WARSAW: Kylian Mbappé appears ready to make his debut for Real Madrid in the UEFA Super Cup against Atalanta on Wednesday.
Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said the France striker arrived in good shape following the European Championship and was adapting well to the team after a week of practice.
Mbappé “could play tomorrow,” Ancelotti said Tuesday at a news conference at the National Stadium in Warsaw where the match will be played.
The 25-year-old Mbappe is the biggest draw in the Polish capital after finally joining Madrid following a drawn-out saga with his former club, Paris Saint-Germain. He was introduced to the club’s fans at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium last month but wasn’t part of the squad on their US tour while he rested after Euro 2024.
He joins a slew of world-class forward at Madrid, including Vinícius Júnior, another new signing in Brazil striker Endrick, Jude Bellingham, Rodrygo and Arda Guler.
Ancelotti joked he had a “huge problem” and that thinking about who might play up front “has ruined my holidays.”
“The simplest thing,” the 65-year-old Ancelotti said, “is to know that good players are always going to play and are always going to bring something in.
“There are no problems for us because there are so many games. I can’t think I am going to have to count on the same 11 players for 70-something games.”
Asked whether Mbappé’s arrival had changed the atmosphere in the locker room, Ancelotti said through a translator: “It is a very clean, healthy atmosphere, the kind of atmosphere created by players who have been here like (the recently departed) Nacho Fernandez, Dani Carvajal, (Luka) Modric, (Federico) Valverde. There are no princes or kings here.”
Atalanta coach Gian Piero Gasperino want all of Madrid’s superstars to play against his team.
“For me it is fundamental that the team play a good game without thinking about who is there and who isn’t,” Gasperini said.
“I hope the best play, because only with the strongest can you try to gain the maximum respect.”
The Italian team will start as the underdog, like they were before beating Bayer Leverkusen in the Europa League final to win the club’s first European title and first trophy in 61 years.
But Gasperini said Atalanta were not deterred.
“We come with our usual enthusiasm, our usual eagerness to try to impress,” he said.
The Super Cup is an annual match between the winners of last season’s Champions League and the second-tier Europa League.
Kylian Mbappé ready to make Real Madrid debut in UEFA Super Cup against Atalanta
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Kylian Mbappé ready to make Real Madrid debut in UEFA Super Cup against Atalanta
- Mbappé “could play tomorrow,” Ancelotti said
- Ancelotti joked he had a “huge problem” and that thinking about who might play up front “has ruined my holidays”
Bayern set sights on dream home Champions League final
“The most important thing is the final in Munich. We want to go there and everything else is secondary”
BERLIN: Bayern captain Manuel Neuer said Monday his side were fully focused on the Champions League season, with this year’s final to be held at Munich’s Allianz Arena.
“Something big is coming,” Neuer told reporters ahead of Tuesday’s opening clash with Dinamo Zagreb at home.
“The most important thing is the final in Munich. We want to go there and everything else is secondary.
“We know what this final means to the city, the fans and the players. Our motivation is simply very high.”
Six-time European champions Bayern come into the season after their first trophyless campaign in 11 seasons, with Xabi Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen winning a league and cup double.
In the Champions League, Bayern were eliminated in the semifinals by eventual winners Real Madrid, who beat Borussia Dortmund 2-0 at Wembley to lift the trophy.
Neuer and fellow Bayern veteran Thomas Mueller, who both won the 2013 and 2020 Champions League finals, are the only two players in the squad to remember the 2012 home final, which they lost on penalties to Premier League side Chelsea.
Mueller went on social media on Monday, telling followers “the road to Munich starts tomorrow.
“I’m very excited. Let’s enjoy the best football in Europe.”
Manager Vincent Kompany, set to coach his first match in the Champions League, told reporters “the fans can dream.”
“The most important thing for me is that we show it on the pitch. We have a difficult game tomorrow. The important thing is that we play well and win tomorrow.”
Bayern have won every one of their Champions League openers since 2002 when they lost 3-2 to Deportivo La Coruna, which was the prelude to their first and only group stage elimination.
European Cup-winning former Villa striker Shaw dies aged 63
- The forward died after recently going into hospital following a head injury suffered in a fall
- “Aston Villa Football Club is deeply shocked and profoundly saddened to learn that Gary Shaw, one of our European Cup-winning heroes, has passed away,” a statement said
LONDON: Former Aston Villa striker Gary Shaw, who helped the club to their shock European Cup triumph in 1982, died on Monday aged 63.
Shaw was a member of the Villa side that won the First Division title in 1981 and then memorably stunned German giants Bayern Munich in the European Cup final 12 months later.
The forward died after recently going into hospital following a head injury suffered in a fall.
“Aston Villa Football Club is deeply shocked and profoundly saddened to learn that Gary Shaw, one of our European Cup-winning heroes, has passed away,” a statement said.
“Gary was one of our own, a talented striker who delighted supporters with his goalscoring exploits which helped fire Villa to success in the 1980s. Individual accolades would also follow for a player who was idolized by many on the terraces.
“He passed away peacefully earlier today surrounded by his family, who asked Aston Villa to release a statement on their behalf.”
Shaw’s death came on the eve of Villa’s first match in the Champions League for 41 years.
Unai Emery’s side face Young Boys in Switzerland on Tuesday and the Villa manager urged his team to win the match in tribute to Shaw.
“My condolences to the family and all the supporters at Villa,” said Emery, whose team will wear black armbands for the fixture in Bern.
“We have a memory always, in our training ground a picture of 1982 and the European Cup. He was a protagonist of that. My condolences to them.
“Yes, I think it’s sad and we can use it as motivation.”
