18/03/2025

SPORTS TUESDAY | MAR 18, 2025

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Bullish Inter striker Martinez eyeing treble

BAYER LEVERKUSEN coach Xabi Alonso said yesterday’s last-gasp 4-3 win over Stuttgart would inspire his side’s bid to chase down league leaders Bayern Munich. Patrick Schick scored in the fourth minute of stoppage time in Stuttgart, the only moment Leverkusen led in the match. The win brought the defending champions to within six points of Bayern, who drew 1-1 at Union Berlin on Saturday, with eight games to play. After guiding Leverkusen to a debut Bundesliga title in 2023-24, Alonso said the impact of the dramatic victory against Stuttgart, SHORTS PSG beat Marseille, Montpellier game abandoned PARIS SAINT-GERMAIN completed a fine week by beating bitter rivals Marseille 3-1 yesterday to take a big step towards another Ligue 1 title, while the clash between relegation battlers Montpellier and Saint Etienne was abandoned due to crowd trouble. PSG followed their Champions League victory over Liverpool on Tuesday by getting the better of Marseille at the Parc des Princes in a meeting of the top two in Ligue 1. Ousmane Dembele continued his prolific recent form by scoring the opener and Nuno Mendes made it 2-0 for PSG before half-time, with Pol Lirola’s own goal securing victory in the second half after Amine Gouiri had pulled one back. “This has been an exceptional week for us,” said PSG boss Luis Enrique. “It was a good spectacle and a great game. “We were maybe not quite as fluid as we have been but I am still very happy with the performance and it was an almost perfect night for us.” In Montpellier, the clash between the bottom two was interrupted in the second half after flares were thrown by supporters, briefly causing a fire to break out in a stand at the Stade de la Mosson. Saint-Etienne were leading 2-0 when the action was halted in the 57th minute, with a decision taken to abandon the match altogether shortly after. Referee Francois Letexier confirmed during a press conference that the game had been abandoned on the order of the authorities after police were forced to intervene to restore calm. Local police reported seven minor injuries and two arrests. “This has been brewing for a while unfortunately,” admitted Montpellier coach Jean-Louis Gasset. “Maybe not quite to this extent, but it is almost logical that this was going to happen.” Sheff Utd go joint top of Championship RHIAN BREWSTER’S second half goal secured Sheffield United a 1-0 win over local rivals Sheffield Wednesday yesterday and lifted them level with Championship leaders Leeds. Brewster’s strike just after the hour-mark at Hillsborough clinched the Blades first season double over Wednesday in 19 years. Chris Wilder’s side leapfrog Burnley into second and behind Leeds only on goal difference in a tight three-way battle for the two automatic promotion places to the Premier League. “It feels good. I talked to the players before (about) how we were ridiculed for being in League One, a pub league and all that, since I took over in 2016. We managed to close the gap,” Blades boss Chris Wilder told BBC Radio Sheffield . “To do the double over our rivals was always going to be a good day. It was the game that we thought it would be. “There’s still work to be done. There’s a promotion on the horizon. It’s going to be an absolutely titanic tussle.”

B ARCELONA battled back from two goals down to beat Atletico Madrid 4-2 and land an important blow in the Spanish title race yesterday. Lamine Yamal struck in the 92nd minute and Ferran Torres in the 98th to help take the Catalans back top of the table after Real Madrid beat Villarreal on Saturday to briefly claim pole position. Barcelona have a game in hand on the champions with both sides level on 60 points, while Atletico trail the top two by four after they crumbled at home against Hansi Flick’s side to end a disastrous week following their LAUTARO MARTINEZ is gunning for the treble after scoring in Inter Milan’s 2-0 win at Atalanta which moved the Italian champions three points clear at the top of Serie A. Argentina striker Martinez made sure of a key win in a three-way title battle with his 18th goal of the season in all competitions in the 87th minute in Bergamo, and he was bullish about his team’s chances of repeating a feat Inter achieved under Jose Mourinho 15 years ago. Simone Inzaghi’s Inter have pulled further away from closest rivals Napoli, who could only manage a goalless draw at lowly Venezia in the day’s early kickoff, and are still in the Champions League and Italian Cup. Inter face Bayern Munich, who they beat in the 2010 Champions League final, next month

