Al-Ahly and Zamalek face must-win matches in African Champions League

Al-Ahly also are in need of points in Africa but their situation on and off the pitch is more stable than their city rivals. (Twitter: @AlAhly)
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Updated 11 March 2022
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Al-Ahly and Zamalek face must-win matches in African Champions League

  • Two Cairo giants won trophy combined 15 times but poor form may see embarrassing exits

RIYADH: There is no such thing as an unimportant match if you happen to be a fan, player or coach of Al-Ahly and Zamalek, with their combined 15 African Champions League titles.

But both Cairo giants face must-win games this week if there is to be a chance of a 16th continental crown. Any group stage exit for either team would be a major shock and while it has already been a big week for both clubs, it is about to get bigger.

For Zamalek, Friday’s game against Wydad Casablanca is the first for Jesualdo Ferreira in his second spell in charge of the club. It was a 3-1 defeat at the hands of the Moroccan giants on Feb. 26 that spelled the end of Patrice Carteron’s tenure in charge.

That also left the White Knights with just two points from the first three games in Group D. Should they lose in Cairo on Friday and group leaders Petro de Luanda defeat fellow Angolans Sagrada Esperanca, as is expected, then Zamalek are out.

It would be a desperate way for Ferreira — something of a fan-favorite after winning the league and cup double in 2015 — to restart his Zamalek career. At the age of 75, it remains to be seen if the former boss of Porto, Benfica and Sporting Lisbon has the energy to revitalize Zamalek over the 18 months of his contract but a good result means that he could hit the ground running.

“Thanks for the many messages and the kind words that the Zamalek fans dedicated to me. I return with pleasure and great ambition. See you soon,” the Portuguese boss said on social media.

Wydad, winners in 1992 and 2017, arrive in Egypt in a confident mood, though coach Walid Regragui is prepared for a tough game.

“We will have to rise up to the occasion. Zamalek will have their fans’ support and it will be a challenge,” Regragui said. “Zamalek have a number of international players, and they now have a new head coach. The game won’t be easy. However, we will not be playing for a draw, we are travelling to Egypt for victory.”

Ferreira will turn his thoughts to domestic matters after the big champions league tests to come. Defending champions Zamalek are currently third in the league with 25 points from 11 matches, one behind Pyramids and three behind Al-Ahly (who have played one fewer game). The next Premier League action comes early next month with a big game against Pyramids.

Al-Ahly also are in need of points in Africa but their situation on and off the pitch is more stable than their city rivals with head coach Pitso Mosimane signing a new contract on Wednesday.

“Al-Ahly are delighted to announce that Pitso Mosimane has signed a contract extension with the club for two more years,” the club said in a statement. “The coach and his assistants signed the new contract, ensuring they will remain at the helm until 2024.”

The South African boss went north in October 2020 and has been a major success, winning back-to-back CAF Champions League titles as well as steering the Red Giants to successive third place finishes at the FIFA Club World Cup. He has been in charge of the club in 83 matches, winning 59, drawing 17, losing just seven, scoring 182 goals while conceding 70. There had been rumors swirling around whether the 57-year-old would stay but now there is clarity.

“The (real) contract is on the pitch,” said Mosimane. “We had been back and forth about it. The team is happy, and I am happy; that’s more important. So, where do you want to go if you don’t want to stay here?”

It is a triumph for the boss who has, at times, struggled with negative comments publicly expressed from former players, especially early on in his tenure. The reaction this week has been positive, however, with Mido, a former Egyptian international and ex-Zamalek player, welcoming the news. “Al-Ahly renewing Mosimane’s contract is more important than any other trophy right now,” Mido said. “Mosimane’s contract renewal with Al-Ahly is a major trophy in itself.”

Mosimane has a big game to prepare for against his former club Mamelodi Sundowns on Saturday after losing against the South African giants at home in the previous round. That defeat left the 10-time champions second in Group A, three points behind Sundowns and level with Sudan’s Al-Merrikh.

Should Al-Ahly lose in Johannesburg then they could be three points off second with two games remaining — not quite time to panic but certainly time to worry. Three points will be most welcome then although right-back Mohamed Hany, midfielder Hamdi Fathi, and winger Hussein El-Shahat are all struggling and face late fitness tests before being cleared to play.

After their champions league commitments, the league leaders will return to domestic concerns against Al-Ittihad on April 6.

The situation in Africa is brighter for several other Arab clubs. Raja Casablanca have won all three games in Group B with Algeria’s ES Setif in third with three points from three games. Tunisian clubs Esperance and Etoile du Sahel are in first and third in Group C with CR Belouizdad of Algeria in second.

