Wenger hails ‘world-class’ Ospina after PSG draw

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Paris (AFP) – Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger described David Ospina as “world-class” after the Colombian goalkeeper justified his selection in Tuesday’s Champions League draw with Paris Saint-Germain with several decisive saves.

Ospina was beaten by Edinson Cavani’s header inside the opening minute at the Parc des Princes but foiled the French champions on several other occasions as Alexis Sanchez’s late leveller ensured a 1-1 draw in the Group A opener.

And Ospina’s performance silenced the doubters who questioned why Wenger had chosen to play him in Paris rather than regular number one Petr Cech, who was left on the bench.

“I have two world-class goalkeepers and I know we have enough matches to give both of them games. If you cannot play them you cannot keep world-class goalkeepers who don’t get games,” insisted Wenger.

Arsenal’s wobble in the Champions League at the start of last season, with surprise defeats to both Dinamo Zagreb and Olympiakos that almost condemned them to an early exit, was partly attributed to Wenger’s decision to play Ospina in goal.

The former Nice custodian made one calamitous error in particular that gifted a goal to the Greeks, but against PSG he rescued the London club with numerous interventions to deny Cavani and Angel Di Maria.

“Ospina was very good and he will have shown tonight for those who doubted him that he is a good goalkeeper,” added Wenger. 

“When he played in the Champions League last season he made an error and everyone came down on him, but he has put things right.”

The question now is, will Ospina keep his place for Arsenal’s next Group A game at home to Swiss side Basel in two weeks, and Wenger hinted that he will.

“We have rules that the ‘keepers know. That’s why it is important to have clear rules from the start, and when that changes I inform them,” said the Frenchman.

“We can always change our minds. It’s down to performances and on what he has delivered tonight he has the right to claim to play in the next Champions League game.”

– Profligate Cavani –

It was far from a vintage Arsenal performance but the draw in what was on paper their trickiest fixture leaves them well placed to win their group, something they have not done in the Champions League in five years.

“PSG were good. They were determined, aggressive, quick on the break, and applied very strong physical pressure,” added Wenger.

“But even in the first half when we put together a few passes we felt we could be dangerous. We created chances in the second half and it is a good point for us.”

From a PSG perspective, their inability to see out the victory was less to do with Ospina than with Cavani’s inability to convert several chances to add to his opener.

The Uruguayan had two spectacular misses in the first half before being denied by the Arsenal ‘keeper in the second half, and Unai Emery’s side have now gone three games without a win.

“I am not happy with the result but I am happy with how we played. We need to play like this in future,” insisted the Spaniard Emery, who refused to be critical of Cavani.

“The most important thing is that he is creating chances for himself. That is positive for the future.”

Quarter-finalists in each of the last four seasons, PSG are next in Champions League action away to Ludogorets Razgrad in Bulgaria in a fortnight.

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Mainz blow three-goal lead in Hoffenheim draw

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Berlin (AFP) – Mainz threw away a three-goal lead in a thrilling 4-4 home draw against Hoffenheim as Werder Bremen lost 2-1 to Augsburg to stay bottom of the Bundesliga on Sunday.

Mainz, who meet French side Saint-Etienne in Europa League action Thursday, looked on course for a rout with a Pablo De Blasis double on 3 and 23 minutes followed by another from Jhon Cordoba on 27.

Sandro Wagner reduced the deficit for Hoffenheim on 39 minutes with Levin Oztunali getting the hosts’ fourth two minutes before the break.

French defender Gaetan Bussmann was sent off after the break and his absence derailed the hosts with Mark Uth netting twice in the space of two minutes (71, 72) with Adam Szalai getting the equaliser on 84.

In Bremen, the arrival of Serge Gnabry from Arsenal failed to lift the northerners who remain rock bottom after two games with eight goals conceded and the future of Ukrainian coach Viktor Skripnik in doubt.

Bayern Munich remain top after Friday’s 2-0 win at Schalke, ahead of Hertha Berlin on goal difference with both teams on a maximum six points.

Meanwhile, Bayern Munich’s French international striker Kingsley Coman has been declared fit again and trained Sunday ahead of the Bavarian outfit’s Champions League Group D opener with Russians Rostov in midweek.

