04/10/2025

SPORTS SATURDAY | OCT 4, 2025

29

FOLLOW

ON FACEBOOK

Malaysian Paper

/thesundaily /

Milan face Juve after San Siro boost

Chink in PSG armour give Marseille hope

AC MILAN have the chance to cap a momentous week on Monday (2.45am) as the Serie A giants face rivals Juventus after taking a huge step towards building a new stadium in place of the San Siro. Top of the pile on goal difference, Milan are on a run of five straight wins in league and cup and showed enough in their thrilling win over champions Napoli last weekend to suggest they will be in the title discussion this season. Milan are locked on 12 points with Napoli and Roma, who respectively face strugglers Genoa and Fiorentina, and one point ahead of fourth placed Juve ahead of Monday’s showdown. Coach Massimiliano Allegri will make what he called an “emotional” return to Turin – where he won five Serie A titles – on a high from his team’s win over Napoli and with a full week’s rest, unlike his rivals who have all had European

Further boosting Milan’s hopes of keeping hold of top spot this weekend are injuries to Juve’s Gleison Bremer and Khephren Thuram, two key players for the hosts injured during last weekend’s draw with Atalanta. And if things look good on the pitch the club’s owners, American investment firm RedBird, were given a huge shot in the arm by the city of Milan finally approving the sale of the publicly-owned San Siro to Milan and their locals rivals Inter. News of the decree came on Tuesday after a drawn-out council meeting which lasted over 11 hours about the sale of 28 hectares of prime public land and the demolition of possibly the world’s most recognisable stadium. Inter, who are three points behind the leading trio in sixth, host promoted Cremonese who return to the site of the historic victory in the first week of the campaign. – AFP

commitments over the last few days. An opening-day defeat by Cremonese now looks like a freak result rather than a worrying start for Milan and with fewer matches to contend with over the course of the campaign, the seven time European champions look a good bet for the title. France midfielder Adrien Rabiot returns to where he and Allegri first met and struck up an almost father-son relationship, one which coaxed him back to Italy after a violent bust-up led to him being cast aside by Marseille. Such is Allegri’s faith in Rabiot that he immediately got in touch once his brawl with Jonathan Rowe – now at Bologna – made his position at Marseille untenable. The 30-year-old has slotted perfectly into Milan’s midfield alongside veteran superstar Luka Modric since arriving on transfer deadline day.

PARIS SAINT-GERMAIN are fresh from a fine Champions League win in Barcelona, but there are signs that this season might present the best opportunity in a long time for someone else to win the Ligue 1 title. PSG have almost totally dominated French football in the years since being taken over by Qatar Sports Investments in 2011, winning 11 of the last 13 championships. Their revenue – the third-largest in world football last year according to Deloitte’s Football Money League at €806 million (RM4b) – dwarfs every other club in the country. But an epic 2024/25 campaign has taken a lot out of Luis Enrique’s side. Crowned by their maiden Champions League triumph, it also featured a domestic treble and a run to the Club World Cup final, but the season lasted 11 months and 65 games. That has caught up with them, with Ballon d’Or winner Ousmane Dembele one of a host of players currently injured. PSG do not have a huge squad and retaining the European Cup has to be their primary aim. A recent 1-0 defeat in Marseille proved they are not invincible. The Parisians are presently only above Lyon atop Ligue 1 on goal difference, while Marseille, Monaco and Strasbourg sit within three points. “It is normal to lose a few matches over the course of a season,” insisted Luis Enrique after the defeat in Marseille, and the fact PSG won the title by 19 points last season confirms how big their margin over the rest of the league is. A different champion would be a much-needed breath of fresh air, but can anyone step up to bridge the gap? Marseille are best-placed. Roberto De Zerbi’s team followed beating PSG with an impressive victory last weekend in Strasbourg and then hammered Ajax in the Champions League. They have a large squad – De Zerbi has used 28 players this season, compared to PSG’s 22 – and a fiery coach who is able to harness the heated atmosphere of their Stade Velodrome in the team’s favour. “It is understandable that there should be more expectation on us after we beat Paris. That doesn’t bring any pressure or anxiety,” De Zerbi said last week. It remains to be seen, though, if they can maintain the consistency required over the long run to seriously push PSG. – AFP

Tensions rising Alonso looks to bounce back as Real face Villarreal test R EAL MADRID host Villarreal tomorrow (3am Malaysian time) aiming to get their La Liga campaign back on track after a punishing derby defeat last weekend. have had bad games, I am aware of it. I do not hide and I face it. I am really sad,” wrote Valverde on social media yesterday. “They can say many things about me, but under no circumstances can they say that I refuse to play. “I have given everything and more for this club,

as a substitute. The midfielder’s inclusion against Atletico led to Arda Guler being pushed out to the right, even though the Turkish playmaker has impressed in a more central role so far under Alonso. Vinicius Junior also appeared frustrated when brought off against Kairat by Alonso, without hav ing scored. Madrid trail champions and leaders Barcelona by one point and lead Villarreal, third, by two. The Yellow Submarine’s visit will be another test of Alonso’s team’s mettle in big games. A 4-0 thrashing by Paris Saint Germain in the Club World Cup this year and the Atletico defeat raised some fears among Madrid fans that they struggle against elite sides. They were knocked out of the Champions League in the quarterfinals by Arsenal last season under Carlo Ancelotti.

