LONDON: Conceding a goal after just nine seconds and going 2-0 down in the second half wasn’t enough to derail Arsenal’s title bid in the English Premier League.
Substitute Reiss Nelson scored the winner with a fierce volley deep into injury time as Arsenal recovered to beat Bournemouth 3-2 on Saturday and maintain a five-point lead atop the league.
The Gunners had to dig deep for this one after being caught out straight from the kickoff.
Philip Billing put the visitors ahead after just nine seconds to stun the Emirates Stadium crowd, some of whom had not even reached their seats yet. And things got worse in the 57th when Marcos Senesi headed home the second goal for Bournemouth from a corner.
But Thomas Partey began the comeback in the 62nd and Ben White scored his first Arsenal goal to equalize in the 70th.
Arsenal have made a habit of late winners recently and came up with the latest yet when Nelson capped the comeback in the seventh minute of injury time. The winger, who also set up White’s equalizer, downed the ball on his chest outside the area following another corner and hit a perfectly struck volley into the far corner.
Once more, it was an academy product who came through for Arsenal.
Nelson was widely viewed as one of the brightest prospects to come out of the London club’s Hale End academy but has since been overshadowed by Bukayo Saka, Emile Smith Rowe and Eddie Nketiah after a string of injury problems and loan moves. This was just his third league appearance of the season and he had been on the field for only a minute before setting up White’s equalizer, and netting the biggest goal of his Arsenal career.
“It’s amazing. When the ball came out to me I eyed it up. Everyone went crazy when it went in,” Nelson said. “It’s a great moment for me. I have been here all my life and it means a lot.”
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta made three changes to his starting lineup in a rare attempt to rotate. Granit Xhaka was on the bench for the first time in the league this season. That meant it was the first time since Arsene Wenger stepped down in 2018 that Arsenal fielded a starting lineup in the league where none of the players had featured under the Frenchman.
But they were caught napping straight away
Joe Rothwell received the kickoff and lobbed the ball down the right flank for Dango Ouattara, whose cross into the box found Billing for an easy finish. According to stats provider Opta, the goal was scored after 9.11 seconds, making it the second fastest in the league after Shane Long’s goal within 8 seconds for Southampton against Watford in 2019.
Bournemouth goalkeeper Neto had to make a double save in the fourth minute to stop Arsenal from scoring a quick equalizer, getting down low to stop a shot from Martin Odegaard and getting back up quickly to deny Saka from converting the rebound.
But Arsenal couldn’t seriously threaten Neto for the rest of the first half despite dominating possession, and the crowd was already growing restless by the time Senesi lost his marker and was left free to head in a corner past Aaron Ramsdale.
But Arsenal didn’t take long to start the comeback.
After Neto punched out a corner, Smith Rowe headed it back toward goal and Partey was there to hammer it home from close range. The hosts kept pushing forward and Nelson swung in a cross from the left that found White on the opposite side of area, and the defender struck a first-time volley that crossed the line before Neto was able to punch it away.
And just when it looked like Arsenal would have to settle for a draw, Nelson’s goal sparked some of the biggest celebrations Emirates Stadium has seen this season.
“It was just mad,” Arteta said. “Those feelings of happiness and joy. It was a really special way and it took until the last second to earn it. I am really proud of them. They never gave up. There is nothing like sharing those great moments with your people. I’m so happy for (Nelson).”
Nelson nets winner in Arsenal comeback against Bournemouth
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Nelson nets winner in Arsenal comeback against Bournemouth
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- The Gunners had to dig deep for this one after being caught out straight from the kickoff
- Once more, it was an academy product who came through for Arsenal
Bayern score late to see off Celtic in Champions League
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- Bayern will face either their fellow German rivals Bayer Leverkusen or Spanish giants Atletico Madrid in the last 16
MUNICH, Germany: Bayern Munich secured their place in the last 16 of the Champions League with a 94th minute strike by Alphonso Davies on Tuesday to secure a 1-1 draw on the night and a 3-2 aggregate win.
Bayern will face either their fellow German rivals Bayer Leverkusen or Spanish giants Atletico Madrid in the last 16.
Celtic had led 1-0 since the 63rd minute and the Scottish side had been on the verge of taking the German giants to extra time and pulling off their first ever win in Germany.
But with Harry Kane off injured and time running out, Davies stepped up as Bayern’s savior, tapping in after Celtic keeper Kasper Schmeichel had kept out Leon Goretzka’s header.
