MANCHESTER, England: Erling Haaland knew the impact his words could have . . . and said them anyway.
The striker faced questions on Tuesday about his Manchester City future, and speculation about a move to Real Madrid.
“If I say this now,” Haaland said, “it’s probably gonna be a massive headline tomorrow. You never know what the future brings, but I’m happy. You can write this, but you also have to write everything I said before.”
For full disclosure, Haaland spoke in glowing terms about life at City, about winning a historic treble of trophies in his first season, and being in contention to repeat the feat this year.
“I’m really happy. Especially with the people I’m surrounded with — the manager, directors, the board — they are a group of amazing people and I’m really happy,” he said.
That proclaimed unhappiness is unlikely to stop rumors linking him to Madrid, even though the Spanish club seem set to sign Kylian Mbappe when the France forward leaves Paris Saint-Germain at the end of the season.
Madrid were considered City’s biggest rival when Haaland left Borussia Dortmund in the summer of 2022, and reports of a move have circulated ever since.
City would like to help quell such talk by tying him to an even longer contract than his current deal, which runs until 2027.
“My focus mainly now is on the pitch,” he said. “There’s a lot of games. Two days ago was the Manchester derby, now Champions League, Sunday is Liverpool, I think I should focus on that. I don’t think I should focus on anything else at the moment.”
Haaland scored 52 goals in his first season at City to help capture the Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup trophies. Yet, despite his outstanding statistics he still missed out to Lionel Messi when it came to soccer’s biggest individual prizes, the Ballon d’Or and FIFA Best award.
Will it take Messi to retire before Haaland is recognized as the best player in the world?
“I don’t know, good question,” the Norwegian said. “It’s true he won it and he won the World Cup, so I don’t know what to say. He’s the best that’s ever played I think, so yeah, I don’t know.”
For now, Haaland’s focus is on more team prizes with City.
First up on Wednesday is Copenhagen at home, with City leading 3-1 after the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie.
On Sunday, City go to Anfield for a top-of-the-table clash with Liverpool in the race for the English title. Then City play Newcastle in the FA Cup quarterfinals.
“You can think about it in two ways. One thing (is) I came here and won it all, and the other thing (is) I’m 23 years old and I won everything and I got the taste of it. How I work is that when I feel this, I want to win it again.”
That attitude has impressed City manager Pep Guardiola in his short time with Haaland.
Guardiola coached Messi to two Champions League titles at Barcelona, and has worked with many of the best players in the world.
“He has impressed the most off the pitch with his lovely character,” Guardiola said. “The bigger stars are more humble normally, they understand better. Maybe that is why they are the biggest stars.”
Haaland suffered a foot injury that ruled him out for more than a month over December-January but is still the leading scorer in the Premier League with 18. He has 28 in all competitions and last week scored five in a 6-2 win against Luton in the FA Cup.
Yet, his astonishing miss from point-blank range on Sunday in the 3-1 win against Manchester United was as noteworthy as any of his goal-scoring feats this season.
Haaland said when he was younger he would cry if he lost games or missed chances. Times have changed.
“I missed a lot of chances. I will still keep on missing chances, I will still keep on scoring goals,” he said. “I’ll probably miss a big chance in the future as well, and people are going to criticize me, but what can I do? Should I think of that? No, just focus on scoring more goals and to help the team.”
Haaland discusses his Man City future and toppling Messi
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Haaland discusses his Man City future and toppling Messi
- Haaland spoke in glowing terms about life at City, about winning a historic treble of trophies in his first season, and being in contention to repeat the feat this year
- Will it take Messi to retire before Haaland is recognized as the best player in the world? “I don’t know, good question,” the Norwegian said
Real Madrid’s Courtois to return after nine-month injury layoff
- Belgian international Courtois, 31, has missed the entire season with a knee ligament injury
- “Yes, Thibaut is fine. He will play tomorrow (Saturday) after a long period of absence,” said Ancelotti
MADRID: Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois will play his first match for the Spanish club after a nine-month injury layoff against Cadiz this weekend, coach Carlo Ancelotti confirmed Friday.
