Australia

Napoli 2-4 Man City: Sergio Aguero breaks club goal record

Lorenzo Insigne put Napoli ahead after 20 minutes as the home side cut through the Manchester City d..

Published

5 years ago

November 2, 2017

Europe Disk

Lorenzo Insigne put Napoli ahead after 20 minutes as the home side cut through the Manchester City defence
Nicolas Otamendi equalised before the break before John Stones headed City in front in the second half
Leroy Sane felled Raul Albiol in the box to allow Jorginho to square the contest again from the spot
Sergio Aguero broke City's all-time goalscoring record when he finished a counter-attack to make it 3-2
The result was secured when Raheem Sterling struck late in injury time, slamming past Pepe Reina

By Chris Wheeler for the Daily Mail

Published: 17:39 EDT, 1 November 2017 | Updated: 05:26 EDT, 2 November 2017

What a way to break the record and what a place to do it. At the cavernous Stadio San Paolo where his erstwhile father-in-law Diego Maradona is still worshipped as a demi-god, Sergio Aguero ascended to greatness when he became Manchester City's top scorer of all-time.

Aguero had stood level with 1930s star Eric Brook on 177 goals for 12 days, but it was only a matter of time before he claimed a place in history all for himself.

When the opportunity arrived in the 69th minute of his 264th appearance for City, Aguero did not let his team – or himself – down.

Sergio Aguero became Manchester City's all-time record goal scorer when he hit the third goal in their victory over Napoli

Aguero netted as Pep Guardiola's side came from a goal down to pick up a crucial 4-2 Champions League victory in Italy

Manchester City defender Nicolas Otamendi celebrates after scoring his side's equaliser against Napoli at the San Paolo

John Stones roars with delight after thumping a header in off the underside of the bar to put City in front in Napoli

The win was secured when Raheem Sterling struck in injury time late, slamming past former Liverpool team-mate Pepe Reina

The City players celebrate after the full-time whistle confirms their progression into the Champions League knock-out stage

Lorenzo Insigne had put the Serie A side ahead after 20 minutes when he finished off a incisive attack with a smart finish

MATCH FACTS, RATINGS, MATCH AND TABLE

Napoli (4-3-3): Reina 5.5; Hysaj 6, Koulibaly 6, Albiol 6.5, Ghoulam 6 (Maggio 31 mins, 6.5); Allan 6.5 (Rog 75, 6), Jorginho 7 (Ounas 82), Hamsik 6.5; Callejon 6, Mertens 7, Insigne 7.5.

Unused subs: Sepe, Zielinski, Chiriches,Diawara.

Bookings: Mertens, Koulibaly

Goals: Insigne 21, Jorginho 62 (pen)

Manager: Maurizio Sarri 6.5.

Man City (4-1-4-1): Ederson 7; Danilo 6, Stones 7, Otamendi 8, Delph 6.5; De Bruyne 7, Fernandinho 7, Gundogan 6.5 (D Silva 71); Sterling 7, Aguero 7 (B Silva 76), Sane 6.5 (Jesus 90).

Unused subs: Bravo, Walker, Mangala, Toure.

Bookings: Otamendi

Goals: Otamendi 34, Stones 48, Aguero 69, Sterling 90+2

Manager: Pep Guardiola 7.

Referee: Felix Brych (Germany) 7.

Attendance: 44,483.

An absorbing Group F tie was evenly poised at 2-2 when City broke out of defence and the ball was played forward. Leroy Sane made enough of a nuisance of himself to force Elseid Hysaj to stumble and Aguero collected it 30 yards out.

Suddenly the path to goal was clear. The Argentine star drove into space and buried his shot past Pepe Reina into the bottom corner.

Maradona, father of Aguero's ex-wife Giannina and grandfather to their son Benjamin, is revered here for inspiring Napoli to the Italian title in 1987 and 1990.

Aguero was already assured of a similar place in the hearts of City fans for his part in their two championship-winning seasons. But now his name will be officially etched into the history of the club.

Napoli fans in the stands hold up a large banner of club legend Diego Maradona as the atmosphere gears up before kick-off

Aguero was picked to lead the City line for the key Group F clash; here he looks to get away from Kalidou Koulibaly

Insigne ensured Napoli took advantage of their strong start to the game when he beat Ederson to finish a slick move

The City defenders start the inquisition after Insigne's opening goal, the Italian had got in on goal far too easily

City wanted a penalty when Sterling was brought down in the box but referee Felix Brych was not interested

His landmark goal maintained City's 100 per cent record in the Champions League this season and sent Pep Guardiola's side through to the knockout stage for the fifth year in a row as they became the first English club to win here in Naples.

Up to that point City had showed they can still do it the old-fashioned way on a night when the beautiful goals wouldn't go in at first, with two corners leading to two headers from centre backs Nicolas Otamendi and John Stones.

