Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/475084
36 maltatoday, SUNDAY, 8 MARCH 2015 Sport FOOTBALL Download the MaltaToday App now Football Results & Fixtures Malta - BOV Premier League Balzan - Floriana ............................. 0-3 Hibernians - Pieta Hotspurs ............. 3-1 Mosta - Qormi ................................. 1-3 Birkirkara - Sliema Wanderers .......... 4-2 Today National Stadium 14:00 Naxxar Lions - Zebbug Rangers 16:00 Valletta- Tarxien Rainbows England - Premier League Queens P. Rangers - Tottenham H. .... 1-2 Italy - Serie A Sampdoria - Cagliari........................ 2-0 AC Milan - Hellas Verona .................. 2-2 Today 12:30 Cesena - Palermo 15:00 ChievoVerona - Roma 15:00 Empoli - Genoa 15:00 Parma - Atalnta 15:00 Udinese - Torino 20:45 SSC Napoli - Inter Tomorrow 19:00 Lazio - Fiorentina 21:00 Juventus - Sassuolo Spain - Liga BBVA Deportivo La Coruna - Sevilla ........... 3-4 Athletic Bilbao - Real Madrid ............ 1-0 Elche - Almeria ............................... 1-0 Granada - Malaga ............................ 1-0 Today 12:00 Barcelona - Rayo Vallecano 17:00 Real Sociedad - Espanyol 19:00 Villarreal - Celta Vigo 21:00 Atletico Madrid - Valencia Tomorrow 20:45 Cordoba - Getafe Germany - Bundesliga Augsburg - Wolfsburg...................... 1-0 Freiburg - Werdfer Bremen .............. 0-1 Hamburger SV - Borussia Dortmund . 0-0 Hannover 96 - Bayern Munich ......... 1-3 Schalke 04 - Hoffenheim ................. 3-1 Mainz 05 - Borussia M. .................... 2-2 Today 15:30 FC Cologne - Eintracht Frankfurt 17:30 Paderborn - Bayer Levekusen Real Madrid beaten in Bilbao REAL Madrid suffered a huge blow to their Primera Division title bid as they were beaten 1-0 at Athletic Bilbao thanks to a first-half header by Aritz Aduriz. The European champions lacked their usual intensity and attacking f lair, above all in the first half, and drop points for the second match running, following last weekend's 1-1 draw with Villarreal. They will surrender top spot to archrivals Barcelona if the Cata- lans beat Rayo Vallecano at home on Sunday. Sevilla conquered their demons away from home by coming from behind to win 4-3 at struggling De- portivo. Unai Emery's side had lost their last four away trips in the league and their trip to Riazor got off to a bad start when Oriel Riera opened the scoring for Deportivo in the 27th minute. But Vitolo levelled a few minutes later and then gave the visitors the lead early in the second half. Kevin Gameiro's penalty gave Sevilla a bigger advantage which was then reduced as Riera scored again, only for Sidnei's own goal to put the game out of Depor's sight - although Lucas Perez scored from the penalty spot for the Galicians in injury time. Levante moved out of the rel- egation zone with a 2-1 comeback victory over freefalling Eibar on Friday. Two goals in three second-half minutes from David Barral and Kalu Uche helped Levante claim a fourth league win in their last five matches at the Ciutat de Valencia, lifting them up to 16th and a point above the drop zone. Eibar had taken a 54th-minute lead through Saul Berjon but Le- vante's fightback combined with the late dismissal of visiting mid- fielder Dani Garcia consigned them to a seventh successive league defeat. Eibar now stand just two points above Levante and, to make mat- ters worse, next face mighty Bar- celona. Athletic Bilbao put a dent in Real Madrid's title hopes Bavarians come from behind to beat Hannover Verona make Milan pay Bayern Munich's forward Thomas Muller celebrates after scoring a penalty BAYERN Munich came from be- hind at Hannover to extend their lead at the top of the Bundesliga to 11 points over Wolfsburg, thanks to a 3-1 win at the Niedersachsensta- dion. Hiroshi Kiyotake gave Hannover the lead, but that was cancelled out within minutes by Xabi Alonso. Thomas Muller's penalty put Bay- ern in front on the hour mark before he headed in a third to seal what was also Arjen Robben's 100th win in 126 Bundesliga appearances for Bayern. Schalke got back to winning ways after a four-game streak without one in style with a 3-1 win over Hoffen- heim lifting them to fourth, at least for 24 hours. Christian Fuchs gave Roberto Di Matteo's men the lead before Max Meyer grabbed a brace. Kevin Volland pulled one back, but it was only a consolation for the visi- tors, who were unable to close in on the top six at the Arena AufSchalke. Struggling Hamburg frustrated Borussia Dortmund through a goal- less draw at the Volksparkstadion to earn a priceless point in their battle against the Bundesliga drop. Zoltan Stieber had Hamburg's best chance while Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang went closest for the guests, whose four-game winning streak came to an end at a tradition- ally difficult venue for BVB. Augsburg got their push for a place in Europe back on track by becom- ing the first side to beat Wolfsburg in 2015. Dominik Kohr scored the only goal of the game as the Bavarians ran out 1-0 winners against a side who, with a deficit of 11 points now on league leaders Bayern Munich, realistically saw their slim title hopes ended. Werder Bremen got back to win- ning ways after back-to-back de- feats with a 1-0 win at relegation- threatened Freiburg. Franco Di Santo scored the only goal of the game in spectacular fashion to earn the northern Ger- many side a welcome three points. Stuttgart can count themselves fortunate not to have been beaten at home by Hertha Berlin on Friday night. While Stuttgart did most of the attacking in the goalless draw, Her- tha went closest to scoring with less than 10 minutes remaining through Nico Schulz, who was later sent off. SUBSTITUTE Nico Lopez punished AC Milan for trying to sit on the slen- derest of leads by forcing a 2-2 draw for Hellas Verona with the last kick of the game at San Siro. The first half had been a tale of two penalties, with Luca Toni converting from the spot before Jeremy Menez followed suit to draw Milan level. Philippe Mexes was the unlikely scorer of what looked like being the winning goal shortly after half-time, but instead of urging his men to push on, coach Filippo Inzaghi ordered a hasty retreat. Milan inevitably came undone in the fifth minute of stoppage time as Uruguayan forward Lopez used his fresh legs to secure an unlikely Serie A point for 13th-placed Verona. Victory would have fired the Ros- soneri up to seventh, but they instead remain mired in mid-table. After sizing their hosts up for quar- ter of an hour Verona pushed for the opener and Toni nearly grabbed it when Diego Lopez rushed out to snaf- fle Panagiotis Tachtsidis' early cross. The veteran striker shot high over the bar but would have better luck in the 18th minute. Sulley Muntari could make no ex- cuses when he hacked Artur Ionita down in the area and Toni stepped up to the spot before fooling Diego Lopez with a deft chip down the middle. Chances were exchanged either side of the half-hour with Eros Pisano de- nying Alessio Cerci a tap-in while, at the other end, Ionita got the better of Muntari before working Diego Lopez at the near post. Then Mexes, back in the heart of Milan's defence after a lengthy ban, should have equalised with a block- buster effort from fully 30 yards that shaved paint off a post. Milan would head into half-time on level terms, however, as Bosko Janko- vic's challenge on Mexes led referee Piero Giacomelli to award a second spot-kick. Unlike Toni, Menez opted for power over finesse and blasted his penalty straight over Francesco Benussi's shoulders. Mexes' contribution following the restart was a greater one as he boosted Milan into the lead. After Rafael Marques slipped in the box the Hellas defence were lift in dis- array, Pisano's poor clearance clatter- ing off Tachtsidis and allowing Mexes to steal in and flick home at the near post. The Rossoneri almost pulled two goals clear in the 51st minute when Menez's pass fooled Vangelis Moras and found Giampaolo Pazzini, only for a quick-thinking Benussi to punch the ball clear. Milan did not press home their au- thority when they had the chance and Verona wrested control of pro- ceedings, culminating in Tachtsidis rattling the crossbar with an attempt from the D. Fearing a late leveller, the ever-cau- tious Inzaghi swapped striker Pazzini for defender Salvatore Bocchetti. But Verona had already made a bet- ter substitution, one that would secure a valuable point. Nico Lopez, on for Jankovic in the 79th minute, led a Verona counter- attack in stoppage time, skipping past Bocchetti and Mexes to slide Juan- ito Gomez's pass underneath Diego Lopez. In the other match, Samuel Eto'o opened his goalscoring account for Sampdoria in a 2-0 home victory over Cagliari that boosted the Ligurian club into a share of fifth place. The well-travelled striker swapped Everton for Serie A in January but had not made much of a direct impact for Champions League chasers Samp un- til Saturday's second half of action at the Marassi. Lorenzo De Silvestri's header put relegation-threatened Cagliari on the backfoot before the break and the al- ways-lively Eto'o put his new employ- ers out of sight with a classy finish on 72 minutes. The game was already beyond Gi- anfranco Zola's visitors by the time defender Danilo Avelar saw red, and a third straight defeat leaves them three points adrift of 17th-placed Atalanta and safety.