Belgian international Courtois, 31, has missed the entire season with a knee ligament injury and suffered a further setback in March which required another knee operation.
“Yes, Thibaut is fine. He will play tomorrow (Saturday) after a long period of absence,” said Ancelotti.
“He’s looking forward to playing. We’re delighted to see him return.”
La Liga leaders Real Madrid have their first chance to be crowned champions this weekend, although they need a helping hand from this season’s shock title challengers Girona.
Madrid host Cadiz on Saturday and if they win and Girona take any points off defending champions Barcelona immediately afterwards, Los Blancos will earn a record-extending 36th Spanish title.
Courtois has been back in team training for several weeks, and was part of the Madrid group to travel to Germany this week to face Bayern Munich in the Champions League semifinal first leg 2-2 draw.
Asked about a possible start for Courtois in the Champions League final if they reach it, Ancelotti replied: “The final we have in mind is Wednesday against Bayern, in which (Andriy) Lunin will play, and then we will see.”
In 2022, Courtois was the prime architect of Real’s Champions League triumph, proving himself to be one of the best goalkeepers in the world.
Bayer Leverkusen’s record unbeaten march continues with a 2-0 win at Roma in Europa League
- No club from Europe’s five biggest leagues — in Germany, England, Italy, Spain and France — has had a longer unbeaten streak
- The result also marked a measure of revenge for Leverkusen — since Roma had beaten the German club in this exact same stage last season for their last defeat in Europe
- In the other semifinal, Atalanta drew 1-1 at Marseille
ROME: An imposing stadium in a major foreign capital did nothing to stop Bayer Leverkusen’s record unbeaten march across Europe.
The freshly crowned first-time Bundesliga champions silenced the Stadio Olimpico with a 2-0 win at Roma in the first leg of the Europa League semifinals on Thursday to extend their unbeaten streak to 47 matches across all competitions.
No club from Europe’s five biggest leagues — in Germany, England, Italy, Spain and France — has had a longer unbeaten streak.
“We take things game by game and we are not thinking about being unbeaten,” Leverkusen midfielder Amine Adli said. “We are not thinking about making history or things like that — that’s why we are playing like this and the team is strong. We just want to enjoy ourselves.”
The result also marked a measure of revenge for Leverkusen — since Roma had beaten the German club in this exact same stage last season for their last defeat in Europe.
“We know it is not easy to play here,” Adli said. “We played a very serious game.”
Leverkusen’s last loss across all competitions was a 3-0 defeat to Bochum in the final round of last season’s Bundesliga nearly a year ago — on May 27, 2023.
Roma were dangerous with an early header off the crossbar from Romelu Lukaku. But then Leverkusen scored on the counterattack seven minutes later.
A failed back pass from Roma right back Rick Karsdorp under pressure from Alex Grimaldo on the left flank resulted in a 3-on-1 for Leverkusen. Grimaldo then passed to Florian Wirtz, who calmly slotted in from the center of the area.
Midfielder Robert Andrich added another goal for Leverkusen in the 73rd with a long-range shot — just as Roma had been threatening on the other end.
In the other semifinal, Atalanta drew 1-1 at Marseille.
The second legs will be held next Thursday, with the final to be held in Dublin on May 22.
Leverkusen has won only one European trophy: the 1988 UEFA Cup, which was then predecessor to the Europa League. Its only other European final came in the 2002 Champions League, won by Real Madrid.
Roma are aiming to qualify for their third consecutive European final after winning the Europa Conference League in 2022 and losing last year’s Europa League final to Sevilla in a penalty shootout.
Daniele De Rossi replaced Jose Mourinho as Roma’s coach in January.
The Giallorossi hadn’t lost a European knockout stage game at home in seven years — since getting beat 1-0 by Villarreal in the 2017 Europa League.
Roma fans’ pre-match choreography across one entire end of the stadium spelled out the word “AVANZIAMO” (“Let’s advance”). But Roma now face an uphill challenge to eliminate Leverkusen, who haven’t lost all season.
Marseille-Atalanta
Marseille’s players were treated to an ovation at Stade Velodrome from their hard-to-please fans after the draw with Atalanta — who eliminated Liverpool in the quarterfinals.