Bayern went into this game 2-1 up from last week’s first leg at Celtic Park and seeking to stretch their unbeaten run to seven games in all competitions.
Bayern dominated possession in the first half but Celtic were more dangerous with at least three clear cut chances to score before the break.
Former Bayern Munich second-team player, Nicolas Kuehn beat Manuel Neuer but Raphael Guerreiro cleared off the line.
Moments later, Alistair Johnston flashed a dangerous ball across the Bayern goal. With Neuer stranded the ball flew just beyond Daizen Maeda.
Then Maeda missed a golden opportunity to put Celtic ahead. When Dayot Upamecano was forced into a stray pass, Kuehn led the surge forward and fed Maeda, who blazed over with Kuehn and Jota in support.
Bayern dominated the ball on a freezing night but suffered with a lack of quality in attack.
Serge Gnabry was wasteful while Kane sometimes cut an isolated figure, starved of service.
The England captain’s best chance saw him rattling the bar with a snapshot after Josip Stanisic picked him out from the right.
That would be Kane’s final action. The striker was withdrawn at half time, feeling the effects of an injury picked up against Bayer Leverkusen on Saturday.
Bayern upped the pressure after the break and fashioned a clear chance when Goretzka went clean through. Schmeichel, however, made a crucial stop to keep Celtic in the game.
Soon after, Celtic were in front. Maeda seized on a loose pass by Josip Stanisic and helped it on toward Kuehn. Min-Jae Kim reached the ball first but could not clear and Kuehn was able to take a touch and find the bottom corner.
It was a goal that shocked the Allianz Arena and threatened Bayern’s record of 20 European home games unbeaten. Celtic were delivering on coach Brendan Rodgers’ pre-match battle cry to show bravery.
Bayern sought an equalizer but Vincent Kompany’s side were reduced to long-range shots, with Schmeichel pulling off saves from Joshua Kimmich, Michael Olize and substitute Leroy Sane.
Celtic were moments away from inflicting Bayern’s first defeat by a Scottish team and taking the tie into extra-time but the game had a sting in the tail. Olize delivered a pinpoint cross that was met by Goretzka.
Schmeichel saved but Davies scrambled the rebound home off his shin to send Bayern through to the last 16.
Ancelotti downplays Guardiola’s suggestion Man City have 1 percent chance of eliminating Madrid in playoffs
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- “He doesn’t really think that,” Ancelotti said on Tuesday in a pre-match news conference
- Guardiola later said he lied a bit when he talked about the 1 percent, and that he knows City’s chances of reversing the first-leg defeat are higher than that
MADRID: Coach Carlo Ancelotti is not buying Manchester City rival Pep Guardiola’s suggestion that his own side have only a 1 percent chance of eliminating Real Madrid in the Champions League playoffs on Wednesday.
Madrid rallied late to win the first leg 3-2 last week in England to seize control ahead of their home match at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium.
After City’s 4-0 win over Newcastle in the Premier League on Saturday, Guardiola said his team would arrive in the Spanish capital with a “1 percent” chance of going through to the round of 16.
“He doesn’t really think that,” Ancelotti said on Tuesday in a pre-match news conference. “Tomorrow I’ll ask him before the match if he really thinks that they only have a 1 percent chance. He thinks he has more than that, just as we don’t think that we have only a 99 percent chance. We know that we have an advantage, and we have to make the most of it.”
Guardiola later said he lied a bit when he talked about the 1 percent, and that he knows City’s chances of reversing the first-leg defeat are higher than that.
“You have to play an almost perfect game,” he said. “The result was not so good, we usually come into the second leg with a better result, so it is not the perfect situation. We have to attack, we have to score goals. We want to win, so let’s see if we can adjust some things that didn’t work in the first leg.”
Ancelotti said he was not one of those coaches who liked to fully downplay his team’s advantage.
“It’s foolish to say that we will prepare for the game as if we were tied 0-0,” he said. “Nobody will believe you because it’s a fact that we scored three goals and City two. You can’t change that. We have to try to play the same way as we played a week ago, but without forgetting that we have an advantage.”
Guardiola has never failed in 16 seasons of coaching — four at Barcelona, three at Bayern and nine in Manchester — to take his team to the last 16. The 2012-13 season was the last time City did not play at that stage.
City have been struggling recently, though, and Guardiola said that has to be taken into consideration.
“This season the reality is we have been miles, miles away,” he said. “The results have been poor.”
Madrid got the better of City in the quarterfinals last year, and with a 3-1 win in extra time in the semifinals in 2022. Each time Ancelotti’s team went on to win the title, extending the club’s record to 15 Champions League trophies.
