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Fri/Sat/Sun March 2~4, 2018

NEYMAR will undergo surgery for a fractured metatarsal this week, ruling him out of Paris Saint-Germain’s crunch Cham-pions League clash with Real Madrid.

The Brazilian, 26, suffered the blow in Sunday’s victory over Marseille.

PSG boss Unai Emery refused to rule the world’s most-expen-sive player out of the Euro show-down next Tuesday.

But a club statement Wednes-day confi rmed Neymar will need to go under the knife back in his homeland.

It reads: “In accordance with the player, it has been decided that Neymar Jr. will undergo surgery in Brazil at the end of this week.

“He will be operated on by Dr. Rodrigo Lasmar, accompanied by Professor Saillant, represent-ing PSG.”

The news comes as a crushing blow to the big-spending Pari-sians in their attempt to overturn a 3-1 fi rst-leg defi cit.

(SD-Agencies)

Neymar to have surgery in Brazil

HOLDER Juventus booked its ticket to the Italian Cup fi nal for the fourth year in a row to set up a meeting with AC Milan after a 1-0 win over Atalanta in a semi-fi nal second leg tie played in the snow in Turin on Wednesday.

The fi rst leg ended 1-0 in Ber-gamo thanks to an early Gonzalo Higuain goal, and Juventus also won the second when Miralem Pjanic slotted in a 75th-minute penalty awarded after Blaise Matuidi was fouled in the box.

The three-time holder will play AC Milan, which battled past Lazio 5-4 on penalties at the Stadio Olympico after their semifi nal remained goalless after extra time.

Nikola Kalinic almost scored the winner after 117 minutes but sent the ball over the bar when alone in front of goal, sending the game to penalties.

AC Milan could thank the saves of teenage goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma for a spot in the fi nal in Rome on May 9 with center-back Alessio Romagnoli scoring the winning penalty.

“It was a night of suffering. This is a very young team, we must get them back to being the team that made the fans dream,” said Milan coach Gennaro Gat-tuso.

The win extends Gattuso’s unbeaten streak with AC Milan to 13 games, with six straight wins.

But the former AC Milan midfi elder insisted there was too much talk about him and how he has turned around the team.

“I’m not a tactical guru. I’m just a lucky guy.”

Five-time winner Milan last

Milan faces Juve for Italian Cup title

won the Cup in 2003, with its last fi nal in 2016.

AC Milan and Lazio battled for 220 minutes in total between the San Siro and the Stadio Olympico in a tie between two ambitious sides, which have rediscovered their form in Serie A and the Europa League.

Lazio threatened early with AC Milan staying in the game thanks to Donnarumma who tipped over a Ciro Immobile shot within the fi rst fi ve minutes and then denied Sergej Milinkovic-Savic with his legs.

Lazio goalkeeper Thomas Strakosha also did well to clear off Suso after a quarter-of-an hour, but almost created an own

goal by badly clearing a Hakan Calhanoglu freekick.

Both sides had their chances in the second half with Milinkovic-Savic again missing in the fi nal minute.

After their gruelling match both sides face tough weekends in Serie A with Lazio hosting Juventus and AC Milan a derby against city rival Inter Milan.

Earlier Juventus took on Atalanta, whose Serie A game Sunday was snowed off, with light snowfall still in the Allianz Stadium.

“Compliments to the lads for what they did tonight and are doing this season,” said coach Massimiliano Allegri.

It will be a record 18th fi nal for

Juventus with Allegri’s side bid-ding for a 13th Cup in total.

“We will play in a historical stadium, but it must not become an obsession,” continued the Juventus coach of their bid for a record fourth Cup crown.

“In the fi rst half we had dif-fi culty closing them down, after the break Douglas Costa started playing in a center-forward role and that broke the game open.”

Higuain missed out as he recovers from a sprained ankle.

Atalanta had come out fi ring with Alejandro Gomez send-ing over the bar with Gianluigi Buffon tested as he latched on to Josip Ilicic’s defl ected cross pushing it over the top.

