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Wednesday August 9, 2017

BARCELONA president Josep Maria Bartomeu hit out at Ney-mar’s lack of loyalty to the club Monday and criticized the Brazil-ian for staying silent up until his world record 222-million euro (US$261 million) move to Paris Saint-Germain (PSG).

The speculation about Neymar’s move to France overshadowed the club’s preseason tour of the United States in July and, while his teammates were inundated

with questions about the player, the forward made no comment on his future until the move was confi rmed last Thursday.

“His way of doing things was not the best, it was not the behavior we expect of one of our players,” Bartomeu said.

“We were always clear and we would have liked a bit more clarity from him. Values are very important to us and play-ers need to feel like they are

at the best club in the world.”Bartomeu said the club was

now ready for life without Neymar, who scored 105 goals in four seasons with Barcelona and won two Liga titles, three Copa del Reys and the 2015 UEFA Cham-pions League.

He contrasted the Brazilian’s fl eeting loyalty with one-club-men Lionel Messi and Andres Iniesta.

“No player is above Barca,

everything has a limit and that is why we did what we did. Messi’s loyalty should be an example for everyone who wants to wear our colors, as should Iniesta’s,” said Bartomeu.

Bartomeu added that the team would move away from its recent axis of Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez, the most prolifi c front three of all time, to focus on build-ing a stronger team overall.

(SD-Agencies)

FORMER Cleveland Cavaliers general manager David Griffi n worked closely with and had the trust of Kyrie Irving before he was let go, so there are few who could better explain the appar-ent rift between the point guard and organization.

Griffi n appeared on ESPN’s “The Jump” on Monday to pro-vide perspective on why Irving wants to be traded away from the Cavaliers.

“This is a guy who handled the situation exactly like he was supposed to,” Griffi n said. “He went to Dan Gilbert privately, told him he would be happier somewhere else.

“The absolute worst thing this guy could have done was pretend to be all-in, and sink the ship from within. Most guys don’t have the courage to do what he did. That’s not youth and ignorance. That’s a little bit more courage than what people gave him credit for.”

Irving played an instrumental role in helping Cleveland attain its fi rst championship in fi ve decades, but overwhelming success doesn’t necessarily mean Irving was happy.

Griffi n signed Irving to a fi ve-year deal in 2014 to be the featured player for the Cavaliers, only to be usurped soon after by James’ homecoming.

“This is a guy who recruited LeBron (James), (Gordon) Hay-ward, and a host of free agents when he decided to sign and stay in Cleveland,” Griffi n said. “And all of a sudden, LeBron came back.

“So he was sold a totally dif-ferent situation than he’s actu-ally in, and he worked very well in, he won a championship in. I see this as him looking for a fi t for himself now to take the next step of his career.”

Griffi n explains Irving simply wants a chance to test his own abilities, a chance he was denied in 2014. That opportu-nity simply wasn’t available if he continued to share the court with James.

Griffi n added: “He just wanted to put himself in a posi-tion, I think, where to fi nd out exactly what he has as a 25-year-old entering his prime.”

(SD-Agencies)

FORMER French Open fi nal-ist Sara Errani must serve a two-month doping ban after testing positive for the banned substance letrozole in a test taken in February, the Interna-tional Tennis Federation said Monday.

Errani blamed contamination from her mother’s breast cancer medication.

“I never took, in my life and during my career, any prohib-ited substance,” Errani said in a statement. “I am extremely dis-appointed but at the same time at peace with my conscience and aware I haven’t done anything wrong.”

An adjudication panel ruled

that Errani’s fault was “at the lower end of the scale,” but that she should still be banned for two months from Aug. 3.

The Italian has also been retroactively disqualifi ed from tournaments from Feb. 16 through June 7.

Her only notable performance in that period was a semifi nal in Rabat, Morocco, in May, plus a second-round loss at Roland Garros.

Errani’s ban will end Oct. 2, precluding her from playing in the U.S. Open.

Errani reached the 2012 French Open fi nal, losing to Maria Sharapova, and has com-pleted a career Grand Slam in

EIGHT months after surviving the plane crash that killed most of his Chapecoense teammates, Alan Ruschel played his fi rst minutes of soccer Monday when his Brazilian club met Barcelona in a friendly.

Ruschel and two teammates were the only Chapecoense play-ers to not perish when the team’s fl ight went down in Colombia last year, killing all but six of the 77 players, offi cials and journal-ists on board.

All three were on the pitch Monday in an emotional night at Camp Nou that was more about overcoming the tragedy that had decimated their club than about facing Lionel Messi’s Barcelona.

Barcelona eased to a 5-0 win, but the result mattered little to the players, coaches, or fans.

Ruschel wore the captain’s armband for Chapecoense during the 36 minutes he played before being substituted.

He received a standing ova-tion from the crowd, which he returned by applauding with his hands held high as he slowly walked to the dugout.

Before the match Ruschel wrote on Instagram: “Today is the new beginning of my profes-sional career.”

He said he would play the match “for all those who sup-ported me, for those who I lost, for my friends, my family.”

The crowd had already saluted the Chapecoense players as their names were called before the match. Barcelona midfi elder Andres Iniesta welcomed the visitors, telling the stadium that

Crash survivor returns to pitch at Barca

“today is a very special night.”Jackson Follmann and Helio

Zampier Neto, the only other Chapecoense players to survive the crash, shared in a moving honorary kickoff.

Follmann, who had part of his right leg amputated from injuries in the crash, was wearing a pros-thetic leg when he took the kick-off along with Neto. Neto, who played in the friendly, accom-panied Follmann to the bench as they both received another wave of applause.

The game, for the Joan Gamper trophy, is Barcelona’s traditional curtain-raiser for the new season.

It was also Barcelona’s fi rst match since the departure of Neymar for Paris Saint-Germain for a world-record fee of 222 mil-lion euros (US$262 million) last week.

Gerard Deulofeu, a product of Barcelona’s youth academy whom the club bought back this summer from Everton, took Neymar’s vacant spot in

the attack alongside Messi and Luis Suarez.

Deulofeu got off to a good start by opening the scoring in the sixth minute. After Sergio Busquets struck from long range, Deulofeu set up Messi for the third goal near the half-hour mark. Luis Suarez and Denis Suarez scored in the second half.

Barcelona starts the season Sunday in the fi rst leg of the Spanish Super Cup against Real Madrid. (SD-Agencies)

▲Barcelona’s Lionel Messi (C) fi ghts for the ball against Chapecoense players during their match Monday. SD-Agencies

►Chapecoense’s Alan Ruschel applauds while receiving a standing ovation from the crowd at Camp Nou on Monday. SD-Agencies

Former French Open finalist Errani gets 2-month doping ban

women’s doubles with Roberta Vinci.

The 98th-ranked Errani has won nine singles titles and 25

doubles titles in her WTA career. She reached a career-high singles ranking of No. 5 in 2013.

(SD-Agencies)

Sara Errani

Barca chief fl ays disloyal Neymar over PSG switch

Ex-Cavs GM explains why Irving wantsto be traded

Kyrie Irving