‘Monster’ Haaland set to bolster Manchester City

Erling Haaland netted 85 goals in 88 games after joining Dortmund from Salzburg in 2020. (AFP)
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Updated 11 July 2022
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‘Monster’ Haaland set to bolster Manchester City

  • The Premier League champions have allowed several club heroes to leave, but hope new blood will help in title defense

Manchester City’s new signing Erling Haaland is a “monster” who will make a considerable impact this season in England.

This is how fellow recruit Stefan Ortega described Haaland when he was unveiled to City followers at Etihad Stadium.

Ortega witnessed the Norwegian striker’s goalscoring exploits in the Bundesliga where the German keeper was at Arminia Bielefeld and Haaland starred for Borussia Dortmund.

“When I saw him at (Red Bull) Salzburg he was a bit thin, now he’s a monster,” said Ortega, 29. “His transition is really outstanding.

“With his size, speed, quality in shooting and heading, he’s the full package ...”

Haaland netted 85 goals in 88 games after joining Dortmund from Salzburg in 2020, with 61 in 66 Bundesliga games, and a further 15 in 13 Champions League matches.

For the opposition, there is likely to be some trepidation on how to handle this 1.95-meter prolific powerhouse as City, with four Premier League titles over the past five seasons, and 99 goals, start their title-defending campaign.

Haaland, who turns 22 later this month, said he “had the feeling for City” when he decided to join them on a five-year deal for $61 million, despite interest from Real Madrid, Barcelona and Bayern Munich.

“In the end I just had the feeling in my stomach — the way they play, everything,” he added.

“I (have) watched City ever since Pep Guardiola took over in 2016, so I know exactly how they play and I think I know a lot about everything they do, so that is the most important thing.

“I played against City in the Champions League and (when) you see something on TV (that’s one thing), but when you meet it in reality it’s completely different. I didn’t touch the ball for 25 minutes. I was like, ‘please (Ilkay) Gundogan stop playing tiki-taka.’

“It’s a different level, how City create chances, and that’s what I want to be a part of,” said Haaland. “There are so many good players. City are already winners and it’s already a huge potential, I am really excited.”

Haaland’s arrival, and immediate declaration that Manchester United are the team he is keen to face most next season, certainly excited the thousands who welcomed him on Sunday.

So too Argentina forward Julian Alvarez, who vowed to “create my own history and win all the trophies possible” as he followed compatriots such as Carlos Tevez, Pablo Zabaleta and legendary record scorer Sergio Aguero to the club.

Along with Ortega and England midfielder Kalvin Phillips — the $54 million buy from Leeds who missed the unveiling event through illness — the quartet, and probably Brighton left-back Marc Cucurella, are part of an important evolution at City.

Manager Guardiola is building another monstrous outfit as he looks to make them even more formidable.

As footballing history has often shown, when a team takes success for granted and does not seek to maintain their standing with quality replacements, it can lead to a painful fall from grace.

Take Liverpool who, having been a dominant force in English and European football in the 1970s and 1980s, had to wait 30 years before they won a top-flight title when Jurgen Klopp’s side won the Premier League in 2020.

Then there is Manchester United, whose trophy-laden era under Sir Alex Ferguson feels a distant memory as they currently struggle to challenge for the top four, let alone first place.

It was in 2013 when they last won the Premier League and their main player purchases in the following two transfer windows, under Ferguson’s replacement David Moyes, were Marouane Fellaini and Juan Mata.

When Guardiola took charge of City in 2016 and disappointingly failed to lift a trophy in his first season, the response was swift to alleviate concerns about the future.

Out went favorites such as Zabaleta, Samir Nasri, Gael Clichy, Aleksandar Kolarov, Jesus Navas and in came keeper Ederson, Bernardo Silva, Kyle Walker and Aymeric Laporte.

It was a vital reset as Guardiola improved areas that clearly needed strengthening, and reinvigorated a squad with players who embraced a new challenge and craved success.

City then won the title in 2018 with a record-breaking 100 points.

There is a similar feel about this season as the club have allowed heroes to leave, but brought in replacements who could take them to an even higher level.