The gifted 20-year-old injured an ankle when kicked by teammate Javi Martinez three weeks ago and was carted away on a stretcher, but he is now available for Tuesday’s home European game. 

“A decision over whether he plays or not will be taken on the day,” the club said on Sunday. 

Although Bayern boast Robert Lewandowski and Thomas Mueller in attack, Coman’s movement and touch offer an alternative and unpredictable threat. 

At the same training session Sunday Dutch winger Arjen Robben and German defender Jerome Boateng both carried out light workouts, although the pair will not feature against Rostov.

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PSG suffer late heartbreak in home draw

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Paris (AFP) – Paris Saint-Germain conceded an injury-time equaliser as they warmed up for their Champions League clash next week against Arsenal with a disappointing 1-1 home with Saint-Etienne on Friday.

The big-spending Parisians looked set to top Ligue 1 thanks to a fortuitous second-half Lucas penalty, but Robert Beric popped up in the second minute of added-on time to somehow eke out an unlikely point for the visitors.

The French champions gave a first start this season to international midfielder Blaise Matuidi after the former Saint-Etienne player saw a proposed transfer to Italian champions Juventus fall through.

He was involved in the major talking point of a tepid first-half when he appeared to have his legs swept out from underneath him when well placed in the box, but the referee waved away furious home appeals for a penalty.

Meanwhile goalkeeper Kevin Trapp had to be at his best to thwart the away side when he was down smartly to his left to save from close range at the Parc des Princes.

PSG, runaway league winners last term, had plenty of the ball in the second period but did little with it, with coach Unai Emery calling for winger Angel Di Maria off the bench shortly before the hour in the hope he would inject some badly needed pace and guile.

They finally made the breakthrough in the 67th minute thanks to a penalty from the Brazilian winger Lucas, after Matuidi again took a tumble, although there was a large slice of fortune in it with the contact clearly outside the box.

The Parisians were cruising to victory, before Beric neatly chested down a deep cross late on and knocked the ball into the ground and over the stretched arms of Trapp.

PSG, now without defender David Luiz following his return to Chelsea and sitting third in Ligue 1 after two wins, one defeat and one draw, host Premier League Arsenal on Tuesday. 

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US Open 2016: Bracket, schedule and scores for men"s draw

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Can Novak Djokovic recover from an early Olympics exit by taking the US Open?

Andy Murray came out on top at the recent Rio Olympics, prevailing in the gold medal match over Juan Martin Del Potro. That makes two singles gold medals in a row for Murray, who also won at the London 2012 Olympics. Del Potro took bronze in those games, and was a surprise contender in this year"s Games.

Del Potro shocked everyone when he upset Novak Djokovic, the top seed, in the opening round in Rio and went on all the way to the final, dropping Rafael Nadal along the way. Now Del Potro will enter the US Open unseeded, fresh off a silver medal win and playing some of the best tennis of his career. Can he continue his run, and maybe put up something close to 2009, when he won the tournament?

Murray is the second seed, and he once again has to consider the chance of meeting Djokovic in the finals, though that"s a long way off yet. Nadal is also in the tournament and in the discussion, while Roger Federer is unfortunately not participating. Federer is missing the US Open for the first time since 1999.

How the US Open will shake out is anybody"s guess. So many players are playing great tennis right now and it should be a good one. Below, we will have an updated bracket and schedule throughout the tournament. Television coverage will be carried by ESPN and ESPN2, with live streams available via WatchESPN.

Bracket

Bracket taken from the official US Open website.

How to watch the tournament

The tournament"s broadcast schedule is much the same as it was last year, its first year of running exclusively on the ESPN family of networks. Coverage will typically begin between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. ET on most days, and will run all through the day. Coverage will be shared across ESPN and ESPN2 throughout. Live streams of all matches will be available via WatchESPN online.

Go to SB Nation"s tennis hub for recaps and in-depth how to watch information each day. Below is a full look at the start and end times each day and which channel you can find the coverage on. All times are Eastern.