Atalanta took the lead in the 11th when striker Gianluca Scamacca hit a low shot into the bottom corner after reading Teun Koopmeiners’ clever pass.
But Marseille equalized in the 20th when central defender Chancel Mbemba collected Geoffrey Kondogbia’s pass and his fine curling shot from the edge of the penalty area hit the left post and rolled in.
The second half was almost entirely one-way traffic as Marseille pushed forward. Winger Ismaïla Sarr had a goal disallowed for an offside following a video review and substitute Azzedine Ounahi hit the crossbar with a curling shot in the 73rd.
Europa Conference League
In the third-tier competition semifinal first legs, Aston Villa’s hopes of reaching a first European final since 1982 were diminished with a 4-2 home loss to Olympiakos, the first defeat at Villa Park in the European campaign for the last English club in European competitions.
Villa came back from 2-0 down but were not able to answer Ayoub El Kaabi’s third goal of the game. The striker converted from the penalty spot to make it 3-2 for his eighth goal in the competition this season. Santiago Hezze finished the scoring before Douglas Luiz wasted a penalty for Villa.
Olympiakos are aiming to play on home soil in the May 29 final in Athens.
Earlier, El Kaabi scored twice within a half hour put the visitors in charge.
In Florence, substitute M’Bala Nzola netted in stoppage time for last-year’s runner-up Fiorentina to secure a 3-2 victory over 10-man Club Brugge.
Brugge’s Raphael Onyedika was sent off after receiving his second yellow card on the hour when the Italian club was 2-1 up but the visitors equalized through Igor Thiago to complete a counter just minutes later.
Riccardo Sottil put Fiorentina ahead early on, Brugge captain Hans Vanaken answered with an equalizer from the penalty spot and then Andrea Belotti restored the lead for Fiorentina on a rebound.
Iraq qualify for Paris Olympics men’s soccer tournament with win over Indonesia at U23 Asian Cup
- Ali Jasim’s extra-time winner means Iraq take Asia’s third automatic place at the Olympics
- Japan and Uzbekistan, who meet in Friday’s cup final, have both already qualified for the Paris Games
DOHA: Iraq qualified for the men’s soccer tournament at the Paris Olympics with a 2-1 win over Indonesia in the third-place playoff at the Under-23 Asian Cup on Thursday.
Ali Jasim’s extra-time winner means Iraq take Asia’s third automatic place at the Olympics. Japan and Uzbekistan, who meet in Friday’s cup final, have both already qualified for the Paris Games.
Indonesia took the lead after 19 minutes at Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium in the meeting of the two defeated semifinalists when Ivar Jenner scored from outside the area.
Eight minutes later, Zaid Tahseen headed home at the near post to make it 1-1.
The game went to extra time and Iraq took the lead in the 96th. The Indonesian defense misjudged the bounce of a long pass allowing Jasim to run free into the right side of the area. He sent a powerful shot across the diving goalkeeper to put Iraq on the brink of their sixth Olympic appearance.
Indonesia, still searching for a first Olympic appearance since 1956, almost took the game to a penalty shootout in the final action but Justin Hubner’s header was cleared off the line.
There is still one more opportunity for Indonesia. They will face Guinea in a May 9 playoff for a place in Paris.
Champions League is being expanded, but Italy and Germany will benefit over England next season
- It had largely been assumed England would secure a bonus spot, given its recent success in Europe
- Dortmund’s win means Germany can’t be caught in UEFA’s ranking system by England, which has only Aston Villa still playing
MANCHESTER, England: Germany has beaten the English Premier League to a bonus fifth Champions League place in next season’s revamped and expanded competition.
Borussia Dortmund’s 1-0 win over Paris Saint-Germain in their semifinal first leg on Wednesday confirmed Germany would join Italy in being granted an extra berth.
It had largely been assumed England would secure a bonus spot, given its recent success in Europe, including having Champions League winners in three of the last five seasons.
But Dortmund’s win means Germany can’t be caught in UEFA’s ranking system by England, which has only Aston Villa still playing.