Having bade farewell to captain Fernandinho after nine years, from their title-winning side, striker Gabriel Jesus has joined Arsenal, Raheem Sterling is heading to Chelsea and Nathan Ake and Oleksandr Zinchenko could exit before next month’s opening fixtures.

Over at Anfield, Kop idol Sadio Mane has gone to Bayern Munich, but Uruguay striker Darwin Nunez has joined for a potential club record £85 million and, crucially, Mohamed Salah has extended his contract.

“There can be no standing still, on or off the pitch,” said Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson when they were still pushing for a “quadruple” last season.

It is a philosophy adopted by both the Reds and City as they strive to remain the very best while others, notably Chelsea, Tottenham and Arsenal, try to catch up.

This type of thinking is also a factor in Haaland’s switch to a club where his father Alf-Inge Haaland, a former midfielder, played.

He yearns for more, despite his impressive scoring record, two Austrian League championships and an Austrian Cup with Salzburg, and a German Cup with Dortmund.

Haaland seeks glory in the Champions League, where he has the best minutes per goal ratio in the tournament's history for those with at least 15, scoring on average every 64 minutes while it is 104 minutes for Lionel Messi and Harry Kane.

At 20 years and 231 days, he also took Kylian Mbappe’s record as the youngest player to reach 20 Champions League goals, becoming the only one to do so before the age of 21.

“Sometimes I see players pose with a trophy and I say, ‘I would love to be you,’” said Haaland.

“Every footballer wants to win trophies and become better every single day. I said it before, the Champions League is my favorite competition. Let’s keep working hard and hopefully I will win some trophies.”

Haaland said that City have now signed a player who likes to “have fun and smile a lot,” and whose enjoyment is reflected in a desire to score goals, improve himself and the team.

With such astonishing numbers already, and confidence and ambition that belie his years, City’s rivals must beware of this smiling assassin and ready-made successor to Aguero.


Xavi denies reports that Barcelona’s leadership is considering firing him

Updated 18 May 2024
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Xavi denies reports that Barcelona’s leadership is considering firing him

BARCELONA: Xavi Hernández on Saturday denied a slew of reports in Spanish media outlets that Barcelona’s leadership is considering firing the coach for having said that the club’s poor finances will impede it from competing with Real Madrid.
“The club has transmitted to me that I should stay calm and continue working with the same motivation and commitment. Nothing has changed,” Xavi said at a pregame news conference.
Almost all the questions he faced were about the speculation in Spain’s sports press that club president Joan Laporta was upset with Xavi for having said earlier this week that “the situation is very difficult, above all on the economic level, for us to compete with our top rivals, whether it be Real Madrid or teams in Europe.”
The media reports said Laporta is pondering a replacement for Xavi this summer.
Xavi insisted Saturday that he had heard no such thing from the club.
“I don’t know and I don’t care where that information is coming from. I have the support of the president and Deco, our sports director,” the former Barcelona midfielder said.
Neither Laporta nor the club have made any public statements about the rumors. The club said it had no comment on them when asked by The Associated Press.
Even if it Barcelona keeps Xavi on, it is still an awkward situation for a coach who just three weeks prior had reversed a previous decision made in January to leave the club this summer. In April, Xavi said that he had changed his mind after his players showed him that they believed in the team’s potential and had improved their performances.
Laporta inherited a club mired in debts of more than 1.3 billion euros ($1.4 billion), and soccer’s most expensive payroll, when he returned to run the club for a second time in 2021.
A few months later he brought back fan favorite Xavi, who had been coaching in Qatar, to lead a team rebuild following the exit of superstar Lionel Messi.
But with no cash on hand and mounting debts, Laporta had to sell off future television revenues and other club assets, which Laporta dubbed financial “levers,” to sign Robert Lewandowski and other players two seasons ago.
With those reinforcements, Xavi guided Barcelona to the Spanish league title last campaign. But Barcelona has struggled this season and will finish it without any titles.
Xavi’s words earlier this week seemed aimed at curbing the expectations of fans used to the club making significant signings in the summer.
The club’s wages still exceed the salary cap established by the Spanish league and it is more likely to sell players this off-season than bring in new talent.
Barcelona plays Rayo Vallecano on Sunday seeking a win to lock up a second-placed finish in the domestic league and secure a spot in the Spanish Super Cup.