Schedule

Day 1: Monday, Aug. 29 (recap)

No. 1 Novak Djokovic def. Jerzy Janowicz, 6-3, 5-7, 6-2, 6-1
No. 4 Rafael Nadal def. Denis Istomin, 6-1, 6-4, 6-2
No. 5 Milos Raonic def. Dustin Brown, 7-5, 6-3, 6-4
No. 7 Marin Cilic def. Rogerio Dutra Silva, 6-4, 7-5, 6-1
No. 9 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga def. Guido Andreozzi, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4
No. 10. Gael Monfils def. Gilles Muller, 6-4, 6-2, 7-6(5)
Kyle Edmund def. No. 13 Richard Gasquet, 6-2, 6-2, 6-3
No. 15 Roberto Bautista Agut def. Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, 7-6, 6-1, 6-7(5), 7-6(3)
No. 18 Pablo Cuevas def. Dudi Sela, 6-3, 6-2, 0-6, 5-7, 6-3
No. 20 John Isner def. Frances Tiafoe, 3-6, 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-2, 7-6(3)
No. 23 Kevin Anderson def. Yoshihito Nishioka, 6-3, 7-5, 6-4
No. 24 Lucas Pouille def. Mikhail Kukushkin, 3-6, 6-2, 6-4, 6-2
No. 26 Jack Sock def. Taylor Fritz, 7-6(3), 7-5, 3-6, 1-6, 6-4
Mikhail Youzhny def. No. 28 Martin Klizan, 6-2, 6-1, 6-1
No. 31 Albert Ramos-Vinolas def. Julien Benneteau, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, 2-6, 6-1
No. 32 Benoit Paire def. Dusan Lajovic, 6-2, 2-6, 3-6, 7-5, 6-1

Day 2: Tuesday, Aug. 30

No. 2 Andy Murray vs. Lukas Rosol
No. 3 Stan Wawrinka def. Fernando Verdasco, 7-6(4), 6-4, 6-4
No. 6 Kei Nishikori def. Benjamin Becker, 6-1, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3
No. 8 Dominic Thiem vs. John Millman
No. 11 David Ferrer def. Alexandr Dolgopolov, 6-5 (ret.)
Jared Donaldson def. No. 12 David Goffin, 4-6, 7-5, 6-4, 6-0
No. 14 Nick Kyrgios vs. Aljaz Bedene
No. 16 Feliciano Lopez def. Borna Coric, 3-4 (ret.)
Damir Dzumhur def. No. 17 Bernard Tomic, 6-4, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(0)
No. 19 Steve Johnson vs. Evgeny Donskoy
No. 21 Ivo Karlovic def. Yen-Hsun Lu, 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-7(4), 7-6(5), 7-5
No. 22 Grigor Dimitrov def. Inigo Cervantes, 6-2, 6-4, 7-6(7)
Nicolas Mahut def. No. 25 Philipp Kohlschreiber, 6-3, 7-5, 1-0 (ret.)
No. 27 Alexander Zverev def. Daniel Brands, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4, 7-6(4)
Janko Tipsarevic def. No. 29 Sam Querrey, 7-6(4), 6-7(0), 6-3, 6-3
No. 30 Gilles Simon def. Radek Stepanek, 6-3, 6-1, 6-4
Juan Martin Del Potro def. Diego Schwartzman, 6-4, 6-4, 7-6(3)

Day 3: Wednesday, Aug. 31

No. 1 Novak Djokovic vs. Jiri Vesely
No. 4 Rafael Nadal vs. Andreas Seppi
No. 5 Milos Raonic vs. Ryan Harrison
No. 7 Marin Cilic vs. Sergiy Stakhovsky
No. 9 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga vs. James Duckworth
No. 10 Gael Monfils vs. Jan Satral
No. 15 Roberto Bautista Agut vs. Federico Delbonis
No. 18 Pablo Cuevas vs. Nicolas Almagro
No. 20 John Isner vs. Steve Darcis
No. 23 Kevin Anderson vs. Vasek Pospisil
No. 24 Lucas Pouille vs. Marco Chiudinelli
No. 26 Jack Sock vs. Mischa Zverev
No. 31 Albert Ramos-Vinolas vs. Andrey Kuznetsov
No. 32 Benoit Paire vs. Marcos Baghdatis

