13/12/2025

SPORTS SATURDAY | DEC 13, 2025

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the Belgian goalkeeper. Madrid will be without several players for the clash in Vitoria, after their melt down last weekend during the 2-0 defeat by Celta Vigo at home, which put Alonso on the brink. Alvaro Carreras and Fran Garcia were sent off and are suspended, while Madrid have many injuries to contend with, including Trent Alexander-Arnold, Eder Militao and doubts over Dean Huijsen and Eduardo Camavinga. Most crucially, they do not yet know if top goalscorer Kylian Mbappe will be fit to play. The French superstar was on the bench against City after knee discomfort and Alonso said it would have been a “risk” to play him. One player they seem to have recov ered is winger Rodrygo. Not from injury, but his dismal run of form finally ended against City. After 32 games without find ing the net, the Brazilian finished superbly to send his team ahead. Beyond that, he was back to his electric best, transformed from the diminished figure seen in recent months. “It’s one of today’s good pieces of news to see him with that individual quality, that flair, and he also scored, which was important for him,” said Alonso. On the other flank, Rodrygo’s compa triot Vinicius Junior offered a less con vincing display. The winger’s anger at Alonso when withdrawn in the Clasico in October was a flashpoint which played its part in Madrid’s season flying off the rails. Since that moment, Spanish media have reported a growing rift between the players and the coach, suggesting various complaints about his selection decisions and the tactical work they have to do. It appears to be healing, with the sup port Alonso was offered, although whether Madrid’s stars retain the work ethic they displayed in a glamourous European tie on a wintry Sunday night at Alaves’ Mendizorroza stadium will be a good barometer. – AFP Premiership side Chippa United. Nigeria have won the AFCON three times, most recently when they edged Burkina Faso 1 0 in the 2013 final in Johannesburg. Last year, they were runners-up to hosts Ivory Coast. Atlas Lions include injured skipper Hakimi MO R OCCO included injured captain Achraf Hakimi in a 26-man squad named yesterday for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations. The 27-year-old full-back sprained his ankle after being fouled playing for Paris Saint Germain against Bayern Munich last month in the Champions League. Speaking after the 2026 World Cup draw in Washington last Friday, head coach Walid Regragui said: “We hope he (Hakimi) will be Alonso under pressure Basque coach faces crucial Alaves test

Nigeria are blessed with so much forward talent that Ivory Coast-born coach Eric Chelle has chosen nine. Three goalkeepers, eight defenders and eight midfielders complete the squad. A forward who did not make it, however, was Victor Boniface from Bundesliga club Bayer Leverkusen. Recent Wolverhampton Wanderers signing Tolu Arokodare also misses out. Premier League club Fulham supply three of the squad – centreback Calvin Bassey, midfielder Alex Iwobi and on-loan striker Samuel Chukwueze. Chukwueze, on loan from AC Milan with the Cottagers having an option to make the deal permanent, scored twice in a recent 5-4 loss to Manchester City. Chelle included currently injured first choice goalkeeper Stanley Nwabali from South African

AC MILA N aim to extend their unbeaten Serie A run and maintain top spot when they host Sassuolo this weekend while Napoli and Inter Milan face away trips after suffering midweek Champions League losses. Massimiliano Allegri’s Milan lost to Cremonese on the opening day, but have since gone unbeaten in the league, racking up nine wins in 13 games on their way to the summit. Milan went out of the Coppa Italia to Lazio last week, but defeat came with the silver lining of fewer games to come, and with Allegri’s side not involved in Europe that may play a major role in the title race. Sassuolo arrive at San Siro tomorrow (7.30pm) on the back of a 3-1 win over Fiorentina which took them to eighth in the standings and while Milan are without injured winger Leao, Christian Pulisic is available. The American recovered from the flu to make the bench for Monday’s game at Torino. Pulisic scored 35 seconds after coming on and netted another 10 minutes later to complete Milan’s 3-2 comeback win. Keeping Pulisic fit will be crucial to Milan’s Scudetto hopes. The winger, more usually deployed by Allegri as a second striker, has played nine league games out of 14 and started a mere five times but has already notched seven goals. Sassuolo, meanwhile, are without the services of forward Andrea Pinamonti who went off injured during the Fiorentina win having started every league game this season, scoring four goals. Defending champions Napoli are second in the standings, level on 31 points with Milan and enjoyed recent wins over AS Roma and Juventus, but defeat by Benfica on Thursday was their third loss in as many away games in the Champions League. “It’s not the single match, but the accumulation of many games that leads to a build-up you can end up paying for,” Antonio Conte told Sky Sports after the 2-0 defeat. Conte’s side need to recover for an away match at Udinese tomorrow (10pm). Udinese have lost three of their last four games, with two of those defeats coming at home. Inter are one point off Milan and Napoli in third and have won their last two league games but Wednesday’s 1-0 loss to Liverpool was their second successive Champions League defeat. Cristian Chivu’s side are at Genoa on Monday (1am), a team which looked like relegation certainties after failing to win any of their opening nine games but since sacking Patrick Vieira they are unbeaten in five and are 14th in the standings. Roma lost top spot with back-to-back defeats dropping them to fourth on 27 points and they host Como on Tuesday (3.45am) who are three points behind in sixth. Juve’s loss at Napoli last weekend leaves Luciano Spalletti’s side in seventh place and eight points off the leaders ahead of another tricky away game at Bologna on Monday (3.45am). – AFP Milan seek Scudetto charge Other Atlas Lions stars, including goalkeeper Yassine Bounou, Manchester United full-back Noussair Mazraoui, midfielder Sofyan Amrabat and striker Youssef En-Nesyri, have been selected. available for our first match against Comoros.” Hosts Morocco face the Comorans on Dec 21 in Rabat in the opening match of the biennial African football showpiece. Referring to recently crowned 2025 African player of the year Hakimi, Regragui added: “He is doing better. “He is improving. He wants to be here (Morocco). He is our leader, our captain.” Morocco are in Group A with the Comoros, Mali and Zambia. Group winners and runners up qualify automatically for the knockout phase, along with the best four of the six third placed teams.

