Barcelona still far from its best despite perfect start

Sport

Barcelona still far from its best despite perfect start

2018-09-17 17:49 Last Updated At：09-18 10:32

Despite another win and a perfect record to start the Spanish league, there is reason for concern ahead of Barcelona's Champions League debut this week.

The defending league champions had another lackluster performance in its 2-1 come-from-behind win at Real Sociedad on Saturday, creating a bit of worry ahead of its match against PSV Eindhoven on Tuesday.

Succeeding in the Champions League is one of Barcelona's main goals this season after struggling in the European competition in recent years, failing to make it past the quarterfinals in three straight seasons.

"I'm a little bit worried, just a little bit," Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde said after Saturday's victory, which kept the team at the top of the Spanish league standings with 12 points from four matches. "It's obvious that there are things that can be improved."

Barcelona had a difficult time controlling the game and gave away numerous chances throughout the match at Anoeta Stadium. Luis Suarez and Ousmane Dembele scored goals three minutes apart in the second half to save the team after it conceded early. An outstanding game by goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen also helped the team secure the victory. He made two great saves in one-on-one situations while Barcelona still trailed early in the second half.

It wasn't the first time Barcelona struggled this season. The team has been inconsistent despite its good results, and even Lionel Messi has played below expectations in some matches.

Barcelona also faced difficulties in a 1-0 win at Valladolid, the small promoted club which has yet to win or score a goal in four matches. Barcelona's home wins were more comfortable — 3-0 against Alaves and 8-2 against Huesca, a newcomer to the first division this season.

Barcelona is in Group B in the Champions League, along with PSV, Inter Milan and Tottenham.

SCORING HELP

Atletico Madrid endured another disappointing result on Saturday, drawing with Eibar 1-1 at home to remain far from the leaders at the top of the standings.

But fans celebrated the successful debut of teenager Borja Garces, who scored the stoppage-time equalizer and could become a solution to the team's scoring struggles early in the season.

Atletico has scored only three goals in four league matches, with Diego Costa yet to find the net.

"We have to take it slowly with him," Simeone said of Borja. "But he is that type of player who has goals in him."

Atletico, which was coming off a loss at Celta Vigo, has only five points in what has been its worst league start since 2009.

VINICIUS PLEA

Vinicius Junior continues to make his case for a chance with Real Madrid's main squad.

A day after Madrid struggled in a 1-1 draw at Athletic Bilbao in the Spanish league, the Brazilian teenager played well again with the "B'' team, scoring his third goal of the season in the lower tier.

He also nearly scored what would have been a beautiful goal after a remarkable run in which he cleared three defenders before having his shot hit the crossbar. It was a play that reminded some of Robinho, the former Brazil forward to whom Vinicius is often compared.

Madrid spent about 45 million euros ($52 million) for the promising teenager last year even though he had played mostly with the youth squads of Brazilian club Flamengo. Madrid is taking it slowly with Vinicius, but fans have already been calling for his presence in the main team.

Madrid coach Julen Lopetegui was reportedly watching Vinicius' match on Sunday, so the player's chances of moving up to the main team have certainly increased.

More AP soccer: https://apnews.com/tag/apf-Soccer and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Tales Azzoni on Twitter: http://twitter.com/tazzoni

At a war-ravaged sports center in Ukraine, the hope for Olympic glory persists

CHERNIHIV, Ukraine (AP) — Young athletes in northern Ukraine spend their days cross-country skiing through a scorched forest, focused on their form — until a siren inevitably shatters the silence.

They respond swiftly but without panic, ditching their skis and following coaches to an underground bomb shelter.

It’s an ordinary training session at the complex that produced Ukraine’s first Olympic medalist.

Sleeping children no longer dream of Olympic glory in the facility's bombed-out dormitories, and unexploded ordnance has rendered nearby land off limits. But about 350 kids and teens — some of the nation's best young cross-country skiers and biathletes — still practice in fenced-off areas amid the sporadic buzz of drones passing overhead then explosions as they're shot down.

“We have adapted so well — even the children — that sometimes we don’t even react,” Mykola Vorchak, a 67-year-old coach, told The Associated Press in an interview on Oct. 31. “Although it goes against safety rules, the children have been hardened by the war. Adapting to this has changed them psychologically.”

War has taken a heavy toll on Ukrainian sport. Athletes were displaced or called up to fight. Soccer matches are often interrupted by air raid sirens so attendance is capped by bomb shelter capacity. Elite skaters, skiers and biathletes usually train abroad, with attacks and frequent blackouts shuttering local facilities.

But the government-run Sports Ski Base of the Olympic Reserve is open for cross-country skiing and biathlon, the event which combines skiing with shooting. The sprawling complex is on the outskirts of Chernihiv, a city two hours north of Kyiv along the path of destruction Russia's army left in its 2022 attempt to capture the capital. Chernihiv remains a regular target for air attacks aimed at the power grid and civilian infrastructure.

Several temporary structures at the sports center serve as changing rooms, toilets and coaches’ offices. Athletes train on snowy trails during the winter and, throughout the rest of the year, use roller skis on an asphalt track pocked by blast marks.

Biathletes aim laser rifles at electronic targets and, between shooting drills, sling skis over their shoulders and jog back to the start of the course, cheeks flushed from the cold.

Valentyna Tserbe-Nesina spent her adolescence at the Chernihiv center performing these same drills, and won bronze at the 1994 Winter Games in Lillehammer. It was Ukraine’s first Olympic medal as an independent country.

“The conditions weren’t great, but we had nothing better. And for us, it was like a family — our own little home,” she said inside her apartment, its shelves and walls lined with medals, trophies and souvenirs from competitions around the world.

Tserbe-Nesina, 56, was shocked when she visited the complex in 2022. Shelling had torn through buildings, fire had consumed others. Shattered glass littered the floors of rooms where she and friends once excitedly checked taped-up results sheets.

“I went inside, up to my old room on the second floor. It was gone — no windows, nothing,” she said. “I recorded a video and found the trophies we had left at the base. They were completely burned.”

Tserbe-Nesina has been volunteering to organize funerals for fallen Ukrainian soldiers in her hometown while her husband, a retired military officer, returned to the front. They see each other about once a year, whenever his unit allows him brief leave.

One adult who in 2022 completed a tour in a territorial defense unit of Ukraine’s army sometimes trains today alongside the center's youngsters. Khrystyna Dmytrenko, 26, will represent her country at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics that start Feb. 6.

“Sports can show that Ukraine is strong,” Dmytrenko said in an interview next to the shooting range. “We represent Ukraine on the international stage, letting other countries, athletes and nations see our unity, strength and determination.”

The International Olympic Committee imposed bans and restrictions on Russian athletes after the invasion of Ukraine, effectively extending earlier sanctions tied to state‑sponsored doping. But a small group of them will participate in the upcoming Winter Games.

After vetting to ensure no military affiliation, they must compete without displaying any national symbols — and only in non-team events. That means Russian and Ukrainian athletes could face one another in some skating and skiing events. Moscow’s appeal at the federation level to allow its biathletes to compete is pending.

That's why many Ukrainians view training for these events as an act of defiance. Former Olympic biathlete Nina Lemesh, 52, noted that some young Ukrainians who first picked up rifles and skis at the Chernihiv ski base during wartime have become international champions in their age groups.

“Fortunately, Ukrainians remain here. They always will,” she said, standing beside the destroyed dormitories. “This is the next generation of Olympians.”

AP writer Derek Gatopoulos in Kyiv contributed to this report.