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Fri/Sat/Sun September 15~17, 2017

PAUL POGBA could be out of action for a “few weeks” after suffering a suspected hamstring injury that took the shine off Manchester United’s successful return to the UEFA Champions League, manager Jose Mourinho said Wednesday.

United, which missed out on qualifi cation for Europe’s premier club competition last season, beat FC Basel 3-0 Tues-day, with goals from Marouane Fellaini, Romelu Lukaku and Marcus Rashford.

But, making his debut as United captain, Pogba lasted just

18 minutes of the Group A game before being forced off by an apparent left hamstring injury, with Fellaini taking his place.

The French midfi elder left Old Trafford on crutches. Pogba’s injury will also concern France, which is hoping he is fi t in time to play in the World Cup qualifi er against Bulgaria on Oct. 7.

Mourinho said he had mid-fi eld options for the weekend’s English Premier League clash with Everton, including Ander Herrera, Michael Carrick, Fel-laini and Nemanja Matic.

(SD-Agencies)

Pogba hurt, could be out for weeks

Manchester United’s Paul Pogba receives medical attention after sustaining an injury during their UEFA Champions League Group A match against FC Basel at Old Trafford, Manchester, on Tuesday. SD-Agencies

THE International Olympic Committee (IOC) met in Lima, Peru on Wednesday where they simultaneously announced that Paris will host the 2024, while the 2028 Games will go to Los Angeles.

The two cities are getting the hosting rights without the usual dramatic vote. The IOC decided to award two Games at the same time in a history-making vote, putting the rubber stamp on the pre-determined conclusion.

The decision marks the fi rst

time the IOC has granted two Summer Olympics at once. It came after a year’s worth of scrambling by IOC president Thomas Bach, who had only the two bidders left for the original prize, 2024, and couldn’t bear to see either lose.

“These are two great cities from two great countries with a great Olympic history. Both cities are very enthusiastic about the Games and are promoting the Olympic spirit in a fantastic way,” Bach said in a press release.

In the same release, the Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo said: “I am very proud and moved to bring the Games back to Paris. At the heart of these Games, we will place young people, who represent our present, our hope and our pride.”

Mayor of Los Angeles Eric Garcetti said: “Bringing the Olympics back home to L.A. gives us the chance to imagine what our city will look like a decade from now. L.A. is a city where the Games are not a

barrier to making progress; we know that they are an acceler-ating force to re-envisioning a better city and a better world in the days ahead as we welcome you back to the City of Angels.”

Paris last hosted the Games in 1924. It bid unsuccessfully for the Games of 1992, 2008 and 2012.

LA hosted the 1984 Games. The last American city to bid for the Summer Games was Chicago, losing the 2016 Olympic vote to Rio de Janeiro.

(SD-Agencies)

IOC confi rms Paris will host 2024 Olympic Games, LA for 2028

URAWA Red Diamonds will face Chinese Super League side Shanghai SIPG in the AFC Champions League semifi nals after recovering to thrash Kawasaki Frontale 4-1 Wednes-day night.

Urawa, title winner in 2007, won 5-4 on aggregate against fellow Japanese League side Frontale, which was reduced to 10 men before half-time having led through Brazilian defender Elsinho.

But goals from Shinzo Koroki, Zlatan Ljubijankic, Rafael Silva and Toshiyuki Takagi saw Urawa overturn a 1-3 fi rst-leg defi cit and set up a rematch with Andre Villas-Boas’ SIPG side, after the teams had met in the group phase of the competition.

SIPG won the fi rst meeting between the teams 3-2 before the Japanese club claimed a 1-0 win in front of their own fans to help it fi nish top of the group.

Frontale took a two-goal lead into the second leg at Saitama Stadium and Toru Oniki’s team was in control throughout the opening quarter of the game, with Elsinho’s 19th-minute goal giving the visitors a commanding lead. Koroki leveled for Takafumi Hori’s Urawa 10 minutes from the break, before the game was turned on its head by Shintaro Kurumaya’s sending off 3 min-utes later for dangerous play.

