Skip to main content

Champions Inter celebrate ‘special moment’ with fans at San Siro Milan (AFP) – Captain Samir Handanovic celebrated a ‘special moment’ as he lifted Inter’s Milan first Serie A trophy in 11 years on Sunday in front of home fans after winning the season finale against Udinese 5-1. Antonio Conte’s side had sealed their 19th ‘Scudetto’ with four games to spare and were able to play their final game of the season with 1,000 celebrating supporters in the San Siro. “There is great emotion, joy, happiness,” said 36-year-old Handanovic after a game which also saw him overtake Walter Zenga as the goalkeeper with the most league appearances for the club with 329. The Slovenian stopper joined the club in 2012 after eight seasons with Udinese, and had never won a trophy with Inter. “We have waited a long time for this day, now we can enjoy it and this must be a starting point. “The Scudetto is the dream of all children.” The game was watched by fans inside the 75,000-seater San Siro for the first time in a campaign played behind closed doors because of the coronavirus pandemic. Outside more than 4,000 had gathered from early in the morning with fireworks and flares, greeting the team bus with chants and cheers. “It is a special moment for us, for what we have experienced in these past five years,” said Inter’s Chinese president Steven Zhang. “It is wonderful to be able to share all this with our people, our fans.” – Young breaks through – On the pitch, Ashley Young struck after eight minutes with his first goal of the season following a one-two with Lautaro Martinez. The former Manchester United and Aston Villa winger has scored five goals in 59 games since moving to Italy in January 2020. The 35-year-old also won the Premier League with United in 2013 and is the third English player to win the Italian title after Jimmy Greaves with AC Milan and Gerry Hitchens with Inter in the 1960s. Christian Eriksen came off the bench and scored with a free-kick through the Udinese wall just before the break. Martinez marked his 100th Serie A appearance with the third goal from the penalty spot 10 minutes after the break for a foul on Achraf Hakimi. Ivan Perisic and Romelu Lukaku added two more in the second half. There was a party atmosphere with the song of Italy’s Eurovision winners Maneskin blasting out during the interval. Handanovic was substituted at half-time with third keeper Daniele Padelli coming off the bench for his first start this season. Roberto Pereyra got a goal back for Udinese from the penalty spot with 10 minutes to go for an Eriksen handball. Dethroned Juve, whose nine-year reign was ended by Inter, are in a three-team race with AC Milan and Napoli for the final two Champions League places behind Inter and Atalanta. Juve travel to 11th-placed Bologna later Sunday trying to avoid missing out on the Europe’s top club competition for the first time since 2011-12. But a win may not be enough with the results of Milan at Atalanta and Napoli at home against Hellas Verona, also deciding their fate.


Milan (AFP) – Captain Samir Handanovic celebrated a ‘special moment’ as he lifted Inter’s Milan first Serie A trophy in 11 years on Sunday in front of home fans after winning the season finale against Udinese 5-1.

Antonio Conte’s side had sealed their 19th ‘Scudetto’ with four games to spare and were able to play their final game of the season with 1,000 celebrating supporters in the San Siro.

“There is great emotion, joy, happiness,” said 36-year-old Handanovic after a game which also saw him overtake Walter Zenga as the goalkeeper with the most league appearances for the club with 329.

The Slovenian stopper joined the club in 2012 after eight seasons with Udinese, and had never won a trophy with Inter.

“We have waited a long time for this day, now we can enjoy it and this must be a starting point.

“The Scudetto is the dream of all children.”

The game was watched by fans inside the 75,000-seater San Siro for the first time in a campaign played behind closed doors because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Outside more than 4,000 had gathered from early in the morning with fireworks and flares, greeting the team bus with chants and cheers.

“It is a special moment for us, for what we have experienced in these past five years,” said Inter’s Chinese president Steven Zhang.

“It is wonderful to be able to share all this with our people, our fans.”

– Young breaks through –

On the pitch, Ashley Young struck after eight minutes with his first goal of the season following a one-two with Lautaro Martinez.

The former Manchester United and Aston Villa winger has scored five goals in 59 games since moving to Italy in January 2020.

The 35-year-old also won the Premier League with United in 2013 and is the third English player to win the Italian title after Jimmy Greaves with AC Milan and Gerry Hitchens with Inter in the 1960s.

Christian Eriksen came off the bench and scored with a free-kick through the Udinese wall just before the break.

Martinez marked his 100th Serie A appearance with the third goal from the penalty spot 10 minutes after the break for a foul on Achraf Hakimi.

Ivan Perisic and Romelu Lukaku added two more in the second half.

There was a party atmosphere with the song of Italy’s Eurovision winners Maneskin blasting out during the interval.

Handanovic was substituted at half-time with third keeper Daniele Padelli coming off the bench for his first start this season.

