Guangzhou drops points, Jeju dazzles

SHANGHAI — Big-spending Chinese club Guangzhou Evergrande, coached by Luiz Felipe Scolari, was held to a 2-2 draw by Suwon Samsung Bluewings in Group G of the Asian Champions League Wednesday. After winning its opening game 7-0 last week, the six-time Chinese champion trailed for much of the match at a wet Suwon World Cup Stadium. All four goals were scored by Brazilians. The first went to Suwon, who took the lead after 15 minutes as Santos got behind two defenders to head home a corner. Ricardo Goulart equalized for Guangzhou 10 minutes later, but Jonathan put the host back in front late in the first half. Alan Douglas again equalized for Guangzhou with nine minutes remaining. In Group H, Jeju United bounced back from its opening loss with a 4-1 victory over Gamba Osaka in Japan. Al Ain, a finalist in 2016, beat Uzbek club Bunyodkor 3-2 to move into second place in Group C behind Saudi club Al-Ahli. Napoli fuming Napoli was left fuming after Juventus was awarded two penalties early in the second half on its way to a 3-1 win in the first leg of their Italian Cup semifinal Tuesday. To add insult to injury, Napoli had its own penalty appeal turned down immediately before Juventus was awarded its second. Paulo Dybala converted both spot kicks for Juve and his fellow Argentine Gonzalo Higuain scored in between after Jose Callejon had given the visitors a halftime lead. “This evening, we suffered a defeat because of decisions which were not debatable, but were shameful and harmed the whole of Italian football,” said Napoli director Cristiano Giuntoli. Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri, however, said that the two penalties awarded to his team appeared to be correct. “In any case, we can’t reduce our performance to just the two penalty episodes,” he said. Sociedad draws with Eibar Real Sociedad conceded an equalizer in the final minute of stoppage time to draw 2-2 against Eibar on Tuesday, missing a chance to take fourth place from Atletico Madrid in the Spanish league and establish itself as a top contender for a Champions League spot. Instead of earning a fourth win in five matches, the disappointing draw left fifth-place Real Sociedad level on 45 points with Atletico. In other matches it was: Valencia 1, Leganes 0; Real Betis 2, Malaga 1. Frankfurt progresses Eintracht Frankfurt edged second-division Arminia Bielefeld 1-0 at home to reach the German Cup semifinals while Borussia Dortmund’s quarterfinal at third-tier Sportfreunde Lotte was called off due to heavy snowfall. Guardiola rules out Hart return Pep Guardiola has indicated that England goalkeeper Joe Hart’s Manchester City career is over, regardless of how well he performs at Torino. Hart has impressed in Serie A since his arrival on a season’s loan in August, having been frozen out by Guardiola. The City manager decided on his arrival at the club last July that Hart was not suited to a possession-based style of football. Claudio Bravo was brought in from Barcelona as Hart’s replacement, but the Chile international has been unconvincing, losing his place to Willy Caballero, the veteran backup goalkeeper, in recent weeks. Yet asked if there was any chance of Hart coming back, Guardiola shook his head and said: “I’m so happy with Willy and Claudio.” Guardiola has made clear that he would be content to go forward with Bravo and Caballero as his two goalkeepers next season. It would mean sorting out a new contract for the Argentine, 35, whose current agreement runs out in June. “There are five, six players out of contract but they know the situation. Of course there is a risk, maybe they can sign a contract for another club and we have to accept that. But we are going to decide in the last months of the season,” Guardiola said. — Agencies