Day 4: Thursday, Sept. 1

Second-round play

Day 5: Friday, Sept. 2

Third-round play

Day 6: Saturday, Sept. 3

Third-round play

Day 7: Sunday, Sept. 4

Round of 16 play

Day 8: Monday, Sept. 5

Round of 16 play

Day 9: Tuesday, Sept. 6

Quarterfinals play

Day 10: Wednesday, Sept. 7

Quarterfinals play

Day 11: Thursday, Sept. 8

Women"s semifinals

Day 12: Friday, Sept. 9

Men"s semifinals

Day 13: Saturday, Sept. 10

Women"s final

Day 14: Sunday, Sept. 11

Men"s final

* * *

Something bad is going to happen to this ball boy

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Day	Round	Start	End	Network
Aug. 29	First	1 p.m.	6 p.m.	ESPN
Aug. 29	First	6 p.m.	11 p.m.	ESPN2
Aug. 30	First	1 p.m.	11 p.m.	ESPN
Aug. 31	Second	1 p.m.	6 p.m.	ESPN
Aug. 31	Second	6 p.m.	11 p.m.	ESPN2
Sept. 1	Second	1 p.m.	6 p.m.	ESPN
Sept. 1	Second	6 p.m.	11 p.m.	ESPN2
Sept. 2	Third	1 p.m.	6 p.m.	ESPN
Sept. 2	Third	6 p.m.	11 p.m.	ESPN2
Sept. 3	Third	11 a.m.	11 p.m.	ESPN2
Sept. 4	Round of 16	11 a.m.	11 p.m.	ESPN2
Sept. 5	Round of 16	11 a.m.	11 p.m.	ESPN2
Sept. 6	Quarterfinals	12 p.m.	11 p.m.	ESPN
Sept. 7	Quarterfinals	12 p.m.	6 p.m.	ESPN
Sept. 7	Quarterfinals	7 p.m.	11 p.m.	ESPN2
Seot, 8	Women"s Semifinals	7 p.m.	11 p.m.	ESPN
Sept. 9	Mixed Doubles Final	12 p.m.	2 p.m.	ESPN2
Sept. 9	Men"s Semifinals	3 p.m.	11 p.m.	ESPN
Sept. 10	Women"s Final	4 p.m.	7 p.m.	ESPN
Sept. 11	Men"s Final	4 p.m.	7 p.m.	ESPN

2016 US Open: Bracket, schedule and scores for women"s draw

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Can Serena Williams keep her No. 1 ranking?

Serena Williams held on to her world No. 1 ranking when Angelique Kerber failed to take the recent title in Cincinnati, but four different women could emerge from the US Open — the final Grand Slam of 2016 — with the ranking, depending on how things finish.

Williams earned her 22nd Grand Slam singles title earlier this year, putting herself into a tie with Steffi Graf for the most of any woman in the Open Era. She also stands to tie Graf"s record for longest time with the No. 1 ranking if she makes it through the US Open still on top of the standings.

But the year hasn"t been completely kind to Williams, who lost to Kerber in the finals of the Australian Open and Garbiñe Muguruza in the finals of the French Open at Roland Garros.

For years, Maria Sharapova had been the No. 2 woman in the world, but with her suspension the void has been filled by a rejuvenated Kerber, a surging Agnieszka Radwańska and, of course, Muguruza. Serena"s sister, Venus Williams, is also playing well in 2016 and another American woman, Madison Keys, is also doing quite well for herself.

The Rio Olympics are in the rearview mirror, and the Williams sisters will be glad for it as they were both eliminated from singles and doubles play early on. Monica Puig, who holds the No. 32 seed here at the US Open, won the women"s singles gold medal, upsetting Kerber in the final.

Throughout the US Open, we"ll be providing schedules, recaps and more below. The tournament will run through Sept. 11 and will be broadcast primarily on ESPN and ESPN2. Below is all you need to know about the tournament, updated daily.

Bracket

Bracket taken from the official US Open website.

How to watch the tournament

The tournament"s broadcast schedule is much the same as it was last year, its first year of running exclusively on the ESPN family of networks. Coverage will typically begin between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. ET on most days, and will run all through the day. Coverage will be shared across ESPN and ESPN2 throughout. Live streams of all matches will be available via WatchESPN online.