Al-Hilal manager Jorge Jesus ‘very proud’ as last-gasp equalizer preserves unbeaten domestic season

Updated 18 May 2024
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Al-Hilal manager Jorge Jesus ‘very proud’ as last-gasp equalizer preserves unbeaten domestic season

  • Roshn Saudi League champions earn 1-1 draw in Riyadh derby on Friday thanks to Aleksandar Mitrovic’s injury-time penalty
  • Al-Nassr manager Luis Castro disputes penalty award and praises players’ performance

Riyadh: Al-Hilal manager Jorge Jesus saluted the resilience of his players after they preserved the club’s unbeaten domestic season with an injury-time penalty from Aleksandar Mitrovic in their Roshn Saudi League 1-1 draw against Al-Nassr.

A dramatic Riyadh derby exploded into life on Friday night after just 25 seconds when Al-Nassr midfielder Otavio thundered the hosts into the lead from distance at Al-Awwal Park. But Mitrovic ensured the champions remain on course for an invincible 2023/24 league campaign by smashing home a late spot-kick awarded after a VAR check.

In a match in which both sides created chances, both Jesus and Al-Nassr counterpart Luis Castro agreed the hosts enjoyed the better of the first half, and the title winners the second half.

While Al-Hilal could not maintain a remarkable Roshn Saudi League winning run that stretched all the way back to September — 24 games in total — Jesus said the determination shown to earn a point bears all the hallmark of champions.

“I’m very proud of my players,” he said. “They showed great resilience (to keep the unbeaten record). We have a fantastic group of players. I believe in their talents; they believe in my ideas.

“It has been a fantastic season until now. We want to finish as winners and there are three games left: two in the league and one the King’s Cup final. We not only want to be unbeaten in the next two games in the league, but also win the King’s Cup. I don’t think you can have a better season than this in local competitions.”

The penalty kick was awarded deep into injury time when Sadio Mane was deemed to have caught Saud Abdulhamid just inside the penalty area. Spanish referee Jose Maria Sanchez Martinez pointed to the spot after being called to the screen by the VAR.

Jesus believed Saud was impeded by Mane, but Castro was unhappy that the decision denied his team three points against their Riyadh rivals.

Castro said: “The penalty given to them and scored by them; it wasn’t at all a penalty. There is no injury, there is no foul at all.”

Asked whether the game will influence the upcoming King’s Cup final between the two sides that will round off the season, Castro said: “No, this was one match and that is a different match. We all saw how Al-Hilal celebrated as if they won, but they only drew. That means it was a tough match for them. We had chances to win.”

Twelve points separate champions Al-Hilal and second-placed Al-Nassr in the Saudi Roshn League table.

The previous league derby between the two this season saw Al-Hilal beat Al-Nassr 3-0 in December. As well as being unbeaten domestically this season, Al-Hilal also created world football history earlier in the campaign by winning 34 matches in succession across all competitions.


Pacers pummel Knicks to stay alive in NBA playoffs

Updated 18 May 2024
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Pacers pummel Knicks to stay alive in NBA playoffs

  • On the brink of elimination after an embarrassing game five defeat in New York, the Pacers played with desperate aggression