Roberto Pereyra got a goal back for Udinese from the penalty spot with 10 minutes to go for an Eriksen handball.

Dethroned Juve, whose nine-year reign was ended by Inter, are in a three-team race with AC Milan and Napoli for the final two Champions League places behind Inter and Atalanta.

Juve travel to 11th-placed Bologna later Sunday trying to avoid missing out on the Europe’s top club competition for the first time since 2011-12.

But a win may not be enough with the results of Milan at Atalanta and Napoli at home against Hellas Verona, also deciding their fate.



from World Soccer Talk https://ift.tt/3hJXDAY
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Xavi under no illusions ahead of fairytale on Barcelona return Barcelona (AFP) – Xavi Hernandez said he is prepared for the “biggest challenge of his career” before leaving Qatar for Spain on Saturday, as Barcelona’s legendary former midfielder returns home to take over as coach. Xavi’s appointment was confirmed by Barca in the early hours of Saturday morning and the 41-year-old will be presented to fans at Camp Nou on Monday. “I’m very happy as you can imagine, it’s the biggest challenge of my career,” Xavi told Spanish journalists at Doha airport. “I’m going home and I am very happy.” Xavi faces a huge challenge, with Barcelona adrift of La Liga’s top four, struggling to make the knock-out stages of the Champions League and grappling with debts of more than a billion euros. “I have also experienced bad situations,” Xavi said. “It’s not the best moment in the history of the club but I want to explain what my idea is and to work hard, to make a team. Obviously the first thing is to talk to the players to see how they are.” Xavi left Camp Nou to play for Qatari club Al Sadd in 2015, after making 767 appearances for Barcelona, with eight La Liga titles and four Champions Leagues among his 25 trophies. “It’s time to come home. Welcome, Xavi,” Barca tweeted in the early hours of Saturday morning, as Spain slept.  “It wasn’t goodbye, it was see you later,” it wrote, along with a video montage of the player’s departure in 2015. Barcelona said in a statement they had reached an agreement with Xavi to become first-team coach for the rest of the season and two more seasons, replacing the sacked Ronald Koeman. “It is expected that Xavi Hernandez will arrive in Barcelona this weekend and that on Monday 8, November his presentation as new FC Barcelona first team coach will take place in an event open to the public at Camp Nou,” it said. Nicknamed the “Maquina” (the Machine), Xavi is widely considered one of the club’s greatest players and there is huge excitement about his potential as a coach after his influence on the iconic Barca team managed by Pep Guardiola. His passing style was seen as the embodiment of Guardiola’s “tiki-taka” team that won the treble in 2009. “One of the greatest midfield maestros of all time, he helped redefine the art with his creative mind, pinpoint passing and sublime ability to read the game,” Barca said in their statement, heralding the return of “an absolute legend”. Al Sadd, which Xavi had coached since 2019, hours earlier said they had reached an agreement with Barca and posted photos on social media of the Spaniard saying goodbye to the players and staff. – ‘The dream’ – Barcelona’s attempt to appoint Xavi as Koeman’s successor had been held up on Friday over his Al Sadd release clause, with Xavi and Barca considering splitting the payment to complete the deal. Al Sadd said Barca had agreed to pay the clause in Xavi’s contract, which is reportedly set at around five million euros ($5.8 million), but Barcelona did not give any details of the deal in their statement. Spanish sports daily Marca headlined the club hero’s return and estimated the cost to Barca of sacking recent managers Ernesto Valverde, Quique Setien and Koeman at 32 million euros. Xavi had made no secret of his desire to return to Barcelona, which he joined through the club’s La Masia academy at the age of 11. “My main objective, when I can do it, is Barca,” Xavi told Marca last year. “It’s my home, that’s the dream.” Barcelona sat ninth in La Liga on Saturday morning, with concerns growing they might not qualify for next season’s Champions League. The club are also in dire financial straits, having posted debts of 1.35 billion euros. They could not afford to renew Lionel Messi’s contract in the summer, and the Argentine left for Paris Saint-Germain. Xavi will also be charged with improving the team’s style of play, which was a key criticism during the tenure of Koeman, another former Barca player. Xavi’s flight is due to touch down as Barca take on Celta Vigo in La Liga in Juan Barjuan’s last game as caretaker coach before he hands over to the man the fans are pinning their hopes on to turn the club around.