Most of the attention, however, will be on the fate of the two Egyptian giants and whether they can bounce back from damaging defeats — especially Zamalek.


Olympic organizing team unveiled for 2030 Winter Games in French Alps

Updated 19 February 2025
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Olympic organizing team unveiled for 2030 Winter Games in French Alps

  • A bid hastily pulled together in 2023 was approved by the International Olympic Committee only last July — in Paris on the eve of a hugely successful Summer Game
  • The project is now led by Edgar Grospiron, a freestyle skiing gold medalist in 1992 when France last hosted the Winter Games and a late hire in recent days as president of the organizing committee
  • The French Alps organizing committee has a prudent operational budget of €2 billion ($2.1 billion)

LYON, France: Just five years before the opening ceremony, French organizers of the 2030 Winter Games put on a united front Tuesday to unveil the team given the tightest schedule of any modern Olympics.

The 2030 French Alps Olympics must tie together snow and sliding venues in the mountains with skating and curling arenas among the palm trees on the Riviera coastal city Nice.

A bid hastily pulled together in 2023 was approved by the International Olympic Committee only last July — in Paris on the eve of a hugely successful Summer Games — and even then with a special exemption to wait several months for guarantees from the national government.

The project is now led by Edgar Grospiron, a freestyle skiing gold medalist in 1992 when France last hosted the Winter Games and a late hire in recent days as president of the organizing committee.

“What’s important now is that from now we organize it, we deliver it,” Grospiron said at a slick launch event at the stadium of soccer club Lyon, aiming for a Winter Games that is “impeccable and irreproachable.”

Grospiron spoke after a parade of national and regional political figures, including sports minister Marie Barsacq and Michel Barnier, who as prime minister last October signed off the government’s support.

Layers of lawmakers’ support has been vital to a project that still needs an ice arena built in Nice and a venue for speed skating, which could end up in Italy or the Netherlands.

The popular success and expertise gained at the Paris Olympics was stressed as a foundation for the Winter Games which used to be given seven years by the IOC to organize.

“We are not starting from zero,” the IOC’s executive director of Olympic Games, Christophe Dubi, told The Associated Press. “We had a great shortcut and it’s called Paris 2024. Many of those things we can cut and paste.”

The IOC started 2023 with no clear candidate and a shrinking pool of options to host a cost-effective and sustainable Winter Games in 2030. A Swedish project centered on Stockholm seemed favored before a French bid emerged out of the IOC’s strong pre-Paris relations with President Emmanuel Macron and national Olympic officials.

France’s win was confirmed on the same day in Paris as the 2034 Winter Games were awarded to Salt Lake City with four extra years to prepare. Its organizing team was unveiled in Utah last week.

“We are the cradle of Olympism,” said David Lappartient, leader of the French Olympic body and a candidate in the IOC presidential election next month. France already hosted three Summer Games in Paris and three previous Winter Games: Chamonix in 1924, Grenoble in 1968 and Albertville in 1992 that Barnier helped organize.

The French Alps organizing committee has a prudent operational budget of €2 billion ($2.1 billion) and speakers Tuesday stressed the need for a project that was financially sober and in moderation.

A key theme also was adapting to climate change and delivering an Olympics and subsequent Paralympic Winter Games that are sustainable.

“I would never pretend that the games want to save the world,” Grospiron said, “but I think we can contribute to changing how it moves forward.”

Rising to environmental challenges was stressed by the head of the Provence-Alpes-Cote d’Azur region that includes Nice and Marseille. Renaud Muselier cautioned that in dealing with the reality of climate change “defeatism has the same effect as skepticism.”


Bayern score late to see off Celtic in Champions League

Updated 19 February 2025
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Bayern score late to see off Celtic in Champions League

  • Bayern will face either their fellow German rivals Bayer Leverkusen or Spanish giants Atletico Madrid in the last 16

