Manchester City turned on the style in front of Diego Maradona to humble Fulham 4-1 on Sunday and reclaim fourth place in the English Premier League.
Maradona, a guest of Fulham at Craven Cottage, watched his Argentine compatriot Carlos Tevez score twice as City eased the pressure on manager Roberto Mancini.
In Sunday’s earlier game, Blackburn Rovers gave their new Indian owners an immediate return with a 2-0 victory over Aston Villa at Ewood Park.
PHOTO: EPA
Tevez struck first for City in the sixth minute and set up Yaya Toure for City’s third after just 35 minutes.
In between, another Argentine, Pablo Zabaleta, made it two, before Tevez provided the final flourish after halftime.
“It was a fantastic performance,” Mancini told Sky Sports. “It is difficult to win [away from home]. If we play like that, we can win everywhere.”
City are on 25 points, three behind joint leaders Chelsea and Manchester United.
Mancini’s multimillion-pound squad had scored only three goals and taken five points from their last five matches to leave their fans frustrated with the Italian and his cautious style.
In west London, against the team managed by his predecessor at City Mark Hughes, the club’s expensive players showed their potential.
Tevez set the tone when he cleverly rolled defender Carlos Salcido to collect a pass from Gareth Barry and finish low past Mark Schwarzer.
Spaniard David Silva’s low cross was cleared by Damien Duff into the path of Zabaleta, who drove a fizzing 20m shot past Schwarzer.
Toure then benefited from Tevez’s neat pass, the Ivory Coast midfielder surging past a -defender, before drilling home from an angle.
Tevez enjoyed some luck for City’s fourth in the 56th minute. Zabaleta’s shot was heading for Schwarzer’s hands, before Tevez stuck out a foot and the ball looped over the bemused Australian goalkeeper.
“I think it was the best we’ve played this year,” Barry said. “We knew it was a good chance to make an impression today. We try not to worry about [the criticism] too much.”
Fulham, whose consolation came from a deflected Zoltan Gera effort in the 70th minute, are fourth from bottom, clear of the relegation zone only on goal difference.
“City were excellent — credit to them and Mancini, but we allowed it to happen,” Hughes said. “We lost belief after the first goal and needed to be more aggressive in closing them down. It was another wake-up call for us.”
Blackburn, Premier League champions in 1995, were bought by Indian poultry firm Venky’s on Friday in a deal worth £54 million (US$86 million) and company directors Balaji Rao and Venkatesh Rao were welcomed on to the pitch by Rovers fans before kick-off.
Norwegian midfielder Morten Gamst Pedersen scored both goals for the home side, striking in first-half stoppage-time when his free-kick out by the touchline was misjudged by Villa goalkeeper Brad Friedel and the ball sailed into the top corner.
He sealed the points in the 66th minute, reacting sharply after Villa failed to clear a corner.
Frenchman Robert Pires, the former Arsenal and Villarreal player, made his Villa debut as a substitute, but could not drag his new teammates back into the match.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but