Barcelona (AFP) – Xavi Hernandez said he is prepared for the “biggest challenge of his career” before leaving Qatar for Spain on Saturday, as Barcelona’s legendary former midfielder returns home to take over as coach. Xavi’s appointment was confirmed by Barca in the early hours of Saturday morning and the 41-year-old will be presented to fans at Camp Nou on Monday. “I’m very happy as you can imagine, it’s the biggest challenge of my career,” Xavi told Spanish journalists at Doha airport. “I’m going home and I am very happy.” Xavi faces a huge challenge, with Barcelona adrift of La Liga’s top four, struggling to make the knock-out stages of the Champions League and grappling with debts of more than a billion euros. “I have also experienced bad situations,” Xavi said. “It’s not the best moment in the history of the club but I want to explain what my idea is and to work hard, to make a team. Obviously the first thing is to talk to the players to see how they are.” Xavi left...
Post a Comment
Read more

Rangers brush aside title rivals Hearts Glasgow (AFP) – Alfredo Morelos and Joe Aribo fired Rangers to a 2-0 win at Hearts on Sunday as the Scottish Premiership leaders extended their strong start under new boss Giovanni van Bronckhorst. Van Bronckhorst has won four successive league games since replacing Steven Gerrard after his predecessor’s move to Aston Villa. Morelos and Aribo scored in the early stages at Tynecastle, giving Rangers six consecutive league victories encompassing the end of Gerrard’s reign. Hearts had Josh Ginnelly sent off late on as they squandered a chance to close the gap on the champions. Rangers are 12 points clear of third placed Hearts and seven ahead of second placed Celtic, who host Motherwell later on Sunday. Van Bronckhorst made six changes to the Rangers side that began Thursday’s 1-1 draw at Lyon in the Europa League. Liam Boyce had a great chance to open the scoring for Hearts in the third minute when he ran on to John Souttar’s clipped ball over the top, but the Northern Ireland striker saw his lob tipped over by Allan McGregor. It was Rangers who scored with their first chance of the match after nine minutes when Ryan Kent’s cross reached Fashion Sakala and the Zambian cut the ball back to Morelos, who fired home from six yards out. Sakala shot just wide from close range moments later before Morelos headed wide from James Tavernier’s corner. Rangers’ second goal came in the 13th minute when Aribo ran on to a brilliant long diagonal from Connor Goldson and fired an angled low shot beyond the exposed Craig Gordon. Gary Mackay-Steven saw his angled shot pushed behind by McGregor early in the second half. Rangers had a let-off in the 53rd minute when Calvin Bassey knocked a Ginnelly cross off the underside of his own crossbar. Rangers remained a threat, however, and Scott Arfield and Sakala were both denied by saves from Gordon. Boyce fired over from close range after being set up by Mackay-Steven before Stephen Kingsley cracked a free kick off the bar from 30 yards out. In the 80th minute, Ginnelly was sent off after being shown a second yellow card for squaring up to Borna Barisic.

Glasgow (AFP) – Alfredo Morelos and Joe Aribo fired Rangers to a 2-0 win at Hearts on Sunday as the Scottish Premiership leaders extended their strong start under new boss Giovanni van Bronckhorst. Van Bronckhorst has won four successive league games since replacing Steven Gerrard after his predecessor’s move to Aston Villa. Morelos and Aribo scored in the early stages at Tynecastle, giving Rangers six consecutive league victories encompassing the end of Gerrard’s reign. Hearts had Josh Ginnelly sent off late on as they squandered a chance to close the gap on the champions. Rangers are 12 points clear of third placed Hearts and seven ahead of second placed Celtic, who host Motherwell later on Sunday. Van Bronckhorst made six changes to the Rangers side that began Thursday’s 1-1 draw at Lyon in the Europa League. Liam Boyce had a great chance to open the scoring for Hearts in the third minute when he ran on to John Souttar’s clipped ball over the top, but the Northern Ireland stri...
Post a Comment
Read more

Bayern down Mainz to go six points clear in the Bundesliga Berlin (AFP) – Defending champions Bayern Munich extended their lead at the top of the Bundesliga to six points on Saturday after coming from behind to seal a 2-1 home win against Mainz. Second-half goals by Kingsley Coman and 18-year-old Jamal Musiala sealed the victory behind closed doors at Munich’s Allianz Arena after Mainz had taken a shock lead. Bayern remain firmly on course to win the German league for the tenth straight season after stretching their lead at the top of the table as second-placed Dortmund were held 1-1 at Bochum. 

Berlin (AFP) – Defending champions Bayern Munich extended their lead at the top of the Bundesliga to six points on Saturday after coming from behind to seal a 2-1 home win against Mainz. Second-half goals by Kingsley Coman and 18-year-old Jamal Musiala sealed the victory behind closed doors at Munich’s Allianz Arena after Mainz had taken a shock lead. Bayern remain firmly on course to win the German league for the tenth straight season after stretching their lead at the top of the table as second-placed Dortmund were held 1-1 at Bochum.  from World Soccer Talk https://ift.tt/3lVLPNa
Post a Comment
Read more