LOS ANGELES: The Indiana Pacers produced another big win on their home court Friday, routing the New York Knicks 116-103 to force a decisive game seven in their NBA Eastern Conference semifinal series.
Pascal Siakam scored 25 points to lead Indiana’s scoring. Tyrese Haliburton added 15 with nine assists and Myles Turner had 17 points as six Pacers players scored in double figures.
On the brink of elimination after an embarrassing game five defeat in New York, the Pacers played with desperate aggression, out-scoring the Knicks 62-38 in the paint and winning the rebounding battle.
They hustled after loose balls, blocked eight shots and handed out 35 assists to keep their offense firing, and kept Knicks talisman Jalen Brunson in check for much of the night as they improved to 6-0 at home in this post-season.
They’ll have to follow up on the road, however, if they want to book a clash with the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference finals, with the Knicks hosting game seven on Sunday at Madison Square Garden.
“Now it’s a one game series, and it’s for all the marbles,” Haliburton said. “Where better to have a game seven than the Garden?
“No team’s won a game on the road in this series, so we’ve got to be ready to go from start to finish in 48 minutes.”
The Pacers broke open a close game with a 17-2 scoring run that pushed their lead to 13 points late in the second quarter.
Donte DiVincenzo stopped the rot for New York, draining a three-pointer from the corner that cut the Pacers’ lead to 10, 61-51, at halftime.
Brunson was limited to five points on 2-of-13 shooting in the first half. He found his range after the break, scoring 14 points in the third and finishing with 31.
Miles McBride added 20 for the Knicks, whose brief surge to open the third quarter was quickly squelched by the Pacers.
“There really isn’t any excuse for anything,” Brunson said. “Just the way they played tonight you’ve got to give them credit.”
Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said it was a matter of playing harder.
He said Siakam, an NBA champion with Toronto in 2019 and acquired from the Raptors in January, had provided a key veteran presence on a young and a crucial skillset that made a big difference on Friday.
“He’s the only guy on our roster that can manufacture a 16-foot shot over a seven-foot guy and make it,” Carlisle said. “He did it three or four times in the third, fourth quarter.”
While Carlisle was pleased with his team’s bounce-back win, he was already looking ahead to the test awaiting on Sunday.
“In a series like this, you can’t sit around patting yourself on the back. That’s what gets your ass kicked the next game,” he said.
The Knicks return home with yet another injury concern after forward Josh Hart departed early in the fourth quarter with what the team called abdominal soreness.
He’d clearly been troubled by discomfort around his midriff since the first quarter.
It’s just the latest blow for the Knicks, who saw forward OG Anunoby go down to a hamstring injury in game two after they were already without Julius Randle, Bojan Bogdanovic and Mitchell Robinson.
“We’ll see,” was head coach Tom Thibodeau’s tight-lipped response on whether Hart would be available on Sunday, but he made it clear the Knicks wouldn’t be citing injuries as an excuse.
“This is the nature of the playoffs,” he said. “This is what you play for. Oftentimes it comes down to a hustle play, a loose ball .. so you’re going to get tested physically, mentally, emotionally — and you’ve got to be able to get through all of that.
“So whatever it is that we’re facing, we can overcome and just keep battling.”


Coach Thomas Tuchel says he’s still leaving after talks on extending Bayern Munich stay fell through

Updated 17 May 2024
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Coach Thomas Tuchel says he’s still leaving after talks on extending Bayern Munich stay fell through

  • “We found no agreement on further cooperation so the agreement from February remains in force,” he said
  • In the three months since Bayern said Tuchel was leaving, they have tried and failed to sign a series of high-profile replacements

MUNICH: Thomas Tuchel says he is still leaving Bayern Munich after talks on extending his stay at the club fell through.
Bayern said in February that Tuchel would leave at the end of the season, but the coach said Friday that he held talks with the club on a “180-degree turn” that would have seen him stay after all.
“We found no agreement on further cooperation so the agreement from February remains in force,” he said.
In the three months since Bayern said Tuchel was leaving, they have tried and failed to sign a series of high-profile replacements.
Xabi Alonso is staying with Bayer Leverkusen after beating Bayern to the Bundesliga title, Tuchel’s predecessor Julian Nagelsmann signed an extension with the German national team, and Ralf Rangnick remains with Austria.
Bayern are without a trophy this season for the first time since 2012 after losing the Bundesliga title to Bayer Leverkusen, but Tuchel’s team were praised for reaching the Champions League semifinals before a narrow loss to Real Madrid.
There was also a petition from some Bayern fans calling on the club to keep Tuchel.
Strong European performances prompted the club to reach out to him in an attempt to persuade him to stay, the coach said.
“Above all, the feedback after Real Madrid over this last week was the basis to think again about the 180-degree turn, but we didn’t reach any agreement,” he said. “I don’t want to go into the individual points and the motivations behind them. That is behind closed doors and stays that way.”
There was tension last month after Tuchel said he had been insulted by comments from the club’s honorary president Uli Hoeness claiming the coach “doesn’t think he can improve” the team’s young stars.
Tuchel said at the time that Hoeness’ comments were “so far removed from reality” and added: “On the one hand it insults my honor as a coach, because I think we’ve shown as a coaching team for the last 15 years that young players, especially from the academy, always, always, always have a place with us in training and that they have a place on the field with their performances.”
Tuchel is heading into his last game with Bayern at Hoffenheim on Saturday with second place in the Bundesliga on the line. The injury list is as long as ever in a season when he has rarely had his first-choice team available.
Striker Harry Kane is undergoing treatment on a reported back injury, while Leroy Sané, Kim Min-jae, Kingsley Coman, Raphael Guerreiro and Jamal Musiala are also injured and Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting is unavailable with flu, Tuchel said. Right back Sacha Boey has been granted personal leave.
Bayern’s two-point advantage over third-place Stuttgart and superior goal difference mean that a draw with Hoffenheim — which is seventh and chasing European qualification — should be enough to guarantee second position. Stuttgart host Borussia Moenchengladbach.