The fifth spots were based on performances from each country this season in the Champions League, Europa League and Europa Conference League.
It means three-time European Cup winner Manchester United will miss out on next season’s Champions League.
Villa and Tottenham — competing for fourth place in the Premier League — also know there will be no back door entry to the biggest stage in Europe.
Villa, England’s only remaining team in Europe, have advanced to the semifinals of the Conference League. But even if Villa go on to win the third-tier competition, they cannot amass enough points for England to overtake Germany, which still has two teams in the Champions League and one in the Europa League.
UEFA’s ranking system gives points for each game a team wins or draws in European competition, with bonuses attached to advancing to different stages.
Since 2005, England would have qualified for a fifth place in the Champions League in 14 of 19 seasons. And despite having finalists in five of the past six editions, English teams’ disappointing performances this season have wrecked their chances of an extra place.
Man United and Newcastle failed to advance from the group stage, and Manchester City’s quarterfinal loss to Real Madrid was the defending champion’s earliest exit from the competition in four years.
In the Europa League, Liverpool were surprisingly eliminated by Atalanta in the quarterfinals.
In contrast, German teams have excelled. Bayern Munich and Dortmund have reached the semifinals of the Champions League and Bayer Leverkusen is into the last four of the Europa League.
Dortmund, fifth in the Bundesliga, guaranteed a place in next season’s Champions League by beating PSG.
Roma are currently fifth in Italy.
The Champions League is expanding from 32 to 36 teams next season to allow for a new league phase that will replace the existing group stage.
Via a seeding system, teams will be drawn to play against eight opponents, home and away in one league format.
The top eight teams will advance to the round of 16. Teams that finish from ninth to 24th will face a two-leg playoff in order to advance.
Soccer jersey dispute between Algeria and Morocco clubs over Western Sahara goes to sports court
- The court said Thursday the two sides “are currently exchanging written submissions”
- The dispute already affected the teams’ semifinal of the CAF Confederation Cup
GENEVA: A soccer politics dispute between Algeria and Morocco over a map of disputed Western Sahara territory on a team jersey will go to a full appeal hearing at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
The court said Thursday the two sides “are currently exchanging written submissions” and set no timetable for appointing a panel of judges and setting a date for a hearing.
The Algerian soccer federation and the USM Alger club from Algiers are challenging a decision by the Confederation of African Football to let Moroccan club RS Berkane wear a team jersey that includes disputed territory on a map of Morocco.
The dispute already affected the teams’ semifinal of the CAF Confederation Cup, in which USM Alger are the defending champion. Neither semifinal game scheduled on April 21 and 28 was played and both were awarded by CAF as 3-0 wins to Berkane.
Berkane are scheduled to play the two-leg final on May 12 and 19 — against Zamalek of Egypt — and the court did not indicate Thursday if the Algerian appeal will be judged before those games.
Western Sahara is a former Spanish colony annexed by Morocco in 1975. The United Nations brokered a ceasefire between Morocco and the pro-independence Polisario Front, which is supported by Algeria, that held until four years ago.
Algeria cut diplomatic ties with Morocco in 2021.
The laws of soccer state that “equipment must not have any political, religious or personal slogans, statements or images.”
Berkane arrived for the April 21 game in Algiers and had their team uniforms seized at the airport by Algerian authorities.
CAF refused an Algerian request to prohibit the shirts and, after Berkane refused to wear replacement shirts provided by USM Alger, the game did not go ahead.
CAF ruled the Algerian club were in breach of competition rules and Berkane were awarded a 3-0 win by default.
An urgent appeal by the Algerians to suspend CAF’s ruling on the shirt was denied last week by the sports court in Lausanne, Switzerland.
On April 28, USM Alger went to Berkane’s stadium for the second leg but refused to play if the hosts wore the jerseys with the map. CAF awarded a second default win to Berkane.
The full appeal in the case has now been brought against CAF, the Moroccan soccer federation and Berkane. One of the African soccer body’s most influential officials, FIFA Council member Fouzi Lekjaa, is president of the Moroccan federation and a former president of the Berkane club.