But it wasn't easy. It was never going to be in the imposing Stadio San Paolo against a team as good as Napoli, the Serie A leaders who have not lost here in the league since February and have only suffered three defeats in their last 24 games at home in Europe.

A young City side showed huge character in a manner that will have delighted Guardiola and sent out another ominous message to their rivals. He admitted they were 'destroyed' in the opening 20 minutes, but still recovered to score four times.

Stones continued to bravely play from the back, here a clearance is closed down by Napoli forward Dries Mertens

The Stones vs Mertens battle was notable during the first half at the San Paolo, here the City man beats his rival in the air

Otamendi's ability in the air at attacking end got City back into the game, heading home Ilkay Gundogan's cross to level

The City players celebrate after the Otamendi equaliser silenced the Napoli fans at the San Paolo in Naples

'When everything is going well it's easy. Even you and I can play,' said Guardiola afterwards. 'The point is how you react in bad moments and we did it really well. It was a great win for us.'

Looking to salvage their own Champions League hopes, Napoli were that little bit sharper early on and it was no surprise to see them take the lead in the 21st minute.

It was a beautifully-worked goal but perhaps a little too easy from City's point of view. Dries Mertens played a lovely one-two on the edge of the box with Lorenzo Insigne who sliced through City's defence and curled the ball around Ederson Moraes.

The place erupted and it was to City's credit that they raised their game immediately.

They produced their best move of the first half which ended with Aguero's shot being deflected inches wide of the post.

Kevin De Bruyne was driving the City attack forward, taking the game to Napoli with his direct runs at the heart of the defence

Napoli keeper Reina can only watch as Stones' first-half effort smacks back off the crossbar as City apply pressure

Argentine frontman Aguero reacts to a physical altercation with Napoli centre half Koulibaly as things get a little tense

Stones meets Sane's delightful corner with a firm header to put City 2-1 ahead in the second half of the contest

Goal-line technology showed that Stones' header had crossed the line despite bouncing back out after hitting the bar

Stones had to delay his celebrations until the goal was confirmed but once it was there was no holding the defender back

Napoli had not escaped, though. When De Bruyne delivered from the right, the ball was flicked on and Otamendi headed in at the far post for his first Champions League goal in 39 games.

It was also the defender's second goal in three matches, as many as he had scored in the 93 before that.

He could even have had another before half-time. Ilkay Gundogan swept the ball to the back post where Otamendi miskicked in front of goal, and the ball looped up for Stones to plant a header against the bar from 15 yards.

Raheem Sterling must have thought he would score within seconds of the restart when he wriggled through but Raul Albiol got across to make a fantastic block.

Jorginho beat City keeper Ederson from the spot to pull Napoli level after Sane fouled Raul Albiol in the box

Jorginho celebrates in front of the passionate support in Curva at Stadio San Paolo after making the game all square at 2-2

Aguero became City's all-time record scorer when he finished a rapid counter attack with a composed finish

The striker's effort prompted fervent celebrations and cast silence on the home fans in Naples once again

Sterling puts an exclamation point on the City performance by adding a fourth goal in second-half injury time

Again, Napoli had only delayed City scoring for a matter of moments. Sane swung over a corner and Stones met it with another thumping header.

It hit the bar again but this time bounced down just over the line, a fact German referee Felix Brych confirmed after a few moments of uncertainty.

Now it was Napoli's turn to raise their game. Insigne rattled the bar with a fine effort from 30 yards and the Italians were awarded a penalty on the hour mark for Sane's late tackle on Albiol.

Jorginho kept his cool to beat Ederson from the spot and we were all square again.

Ederson made a wonderful when Jose Callejon was one on one with the keeper, and moments later Aguero struck.

There was still time for Kevin De Bruyne to set up Sterling to score a fourth right at the end, but nothing could take away from Aguero's achievement. What a record. What a night.

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Australia

Australia: Scott Morrison saga casts scrutiny on Queen’s representative

Published

7 months ago

August 27, 2022

Europe Disk

In the past fortnight, Australia has been gripped by revelations that former Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison secretly appointed himself to several additional ministries.

The move has been labelled a “power grab” by his successor as prime minister, and Mr Morrison has been scolded by many – even his own colleagues.

But the scandal has also dragged Australia’s governor-general into the fray – sparking one of the biggest controversies involving the Queen’s representative in Australia in 50 years.

So does Governor-General David Hurley have questions to answer, or is he just collateral damage?

‘Just paperwork’

Governors-general have fulfilled the practical duties as Australia’s head of state since the country’s 1901 federation.

Candidates for the role were initially chosen by the monarch but are now recommended by the Australian government.

The job is largely ceremonial – a governor-general in almost every circumstance must act on the advice of the government of the day. But conventions allow them the right to “encourage” and “warn” politicians.