MUNICH, Germany: Bayern Munich secured their place in the last 16 of the Champions League with a 94th minute strike by Alphonso Davies on Tuesday to secure a 1-1 draw on the night and a 3-2 aggregate win.
Bayern will face either their fellow German rivals Bayer Leverkusen or Spanish giants Atletico Madrid in the last 16.
Celtic had led 1-0 since the 63rd minute and the Scottish side had been on the verge of taking the German giants to extra time and pulling off their first ever win in Germany.
But with Harry Kane off injured and time running out, Davies stepped up as Bayern’s savior, tapping in after Celtic keeper Kasper Schmeichel had kept out Leon Goretzka’s header.
Bayern went into this game 2-1 up from last week’s first leg at Celtic Park and seeking to stretch their unbeaten run to seven games in all competitions.
Bayern dominated possession in the first half but Celtic were more dangerous with at least three clear cut chances to score before the break.
Former Bayern Munich second-team player, Nicolas Kuehn beat Manuel Neuer but Raphael Guerreiro cleared off the line.
Moments later, Alistair Johnston flashed a dangerous ball across the Bayern goal. With Neuer stranded the ball flew just beyond Daizen Maeda.
Then Maeda missed a golden opportunity to put Celtic ahead. When Dayot Upamecano was forced into a stray pass, Kuehn led the surge forward and fed Maeda, who blazed over with Kuehn and Jota in support.
Bayern dominated the ball on a freezing night but suffered with a lack of quality in attack.
Serge Gnabry was wasteful while Kane sometimes cut an isolated figure, starved of service.
The England captain’s best chance saw him rattling the bar with a snapshot after Josip Stanisic picked him out from the right.
That would be Kane’s final action. The striker was withdrawn at half time, feeling the effects of an injury picked up against Bayer Leverkusen on Saturday.
Bayern upped the pressure after the break and fashioned a clear chance when Goretzka went clean through. Schmeichel, however, made a crucial stop to keep Celtic in the game.
Soon after, Celtic were in front. Maeda seized on a loose pass by Josip Stanisic and helped it on toward Kuehn. Min-Jae Kim reached the ball first but could not clear and Kuehn was able to take a touch and find the bottom corner.
It was a goal that shocked the Allianz Arena and threatened Bayern’s record of 20 European home games unbeaten. Celtic were delivering on coach Brendan Rodgers’ pre-match battle cry to show bravery.
Bayern sought an equalizer but Vincent Kompany’s side were reduced to long-range shots, with Schmeichel pulling off saves from Joshua Kimmich, Michael Olize and substitute Leroy Sane.
Celtic were moments away from inflicting Bayern’s first defeat by a Scottish team and taking the tie into extra-time but the game had a sting in the tail. Olize delivered a pinpoint cross that was met by Goretzka.
Schmeichel saved but Davies scrambled the rebound home off his shin to send Bayern through to the last 16.


Ancelotti downplays Guardiola’s suggestion Man City have 1 percent chance of eliminating Madrid in playoffs

Updated 18 February 2025
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Ancelotti downplays Guardiola’s suggestion Man City have 1 percent chance of eliminating Madrid in playoffs

  • “He doesn’t really think that,” Ancelotti said on Tuesday in a pre-match news conference
  • Guardiola later said he lied a bit when he talked about the 1 percent, and that he knows City’s chances of reversing the first-leg defeat are higher than that

MADRID: Coach Carlo Ancelotti is not buying Manchester City rival Pep Guardiola’s suggestion that his own side have only a 1 percent chance of eliminating Real Madrid in the Champions League playoffs on Wednesday.
Madrid rallied late to win the first leg 3-2 last week in England to seize control ahead of their home match at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium.
After City’s 4-0 win over Newcastle in the Premier League on Saturday, Guardiola said his team would arrive in the Spanish capital with a “1 percent” chance of going through to the round of 16.
“He doesn’t really think that,” Ancelotti said on Tuesday in a pre-match news conference. “Tomorrow I’ll ask him before the match if he really thinks that they only have a 1 percent chance. He thinks he has more than that, just as we don’t think that we have only a 99 percent chance. We know that we have an advantage, and we have to make the most of it.”
Guardiola later said he lied a bit when he talked about the 1 percent, and that he knows City’s chances of reversing the first-leg defeat are higher than that.
“You have to play an almost perfect game,” he said. “The result was not so good, we usually come into the second leg with a better result, so it is not the perfect situation. We have to attack, we have to score goals. We want to win, so let’s see if we can adjust some things that didn’t work in the first leg.”
Ancelotti said he was not one of those coaches who liked to fully downplay his team’s advantage.
“It’s foolish to say that we will prepare for the game as if we were tied 0-0,” he said. “Nobody will believe you because it’s a fact that we scored three goals and City two. You can’t change that. We have to try to play the same way as we played a week ago, but without forgetting that we have an advantage.”
Guardiola has never failed in 16 seasons of coaching — four at Barcelona, three at Bayern and nine in Manchester — to take his team to the last 16. The 2012-13 season was the last time City did not play at that stage.
City have been struggling recently, though, and Guardiola said that has to be taken into consideration.
“This season the reality is we have been miles, miles away,” he said. “The results have been poor.”
Madrid got the better of City in the quarterfinals last year, and with a 3-1 win in extra time in the semifinals in 2022. Each time Ancelotti’s team went on to win the title, extending the club’s record to 15 Champions League trophies.
Ancelotti can count on central defender Antonio Rüdiger, who has recovered from the muscle injury that has kept him out in recent weeks. Against City last week, Ancelotti fielded an improvised back line who played together for the first time.
Ferland Mendy, youngster Raúl Asencio and midfielders Aurélien Tchouaméni and Federico Valverde played at the back in England.
Ancelotti said Rüdiger can start on Wednesday, though he didn’t say whether the central defender would replace Tchouaméni or the 22-year-old Asencio.
It is the fourth consecutive season in which the teams are facing each other in the Champions League, with City prevailing in the semifinals two seasons ago on their way to winning the European title for the first time.