Go to SB Nation"s tennis hub for recaps and in-depth how to watch information each day. Below is a full look at the start and end times each day and which channel you can find the coverage on. All times are Eastern.

Schedule

Day 1: Monday, Aug. 29 (recap)

No. 2 Angelique Kerber def. Polona Hercog, 6-0, 1-0 (ret.)
No. 3 Garbine Muguruza def. Elise Mertens, 2-6, 6-0, 6-3
No. 7 Roberta Vinci def. Anna-Lena Friedsam, 6-2, 6-4
No. 8 Madison Keys def. Alison Riske, 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-2
No. 9 Svetlana Kuznetsova def. Francesca Schiavone, 6-1, 6-2
No. 12 Dominika Cibulkova def. Magda Linette, 6-2, 6-3
No. 13 Johanna Konta def. Bethanie Mattek-Sands, 6-3, 6-3
No. 14 Petra Kvitova def. Jelena Ostapenko, 7-5, 6-3
Monica Niculescu def. No. 18 Barbora Strycova, 6-3, 6-7(3), 6-1
Lesia Tsurenko def. No. 21 Irina-Camelia Begu, 6-0, 6-4
No. 22 Elina Svitolina def. Mandy Minella, 6-7(5), 6-0, 6-2
No. 24 Belinda Bencic def. Samantha Crawford, 6-7(6), 6-3, 6-4
Shelby Rogers def. No. 27 Sara Errani, 6-4, 7-6(3)
Naomi Osaka def. No. 28 Coco Vandeweghe, 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-4
Carina Witthoeft def. No. 30 Misaki Doi, 6-4, 6-1
Saisai Zheng def. No. 32 Monica Puig, 6-4, 6-2

Day 2: Tuesday, Aug. 30

No. 1 Serena Williams vs. Ekaterina Makarova
No. 4 Agnieszka Radwanska vs. Jessica Pegula
No. 5 Simona Halep vs. Kirsten Flipkens
No. 6 Venus Williams vs. Kateryna Kozlova
No. 10 Karolina Pliskova vs. Sofia Kenin
No. 11 Carla Suarez Navarro vs. Teliana Pereira
No. 15 Timea Bacsinszky vs. Vitalia Diatchenko
No. 16 Samantha Stosur vs. Camila Giorgi
No. 17 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova vs. Louisa Chirico
No. 19 Elena Vesnina vs. Anett Kontaveit
No. 20 Kiki Bertens vs. Ana Konjuh
No. 23 Daria Kasatkina vs. Qiang Wang
No. 25 Caroline Garcia vs. Pauline Parmentier
No. 26 Laura Siegemund vs. Patricia Maria Tig
No. 29 Ana Ivanovic vs. Denisa Allertova
No. 31 Timea Babos vs. Barbara Haas