Key duties include signing bills into law, issuing writs for elections, and swearing in ministers.

Mr Hurley has run into trouble on the latter. At Mr Morrison’s request, he swore the prime minister in as joint minister for health in March 2020, in case the existing minister became incapacitated by Covid.

Over the next 14 months, he also signed off Mr Morrison as an additional minister in the finance, treasury, home affairs and resources portfolios.

Mr Morrison already had ministerial powers, so Mr Hurley was basically just giving him authority over extra departments.

It’s a request the governor-general “would not have any kind of power to override or reject”, constitutional law professor Anne Twomey tells the BBC.

“This wasn’t even a meeting between the prime minister and the governor-general, it was just paperwork.”

But Mr Morrison’s appointments were not publicly announced, disclosed to the parliament, or even communicated to most of the ministers he was job-sharing with.

Australia’s solicitor-general found Mr Morrison’s actions were not illegal but had “fundamentally undermined” responsible government.

But the governor-general had done the right thing, the solicitor-general said in his advice this week.

It would have been “a clear breach” for him to refuse the prime minister, regardless of whether he knew the appointments would be kept secret, Stephen Donaghue said.

Critics push for investigation

Ultimately, Mr Hurley had to sign off on Mr Morrison’s requests, but critics say he could have counselled him against it and he could have publicised it himself.

But representatives for the governor-general say these types of appointments – giving ministers the right to administer other departments – are not unusual.

And it falls to the government of the day to decide if they should be announced to the public. They often opt not to.

Mr Hurley himself announcing the appointments would be unprecedented. He had “no reason to believe that appointments would not be communicated”, his spokesperson said.

Emeritus professor Jenny Hocking finds the suggestion Mr Hurley didn’t know the ministries had been kept secret “ridiculous”.

“The last of these bizarre, duplicated ministry appointments… were made more than a year after the first, so clearly by then the governor-general did know that they weren’t being made public,” she says.

“I don’t agree for a moment that the governor-general has a lot of things on his plate and might not have noticed.”

The historian says it’s one of the biggest controversies surrounding a governor-general since John Kerr caused a constitutional crisis by sacking Prime Minister Gough Whitlam in 1975.

Prof Hocking famously fought for transparency around that matter – waging a lengthy and costly legal battle that culminated in the release of Mr Kerr’s correspondence with the Queen.

And she says the same transparency is needed here.

The Australian public need to know whether Mr Hurley counselled the prime minister against the moves, and why he didn’t disclose them

The government has already announced an inquiry into Mr Morrison’s actions, but she wants it to look at the governor-general and his office too.

“If the inquiry is to find out what happened in order to fix what happened, it would be extremely problematic to leave out a key part of that equation.”

Former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull – Mr Morrison’s predecessor – has also voiced support for an inquiry.

“Something has gone seriously wrong at Government House,” he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

“It is the passive compliance along the chain… that did undermine our constitution and our democracy… that troubles me the most. This is how tyranny gets under way.”

PM defends governor-general

Prof Twomey says the criticism of Mr Hurley is unfair – there’s was no “conspiracy” on his part to keep things secret.

“I don’t think it’s reasonable for anyone to expect that he could have guessed that the prime minister was keeping things secret from his own ministers, for example.

“Nobody really thought that was a possibility until about two weeks ago.”

Even if he had taken the unprecedented step to publicise the appointments or to reject Mr Morrison’s request, he’d have been criticised, she says.

“There’d be even more people saying ‘how outrageous!'” she says. “The role of governor-general is awkward because people are going to attack you either way.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has also defended Mr Hurley, saying he was just doing his job.

“I have no intention of undertaking any criticism of [him].”

A role fit for purpose?

Prof Hocking says it’s a timely moment to look at the role of the governor-general more broadly.

She points out it’s possible the Queen may have been informed about Mr Morrison’s extra ministries when Australia’s parliament and people were not.

“It does raise questions about whether this is fit for purpose, as we have for decades been a fully independent nation, but we still have… ‘the relics of colonialism’ alive and well.”

Momentum for a fresh referendum on an Australian republic has been growing and advocates have seized on the controversy.

“The idea that the Queen and her representative can be relied upon to uphold our system of government has been debunked once and for all,” the Australian Republic Movement’s Sandy Biar says.

“It’s time we had an Australian head of state, chosen by Australians and accountable to them to safeguard and uphold Australia’s constitution.”

But Prof Twomey says republicans are “clutching at straws” – under their proposals, the head of state would also have been bound to follow the prime minister’s advice.

“It wouldn’t result in any changes that would have made one iota of difference.”

Read from: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-62683210

Australia

Australia election: PM Morrison’s security team in car crash in Tasmania

Published

12 months ago

April 16, 2022

Europe Disk

A car carrying the Australian prime minister’s security team has crashed in Tasmania during an election campaign visit.