Ancelotti can count on central defender Antonio Rüdiger, who has recovered from the muscle injury that has kept him out in recent weeks. Against City last week, Ancelotti fielded an improvised back line who played together for the first time.
Ferland Mendy, youngster Raúl Asencio and midfielders Aurélien Tchouaméni and Federico Valverde played at the back in England.
Ancelotti said Rüdiger can start on Wednesday, though he didn’t say whether the central defender would replace Tchouaméni or the 22-year-old Asencio.
It is the fourth consecutive season in which the teams are facing each other in the Champions League, with City prevailing in the semifinals two seasons ago on their way to winning the European title for the first time.
Feyenoord knock out 10-man AC Milan to reach Champions League last 16
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- Julian Carranza thumped home the winning header in the 73rd minute
- Argentine attacker Carranza struck for Feyenoord shortly after coming on as substitute
MILAN: Feyenoord reached the last 16 of the Champions League on Tuesday after a 1-1 draw at 10-man AC Milan which took them past the seven-time kings of Europe 2-1 on aggregate.
Julian Carranza thumped home the winning header in the 73rd minute at a frigid San Siro, canceling out Santiago Gimenez’s first-minute opener for Milan and sending the Dutch through to meet either Inter Milan or Arsenal.
Argentine attacker Carranza struck for Feyenoord shortly after coming on as substitute as the away side pushed to reach the next round, while Milan struggled following Theo Hernandez’s sending off early in the second half.
Already on a booking for a needless foul on Anis Hadj-Moussa just before half-time, Hernandez was ruled by referee Szymon Marciniak to have dived in the penalty box when under pressure from Givairo Read.
The France full-back was dismissed, leaving Milan on the back foot after having dominated up to that point.
Hernandez’s sending off and Carranza’s tie-winning header ruined what looked to be Gimenez’s night when he nodded home the opener against his old team after just 36 seconds.
Mexico forward Gimenez has already scored three times for Milan since signing from Feyenoord during the winter transfer window but his sixth goal in the Champions League this season was also his last.
Sergio Conceicao’s Milan are by no means assured of a spot in next year’s tournament as they sit seventh in Serie A, five points off the top four with a game in hand.
Billionaire Jim Ratcliffe’s first year at Man United has not gone to plan
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- Ratcliffe said his investment was “just the beginning of our journey to take Manchester United back to the top of English, European and world football”
- “Fans should not be paying the price for previous bad ownership & bad management,” Manchester United Supporters Trust posted on X
MANCHESTER: It’s been a year since one of Britain’s richest men bought into its most famous soccer team and vowed to bring the good times back.
So far, it hasn’t gone to plan for Manchester United or Jim Ratcliffe.
The record 20-time English champion are languishing in the bottom half of the Premier League, losing vast sums of money every year and facing fan unrest.
Even head coach Ruben Amorim said recently that this might be the worst team in the club’s storied history.
That’s not all on Ratcliffe, the billionaire owner of petrochemicals giant INEOS, but it has been a rocky start since he paid $1.3 billion for an initial 25 percent stake in United and assumed control of their soccer operations.
There have been high profile hirings and firings, brutal cost cutting, a hike in ticket prices and new lows on the field for a team that had been in decline for more than a decade before he became minority owner.
While there was triumph in the FA Cup last year, that success has been overshadowed by supporter protests, job losses, unconvincing transfers and humbling defeats.
Bold plans
Ratcliffe said his investment was “just the beginning of our journey to take Manchester United back to the top of English, European and world football.”
Those ambitions feel further away now than they have in decades, with United 15th in the standings and closer to the relegation zone than the top six after a woeful campaign. Sunday’s 1-0 loss to Tottenham was the 12th in the league this season and an eighth under Amorim, who only took charge in November.
Amorim said: “I have a lot of problems, my job is so hard, but I am here to continue my job to the next week with my beliefs.”
Major overhaul
He was one of a number of key hires made as part of Ratcliffe’s overhaul of United’s soccer operations.
Omar Berrada was lured away from Manchester City to become CEO and Dan Ashworth left Newcastle to take up the role of sporting director. Jason Wilcox, formerly director of City’s academy, became technical director.
Key figures at Ratcliffe’s Ineos Sport, Dave Brailsford and Jean-Claude Blanc, were appointed to the board and Amorim became the final piece of a new leadership team after former manager Erik ten Hag was fired in October.
But that restructuring has been far from a smooth process.
