Liverpool scraped a 1-0 win over Heart of Midlothian, while a Newcastle United side shorn of several familiar faces survived sweltering heat to hold Greek side Atromitos to a 1-1 draw in their Europa League playoff round first-leg matches on Thursday.
Liverpool needed an own-goal from Andy Webster with 12 minutes remaining at Tynecastle to see off Hearts in the absence of several first-team regulars, including England forward Andy Carroll — persistently linked with a return to Newcastle.
Carroll, nursing a sore hamstring, was not even on the bench as coach Brendan Rodgers fielded Fabio Borini and Raheem Sterling in attack.
Photo: AFP
The Reds also left out Steven Gerrard, Luis Suarez, Martin Skrtel and Glen Johnson with Manchester City to visit Anfield in the Premier League tomorrow.
Arvydas Novikovas might have given the Edinburgh side a shock lead, but Pepe Reina saved well in the Liverpool goal, before Borini hit the post at the other end.
Liverpool made the breakthrough when Martin Kelly sent in a challenging cross from the right that Borini did not connect with, only for the unfortunate Webster to deflect into his own net.
Photo: EPA
Veteran Jamie Carragher praised Liverpool’s youngsters, particularly young striker Sterling.
“This club’s got a great tradition of bringing young players through and the way the manager wants to play suits him [Sterling] down to the ground,” Carragher said. “He’s come in and done really well, and at the age of 17 it looks like he’s got a big future.”
Newcastle were playing in Europe for the first time in five years, but coach Alan Pardew made nine changes from the side that beat Tottenham Hotspur in their opening Premier League match last weekend to give fringe players some game time.
The new faces included Adam Campbell, a second-half substitute who became the Magpies’ youngest European debutant at 17 years, 236 days — 64 days younger than former favorite Andy Carroll when he played in Palermo, Italy, in 2006.
Another getting a rare game was former first choice goalkeeper Steve Harper, who at 37 was handed a start with Dutch international Tim Krul giving way.
“In the second half, I was a little bit disappointed we didn’t get the win — I thought there were good opportunities — but overall I was very, very pleased with the performance,” said Pardew, who also gave youngsters Romain Amalfitano and James Tavernier a chance to prove themselves in stifling heat at the Peristeri Stadium in Athens.
Harper was unable to keep a clean sheet as German striker Denis Epstein gave the hosts the lead on 24 minutes, before Ryan Taylor fired home a free-kick in first-half stoppage-time to give Newcastle a good chance of reaching the group stage with the home leg to come.
Pardew rang the changes with his team facing a difficult trip to Chelsea today, though striker Papiss Cisse did feature.
Cisse set up a headed chance for Sylvain Marveaux after the break, but the Frenchman was unable to find the target.
Cisse then saw former Liverpool reserve goalkeeper Charles Itandje deny him late on as the Senegal international attempted to poach a winner, before Konstantinos Giannoulis missed a gilt-edged chance for the Greek side.
In other games, former European champions Olympique de Marseille won 2-1 at Moldova’s Sheriff Tiraspol, with Andre-Pierre Gignac bagging the winner.
Japanese star Keisuke Honda scored the only goal for Russian outfit CSKA Moscow in a 1-0 win at Sweden’s Solna.
Scotland’s Motherwell found Spain’s Levante UD too hot to handle, going down to goals from Juanlu and Nabil El Zhar.
Italy’s Inter were 2-0 winners at Vaslui, with Esteban Cambiasso and Rodrigo Palacio on target, while fellow Italian side SS Lazio won by the same margin at Slovania’s Murta, with Brazilian Hernanes and veteran German Miroslav Klose netting.
In Greece, riot police used tear gas to separate fans of Greece’s PAOK Salonica and Rapid Vienna of Austria, where the Greeks won 2-1 after the kickoff was delayed for several minutes.
OUT AGAINST INDONESIA: Taiwan reached the semi-finals at the tournament for the first time by defeating Denmark, with Chou Tien-chen beating Viktor Axelsen Taiwan yesterday crashed out of the Thomas Cup team competition in Chengdu, China, but achieved their best result at the top-tier badminton event by reaching the semi-finals. Indonesia were too good in the semis, winning 3-0 to advance to today’s final against China, who eliminated Malaysia 3-1. In the opening singles of the men’s team clash at the Hi-Tech Zone Sports Center Gymnasium 2, Anthony Ginting defeated Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen 21-18, 21-19 in 51 minutes, which put a huge hole in Taiwan’s aspirations to perhaps even make the final. In the men’s doubles, Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Ardianto downed Lee Yang and Wang
NO DOUBT: Spurs star Wembanyama was unanimously selected as NBA Rookie of the Year, winning all 99 votes to become the first Frenchman to capture the honor The Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday night produced a dominant defensive display to seize a commanding 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven playoff series against the Denver Nuggets with a 106-80 road victory. The third-seeded Timberwolves harassed Denver relentlessly to claim a second straight win over the NBA champions as the series heads back to Minneapolis for Game 3 on Friday. Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards scored 27 points apiece, but the star of the show was Minnesota’s suffocating defensive effort, which knocked Denver out of their stride almost from the tip-off. The Timberwolves finished with 11 steals and 12 blocks, in sharp contrast to
Top-ranked Iga Swiatek on Saturday came through “the most intense and crazy final” she has ever contested to avenge her loss to Aryna Sabalenka in last year’s Madrid Open final with a grueling three hour, 11 minute victory in the Spanish capital. Coming back from 1-3 down in the decider and saving three match points in total, Swiatek claimed a 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (9/7) victory to secure the Madrid Open trophy for the first time. “Well, who is going to say now that women’s tennis is boring, right?” Swiatek said. Swiatek, who picked up the 20th title of her career, and ninth at
One of Malaysia’s top soccer clubs has pulled out of today’s season-opening Charity Shield after a spate of assaults, including an acid attack, on players in the country. It leaves the kickoff of Malaysia’s season this weekend under a cloud following the unprecedented acts of violence against players, which have left the country shocked and angry. Authorities said they have imposed tighter security, but Selangor said that they would not play in the showpiece curtain-raiser against Malaysian Super League champions Johor Darul Ta’zim (JDT) citing “a series of criminal incidents and recent threats.” Selangor and Malaysia winger Faisal Halim is in intensive care