Although Real Betis, inspired by the enigmatic Dani Ceballos, took the game to Barça, a clear, ungiven goal for the champions could have title repercussionsNot so long ago Roger Federer visited Rafael Nadal in Mallorca, where they talked about playing an exhibition match. They weren’t much use for anything else any more, they joked, and as it turned out they couldn’t even do that. “I was on one leg and he had a wrist problem,” Federer said. Yet three months on, there they were walking out for the final of the Australian Open. Three hours, 37 minutes later Federer had won his first tennis Grand Slam in five years – the final, decisive point decided by technology. The ball was...
Dieter Hecking enjoyed his first win with struggling Borussia Mönchengladbach as comeback earned the spoils against another troubled side, Bayer LeverkusenEven after the exploit, approval was far from unanimous. André Schubert’s rise at Borussia Mönchengladbach had been dizzying; from under-23 coach to reluctant first-team caretaker to permanent head coach. From bottom of the Bundesliga to the Champions League. He inherited a team that had lost its first five games of the 2015-16 Bundesliga season from Lucien Favre, perhaps the best coach in the division, but one that felt as if he had run out of solutions.Schubert took that side and infused it with counterattacking zest. Gladbach won their first six league fixtures under the new man on their way to...
Inter have made slow and steady progress under Pioli and Juventus would be unwise to underestimate Serie A’s form team when they meet on SundayYou could hardly blame Stefano Pioli for rolling his eyes at the question. Can Internazionale qualify for next season’s Champions League? Fielding that inquiry – or subtle variations upon it – has become as much a part of the manager’s daily routine as brushing his teeth in the morning.The answer never really changes. Pioli is always focused on the next game, controlling what he can control. On Thursday he cited an article published in that morning’s Gazzetta dello Sport to illustrate the futility of any other approach. Related: The 50 best young footballers in Italy Related:...
With the La Liga club struggling, the local-born manager who took them back to the top has departed, saying the team do not reflect him any moreThe revolution ended in tears. “This is hard,” Abelardo Fernández said, voice breaking, fingers rubbing at his eyes and kneading at his temples while the president gently laid a hand on his neck. “I’m not crying because I’m no longer the coach of Sporting Gijón,” he insisted, “I’m crying because of the affection I have for everyone here.” Wednesday morning at Mareo in the green, rolling hills south of Gijón where cowbells ring, and the man who declared “Sporting are revolutionary, like Asturias” , who rescued and represented the club, who often seemed to...
Leipzig’s exciting, young squad, like Hoffenheim in 2009, have made a fine start to life in the Bundesliga and so far look to be the real dealYou’d only expect it to happen once in a generation at best, not twice in a decade. RB Leipzig’s spectacular first half of the season is not without precedent, though. The parallels with the last promoted club from Bundesliga 2. to make their presence felt at the top-flight’s summit so immediately after promotion have come thick and fast – perhaps unsurprisingly, since Hoffenheim’s coach in their lightning start to their Bundesliga debut campaign of 2008-09 was Ralf Rangnick, who is now Leipzig’s sporting director, having guided the team to promotion last season. There’s plenty...