while two Milan derbies await in the domestic cup semifinals which will also be played in April. “It’s almost like we don’t want to say it but yes,” said Inter skipper Martinez on DAZN when asked about the treble. “It will be difficult but we’ll go for it because we want to win every match we play. It’s what we work for.” Martinez’s confident mood came after Inter took a big step towards retaining their league crown in a tetchy match which ended with both teams down to 10 men and Atalanta coach Gian Piero Gasperini sent to the stands. Carlos Augusto put Inter ahead eight minutes after halftime, the Brazilian heading home Hakan Calhanoglu’s corner. Inter’s cause was helped by Ederson being

booked twice within a matter of seconds and leaving Atalanta a man down from the 81st minute. Martinez rammed home Inter’s second six minutes later and soon after a livid Gasperini, who was still raging at Ederson’s sending-off, was dismissed by Massa. Atalanta haven’t won at home in Serie A since before Christmas and Gasperini was left to stew over Ederson’s dismissal which he claimed killed an even game. “That referee ruined the end of the match because you hear a lot worse said to referees than that sarcastic applause,” said Gasperini. “We lost a player who should not have been sent off… to ruin a match like that for that sort of incident is really bad for the fans and the two teams on the pitch.” – AFP

Barca stun Atletico in thriller Catalans back on top after come-from-behind win

Champions League elimination. “How we play, the confidence we have, it’s really good to see,” said Flick, whose team are fighting for a potential treble. “We will try everything to win trophies, the match today gives us more confidence.” Having twice been caught out late by Atletico this season, this time it was Barcelona’s turn to provide the sting in the tail, extending their unbeaten streak to 18 matches across all

competitions. Julian Alvarez and Alexander Sorloth put Atletico ahead before Robert Lewandowski and Torres hit back for Barca, who went on to win in stoppage time. “I think that after the anger, the feeling of impotence, not being comfortable in the game, we put our best foot forward and gave the best that we have,” Yamal told DAZN . “It was a very important game to win in the end, beating Atletico was a statement win, we put ourselves back as leaders having played a game fewer and we’re very happy.” Atletico found the opener when Antoine Griezmann threaded a brilliant pass across the area to Giuliano Simeone, with Alvarez finishing from his cut-back. Diego Simeone introduced Sorloth and Conor Gallagher after the break and they combined for Atletico’s second goal. Barcelona immediately hit back when Ihigo Martinez drove forward with the ball and slung it into the box for Lewandowski to power a low finish past Jan Oblak to spark the comeback. Substitute Torres soon netted the equaliser when Raphinha crossed from the right. With Atletico shaken, Barcelona took full advantage, with Yamal’s deflected shot from distance sending them ahead in stoppage time. “We have to congratulate our opponent, they had a good game and in the end were very effective with their chances,” said Simeone. “They had that bit of luck which you have to have, in the deflection for Yamal’s goal for 3-2.” Torres bagged his second late on to round off a win which could prove decisive come the end of the season. “It was a strange game because we did well in the first half, we had them under control and scored two goals… it’s true the 120 minutes in the Champions League weighed on us, and in the end the team fell apart,” said Atletico’s Marcos Llorente. “We will fight to the end (for La Liga), we have seen many times how things change, you have a good month and someone else has a bad one, and you turn it all around.” – AFP win. It’s not in our hands, we need to wait, but today was important. “The desire, the will to fight in every game is there. Definitely.” Leverkusen centre-back Jonathan Tah said his side “didn’t give up, we believed until the end and maybe you need wins like this sometimes to show that the spirit’s still there. “We’re trying to collect all of our points – and we’ll all see at the end whether it’s enough.” – AFP

Atletico Madrid’s Alexander Sorloth (right) fights for the ball with Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal during their La Liga match. – AFPPIC

Magic moment to inspire Bayern chase, says Leverkusen’s Alonso

last season’s runners up, would drive his side. “At the end this magic moment happened for us,” Alonso told DAZN , adding “it means a lot, to have this super feeling. “We’ll use this good atmosphere, this good energy, into the last part of the season. All the players, they believed – it’s definitely a very important win for us.” After Schick’s goal, Alonso ran onto the pitch as the Leverkusen bench emptied and embraced the Czech striker.

Leverkusen broke Bayern’s 11-year title streak last season by becoming the first team in German history to win a league title unbeaten. While Bayern eliminated Leverkusen from the last 16 of the Champions League during the week, Alonso said the win showed his side was not done yet. “We’ll see,” Alonso said of the title race. “There’s eight games left in the Bundesliga. Plenty of things can happen. “We need to go game from game, win from