Despite a period of domi-nance from Urawa, it took until the 70th minute for the home side to take the lead, thanks to Ljubijankic’s header.

Two goals within a minute late in the game from Silva and Takagi sealed the win for Urawa, which advances to the semifi nals for the fi rst time since 2008.

Urawa faces SIPG away Sept. 27 in the fi rst leg of their semi-fi nal. The return fi xture will be played Oct. 18.

Iran’s Persepolis, meanwhile, will take on Saudi Arabia’s al-Hilal in the semifi nal in the west of the continent after the Tehran-based club saw off al-Ahli.

(SD-Agencies)

Urawa Red Diamonds’ Rafael Da Silva (R) shoots to score a goal beside Kawasaki Frontale’s Eduardo during their AFC Champions League quarterfi nal match in Saitama on Wednesday night. SD-Agencies

Urawa sets up last-four clash against SIPG

CRISTIANO RONALDO scored twice to help Real Madrid open its Champions League campaign with a 3-0 win over Apoel on Wednesday.

The breakthrough came on the counter-attack in the 12th minute as Isco ran past a series of defenders before laying the ball off to Bale, whose low cross through the box came perfectly to Ronaldo, who made the fi nish look easy.

Madrid was soon dealt a blow however, when Mateo Kovacic injured himself while passing and was replaced by Toni Kroos.

Ronaldo came close to adding a second goal in the 34th minute but couldn’t turn a sliding effort on target, and early in the second half came inches from scoring when his volley hit the crossbar and came down on the goalline.

The Portuguese star pleaded with the fourth offi cial, though goal-line technology showed that only about half the ball had crossed the line.

But his second did come fi ve minutes later after Roberto Lago was adjudged to have handled the ball in the box, and Ronaldo dis-patched the penalty.

Sergio Ramos added a third goal in the 61st minute after Bale’s header took a high defl ec-tion, and the defender adjusted his body to put the ball into the net with an overhead kick.

In the other game in Group A, Harry Kane scored twice and Tot-tenham withstood heavy pressure from Borussia Dortmund to win 3-1 at Wembley.

Son Heung-min gave Spurs the lead inside four minutes after a counter-attack as he carried the

Ronaldo nets 2 in Real Madrid win

ball from the side of the box, ran past Sokratis Papastathopoulos and beat Roman Burki at his near post.

Dortmund was able to equal-ize seven minutes later as Andriy Yarmolenko played a one-two with Shinji Kagawa before curl-ing a fi rst-timed shot into the far corner from outside the box. But Tottenham needed just four minutes to restore their lead as Kane powered past two defend-ers, and with the referee playing advantage, scored from a similar angle to Min’s earlier strike.

Dortmund’s American young-ster Chritian Pulisic came inches from turning in a cross in the 37th minute, then did put the ball in the net just before half-time, but

the play had already been blown for offside.

The visitors were again aggrieved by the linesman after the break when Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang volleyed home but was incorrectly ruled offside.

And soon after, Spurs widened their lead as Kane drifted away from Lukasz Piszczek but stayed onside and lashed a low shot under Burki. There was a late set-back for Spurs as Jan Vertonghen was sent off in stoppage time for an elbow to Mario Gotze.

Liverpool had to settle for a 2-2 draw against Sevilla in Group E.

Sevilla took the lead after just fi ve minutes when Dejan Lovren got his feet mixed up and failed to cut out Sergio Escudero’s pass

across the six-meter box, and Wissam Ben Yedder was left completely unmarked to poke into the net.

Liverpool went looking for the equalizer straight away, and only had to wait until the 21st minute to fi nd it. Alberto Moreno was the creator, cutting the ball back from the byline for Roberto Firmino to guide home with ease.

And the home side took the lead in the 37th minute through Mohamed Salah, the Egypt international winning the ball off Steven N’Zonzi just outside the area before seeing his shot defl ect wildly off the heel of Simon Kjaer’s boot and leave goalkeeper Sergio Rico helpless. (SD-Agencies)

Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates after scoring against Apoel during their match Wednesday. SD-Agencies