FIFA orders legal review of Palestinian call to suspend Israel

FIFA President Gianni Infantino delivers his speech at the FIFA Congress in Bangkok, Thailand, Friday, May 17, 2024. (AP)
Updated 17 May 2024
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FIFA orders legal review of Palestinian call to suspend Israel

  • Israel has killed more than 35,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials. Israel says its strikes are targeted at militants

BANKOK: Soccer’s world body FIFA ordered an urgent legal evaluation on Friday of a proposal by the Palestinian Football Association to suspend Israel over the war in Gaza, promising to address it at an extraordinary meeting of its council in July.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino took the decision at an annual Congress in Bangkok, where the PFA president made an emotional plea to delegates to hold a vote to suspend Israel from all club and national competitions, accusing it of multiple breaches of FIFA statutes.
The Palestinian proposal accuses the Israel Football Association of complicity in violations of international law by the Israeli government, discrimination against Arab players, and inclusion in its league of clubs located in Palestinian territory. The IFA rejected that.
The request for sanctions against the IFA comes two years after FIFA’s decision to suspend Russia from international competitions over its invasion of Ukraine.

HIGHLIGHT

The request for sanctions against the IFA comes two years after FIFA’s decision to suspend Russia from international competitions over its invasion of Ukraine.

“FIFA cannot afford to remain indifferent to these violations or to the ongoing genocide in Palestine, just as it did not remain indifferent to numerous precedents,” PFA President Jibril Rajoub said.
“How much more must the Palestinian football family suffer for FIFA to act with the same urgency and severity as it did in other cases? Does FIFA consider some wars to be more important than others and some victims to be more significant?“
Since an Oct. 7 cross-border raid by militant group Hamas that Israel says killed more than 1,200 people, the Gaza offensive has left more than 35,000 Palestinians dead, according to Gaza health officials. Israel says its strikes are targeted at militants.
Rajoub said 193 Palestinian players had been killed, football infrastructure destroyed, its leagues suspended and its national team required to play World Cup qualifiers abroad.

‘Cynical, political and hostile’
The proposal was sent to FIFA in March and added to the Congress agenda with the support of the Algerian, Jordanian, Syrian and Yemeni federations.
The Asian Football Confederation gave its backing on Thursday for action against Israel.
IFA chief Shino Moshe Zuares said the proposal was based on motives and ambitions that “have nothing to do with the spirit of sports or the FIFA value of separating sports from politics.”
“Today, maybe more than ever, I believe that football must be a key element in healing the fractures and the wounds, helping us and everyone to recover,” he told the Congress.
“Yet, once again, we are facing a cynical, political, and hostile attempt by the PFA to harm Israeli football.
“I am holding myself back and will not speak about the true motives out of respect for this institution,” he said.
Infantino expressed extreme shock over the Oct. 7 attacks and the offensives in Gaza and said due to the “obvious sensitivity of the issue,” independent legal experts would be brought in urgently to analyze the Palestinian allegations.
Those findings would be referred to the FIFA Council, its main decision-making body outside of the Congress, to convene an extraordinary meeting in July and take appropriate decisions, he said.