant for goalkeeper Denis Parkhomenko and banged home midway through the opening period for the opener.
The UAE boys then defended their narrow lead with much gusto and energy only to see the Russians snatch an equaliser through Boris Nikonorov with 0.7 seconds remaining for the full-time whistle. Thrown into extratime for the fifth successive time in as many days, it was the younger of the Beshr brothers sending in a long distance free kick with just 1.26 minutes remaining for the extra-time to end.