SHORTS

Aubameyang faces familiar foe as Marseille seek title revival VETE R A N GOAL-G R A BB E R Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang will face his former employers Monaco in Ligue 1 on Monday (3.45am), with his inconsistent Marseille side seeking to get their title challenge back on track. The former Arsenal and Barcelona star, who returned for his second stint at the Velodrome in the summer, played in the principality early in his career before making his name with a flurry of goals at Saint-Etienne. After a nomadic couple of years being loaned out across France by parent club AC Milan, Aubameyang arrived at Monaco in 2010 where he scored two goals in 23 outings before being shipped on to Saint-Etienne. The Gabonese international did not look back as he progressed to earn silverware in England and Spain, as well as in Germany as part of Jurgen Klopp’s exciting Borussia Dortmund team. Now back at Marseille, whom he initially joined two years ago from Premier League side Chelsea, the 36-year-old has been in fine fettle this campaign, netting eight times and laying on 10 assists across 19 appearances in all competitions. Roberto De Zerbi’s side, however, have faltered of late, especially since being presented with the chance to seize top spot from bitter rivals Paris Saint-Germain two weeks ago. A win in late November at home to mid table Toulouse would have sent them top after PSG stumbled earlier in the weekend, but they instead conceded an injury-time equaliser to draw 2-2. That draw was followed up by a 1-0 loss at Lille, who joined third-placed Marseille on 29 points, five adrift of surprise Ligue 1 pacesetters Lens. Monday’s opponents Monaco have been even more inconsistent this season, and sit six points behind Marseille in seventh spot. It was their 1-0 victory on Nov 29 against PSG which handed Marseille the chance to go top as Sebastien Pocognoli appeared to get a grip on his side following a string of heavy defeats. But they followed it up with a loss by the same scoreline last time out against 10-man Brest. With both sides earning important victories midweek in the Champions League, confidence should be high on the south coast. Marseille have won every match this season, both domestic and European, in which Aubameyang has scored. Should he break his three-match drought this weekend, the hosts will fancy their chances of getting back in the title hunt. Champions PSG could provisionally climb top of the pile tomorrow (2am) by avoiding defeat on their trip to bottom side Metz. Shock league leaders Lens will aim to keep the chasing pack at bay when they host crisis club Nice on Monday (12.15am). – AFP Turkey-based Osimhen was voted the outstanding African player in 2023 and Lookman from Italian outfit Atalanta succeeded him. Morocco captain and defender Achraf Hakimi topped the poll this year. Nigeria choose star strikers FO R WA R D S and former CAF player of the year award winners Victor Osimhen and Ademola Lookman headline the 28-man Nigeria squad named on Thursday for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco. The Super Eagles open their Group C campaign on Dec 23 against Tanzania, then face Tunisia four days later and Uganda on Dec 30.

Madrid’s Xabi Alonso during the recent Champions League match against City. – REUTERSPIC

R EAL MADRID ran, and running was enough. Not to earn three points, or even one, but to keep the wolf from Xabi Alonso’s door – for now. However the groundwork for the Basque coach’s dismissal has been laid and the feeling that he is fighting for his position in every match, starting with Monday’s (4am Malaysian time) visit to face Alaves in La Liga, pervades. Alonso, whom Spanish media reported was set for the sack if Madrid lost against Manchester City in the Champions League on Thursday, remains at the helm despite a 2-1 defeat at a frustrated, whistling Bernabeu. The hope is this match, despite the outcome, can be a turning point for a team with just two wins in their last eight games across all competitions. Madrid trail La Liga leaders Barcelona by four points, which could become seven if the champions defeat Osasuna tomorrow (1.30am). Alonso’s players rallied around him, offering public messages of support after the game and even during it, as goals corer Rodrygo Goes ran over to hug his manager. “The only thing we can do is change our attitude... and today we saw a change,” said defender Raul Asencio. After Madrid’s improved display against City, it did not make sense for president Florentino Perez to let the axe fall. It would be easy to make that call the next time the team stumbles – and if it really is a turning point, and that doesn’t happen, that would work for him too. Particularly given the lack of an obvious replacement. Goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois was another Madrid player who backed the coach, and believes the situation will be eased when results turn. “All of us here support the coach with all our heart, and by winning (against Alaves) we will change this dynamic,” said