Feyenoord knock out 10-man AC Milan to reach Champions League last 16

Updated 18 February 2025
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Feyenoord knock out 10-man AC Milan to reach Champions League last 16

  • Julian Carranza thumped home the winning header in the 73rd minute
  • Argentine attacker Carranza struck for Feyenoord shortly after coming on as substitute

MILAN: Feyenoord reached the last 16 of the Champions League on Tuesday after a 1-1 draw at 10-man AC Milan which took them past the seven-time kings of Europe 2-1 on aggregate.
Julian Carranza thumped home the winning header in the 73rd minute at a frigid San Siro, canceling out Santiago Gimenez’s first-minute opener for Milan and sending the Dutch through to meet either Inter Milan or Arsenal.
Argentine attacker Carranza struck for Feyenoord shortly after coming on as substitute as the away side pushed to reach the next round, while Milan struggled following Theo Hernandez’s sending off early in the second half.
Already on a booking for a needless foul on Anis Hadj-Moussa just before half-time, Hernandez was ruled by referee Szymon Marciniak to have dived in the penalty box when under pressure from Givairo Read.
The France full-back was dismissed, leaving Milan on the back foot after having dominated up to that point.
Hernandez’s sending off and Carranza’s tie-winning header ruined what looked to be Gimenez’s night when he nodded home the opener against his old team after just 36 seconds.
Mexico forward Gimenez has already scored three times for Milan since signing from Feyenoord during the winter transfer window but his sixth goal in the Champions League this season was also his last.
Sergio Conceicao’s Milan are by no means assured of a spot in next year’s tournament as they sit seventh in Serie A, five points off the top four with a game in hand.


Medvedev edges Khachanov in windy Qatar Open

Updated 18 February 2025
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Medvedev edges Khachanov in windy Qatar Open

  • Medvedev, who won the tournament in 2023, scored his first victory over a top-30 player in 2025
  • In match of long rallies, Medvedev did not carve out a break point until the 12th game of the second set

DOHA: World No.6 Daniil Medvedev eliminated compatriot and defending champion Karen Khachanov 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 in the second round of the ATP Qatar Open on Tuesday.
Medvedev, who won the tournament in 2023, scored his first victory over a top-30 player in 2025.
Medvedev, the former world No.1, has not won a tournament since the Rome Masters in spring 2023. He was knocked out in the second round of this year’s Australian Open by teenage American Learner Tien.
In match of long rallies, Medvedev did not carve out a break point until the 12th game of the second set, by which time he was a set down. He took his chance and then went on attack in the third set to win in two hours 30 minutes.


A third Russian former champion, Andrey Rublev, the fifth seed, beat Alexander Bublik 6-3, 6-4.
Alex de Minaur celebrated his birthday by beating Russian Roman Safiullin 6-1, 7-5, even though the Australian did not enjoy the weather.
“They’re tough days, these ones,” said De Minaur. “It’s cold, it’s windy, you probably don’t want to get out of bed. But once you step on court, you have to do everything you can to win. Whether it’s ugly or pretty tennis, you just put the ball in the court, and that’s what I did today.”
“Out went any sort of tactics you had for the match and it was all about surviving more than anything.”
In the evening matches, Novak Djokovic was making his comeback against Matteo Berrettini after his Australian-Open semifinal injury.
Earlier in the day, Djokovic said that Andy Murray would continue as his coach “indefinitely.”
“I expressed my desire to continue the collaboration with him so I am really glad he did accept,” said Djokovic.