The Inter captain’s incendiary remarks provoked a mixed reaction among supporters against Cagliari but his penalty miss did little to help mattersPerhaps, with hindsight, we should have paid more attention to the title of Mauro Icardi’s new autobiography: Sempre Avanti – Always Ahead. For as long as he has been in the public consciousness, the striker has always carried an air of impatience, the manner of someone who is eager to skip forward to the next chapter.This is a man who joined Barcelona at 15, played his first Serie A game at 19 and was named Inter’s captain three years later. One who leapt eagerly – and very publicly – into a parental role when he took up with Wanda...
Christian Heidel’s side stumbled upon their good fortune against Borussia Mönchengladbach like a late 80s, new-school hop-hop producer acquiring James Brown’s Funky People compilationThe numbers spoke of another humiliation. They were outpassed (231 to 712), outfought (44% to 56% one-v-ones won), outplayed (28% to 72% possession) in front of their home fans. But Schalke 04 had friends in low places on Sunday night; the most important ally of all, in fact, down there, where it really mattered: on the pitch. “The ball was Schalke’s buddy tonight,” winced Borussia Mönchengladbach’s sporting director, Max Eberl. Related: Borussia Dortmund slip to defeat at Bayer Leverkusen in Bundesliga Continue reading...
After his youngsters shone in the 4-3 thriller against Sassuolo, it is easy to see why Vincenzo Montella might feel optimistic about Milan’s long-term futureIn the end, it was all just a little bit much. Manuel Locatelli could not hold back the tears, so he stood in the middle of the pitch at San Siro and blubbed. His chest was still shaking when the Mediaset TV crew arrived, the interviewer placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. “It’s all real, I want to tell you that,” said the kind man with the microphone. Locatelli forced half a smile, glanced at the ground and started to well up all over again.This is what they mean on the peninsula when they tell...
Based in a big, wealthy city, supported by millions and dripping in history, the northerners should be a force but meddling at the top is dragging them downHis team courageously, stubbornly, managed to hold off the visiting champions until a Joshua Kimmich strike in the 88th minute but for Bruno Labbadia, the game was up long before. The Hamburger SV coach knew full well that he had been cynically cast in the role of the patsy on Saturday afternoon, heaved on to the bench by the club manager Dietmar Beiersdorfer in order to fall down a final time and thus smooth the passage for the appointment of his successor, Markus Gisdol.Labbadia, a man high on genuine passion and a bit...
Athletic’s stalwart defender scored his first goal after more than 300 games and that was far from the only unusual occurrence in Spain in week sixThe door opened and there they were, waiting for him: all of Athletic Bilbao’s players and all the staff, the president too, like a secret birthday party.When Mikel Balenziaga appeared, they started cheering and clapping, piling in to slap him on the back and head. Then they burst into song, bouncing about. If no one shouted “Surprise!” it was because they weren’t the surprise; he was. Ten years Balenziaga has been playing, more than 300 games, and he had never scored. On Saturday, he did – and it was a beauty, too, bursting through to...