Patrick Cutrone and Gonzalo Higuaín are forming an unlikely partnership after both scored to boost Gennaro GattusoOld habits die hard for Silvio Berlusconi. It is more than a year since he sold Milan, and barely a month since he completed a takeover of Monza in Serie C, but still he presumes to address his former club’s manager with tactical advice. “I don’t like [Gennaro] Gattuso’s team, because they only play with one centre-forward,” lamented Berlusconi recently. “Milan should always have two.”It seems unlikely these words swung Gattuso’s thinking. This can hardly have been the first time he heard such a suggestion from a man with whom he remains in occasional contact. Berlusconi’s preference for two up top has been reiterated...
The 6-2 win was a fine display that deserved to be celebrated, but it also drove home how far short they have fallenThe Bundesliga loves a left turn, and this weekend it saved its best one for the programme’s final fixture. This was supposed to be resurgent Werder Bremen’s day, when victory would have taken them into second place behind Borussia Dortmund, confirming a return to relevance in the extraordinary debut year at the helm of coach Florian Kohfeldt, who celebrates a year in charge on Tuesday.With just over an hour gone it looked like it still could be, even though they had gone into the break 3-0 down to visiting Bayer Leverkusen. Yuya Osako’s goal, eventually awarded after VAR...
Julen Lopetegui’s reign may have been the chronicle of failure foretold; what few imagined was that it would unfold so quicklyThey’d been there for a while when the call came through to tell them they were standing in the wrong place. Raphaël Varane’s handball had actually been in the area, VAR decided, so instead of a free-kick it was a penalty, which was why just 14 minutes into this weekend’s opening game, Levante were 2-0 up at the Bernabéu, Real Madrid heading for another defeat and Roger Martí heading for the south-west corner, celebrating. On the opposite touchline Madrid’s manager stood motionless, hands in his pockets, gone. A few rows above, someone tapped the president on the shoulder and gave...
Inter’s lethal finisher scored an injury-time winner in a derby notable for the feelgood factor among both sets of fans“An assassin.” That was how Gonzalo Higuaín described Mauro Icardi in the build-up to Sunday’s Derby della Madonnina. Invited by Gazzetta dello Sport to name the attributes he would most like to steal from his compatriot, the Milan striker replied: “His heading ability and his sense of timing.”It appears that no such theft could be arranged. Icardi demonstrated both qualities as he arrived to head home a 91st-minute winner in a match that had looked certain to finish as a goalless stalemate.| WINNER! |Milan is blue and black! ⚫Mauro Icardi's header gives #Inter a dramatic #DerbyMilano victory. It finishes #InterMilan 1-0...
If the purpose of Friday’s club address was to make the champions seem less vulnerable, you have to question its valueIt was as tumultuous as anticipated, only in a totally different manner than anybody had expected. When Bayern Munich called a Friday press conference with the president Uli Hoeness, chief executive Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, coach Niko Kovac and sporting director, Hasan Salihamidzic, all confirmed to be present, it was clear they wouldn’t just be talking about the forthcoming weekend visit to Wolfsburg and delivering injury news updates.The rumour mill swirled into some weird places. Was Arsène Wenger about to be appointed as coach, notwithstanding the highly unlikely scenario of Kovac being present at his own dethroning? Was Kovac going to be...