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Tuesday November 7, 2017

(SD-Agencies)

FABIO CANNAVARO has resigned as coach of Tianjin Quanjian, the club announced yesterday, just days after steer-ing the side to an AFC Cham-pions League berth and with rumors swirling he will return to seven-time Chinese champion Guangzhou Evergrande.

The Italian World Cup winner, who engineered the club’s pro-motion to the Chinese Super League (CSL) last year and a third-place fi nish this year, will be succeeded by former Portu-guese international Paulo Sousa, the club said.

A brief statement by Tianjin said Cannavaro’s departure came after “friendly discussions” with the club, which praised the coach for his successful time at the helm.

Neither Tianjin nor Can-navaro gave any immediate indication of his plans, but the 44-year-old Italian, considered one of the greatest defenders in the history of the sport, has been linked to a possible move back to Guangzhou Evergrande.

Cannavaro coached Guangzhou briefl y in 2014-2015 and the job is now open again after Brazilian coach Luiz Felipe Scolari confi rmed at the weekend that he was leaving after wrapping up the club’s seventh straight CSL title.

“It hurts me to leave Guangzhou, this group, but that’s life,” Scolari, 68, told reporters, adding that he may return with another Chinese club.

“We all came out of this happy: me, Guangzhou, the players, and I hope I didn’t disappoint you,” he said in a video clip uploaded to Chinese social media.

“I don’t know if I will return to China as a manager. I will start thinking about the future from today. I haven’t decided any-thing, but from now, as I fi nish up everything with Guangzhou, I will start thinking about my future.”

Scolari’s side was beaten in the season’s fi nal game Saturday by Cannavaro’s Tianjin team.

Tianjin’s 2-1 victory propelled the side into third place in the CSL, meaning it will contest the AFC Champions League playoffs next season. (SD-Agencies)

MANCHESTER City was left with a healthy eight-point lead at the top of the Premier League after second-placed Manchester United suffered a 1-0 loss away to champion Chelsea hours after the leader saw off Arsenal 3-1 Sunday.

United manager Jose Mourinho, a former title-win-ning boss with Chelsea, saw his latest visit to Stamford Bridge end in defeat courtesy of Alvaro Morata’s 55th-minute header that ended a run of six games without a goal for the Spain striker.

Victory left Chelsea fourth, nine points off the summit.

It was a much-needed win for Chelsea and under-pressure manager Antonio Conte follow-ing their midweek Champions League loss away to Roma.

Conte and Mourinho’s already tense relationship showed no signs of improving after the Chelsea boss ignored his United counterpart for the traditional post-match handshake between managers.

“It’s not important. You have to have the respect on the pitch not outside the pitch,” Conte, who at full-time raced onto the pitch to celebrate with his play-ers, told Sky Sports.

Mourinho, twice sacked by Chelsea despite winning the Eng-lish title three times, insisted he had done all he could to observe the formalities after his third successive defeat at Stamford Bridge.

City well ahead as Chelsea beats United

REAL Madrid restored order after two straight losses with a comfortable 3-0 win over Las Palmas in the Spanish league Sunday.

Goals by Casemiro in the fi rst half, and Marco Asensio and Isco in the second, secured Madrid victory at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, keeping it eight points behind leader Barcelona after 11 games.

Barcelona defeated Sevilla 2-1 Saturday to maintain a four-point lead over second-place Valencia, which routed Leganes 3-0.

Madrid was under pressure

after losses at Girona in La Liga and at Tottenham in the Cham-pions League. The team endured a wave of criticism last week, and a convincing home win was needed to ease tensions for the defending champions.

“This win is important to help the team regain its confi dence,” Madrid defender Sergio Ramos said. “Little by little we are get-ting back on the right track.”

Madrid was in control from the start, and Casemiro opened the scoring with a header following a corner just before halftime.

(SD-Agencies)

KRISTAPS PORZINGIS was aware of Phil Jackson’s concern that he wasn’t ready to take over. Once Carmelo Anthony was traded, he knew he’d get the chance to prove otherwise.

Porzingis scored a career-high 40 points, carrying the New York Knicks back from a 19-point defi cit for a 108-101 victory over the Indiana Pacers on Sunday night.

“The challenge is never too big for me,” said Porzingis, who is the fi rst player in the NBA since 1983-84 to post at least 40 points, fi ve rebounds, fi ve blocks and make two 3-pointers.

“I always accept the challenge and that’s why I knew coming into this season, if Melo was not going to be here, then I am going to have to be the guy.”

After scoring 15 straight points that spanned the third and fourth quarters, the 22-year-old from Latvia passed to rookie Frank Ntilikina for a 3-pointer that broke a 99-all tie with 1:34 remaining.

“I had to get rid of the ball,” Porzingis said. “That was the right play in that moment. Frank made that big shot.”

Porzingis added eight rebounds and six blocked shots in his seventh 30-point perfor-mance in nine games this season, a good glimpse of someone

Knicks rally to beat Pacers

“You don’t want me to chase him into the middle of the pitch,” he said. “He (Conte) doesn’t have to wait. There is no problem with it at all.”

Turning to the result, Mourinho was in defi ant mood.

“We are second — not fi fth, sixth or seventh or eight,” he said. “We have several teams in a more diffi cult position than we have.”

Earlier, City was impressive against the Gunners, with Kevin De Bruyne fi ring Pep Guardiola’s

men into an early lead at the Etihad before Sergio Aguero made it 2-0 from the penalty spot early in the second half.

Alexandre Lacazette pulled a goal back for the Gunners but Gabriel Jesus put City 3-1 up in the 74th minute despite a sus-picion of offside, with Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal now 12 points behind City.

“The third goal, at 2-1 we are in the game and he (referee Michael Oliver) gives a clear offside goal. And, of course, that kills the

game for us,” said Wenger.However, City counterpart

Guardiola had no truck with suggestions his side had been fortunate to win.

“We won in the best way and we deserved by far the victory,” said Guardiola after City backed up their midweek Champions League win away to Napoli.

Tottenham Hotspur remained level on points with United thanks to a 1-0 win over bottom-of-the-table Crystal Palace.

(SD-Agencies)

Real restores order with win

that’s defi nitely welcomed the chance to fi ll the void created by Anthony’s exit.

Ntilikina scored 10 points and seven assists off the bench as the Knicks won for the fi fth time in six games after an 0-3 start. Tim Hardaway Jr. had 16 points.

Ntilikina’s 3-pointer was his second of a fourth quarter in which he played the entirety.

“I knew it was a good shot, a wide-open shot,” he said. “Nobody was there to deny the shot, so I took it. And I just took it with confi dence.” (SD-Agencies)

Chelsea’s Alvaro Morata (L) in action with Manchester United’s Ander Herrera at Stamford Bridge in London on Sunday.SD-Agencies

Tianjin Quanjian head coach Fabio Can-navaro applauds their victory against Guangzhou Evergrande in Guangzhou on Saturday. SD-Agencies

Cannavaro quits Tianjin as GZ rumors swirl

Real Madrid’s Isco (top) in action with Las Palmas’ Vicente Gomez during their game at Santiago Bernabeu in Madrid on Sunday. SD-Agencies

New York Knicks forward Kristaps Porz-ingis (L) goes up against Indiana Pacers forward Myles Turner in the fourth quarter at Madison Square Garden in New York on Sunday. SD-Agencies