Day 3: Wednesday, Aug. 31

Second-round play

Day 4: Thursday, Sept. 1

Second-round play

Day 5: Friday, Sept. 2

Third-round play

Day 6: Saturday, Sept. 3

Third-round play

Day 7: Sunday, Sept. 4

Round of 16 play

Day 8: Monday, Sept. 5

Round of 16 play

Day 9: Tuesday, Sept. 6

Quarterfinals play

Day 10: Wednesday, Sept. 7

Quarterfinals play

Day 11: Thursday, Sept. 8

Women"s semifinals

Day 12: Friday, Sept. 9

Men"s semifinals

Day 13: Saturday, Sept. 10

Women"s final

Day 14: Sunday, Sept. 11

Men"s final

* * *

Something bad is going to happen to this ball boy

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Day	Round	Start	End	Network
Aug. 29	First	1 p.m.	6 p.m.	ESPN
Aug. 29	First	6 p.m.	11 p.m.	ESPN2
Aug. 30	First	1 p.m.	11 p.m.	ESPN
Aug. 31	Second	1 p.m.	6 p.m.	ESPN
Aug. 31	Second	6 p.m.	11 p.m.	ESPN2
Sept. 1	Second	1 p.m.	6 p.m.	ESPN
Sept. 1	Second	6 p.m.	11 p.m.	ESPN2
Sept. 2	Third	1 p.m.	6 p.m.	ESPN
Sept. 2	Third	6 p.m.	11 p.m.	ESPN2
Sept. 3	Third	11 a.m.	11 p.m.	ESPN2
Sept. 4	Round of 16	11 a.m.	11 p.m.	ESPN2
Sept. 5	Round of 16	11 a.m.	11 p.m.	ESPN2
Sept. 6	Quarterfinals	12 p.m.	11 p.m.	ESPN
Sept. 7	Quarterfinals	12 p.m.	6 p.m.	ESPN
Sept. 7	Quarterfinals	7 p.m.	11 p.m.	ESPN2
Seot, 8	Women"s Semifinals	7 p.m.	11 p.m.	ESPN
Sept. 9	Mixed Doubles Final	12 p.m.	2 p.m.	ESPN2
Sept. 9	Men"s Semifinals	3 p.m.	11 p.m.	ESPN
Sept. 10	Women"s Final	4 p.m.	7 p.m.	ESPN
Sept. 11	Men"s Final	4 p.m.	7 p.m.	ESPN

Spanish giants feared in Champions League group-stage draw

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Monaco (AFP) – The eyes of European football will be on Monaco on Thursday as holders Real Madrid and the rest of the continent’s elite discover their fate when the Champions League group-stage draw is made.

Zinedine Zidane’s side won the trophy last season — a record 11th in the club’s history — as Cristiano Ronaldo scored the decisive penalty in the shoot-out against city rivals Atletico after the final in Milan finished 1-1.

That allowed Spanish clubs to continue their recent domination of the Champions League, with Madrid and Barcelona exchanging the trophy over the last three years and Atletico appearing in two of the last three finals.

The aim now for Madrid is to become the first team to retain the trophy in the Champions League era — the last club to win back-to-back European Cups was AC Milan in 1990.

“This is the reason I came to Madrid –- to play in the Champions League, to win the Champions League,” Madrid star Gareth Bale said in an interview with UEFA.com.

“Two in three years is an amazing achievement. Now we want to look to the next one. It’s obviously a massive motivation for us all to be the first team to retain the Champions League.”

Getting to this year’s final would be that bit more special for Bale for another reason — it’s being played in his hometown, the Welsh capital Cardiff.

The final at the Principality Stadium will be played on June 3 next year, with the opening group games set for September 13 and 14.

– Leicester in pot one –

Joining continental giants Real, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Juventus, Paris Saint-Germain and Benfica in the first pot of clubs will be the Russian champions CSKA Moscow and Claudio Ranieri’s Leicester City.

Fresh from their remarkable Premier League title triumph last season, Leicester will appear in Europe’s elite competition for the first time.

Their last appearance in Europe ended in a UEFA Cup first-round defeat to Red Star Belgrade in 2000.

“I hope we are ready, not just to listen to the music but to do some music,” was how Ranieri put it back in the spring as he looked ahead to the Champions League nights in store at the King Power Stadium.

An unkind draw could see Leicester grouped together with Atletico or 1997 winners and 2013 runners-up Borussia Dortmund from the second pot, Dynamo Kiev from pot three and Monaco — one of Ranieri’s old sides — from pot four.

As for the other Premier League representatives, Arsenal and Manchester City will be in pot two and Tottenham Hotspur in pot three.

Spain, England and Germany will all have four clubs in the group stage, while Portugal and France will each have three.

Russian side Rostov feature for the first time after ousting Anderlecht and Ajax to qualify, while Celtic are back in the group stage for the first time in three years after edging out Hapoel Be’er Sheva of Israel in the play-offs.

“It is an incredible moment for the supporters. They are going to be back in amongst Europe’s elite and it is where Celtic belong,” said the Scottish champions’ manager Brendan Rodgers.

It is also where the money is — each club is guaranteed 12 million euros (10.2 million pounds, $ 13.5 million) just from being in the group stage but in reality they will bank a lot more than that.

Real reportedly earned in the region of 94 million euros in total from winning the competition last season, roughly the same as what Italian champions and 2015 Champions League runners-up Juventus paid to sign Gonzalo Higuain from Napoli this summer. 

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