28/05/2025

SPORTS WEDNESDAY | MAY 28, 2025

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Ancelotti pledges to make Brazil ‘champions again’

CARLO ANCELOTTI yesterday ruled injury plagued Neymar out from Brazil’s line-up for upcoming World Cup qualifiers and vowed to lead the team to a sixth title on his first day as Selecao coach. Former Real Madrid manager Ancelotti is the first non-Brazilian in six decades to coach the record five-time World Cup winners. “I’m very proud to lead the best team in the world. I have a big job ahead of me and have great hope that Brazil will become champions again,” he said during his official presentation at a hotel in Rio de Janeiro. “The only goal is to win the 2026 World Cup,” he said after receiving a green-and Football unites after Reds victory parade carnage THE football world united yesterday after 27 people were hospitalised when a car ploughed into a packed crowd celebrating Liverpool winning the Premier League. Police ruled out terrorism following the incident in the city on Monday as thousands turned out in torrential rain to see Liverpool’s victory parade. Four children were among those hurt, one seriously, after a dark-coloured vehicle swerved through the crowd minutes after the players’ open-top bus passed by. Police arrested a 53-year-old white British man. “Our thoughts and prayers are with those who have been affected by this serious incident,” Liverpool posted on X , where several Premier League clubs offered their support. Great rivals Manchester United wrote: “Our thoughts are with LFC and the city of Liverpool after today’s awful incident.” On the blue side of Merseyside, Everton said: “Our thoughts are with all those who have been affected by this serious incident in our city.” Deposed Premier League champions Manchester City wrote: “The thoughts of everyone at Manchester City are with those injured or affected by the incident at Liverpool’s title-winning parade earlier today.” Liverpool’s former captain Steven Gerrard posted an image on Instagram of the city with a red heart. Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher wrote on X : “Devastating end to the day… just pray everyone is ok.” FIFA president Gianni Infantino offered “thoughts and prayers to all those affected”. “Football stands together with Liverpool FC and all fans of the club following the horrific incident that has taken place during the trophy parade in the city,” he said in a statement. The Premier League said on X that it was “shocked by the appalling events”. “Our heartfelt thoughts go out to all those injured and affected,” it said. INTER MILAN might not be favourites for the Champions League final but their thrilling run to Sunday’s (3am Malaysian time) showdown with Paris Saint-Germain has shown the ageing Italian outfit can mix it with the best. Simone Inzaghi’s team head to Munich with a legitimate shot at going one better than in Istanbul two years ago, when a very similar line up was narrowly beaten by Manchester City. Inzaghi felt the 2023 final was a missed opportunity after matching mega-rich City, whose budget dwarves that of Inter, a member of Europe’s old guard battling to keep up with the continent’s superclubs. Qatari-owned PSG offer the opportunity for Inter to exorcise the ghost of Istanbul while also “We have been in contact with Liverpool FC and have offered our full support following this serious incident.” – AFP

words of Portuguese, which he promised to quickly learn, Ancelotti said Casemiro would bring “charisma, personality and talent.” New wunderkind Estevao, 18, who is set to join Chelsea from Sao Paulo’s Palmeiras, was also called up. But injured Real Madrid forwards Rodrygo and Endrick did not make the list. Brazil is currently languishing in fourth place in the South American qualifying table for next year’s tournament in the United States, Mexico and Canada. – AFP

against Ecuador and Paraguay, alongside Real Madrid star Vinicius Jr and Barcelona winger Raphinha. Ancelotti is Brazil’s fourth coach in two years, and he faces a formidable task. He will cut his teeth on June 5 against Ecuador in Guayaquil and then on the 10th will host Paraguay in Sao Paulo. While ruling out Neymar for the fixtures, Ancelotti said that “obviously we’re counting on him” for the future. Speaking in Spanish peppered with a few

yellow coach’s jacket from Luiz Felipe Scolari, the manager who took Brazil to its last World Cup win in 2002. At 65, the Italian star manager, who has five Champions League titles under his belt, is taking the reins of a national team for the first time. Expectations are high in football-mad Brazil that he can revive the squad’s fortunes. To that end, he announced the return of Manchester United midfielder and former Brazil captain Casemiro for June’s qualifiers

