30/08/2025

SPORTS SATURDAY | AUG 30, 2025

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PSG to face Bayern … and Barcelona in Champions League opening stage C HAMPIONS LEAGUE holders Paris St Germain will play Bayern Munich and Barcelona in this season’s

Bavarians out to forget Cup blip

The pressure is mounting on Amorim after a dismal start to the season hit rock bottom with Wednesday’s embarrassing Carabao Cup defeat at League Two club Grimsby Town. United, who finished a disappointing 15th in the Premier League last season, have managed to scrape together just one point from their first two league matches this term and are currently languishing in 16th place. A failure to secure victory against newly-promoted Burnley at Old Trafford would further intensify the scrutiny on Amorim, who cryptically stated “we will have time to decide things” after the Grimsby loss, seemingly alluding to his position. According to the Mirror , the 40 year-old will engage in discussions with club officials during the international break, having cast fresh doubt over his future at United with his candid comments in the wake of the Grimsby fiasco. D e s p i t e CHAMPIONS Bayern Munich are confident they will put yesterday’s momentary blip in the German Cup behind them when they travel to Augsburg in the Bundesliga tomorrow (12.30am Malaysian time), while fireworks are expected when Hamburg SV revive their derby with St Pauli. Bayern looked to be cruising to an easy win when they went 2-0 up at third-tier Wehen Wiesbaden before conceding two goals in six minutes to see the hosts draw level. Bayern striker Harry Kane’s stoppage-time winner sent them through to the second round but their backline’s shaky second-half performance and their conversion rate in attack raised some eyebrows. “I would not call it a nail-biting performance from us,” Bayern coach Vincent Kompany said. “We did not do everything right but we

While there is a hesitancy to dismiss Amorim less than a year into his tenure, there is a consensus among the United hierarchy that he must instigate an immediate improvement in results to continue. United’s chief executive Omar Berrada was instrumental in appointing Amorim, overlooking former sporting director Dan Ashworth, who had favoured Thomas Frank, Gareth Southgate and Marco Silva. Berrada’s standing is on the line as he pins his hopes on Amorim turning things around at United, which explains why the ex-Manchester City executive is prepared to give him every opportunity to rectify the situation. However, with no European football this season and United already out of the League Cup, the FA Cup remains their only shot at silverware, putting pressure on Amorim to change the team’s trajectory. Meanwhile, Chelsea have agreed a deal with United to sign Alejandro Garnacho for £40 million (RM228m). United will also have a 10% sell on clause for the Argentina winger, who was part of Amorim’s “bomb squad” of players who were not training with the first-team squad and were omitted from their pre-season tour of the United States. While United had initially hoped to bring in around £60 million (RM342m) for the 21-year old, Garnacho will become the fourth biggest sale in their history, after Cristiano Ronaldo, Romelu Lukaku and Angel Di Maria, the largest for five years and the most stayed calm until the end and this happens in football sometimes. “I know that against Augsburg we will carry our momentum with us. We have built up that momentum in the pre-season.” If results in competitive matches this season are anything to go by then Bayern look ready, having won all three of their games so far, including the German Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and their 6-0 demolition of RB Leipzig in their Bundesliga opener last week. But questions remain over the size of their squad, with widespread speculation about potential late transfers to boost their frontline, including that of Chelsea’s Nicolas Jackson, even if they are just loan deals. The Bavarians failed to land several of their targeted players in the close season, including Florian Wirtz and Nick Woltemade. – AFP

The Premier League has the most representatives with six clubs after last season’s top five – Liverpool, Arsenal, City, Chelsea and Newcastle – qualified along with Europa League winners Tottenham. Spurs will play Borussia Dortmund and Villarreal as well as PSG while Serie A champions Napoli face Chelsea, Man City, Frankfurt and Benfica. Newcastle returned to the Champions League but have a tough path to the knockout phase after they were placed in pot four, drawing Barca, PSG, Benfica and Leverkusen among the teams they will face. The league phase gets underway with the 36 teams playing on eight matchdays between Sept 16 and Jan 28. The knockout phase begins in February while the final will be played on May 30 at the Puskas Arena in Budapest. Chelsea were honoured with a special award for becoming the first club to win the Champions League, the Europa League, the Conference League, the Super Cup and the now defunct Uefa Cup Winners’ Cup. Former Sweden striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic was named the winner of the Uefa President’s Award. – Reuters