Ten Hag was fired three months after being handed a one-year contract extension with United having lost four of their opening nine league games.
Ashworth left the club less than six months after taking up his role, and after months of negotiations to take him away from Newcastle.
They were expensive missteps.
In total it cost United 10.4 million pounds ($13.09 million) to pay off Ten Hag and his staff and another 11 million pounds ($13.85 million) to trigger Amorim’s release from Sporting Lisbon.
It was reported it cost between 2 and 3 million pounds ($2.5-3.78 million) to hire Ashworth, who spent five months on gardening leave during negotiations with Newcastle.
Cost cutting
Those numbers make uncomfortable reading at a time when United has implemented cost-saving initiatives that they said included staff redundancies of around 250 roles. More could be on the way, according to reports.
In October it emerged that managerial great Alex Ferguson was not beyond the reach of those measures. He will step down from his lucrative role as club ambassador at the end of the season.
In addition to cuts, United raised their lowest-priced tickets to 66 pounds ($81) partway through the season, up from 40 pounds ($49).
They defended that decision by telling fans it could not sustain their current financial losses and were in danger of breaching league rules if they did not act. United reported losses last year of 113.2 million pounds ($140 million).
“We will get back to a cash positive position as soon as possible and we will have to make some difficult choices to get there,” they said in a letter to fans.
Fan protests
That explanation has not gone down well with supporters.
“Fans should not be paying the price for previous bad ownership & bad management,” Manchester United Supporters Trust posted on X. “The supporters bring far more value than the simple collective ticket revenue.”
Supporters spent years trying to drive out the American Glazer family, which is still majority owner, and there continues to be anger toward them after Ratcliffe’s investment.
There have been jeers for the team while United’s performances on the field have continued to slide.
New lows
Ratcliffe’s first season as co-owner saw United endure their worst league campaign in 34 years when they finished in eighth place.
The end of his first full season could be even worse.
The last time they lost 12 of their first 25 games in a league season was in the 1973-74 campaign when they were relegated from the top flight.
Transfer strategy
United have spent around $260 million on players in the two transfer windows under Ratcliffe, but the squad still looks well short of the quality required to challenge for the title.
Forward Joshua Zirkzee has struggled to adapt to the Premier League and defender Leny Yoro missed a large part of the season through injury.
The pressure of complying with the league’s financial rules has placed uncertainty on United’s ability to spend big in the summer to bring in players to suit Amorim’s preferred system, and there is unlikely to be a quick fix.
Stadium rebuild
Ratcliffe wants a world class stadium, either by way of redeveloping United’s iconic Old Trafford or building one from new.
His plans, which include an ambitious redevelopment of the surrounding area, have been backed by the UK government. Financing them, however, is another issue and it is not yet clear where that money will come from.
The modernization of United’s Carrington training ground is well underway after 50 million pounds ($63 million) of investment.
The future
United haven’t lifted the league title since Ferguson’s last season in 2013 and behind the scenes the focus is on winning it for a record-extending 21st time. But with Liverpool on course to equal United’s haul of 20 this season, it is the club’s great rival from Merseyside that could set that new bar first.
Ratcliffe is a hugely successful businessman but, as he is discovering, that does not guarantee success in soccer.
Bebeto’s baby Mattheus Oliveira now chasing success at UAE’s Al-Nasr
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- The player made famous years ago by his father’s iconic goal celebration spoke to Arab News about the UAE move and his friendship with Vinicius Jr.
LONDON: There is nothing atypical about a father going to watch his son play football, even when it is thousands of kilometers from home. What is a little more unusual, however, is when the team is Khor Fakkan and the father is one of the greatest Brazilian players of all time.
In early January, the 7,500-capacity Saqr bin Mohammad Al-Qassimi Stadium hosted Bebeto, whose glittering 20-year career included star turns on the pitches of iconic grounds such as the Maracana, Camp Nou and the Bernabeu.
The legendary Brazilian striker was in town to watch his son Mattheus Oliviera, who put in his best display yet for Khor Fakkan — setting up two goals in a 5-2 victory over Baniyas.
Mattheus, in his first season in the UAE Pro League, has since joined Al-Nasr — making a switch this week that sees him trade a relegation battle for a fight for third place and a spot in the AFC Champions League 2 group stage.
The winger ended nearly a decade-long spell in Portuguese football to move to the UAE last summer.
“It is completely new for me but I’m liking the football here so far,” Mattheus told Arab News in an exclusive interview. “It’s difficult with the heat but I am enjoying how different it is and the people are very warm here in the UAE.”