Holy grail within reach PSG favourites to finally win Champions League trophy for first time I T has taken almost 15 years of huge spend ing by their Qatari owners and an over due shift away from Christophe Galtier to become the eighth coach of the Qatar era. With their all-time record scorer Mbappe

kept insisting his team would be better without the France superstar. “Last season we were also a proper team. I said we were going to improve the side. Players came in and all the stats say we are a better team now,” the Spaniard said last week. The former Barcelona boss needed a young, energetic and hungry squad to make a success of his preferred style of football and they have recruited some of the world’s most exciting young players. Centreback Willian Pacho, midfielder Joao Neves, and wingers Bradley Barcola and Desire Doue have been outstanding additions. Ousmane Dembele has been turned by Luis Enrique into a clinical finisher who has 33 goals this season.

spearheading the attack, PSG got to last season’s Champions League semifinals, losing to Borussia Dortmund. By then Mbappe had made it clear he would be leaving, yet Luis Enrique

signing glamorous super stars, but Paris Saint Germain go into Sunday’s Champions League final against Inter Milan as favourites to finally win the coveted trophy for the first time. A club that for years made a habit

of collapsing in spectacular fashion in big Champions League games has been transformed this season as a thrilling young team, brilliantly coached by Luis Enrique, has taken the continent by storm. Once they might have been ridiculed by football fans around Europe who dismiss their domestic dominance due to the huge financial advantage they enjoy – PSG have just won their 11th Ligue 1 title in 13 years and eighth French Cup in a decade. Now, however, they draw admiration from rivals – “This is the most complete team we have faced,” said Arne Slot, whose Liverpool team lost to PSG in the last 16 in March. PSG’s Qatari president Nasser al-Khelaifi had initially said the plan was to win the Champions League within five years of buying the club. That did not happen, while signing both Neymar and Kylian Mbappe in 2017 was also not enough to deliver Europe’s biggest prize. Indeed PSG even went backwards after signing Lionel Messi in 2021. The genesis of their

Ousmane Dembele.

“We have the players to win the Champions League this year, next year or in eight years. We

have the base on which to build a great team for the future,” Nasser said in a r e c e n t interview w i t h

G e r m a n media.

“The new star at Paris Saint-Germain is the team and I am really proud of the way in which we have transformed the philosophy of the club in such a short space of time.” In fact it could be said the new star is the coach, so it is over to him to deliver in Munich. “It is a game we have had marked in the calendar. We are coming into it in very good shape, full of confidence, and we are determined to go down in the history of the club.” – AFP

current success goes back to 2023, when the chronically-unfit Neymar and the ageing and unmotivated Messi departed. That was the summer Luis

Enrique arrived, replacing

Bradley Barcola.

Make or break for ageing Inter

Scudetto rivals Napoli and an Italian Cup semifinal against ailing AC Milan. But the wind was whipped from their sails by three straight defeats in the space of a week which gave Napoli the initiative in Serie A and ended their domestic cup run, leaving the Champions League their only remaining option for a trophy. “There was a lot of suffering among the players, it would be pointless to deny it,” said Inzaghi of losing the Serie A title. “The boys have been brilliant this season because we’ve played 59 matches and we’ve given everything on the pitch. We didn’t prioritise anything, we just tried to give everything that we had.” – AFP

Inter have already come through thrilling ties against Bayern Munich and Barcelona, two of the pre-season favourites to win the Champions League. And their incredible semifinal with Barca showed they can go toe-to-toe with a high pressing, youthful side despite having a squad stacked with players rapidly heading towards the end of their careers. Inter looked capable of winning the treble after eliminating Bayern in the quarterfinals last month, with a handy three-point lead over

ending an enthralling season with the most prestigious piece of silverware in club football after missing out on domestic honours. “The club and above all the players all know that we’re missing that final step to make history,” Inzaghi told reporters yesterday. “Obviously already having played the final helps you, but we also know that on the other side there are players who have won the World Cup and have played in other finals, as well as a coach who has already won the Champions League.”