Four police officers were taken to hospital with “non-life threatening injuries” after the car and another vehicle collided, authorities said.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison was not in the car, but the accident prompted him to cancel the rest of his campaign events on Thursday.

The other driver involved was not hurt.

Tasmania Police said initial investigations suggested the second car had “collided with the rear of the police vehicle, while attempting to merge”. It caused the unmarked security vehicle to roll off the road.

The two Tasmania Police officers and two Australian Federal Police officers were conscious when taken to hospital for medical assessment, the prime minister’s office said.

“Family members of the officers have been contacted and are being kept informed of their condition,” a statement said.

“The PM is always extremely grateful for the protection provided by his security team and extends his best wishes for their recovery and to their families.”

Australians go to the polls on 21 May. Mr Morrison – prime minister since 2018 – is hoping to win his conservative coalition’s fourth term in office.

Polls suggest the opposition Labor Party, led by Anthony Albanese, is favoured to win. However, Mr Morrison defied similar polling to claim victory at the last election in 2019.

Mr Morrison’s Liberal-National coalition holds 76 seats in the House of Representatives – the minimum needed to retain power.

Political observers say the cost of living, climate change, trust in political leaders, and national security will be among key issues in the campaign.

In recent weeks, the prime minister has faced accusations of being a bully and once sabotaging a rival’s career by suggesting the man’s Lebanese heritage made him less electable. Mr Morrison has denied the allegations.

Mr Albanese stumbled into his own controversy this week when he failed to recall the nation’s unemployment or interest rates.

Read from: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-61103987

Australia

Sydney airport warns delays could last weeks on third day of travel chaos

Published

12 months ago

April 9, 2022

Europe Disk

Long queues at Sydney airport’s domestic terminals have continued for a third day, with some passengers missing international connections, as the airport warns delays resulting from a surge in travellers and a shortfall in security staff could continue for weeks.

Chaotic scenes were reported in the departure halls as early as 4.30am on Saturday, with some frustrated travellers, many of whom heeded the pleas of airport chiefs to arrive at least two hours before their domestic flight was due to take off, claiming only one security line was operating.

While the queues that formed early on Saturday are understood to have cleared later in the morning, the airport apologised to affected travellers.

“Traffic numbers are picking up and the close contact rules are making it hard to fill shifts and staff the airport. We appreciate your patience,” Sydney airport said on its Twitter account.

A wave of families travelling as the term two school holidays begin this weekend, combined with close contact rules that are understood to be taking out about 20% of security shifts in any given day, are driving the problem.

Certis, the company that Sydney airport contracts for its security operations, is desperately trying to recruit personnel, while the airport has reallocated back office, IT and retail workers to the departure hall to comb queues so they can prioritise passengers at risk of missing their flight.

“We are working around the clock to resolve these issues and have teams in the terminals bringing passengers forward in order of priority,” a Sydney airport spokesperson said.

He added that the airport is “anticipating it will [be] busy right through the school holiday period and peak over the Easter and Anzac Day weekends, in some cases at 90% of pre-Covid passenger levels”.

“We’re deeply grateful to passengers for their ongoing patience and we’re sorry to everyone who has been inconvenienced,” the spokesperson said. “We would also like to thank passengers for getting to the airport early and treating staff and each other with kindness and respect.”

The Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce was forced to clarify comments he made on Friday that passengers were “not match fit” and that those forgetting to remove laptops and aerosols from their bags at the security check contributing to the delays.

“Just to be clear, I’m not ‘blaming’ passengers,” Joyce said. “Of course it’s not their fault,” he said.

Qantas shed thousands of staff during the pandemic, and outsourced ground crews in a decision that was challenged in court.

On Saturday, Qantas also apologised to a Melbourne family left stranded in Sydney, after domestic flight delays caused them to miss an international trip.

Javiera Martinez, her partner Daniel Capurro and their three children were supposed to be flying to Chile on Friday to visit relatives they had not seen in three years.

But after their 8am Qantas flight from Melbourne was delayed by half an hour, baggage handling and airport transfer delays in Sydney meant they couldn’t make their 11.30am LATAM Airlines flight to Santiago.

Martinez said the airline’s procedures at the airport were chaotic.

“We think Qantas didn’t behave appropriately. I got berated by the person at the counter – they never apologised, they never assumed any responsibility at all,” she said. “It was a rude conversation. We have been mistreated badly I would say.”

The PCR tests they need to travel have now expired and they will have to take them again as they wait for seats on the next flight to Santiago from Sunday.

The airline has apologised and paid for a night’s accommodation in Sydney.

“We sincerely apologise that the family missed their connecting flight on another airline due to delays moving through Sydney airport on Friday,” a Qantas spokesperson said.

The family is among many affected by hold ups amid the busiest travel period in two years, with Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane airports warning passengers to arrive two hours before domestic flights.

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