Shaw joined Villa as an apprentice and went on to score 79 times in 213 appearances, including 20 goals in their 1981 title-winning campaign.
He was named PFA Young Player of the Year after Villa’s first English title since 1910.
Shaw scored three goals in Villa’s run to European Cup glory, including a crucial quarter-final strike against Dynamo Kiev.
Peter Withe’s winner against Bayern in Rotterdam lifted the team to previously unimaginable heights, with Birmingham-born Shaw savouring the triumph more than most.
Yet within a year of Villa’s epic victory, Shaw suffered a knee injury in a match against Nottingham Forest that curtailed his progress and ultimately saw him retire from the game after six operations.
He left the club in 1988 for spells in Denmark and Austria, before ending his career in 1992 after short stints at Walsall, Kilmarnock and Shrewsbury.
Shaw later worked as a statistical analyst and a matchday ambassador for Villa.
Tunisia's Jabeur to miss rest of year with injury
- Jabeur missed the recent US Open due to the injury
PARIS: Ons Jabeur will miss the rest of the 2024 WTA season with a shoulder injury, the Tunisian announced on Monday.
The three-time Grand Slam runner-up has struggled for form and fitness this year, slipping to 22nd in the world rankings.
Jabeur missed the recent US Open due to the injury and has not played since a heavy defeat by Naomi Osaka in Toronto in early August.
“This year has been extremely hard for me and as athletes, we know that recovery is part of the journey,” she said on social media.
“Due to my ongoing shoulder injury, my medical team and I’ve made the difficult decision to step off the tennis circuit for the rest of the season.”
The 30-year-old said she would be back on court for the start of the 2025 campaign in Australia.
Simba say goalkeeper attacked after CAF Cup match in Libya
- “It was scary. I saw Aishi being struck for no reason by a policeman and bottles and other objects hurled at our players,” said the official
- “Aishi is shaken but okay. He is receiving treatment in the changing room“
JOHANNESBURG: Aishi Manula, the goalkeeper of Tanzanian club Simba, was struck by a policeman after a stormy CAF Confederation Cup qualifier in Libya on Sunday, an official from the visiting team told AFP.
The second round, first leg against Al Ahly Tripoli ended 0-0 in a packed 45,000-seat Tripoli stadium and Simba players dashed for cover at full-time as plastic bottles were flung at them.
“It was scary. I saw Aishi being struck for no reason by a policeman and bottles and other objects hurled at our players,” said the official, who requested anonymity.
“Aishi is shaken but okay. He is receiving treatment in the changing room. I also witnessed some Ahly players attacking the referee and his assistants.”
Both clubs are regular CAF competition campaigners with Ahly making a ninth appearance in the African equivalent of the UEFA Europa League and Simba a seventh.
Simba are considered potential title challengers in the Confederation Cup, which has been dominated by north African clubs with 16 titles from 21 editions.
Zamalek of Egypt are the current title-holders after edging Renaissance Berkane of Morocco on away goals in the last final.
South African coach Fadlu Davids recently took charge of the Dar es Salaam outfit after being assistant coach of Moroccan league and cup double winners Raja Casablanca last season.
Another first leg in Libya produced a thriller with Al Hilal Benghazi snatching a 3-2 victory over Al Masry of Egypt after trailing twice in the eastern city.
Salah Mohsen put Masry ahead in each half, but two goals from Mohammed al Shiteewi, either side of one from Faisal al Badri, set up an intriguing September 22 return match in Alexandria.
Dynamos of Zimbabwe look set to reach the group stage for the first time, at the third attempt, after a 1-0 win over Orapa United of Botswana in Francistown.
But the most popular club in the southern Africa nation left it late to build an aggregate lead as Valentine Kadonzvo scored with just two minutes of regular time remaining.
Zimbabwe have no international-standard stadium so Dynamos must play Orapa twice in neighboring Botswana.
Burundi outfit Rukinzo are in a similar situation to Dynamos with no suitable venue in the landlocked central African nation.
They opted to face record three-time Confederation Cup winners CS Sfaxien twice in Tunisia, and did well to restrict the home side to a 1-0 win through an early Mohamed ‘Cristo’ Dhaoui goal.
Bellingham, Tchouameni back for Madrid’s Champions League opener
- Defender Eder Militao did not train on Monday but Ancelotti said the Brazilian would also be ready for the clash
MADRID: Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said Monday midfielders Jude Bellingham and Aurelien Tchouameni are back from injury as Los Blancos begin the defense of their Champions League trophy.
The record 15-time winners and current holders face German side Stuttgart on Tuesday at the Santiago Bernabeu and are boosted by the return of England international Bellingham and France’s Tchouameni.
Defender Eder Militao did not train on Monday but Ancelotti said the Brazilian would also be ready for the clash.
“Bellingham is good, just as Tchouameni is good, and Militao too for tomorrow, who didn’t train today because he needed one more day of recovery,” said Ancelotti.
“Two important players are back, but we also have the bad luck to have lost another important player (Brahim Diaz).”
Bellingham, who began the season in a deeper midfield role than in the previous campaign, suffered a calf injury in August which forced him out of four La Liga matches.
“(His return) is fantastic news, for what he brings in a football sense, as well as beyond that,” said Dani Carvajal.
“To see him in the squad again is great, we count on him.”
The midfielder was crucial last season on the way to the Wembley final where Madrid beat his former side Borussia Dortmund.
Ancelotti said his team was just as hungry to win the competition this year.
“We’re as (excited) as always, what this competition brings us, where this club has been such a protagonist for so long, and keeps being one,” added Ancelotti.
“The Champions League is special for Real Madrid, we will try to compete until the end.”