Mattheus’ decision to swap Portugal for the Gulf came after he sought advice from his brother-in-law Carlos Eduardo.
The midfielder was an influential player for Al-Hilal, Shabab Al-Ahli and Al-Ahli Jeddah before returning to Brazil, where he won a historic Copa Libertadores title with Botafogo last November.
“I spoke with him a lot when I was in Brazil last summer,” Mattheus revealed. “I wanted to know about the country, the league and of course the culture.
“He said a lot of good things to me so it helped me decide to sign the contract. I spoke with my family too and we agreed it was time for a new project in our lives.”
Of course, Mattheus also consulted his father. The 30-year-old midfielder has followed in the footsteps of many Brazilian players who have made the UAE Pro League their home — though Bebeto is not one of them.
Bebeto — whose 35 goals for the Brazil national team are only surpassed by Zico, Romario, Ronaldo, Pele and Neymar — did play in the Gulf, but it was for Saudi Arabia’s Al-Ittihad. The Jeddah giants were the final club of his illustrious career.
“We lived in Saudi for a few months. I was probably about 8 years old,” Mattheus recalled.
“I can really remember him playing at Al-Ittihad, it was the last six months of his career. It’s funny now that I’m back here in the region.”
It is not the first time that Mattheus’ career path has crossed his father’s. In Brazil, the attacking midfielder came through the youth system at Flamengo, where Bebeto scored most of his goals in domestic football.
It was here that Mattheus was first alerted to the ability of another, younger player in Flamengo’s academy.
“The first time I saw Vinicius Jr. he was around 9 years old; by the time he was 12, you already knew that he was a special player,” Mattheus said.
“He was very fast and very confident. He can lose the ball 20 times in a game but he will try 50 more times to make things happen and one he’s going to score for sure.
“I’m very happy for him because he’s my friend. I know him and I know his family. We had a good relationship and he’s a very humble guy. He is playing for Real Madrid in the top of the world but is the same guy he was as a kid.
“What he did last year and he continued to do this year is completely amazing and it has been great to see because I know he deserves this.”
Vinicius Jr. was snapped up by Real Madrid at the age of 18 but for Mattheus, the move to Europe came at a slightly later age.
After finding the label of “Bebeto’s son” tough to deal with at Flamengo, a 21-year-old Mattheus — by that time a Brazil under-20 international —initially went on loan to Portuguese side Estoril and later moved to Sporting in 2021.
“In Brazil it was very difficult to be his son because he’s a legend of the game there,” Mattheus said.
“They were comparing me the whole time and you hear people saying ‘you are only here at Flamengo and you are only going to the national team because you are Bebeto’s son.’
“It was the main reason I wanted to go to Europe because I didn’t want those comparisons; I think the whole experience made me grow up faster.
“But to me it will always be a blessing to have Bebeto as my father. I’ve had my own personal coach, a legend of the game, teaching me the right things to do on the pitch.”
It was on the pitch that Bebeto created one of football’s most iconic moments during the 1994 FIFA World Cup in the US.
After scoring Brazil’s second goal against Netherlands in the quarterfinal, Bebeto delighted the crowd at Dallas’ Cotton Bowl with a ‘baby rocking’ celebration — along with teammates Romario and Mazinho.
It was an instinctive, emotional tribute to Mattheus, who had been born two days earlier.
“It’s completely crazy because I travel a lot with my family and everywhere we go, people look at me and say to him, ‘this is the kid you did the celebration for?’ It was 30 years ago and people are still doing it to him now.
“To him, the celebration was a natural thing to do because when my brother and my sister were born, he was there to get them in his arms. When he was playing in the World Cup, he wasn’t there with my mother, so he did this. I love that he did it.”
Mattheus still has the photo of the celebration hanging above his bed at his family home in Brazil, but the midfielder has now forged his own path in football.
At Sporting, he counted Rafael Leao and Bruno Fernandes as friends and teammates, and played under current Manchester United coach Ruben Amorim.
In the UAE he emerged as a key creative force for Khor Fakkan, earning the move to Al-Nasr for the rest of the 2024-25 season. Still, Mattheus knows that whatever his circumstances and wherever in the world he plays, his father will always be on hand to support him.
“After the game (against Baniyas in January), we went back to my house and he’s still giving me advice. I think it’s the most beautiful thing to play a game of football and have him talk to me about it afterwards.
“My dad was a football player; he made history in football. I think it was in my blood to play this game and it is something special. It is a gift.”