27/05/2026

SPORTS WEDNESDAY | MAY 27, 2026

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C RYSTAL PALACE manager Oliver Glasner wants to secure a “perfect ending” to his suc cessful two-year reign with vic tory over Rayo Vallecano in the Europa Conference League final in Leipzig, Germany tomorrow (3am Malaysian time). The Austrian will be in the Palace dugout for the last time having over seen an era of unprecedented success at Selhurst Park since arriving in 2024. He took the club to a first trophy in their 120-year history by winning the FA Cup in his first full campaign. After beating Liverpool in the Community Shield to start this season, Glasner can sign off by helping the south London club to a maiden European title. Victory will also take Palace to next season’s Europa League, a year after their right to take part in the competi tion by winning the FA Cup was stripped by Uefa due to multi-club Allegri axed as Milan crisis explodes AC MILAN announced yesterday they had sacked coach Massimiliano Allegri and a host of senior club management after missing out on next season’s Champions League. The 19-time Serie A winners lost 2-1 at home to Cagliari on Monday in the final game of the league game season denying them a return to European football’s lead ing competition. Allegri, 58, was appointed last May, returning to the northern club 11 years following his first tenure ended, after they also failed to qualify for the Champions League. Former striker and now RedBird advi sor Zlatan Ibrahimovic keeps his position despite being heavily criticised by the seven-time European Cup winners’ fans. “After the disappointment of last year, the mandate ownership set for the club was to return to the Champions League and to establish a foundation for winning consistently at the top of Serie A,” AC Milan’s owners RedBird capital said. “It is now time for change and a com prehensive reorganisation of football operations. “Effective immediately, we are parting ways with CEO Giorgio Furlani, sporting director Igli Tare, head coach Massimiliano Allegri and technical director Geoffrey Moncada. “We thank each one for their hard work and dedication to AC Milan during their respective tenures. “Further announcements regarding the next appointments will be made in due course – with the goal to be ready and well prepared for the next season,” they added. Milan finished one point below Como in the fourth and final Champions League spot after the loss to lowly Cagliari and Cesc Fabregas’ side’s win at Cremonese. They had started the day in third. They spent more than half of the sea son in the top two of the table before an end of season slump which included three losses, a draw and just one win. Milan will start the new Serie A season on the weekend of Aug 22-23 and will also feature in the second-tier Europa League. Red Bird will now look for a fifth man in charge since they took over the club in 2024. Italian media have linked Antonio Conte, who has just left Napoli and Atalanta’s Raffaele Palladino, with the Milan job. – AFP

Eagles’ final chapter Glasner seeks ‘perfect ending’ to Palace mini golden age with European glory

history, that would be incredible.” Rayo finished the La Liga season a point behind Getafe, who pipped them to Europa Conference qualification. But Rayo can go one better than their Madrid neighbours by beating Palace, to reach the Europa League for just a second time. Also playing a European final for the first time, Rayo moved past the better resourced Strasbourg – part of the multi-club BlueCo group alongside Chelsea – to book their ticket to Leipzig. While underdogs Rayo beat Strasbourg in both legs, Palace fell 2-1 to the Ligue 1 side in the group stages. “All four teams who play the semifi nals deserve to play the final because they have done so well in the competi tion, and Vallecano are the same,” Glasner said. “(Rayo are) very quick, playing in transition, with quick wing ers, always able to score goals. “They don’t concede many,” he added. – AFP

Glasner said victory over Rayo would give his time at Palace a storybook end ing. “I would always feel I had failed if the team had dropped off (after his announcement), because I told them ‘you don’t need to play for a man ager’ … “It would be a perfect ending. When you watch a movie, when you read a book, you always hope that there is a happy ending. “To end this more than two-year journey with another trophy, with the first European trophy in Crystal Palace’s

Even as supporter sentiment turned on the Austrian – which was not helped by him urging fans to “stay humble. Never forget where you’re coming from” – Palace chairman Steve Parish kept the faith. Glasner has rewarded Parish and Palace by taking the club to a first European final. Having guided Frankfurt to a Europa League crown in 2022 and a German Cup final a year later, Glasner seems particularly adept in knockout football. Speaking with UEFA on Monday,

ownership rules. The 51-year-old announced in January he would leave when his con tract expired at the end of the campaign in what seemed to be a protest against the club’s transfer policy. The departure followed a similar pattern in Glasner’s career which played out at Bundesliga clubs Wolfsburg and Eintracht Frankfurt. Sudden success followed by fallout with club bosses and a swift exit. Despite a run of 12 games without a win until February, Palace resisted the urge to sack Glasner.