(SD-Agencies)

AC Milan players celebrate after beating Lazio at the Stadio Olympico in Turin on Wednesday. SD-Agencies

THE spending may have slowed, but world-renowned coaches such as Fabio Capello and Manuel Pellegrini and players like Hulk and Javier Mascher-ano have the same objective in the 2018 Chinese Super League (CSL) that kicks off Friday — to stop Guangzhou Evergande from winning an eighth consecutive title.

Guangzhou may not be as dominant as in the past. The team has struggled to replace infl uential midfi elder Paulinho, who left for Barcelona in August. In 2018 Asian Champions League games so far, Guangzhou is the only one of four Chinese teams without a win.

Fabio Cannavaro is under pressure in his second spell as coach at the club.

Shanghai SIPG fi nished second in 2017 and could be Guangzhou’s closest challenger again. Much depends on star striker Hulk, who scored 26 goals in 2017, in his fi rst full season.

Shanghai also has a new coach after Andre Villas-Boas resigned to participate in the Dakar Rally with fellow Portuguese Vitor Pereira ready for the challenge of delivering Shanghai’s fi rst title.

The biggest name arrival is Mascherano. The midfi elder joined Hebei China Fortune from Barcelona to link up with fellow Argentine international Ezequiel Lavezzi. Under former Real Madrid coach Pellegrini, Hebei is also chasing a fi rst title.

Chinese businessman Wang Jianlin’s Dalian Yifang could be another challenger after it bought Yannick Carrasco and Nicolas Gaitan from Spanish league side Atletico Madrid. The side won CSL promotion from China League One at the end of last season as the divi-sion winner under Spanish coach Juan Ramon Lopez Caro.

With Tianjin, which fi nished third last season with Brazilian star Alexandre Pato and Belgian international Axel Witsel in the mix as well as Beijing Guoan, Guangzhou could have a fi erce fi ght to take title No. 8.

(SD-Agencies)

In this Oct. 18, 2017 photo, Shanghai SIPG’s Hulk (L) and Oscar are seen in the second leg of their Asian Champions League semifi nal against Urawa Reds in Saitama. SD-Agencies

CSL teams hope to stop dominant Guangzhou

INJURED in his last two trips to Washington D.C., Kevin Durant let nothing derail his home-coming this time, pouring in a game-high 32 points Wednesday night to lead the Warriors to a 109-101 victory over the Wizards.

Stephen Curry scored 25 points, Andre Iguodala tossed in 14, Klay Thompson 13 and Draymond Green had 11 points and 11 rebounds as the War-riors (48-14) rode their customary third-quarter wave to take control of a Washington team that had won fi ve of its last six games.

Clobbered on the glass (50-36), the Warriors more than offset that disadvantage by shooting 52.1 percent from the fi eld while holding the Wizards to an even 40 percent.

Durant’s line: 32 points (12-of-20 shooting from the fi eld, including 3-of-6 beyond the arc, 5-of-6 from the line), six rebounds and four assists.

He played 37 minutes and fi nished plus-17.Durant also pushed his career points total to

20,526, surpassing former Warriors star Mitch Richmond (20,497) and moving into 40th place on the all-time NBA list.

The Warriors took a 58-56 lead into halftime but opened the third quarter with a 17-4 run, taking a 75-60 lead on a free throw by Zaza Pachulia with 5:52 left in the third quarter.

Washington responded, getting as close as seven (77-70, 2:35 left in the third) before the Warriors closed the quarter on an 8-0 run to take an 85-70 lead into the fourth quarter.

The Wizards got within six inside the fi nal minute before the Warriors closed it out.

Durant leads Warriors past Wizards

The Warriors return to the court Friday in Atlanta, where they visit the Hawks at Philips Arena. (SD-Agencies)

Golden State Warriors’ Kevin Durant (R) shoots against the Washington Wizards during their game in Washington D.C. on Wednesday. SD-Agencies