MaltaToday previous editions

MT 12 April 2015

Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/494410

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 33 of 55

34 maltatoday, SUNDAY, 12 APRIL 2015 Sport FOOTBALL Today National Stadium 16:00 Valletta - Floriana 18:00 Hibernians - Sliema Wanderers Tomorrow Victor Tedesco Stadium 18:00 Balzan - Zebbug Rangers 20:15 Naxxar Lions - Tarxien Rainbows England - Premier League Swansea - Everton .......................... 1-1 Southampton - Hull City .................. 2-0 Sunderland - Crystal Palace ............. 1-4 Tottenham Hotspur - Aston Villa ....... 0-1 West B. Albion - Leicester City .......... 2-3 West Ham United - Stoke City ........... 1-1 Burnley - Arsenal ............................ 0-1 Today 14:30 Queens Park Rangers - Chelsea 17:00 Manchester United - Manchester C. Tomorrow 21:00 Liverpool - Newcastle United Italy - Serie A Geona -Cagliari ............................... 2-0 Parma - Juventus............................. 1-0 Hellas Verona - Inter ........................ 0-3 Today 12:30 Cesena - ChievoVerona 15:00 Atalanta - Sassuola 15:00 Lazio - Empoli 15:00 SSC Napoli - Fiorentina 15:00 Torino - Roma 15:00 Udinese - Palermo 20:45 AC Milan - Sampdoria Spain - Liga BBVA Real Madrid - Eibar .......................... 3-0 Malaga - Atletico Madrid .................. 2-2 Sevilla - Barcelona .......................... 2-2 Almeria - Granada ........................... Late Celta Vigo - Rayo Vallecano .............. Late Today 12:00 Getafe - Villarreal 17:00 Espanyol - Athletic Bilbao 19:00 Real Sociedad - Deportivo La Coruna 21:00 Cordoba - Elche Tomorrow 20:30 Valencia - Levante Germany - Bundesliga Bayern Munich - Eintracht Frankfurt . 3-0 Borussia M. - Borussia Dortmund ..... 3-1 Mainz 05 - Bayern Leverkusen ......... 2-3 Paderborn - Augsburg ..................... 2-1 Schalke 04 - Freiburg ...................... 0-0 Hamburger SV - Wolfsburg ............... 0-2 Today 15:30 FC Cologne - Hoffenheim 17:30 VfB Stuttgart - Werder Bremen France - Ligue 1 Today 14:00 Saint Etienne - Nantes 17:00 Evian Thonon Gaillard - Lille 17:00 Lens - Lorient 17:00 Reims - Nice 17:00 Rennes - Guingamp 17:00 Toulouse - Montpellier 21:00 Bordeaux - Marseille Football Results & Fixtures Mauri strike stuns Juventus A second-half strike from Jose Mauri secured the shock of the Serie A season as beleaguered Parma overcame leaders Juventus 1-0 JOSE Mauri scored only his second Parma goal as they sprung the big- gest surprise of the Serie A season with a 1-0 win over Juventus, who suffered their first league defeat since October. Financially stricken Parma went into Saturday's clash at the Stadio Ennio Tardini 13 points adrift of safety following a campaign that will be remembered for their off- the-field problems rather than any exploits on the pitch. But Roberto Donadoni's managed to give their suffering fans a stun- ning victory that they could not have envisaged courtesy of a de- termined performance against the runaway leaders, who are 14 points clear at the top of the table. Juve dictated play for long periods and created the better the oppor- tunities in the opening 45 minutes, but Parma goalkeeper Antonio Mi- rante kept them at bay. With Tuesday's UEFA Cham- pions League quarter-final clash against Monaco perhaps playing on their minds, a Juve side without the services of Carlos Tevez and And- rea Pirlo slumped to their first Se- rie A defeat since losing to Genoa over five months ago. Mauri's cool finish from the edge of the area on the hour mark sealed a memorable fifth league win of the season for Parma and their second this week after beating Udinese on Wednesday. It took 20 minutes for Juve to carve out their first opportunity, Roberto Pereyra's low curling ef- fort turned past the post by Mi- rante before Ishak Belfodil bent an effort wide at the other end. The best chance of a disappoint- ing first half came in the 32nd minute when Arturo Vidal met Claudio Marchisio's free-kick, only for Mirante to deny him with a fine far post save from the midfielder's header. Forward Kingsley Coman then forced the impressive Mirante in- to action again after finding half a yard of space in the box as Juve finished the first half on the front foot. But the game became more open upon the restart, and Mauri took advantage by firing Parma into a shock lead. The midfielder raced on to a lay off from Belfodil on the edge of area and coolly angled the ball into the top-right corner beyond the helpless Marco Storari. Juve, despite their obvious su- perior quality, showed little signs of mounting a comeback in the closing stages, with the leadeers' forward line frustrated by a deter- mined Parma side. Parma had little difficulty in holding firm for three points in an- other defiant display despite their uncertain future. Parma's Jose Mauri is congratulated after scoring the only goal of the game Who will come out on top in classic derby clash? Another routine win for the leaders? EDWARD FALZON THIS weekend's big BOV Premier League clash is the Old Maltese derby between two fierce rivals, Valletta and Floriana. Ivan Zam- mit's side sit in third place just two points behind Birkirkara with a game in hand. Their opponents today currently occupy fifth place on 29 points, one point behind Balzan as they continue their fight for a place in Europe next season. Floriana have not lost in nine matches in what is most certainly a great positive run for the greens, while Valletta have now registered five consecutive positive results after their late win over Naxxar Lions in their last match. From Floriana's point of view, they have found good form at a great time, and they will surely be hoping that it will give them the momentum to grab a win to- day. In contrast, despite Valletta's current form also being on the up, they have struggled badly this sea- son and were never in contention to remotely challenge Hibernian's dominance for the big trophy. Despite both sides failing to im- press, today's game is not like any other, and predictions based on statistics and form are worthless. In Valletta's favour is the fact that they have the best record when playing against the top sides in the league, which suggests that the Citizens have a stronger big- game mentality. On the contrary, despite being in contention for a place in Europe, Floriana have struggled against the top teams in the table, managing just one win, over Birkirkara. Floriana have again failed to come out on top against their eter- nal rivals this season with the cur- rent champions winning on both previous occasions 2-0 and 4-1. Floriana will be without inf luen- tional defender Douglas Moreira Cobo who is serving a suspension while Valletta should be at full strength. Valletta Vs Floriana (4pm, today, National Stadium) LEADERS Hibernians face Sliema in the second match at the Na- tional Stadium today with the team led by Stephen Azzopardi hoping to give their opponents a tougher challenge to their previ- ous two matches. THINGS however won't be easy for the blues, particularly as they continue on their dismal form, which has seen them produce un- attractive football throughout the season. Their positioning in the table is a ref lection of what has been another disappointing season for Sliema, whose main priorit y at the beginning of the campaign was to challenge for a European spot, a target which they even failed to launch. If the blues are to pull off one of the big shocks of the season they will have to do so without the suspended Marko Potezica, while counting on the experience of tal- isman Michael Mifsud to provide the goods against the best defence in the campaign. Hibernians on the other hand are on course to secure a most memorable double, even facing the prospect of remaining unbeat- en for the whole season. Branko Nisevic's men are unbeaten in the BOV Premier League this season, having won 25 of their 28 match- es, drawing the other three, and progressing to the last four of the FA Trophy.

Articles in this issue

Archives of this issue

view archives of MaltaToday previous editions - MT 12 April 2015