Fernandes hits back at Keane over ‘lie’

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MANCHESTER UNITED captain Bruno Fernandes (left pic) has accused Roy Keane (right pic) of lying about his successful bid to break the Premier League record for most assists in a single season. Fernandes reached a record 21 assists for United in the top-flight this term when he laid on a goal for Patrick Dorgu in Sunday’s 3-0 win at Brighton. The 31-year-old equalled the previ ous record, shared by Thierry Henry and Kevin De Bruyne, a week earlier during United’s 3-2 victory over Nottingham Forest. But former United midfielder Keane has been unimpressed by Fernandes’ pur suit of the landmark. The outspoken Keane said Fernandes had put individual glory over the team’s interests, describing him as being at the

centre of a “circus act”. Speaking on The Overlap podcast, Keane said: “After the (Forest) game he got inter viewed and he said, the captain of Manchester United said: ‘A few times, I probably should have shot but I made them passes.’ “Wow. How can your mindset of a foot baller be going into a match to be about an individual record? He won’t be winning tro phies, not with that mindset of the team.” However, the former United captain appeared to mistake Fernandes’ comments because the Portugal star actually said: “There were probably moments today when I should have passed instead of shot. “I’m very happy for the assist, but more than that, I’m happy for the win and to fin ish the season on a high.” Asked yesterday about Keane’s blast, Fernandes slammed the Old Trafford leg end. “Like I’ve always said, I don’t mind criti cism,” Fernandes told The Diary of a CEO podcast. “What I don’t like is when people

“ … he put words in my mouth.

lie about things and (in) this case that you said about Roy Keane basically what he said is a lie. “Either he saw some other interview or he can’t say that I said one thing that I’ve just not said and luckily for me everything is on record. “I accept that he might like me as a player or not, like me as a person or not. But what I don’t like is that he puts words in my mouth that have not been said.” – AFP

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De Zerbi’s ‘passion’ saved Spurs from relegation, says Maddison TOTTENHAM MIDFIELDER James Maddison praised Roberto De Zerbi for using his passionate personality to save the club from the humiliation of relegation. March, Tottenham were winless in the Premier League in 2026.

“When you feel the authenticity of someone who’s passionate for Tottenham and when you see the man who’s steering the ship, when he’s genuine, and not just saying it for the sake of it, you can tell he means that. “That’s why he says, ‘I have blood inside me, not water’. He always says that. It’s because he’s genuinely pas sionate about the club. “Without that appointment, disas ter could have maybe struck, but it didn’t and he takes a lot of credit for that because of the work he’s done behind the scenes and on the training pitch.” – AFP

majority of the season with a serious knee injury, said: “I am really happy for the manager who came in and steered the ship clear because I think without him, it could have been doom and gloom if I am honest. “He’s so passionate. He’s been liv ing at the training ground with the guys, with his team. “He’s there at 9pm with all his staff. They’ve got the tactics board up, there’s six of them, they’re just talking, it’s 9pm and we’ve already had four or five meetings on each game. He’s just obsessed with football and he’s pas sionate.

They slipped into the relegation zone before De Zerbi’s debut defeat at Sunderland, while a significant injury list threatened to overwhelm the Italian’s survival bid. But Maddison said De Zerbi’s infec tious positivity restored belief among the players and rebuilt a previously fractured connection with Tottenham’s miserable fan-base. A first home victory in the Premier League since December 6 was enough to retain their top-flight status. And Maddison, who missed the

De Zerbi’s side went into the last day of the Premier League season in danger of dropping into the second tier for the first time since 1977/78. But a tense 1-0 win over Everton on Sunday, secured by Joao Palhinha’s first half goal, sealed their survival and sent London rivals West Ham into the Championship instead. When De Zerbi took over from sacked interim boss Igor Tudor in