Xabi Alonso’s side’s perfect start to the cam paign came to a juddering halt with a 5-2 beating by rivals Atletico Madrid, with the repercussions from it felt over the past week. The coach was keen to move on after admitting his team deserved to lose, but some Madrid players have been ruminating on it. Striker Kylian Mbappe said Madrid “cannot for get” what happened and had to keep working to avoid having another night in the same vein, after thrashing Kazakh minnows Kairat on Tuesday in the Champions League. Midfielder Fede Valverde cited a lack of “atti tude” multiple times when asked about the derby loss and said players had spoken among them selves and with the staff about it. Alonso said just blaming the team’s attitude was “too simplistic”, and also dropped Valverde for the game against Kairat. The Uruguayan mid fielder had been tipped to fill in at rightback after Trent Alexander

I have played with fractures, injuries and I have never complained or asked for a break.” How Alonso fits in England inter national Jude Bellingham is another question to be answered. The coach brought him in for a

first start of the season against Atletico but Bellingham struggled to make an impact. Bellingham was also benched against Kairat, but unlike Valverde, was introduced

Madrid’s good run of form in La Liga came against teams mainly ensconced in the bottom half, with the exception of Espanyol’s visit to the Santiago Bernabeu. One big positive

Arnold and Dani Carvajal’s injuries, as he has done before, but insisted he was “not born to play” in the posi tion. Alonso deployed Raul Asencio there instead, with Spanish media reporting it was a punishment for Valverde saying he did not want to feature in that role. “I know I

for Los Blancos has been Mbappe’s form. He has 13 goals across all competi tions in just nine appearances. Elsewhere, Hansi Flick’s Barcelona visit Sevilla tomorrow (10.15pm), looking to maintain their advan tage at the top. – AFP

Alonso (left) and Mbappe. – REUTERSPIC

Top four face off in early Bundesliga litmus test THE Bundesliga’s top four are set to collide this weekend, giving the in-form sides a chance to measure where they stand against title favourites Bayern Munich. goals with a club in Europe’s top five leagues last weekend against Werder Bremen, Kane bagged another brace in the Champions League on Wednesday.

what it will take to contain Bayern. “We have to defend as a team against Bayern, give them little space and win our challenges.” Meanwhile, Borussia Dortmund remain unbeaten this season, having comfortably seen off Athletic Bilbao 4-1 in the Champions League on Wednesday, despite a nervy late spell. Dortmund’s last domestic defeat came against Leipzig in March. Since then, Niko Kovac’s men have gone 14 games without a loss, including 12 wins. “We’re confident in our own abilities and we have managed to organise the games in such a way that we consistently perform well,” he said yesterday. – AFP

Toppmoeller’s side. The summer sale of forward Hugo Ekitike left a noticeable gap, and while Frankfurt have impressed at times, they’ve also struggled defensively – conceding 12 goals in their last three matches. Toppmoeller recognised the need to tighten up at the back, but said there was plenty to learn from Wednesday’s thumping in the Spanish capital. “We’re not blind, we know we need to do better. We reached our limit, that happens in life and in football,” he said. “We’ll take a lot from the game. It was an important experience,” Toppmoeller added, stressing his young team was a work in progress. Frankfurt captain Robin Koch also outlined

Kane has 10 goals in just five Bundesliga games this season – including two hat-tricks – and is averaging two goals per game in Europe. He has scored 17 times in nine matches overall. While Frankfurt enter tomorrow’s game as clear underdogs, they do have reasons for optimism. Despite being thrashed 5-1 by Atletico Madrid midweek, they boast a strong recent home record against Bayern, winning three and drawing one of their past four matches in Frankfurt. Still, inconsistency has plagued Dino

Leaders Bayern travel to fourth-placed Eintracht Frankfurt on Sunday (12.30am), just hours after Borussia Dortmund host RB Leipzig as second meets third (Sat 9.30pm). Bayern have exploded out of the blocks this season, spearheaded by Harry Kane, who is enjoying arguably the best form of his career. The Bavarians have won nine from nine in all competitions so far and the 32-year-old Kane is rewriting records. Fresh from becoming the fastest man to 100