Irandaily | No. 4449 | Sports

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Arsenal Falter Again as Blackburn Snatch Win

Colin Kazim-Richards scored the only goal of the game as Blackburn stunned Arsenal 1-0 at the Emirates in the fifth round of the FA Cup.
Arsene Wenger’s decision to rest a host of stars for Tuesday’s Champions League clash with Bayern Munich backfired spectacularly and they now must win that competition to avoid an eighth consecutive season without a trophy, Eurospport reported.
Ironically, Blackburn got the only goal of the game in the 72nd minute of the match just moments after Arsenal had brought on Theo Walcott, Santi Cazorla and Jack Wilshere in a bid to avoid a replay.
They won’t have to worry about that, though, as they struggled to turn mountains of possession and corners into goals as Blackburn scored with one of their few ventures forward.
After having been knocked out of Capital One Cup by League Two Bradford, it is the second cup humiliation against lower league opposition this season for Arsenal.
The goal that undid them was cruel on Arsenal though as Kazim-Richards actually scuffed his shot into the ground; but it spun into the corner of the net after the Turkish international had been the first to react when Wojciech Szczesny could only push Martin Olsson’s half-volley into his path.
Arsenal threw everything at Blackburn from then until the final whistle but the Blackburn defence was expertly organized with Grant Hanley in particular standing out at the heart of the defence and Jake Kean also making some important saves in between the sticks.
Arsenal dominated possession in a drab opening 45 minutes but struggled to break down their Championship opponents. As well as the big three that came on in the 72nd minute, Lukas Podolski and Aaron Ramsey were also on the bench, as Wenger decided to give some fringe players the chance to do the job.
The Gunners had an incredible 12 corners in the first-half but only really made an impact with two of them.
In the 24th minute Abou Diaby managed to get a free header on target but Kean was alert enough to push it over the bar.
Kean was again to the rescue five minutes later when he pushed away a header from Thomas Vermaelen that was looping towards the top corner despite Blackburn having men on the line.
Arsenal’s best chance of the half though came from open play when Tomas Rosicky slipped in a perfect pass behind the defense for Gervinho. The Ivorian striker only had the onrushing Kean to beat but dragged a poor shot wide with the goal gaping.
Blackburn’s only first half chance came after less than three minutes when Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s defensive header from a Pedersen free-kick came to Marcus Olsson at the back post but he put it wide.
The second-half was similar to the first - lots of Arsenal possession but few chances.
Rosicky did almost break the deadlock in spectacular fashion in the 67th minute but he saw a superb shot cannon off the underside of the bar.

Messi Scores 300th Barca Goal

Lionel Messi scored his 300th and 301st goals for Barcelona as the Blaugrana came from behind to beat Granada 2-1 in La Liga at the Estadio Nuevo Los Cármenes.
Odion Ighalo gave the hosts the lead against the run of play but Barca stayed patient and had their reward in the second half, Eurosport reported.
Soon after the break Toño was unable to hold a fizzing Cesc Fabregas shot and Messi pounced for his landmark goal before the mini maestro grabbed his first on the road to 400 - and the winning goal - with a superb bending free-kick 17 minutes from time.
The win puts Barca 15 points clear of Atletico and 19 ahead of Real - both of whom play tomorrow.
In the absence of Xavi, Messi orchestrated a passing masterclass which produced no return in the opening 45 minutes for Barca. The first of many balls slipped through to Alexis Sanchez, Adriano, Dani Alves and Thiago found Alexis on four minutes, but the out-of-form Chilean’s heavy first touch saw the ball run through to Toño.
Granada had the first shot on target three minutes later when Nolito, on loan from Benfica - and who made two appearances for Barca after featuring for the B team - pulled away to volley for goal from 12 yards, forcing a save out of Victor Valdes.
It was a rare attack from Granada, who escaped a penalty claim when Fabregas was sent crashing to the turf by Gabriel Torje in the 21st minute. Replays from behind the incident showed that he bumped into the Spain star with some force.
Five minutes later Barca were behind. Carlos Aranda crossed to the far post from the right and the ball was cushioned across the six-yard box by Nolito for Ighalo to finish from two yards.
Adriano sent a fulminating drive just wide of the far top corner from the left soon after then Barca felt aggrieved when Guilherme Siqueira was only booked when tangling with Pedro as the nippy winger bore down on goal. He was the last man.

Ross Beats Evans In Dunk Contest

Terrence Ross had to settle his nerves at the start of the All-Star dunk contest. By the end, he was calming down a ball boy he needed as a prop for his winning slam.
The 6-foot-6 Toronto rookie leapfrogged Michael Costolo, the son of Twitter CEO Dick Costolo, whipped the ball between his legs and hammered home a one-handed dunk to beat defending champion Jeremy Evans in the climax to All-Star Saturday, AP wrote.
‘’I told him the day before that I was going to jump over him, but I never told him I was going to go through the legs,’’ Ross said. ‘’He was kind of nervous. When I first grabbed him, he said, ‘You’re not going to hit me, right?’ I said, ‘No, I’m not going to hit you.’’’
Ross seemed to be unsure of himself in the beginning, botching his first three dunk attempts in the first round. The crowd exploded when he finally pulled it off - flicking the ball behind his back on the way up and hammering home a one-handed dunk.
He earned a perfect 50 and immediately relaxed.
‘’This is honestly my first really big dunk contest, so I was nervous,’’ said Ross, the eighth overall pick in last year’s draft out of Washington. ‘’And not making a dunk didn’t make it easy. I had to get myself together.’’
Ross earned 58 percent of the fan vote in the championship round, outdoing Evans’ prop-filled display. Evans leaped over a painted portrait of himself and former Jazz giant Mark Eaton, who sat on a box and held up the ball for Evans to swipe on his way to the rim.
Kenneth Faried, James White, 2007 dunk champion Gerald Green and Eric Bledsoe also were in the field, while Kevin Durant, Kobe Bryant, Chris Paul and Dwyane Wade were among the All-Stars taking in the show.
Green started if off by taking a lob from Indiana teammate Lance Stephenson off the side of the backboard and soaring in for a reverse slam. White played off his ‘’Flight White’’ nickname when he split two columns of cheerleaders dressed as flight attendants for a powerful two-handed dunk.

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