Juventus at home while they have a long flight to Eastern Europe in store when they take on Kazakhstan side Kairat Almaty, who stunned Celtic in the playoffs to qualify for the first time. Last season’s league phase table toppers Liverpool will also face Inter Milan, Atletico Madrid and Eintracht Frankfurt, while Bayern play Chelsea, Arsenal and Club Brugge. Pep Guardiola’s City host Dortmund, Leverkusen and Napoli while they make two trips to Spain to face Real and Villarreal. Last season’s runners-up Inter Milan host Liverpool and Arsenal, and the Italian side will travel to Borussia Dortmund and Atletico Madrid. Barcelona, La Liga champions and last year’s semifinalists, host PSG and face away games at Chelsea and Newcastle.

league phase while record 15-times winners Real Madrid will face Manchester City and Liverpool after Thursday’s draw set up some block buster encounters. PSG will also meet Premier League sides Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle United along with Atalanta and Bayer Leverkusen in the new league phase format which started last season, where each club plays eight games – four at home and four on the road. Real Madrid will play Manchester City again for a fifth consecutive

season and make a trip to Liverpool in what will be a homecoming for Trent Alexander Arnold, the English fullback who left Anfield to join Real in the close season. R e a l also take o n

Arsenal, semifinalists last season, also play Atletico Madrid and Club Brugge but their biggest opponents are Bayern, who they have faced 14 times in the competition. They have also failed to beat the German side in the last five encounters.

United ‘make Amorim sack decision’ MANCHESTER UNITED head coach Ruben Amorim is set for crunch talks with the club’s top brass following today’s crucial match against Burnley, according to reports. matches since succeeding Erik ten Hag last November.

Jose Mourinho. – REUTERSPIC

SHORTS

Mourinho sacked FENERBAHCE sacked Portuguese coach Jose Mourinho yesterday, two days after elimination from the Champions League playoffs by Benfica, the Turkish club said in a statement. “We have parted ways with Jose Mourinho, who served as head coach of our professional A team since the 2024 2025 season. We thank him for his efforts for our team and wish him success in his future career,” it said. The former Chelsea, Real Madrid, Inter Milan, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur and Roma coach who arrived at the Istanbul club in June 2024, led Istanbul’s Yellow Canaries to second place in the league last season behind Galatasaray, failing to end their title drought. CL final kickoff brought forward THE final of this season’s Champions League in Budapest will kickoff at

6pm local time (12am in Malaysia) rather than 9pm (3am) to “enhance the matchday experience”, Uefa announced yesterday. The 2026 final will be played at the Puskas Arena on Saturday, May 30 (Sun, June 1). “An earlier kickoff makes day trips more feasible, reduces travel stress, and allows fans to enjoy the occasion without worrying about late-night logistics,” said Ronan Evain, executive director for Football Supporters Europe, which worked on the subject with Uefa. Unlike the Europa League and Conference League finals, which are played in midweek, the Champions League showpiece has been held on Saturdays (Sundays in Malaysia) since 2010. Kovac extends contract to 2027 BORUSSIA DORTMUND head coach Niko Kovac has committed his

future to the club by extending his contract at the eight-time German champions to June 30, 2027. The 53-year-old and his coaching staff took over last winter when BVB were 11th in the Bundesliga, and they produced a hugely impressive conclusion to the campaign to secure another season of Uefa Champions League football for the Black & Yellows. Lars Ricken, Borussia Dortmund Managing Director for Sport, said: “Niko has thrown himself wholeheartedly into his role at BVB. He knows football inside out, he has clear principles, he’s thoroughly honest, he’s direct in his communication and he rewards good performance. “His disciplined management has stabilised our defence, helped us score many more goals than previously and got us playing attractive football once more – under him, our club is on the up again.”

b e i n g contracted until June 2027, with an option for an additional year, Amorim has only managed to secure seven victories in his 29 Premier League

profitable for a player classed as an academy graduate. – E x p r e s s Newspapers/ T h e Independent

Ruben Amorim. – REUTERSPIC