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.
Aaliyah Edwards on Monday pulled off the stunner of the opening round of the Unrivaled one-on-one tournament, beating top-seeded Breanna Stewart 12-0. The tournament to be played over three days featured 23 of the WNBA’s 36 players. A few had other commitments and a couple others were out with injuries. Stewart got the ball first against Edwards and missed a contested layup. Edwards then hit a three-pointer from the corner and a jumper from the elbow to go up 5-0. The player who scores keeps the basketball. Edwards hit two layups and a three-pointer to seal the win. Stewart, a two-time WNBA Most Valuable Player,
The Philippines curling team has been rocking it in Harbin, claiming the tropical nation’s first Asian Winter Games medal yesterday with a victory in the men’s final against South Korea. The team of Marc Pfister, Alan Frei, Christian Haller, Enrico Pfister and alternate Benjo Delarmente took gold with a 5-3 win at Harbin Pingfang Curling Arena. The Philippines Olympic Committee was quick to celebrate with a post on Instagram to mark the historic gold. “This is the first-ever medal for the Philippines at the Asian Winter Games, and the highest achievement for a Southeast Asian athlete in the Games’ history! What an incredible
Taiwan’s Lin Yun-ju and Kao Cheng-jui were defeated by their Chinese counterparts 3-0 on Saturday in the men’s doubles final at the World Table Tennis (WTT) Singapore Smash. Lin and Kao received their silver medals after being defeated by third-seeded duo Lin Shidong and Wang Chuqin of China 2-11, 4-11, 11-13. The Taiwan pair were left playing catch-up early in the match after the Chinese duo proved unstoppable in the first and second game. Although Lin and Kao picked up their pace in the third game and at one point took a 10-8 lead, they were crucially unable to take
Taiwan’s Wu Fang-hsien on Tuesday dumped compatriot and second seed Hsieh Su-wei out of the women’s doubles at the Qatar Open to set up another potential Taiwanese showdown, while world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka suffered a shock defeat in the second round. Wu and partner Jiang Xinyu, who earlier this year won the ASB Classic in Auckland and the Hobart International, defeated Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-2, 6-7 (3/7), 10-5 in 1 hour, 29 minutes on Grandstand Court 3 at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex. Wu and Jiang on Sunday advanced to the round-of-16 with a 7-6 (7/7),
RSS