MAINZ, Germany: A Bundesliga game scheduled for Friday between Mainz and Union Berlin has been postponed because of ice in the stadium, Mainz and the German league said Thursday.
Heavy snow on Wednesday has caused disruption across large parts of Germany.
Host Mainz said they have concerns about “security risks for spectators” because of large amounts of ice in the stands at the MEWA Arena, particularly in a section for standing spectators, and on the roads leading to the stadium.
No new date has yet been set for the game.
It is the second Bundesliga game this season to be called off because of snow and ice.
Both involved Union Berlin.
Bayern Munich’s game with Union was postponed last month after heavy snow caused severe disruption in Munich. That rescheduled game is set to be played Wednesday.
Bundesliga game between Mainz and Union Berlin postponed because of ice in the stadium
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Bundesliga game between Mainz and Union Berlin postponed because of ice in the stadium
- Host Mainz said they have concerns about “security risks for spectators” because of large amounts of ice in the stands
Feels like 1979: Nottingham Forest move into 2nd place behind rampant Liverpool in Premier League
- Liverpool are nine points ahead of Arsenal and 10 above Chelsea, with all three teams having played 18 games
- Tottenham’s roller-coaster of a season had another downturn as Spurs conceded a late equalizer to draw 2-2 at home against Wolves
LONDON: The Premier League table is starting to have a 1979 kind of feel to it — with Liverpool at the top of the standings and Nottingham Forest in second place as the closest challenger.
Liverpool padded their lead with a 5-0 rout of West Ham on Sunday, while upstart Nottingham Forest climbed into second place by beating Everton 2-0 to continue their surprising push for a Champions League place.
Forest were runners-up behind Liverpool in the English top tier in 1979 — the same year they won the first of two straight European Cups under Brian Clough — but hasn’t finished that high in the domestic first division since then.
The club’s long-suffering fans finally have reason to believe that the good times are back under Nuno Espirito Santo. Although the Portuguese manager was the first to point out that his team may not stay in second place for very long.
“It doesn’t mean anything,” Nuno said of his team’s position. “We haven’t achieved anything yet.”
Forest could find itself back in fourth place by Jan. 1 as they are only one point above Arsenal and two ahead of Chelsea, with both London clubs having a game in hand.
Liverpool could prove a lot harder to overtake, though, as Arne Slot’s team only seems to be growing stronger and stronger.
The performance at West Ham was one of their most impressive yet, with five different players getting on the scoresheet — including Mohamed Salah, who netted the team’s third for his league-leading 17th of the season.
Salah also had an assist to take his tally to 52 goal contributions in all competitions for the calendar year 2024 — 29 goals and 23 assists.
Salah was asked after the match if he would soon have good news for fans about his future beyond the end of this season, when his contract expires. The Egyptian told Sky Sports: “No, we are far away from that.”
“The only thing on my mind is I want Liverpool to win the league and I want to be part of that,” Salah said. “I will do my best for the team to win the trophy. There is a few other teams catching up with us and we need to stay focused and humble and go again.”
Liverpool are nine points ahead of Arsenal and 10 above Chelsea, with all three teams having played 18 games.
Manchester City is 14 points back having played 19 games, after beating Leicester 2-0 away.
Guardiola marks milestone with win
In his 500th game in charge of Man City, Pep Guardiola had some reasons to smile again.
City marked Guardiola’s milestone with a win and a goal from Erling Haaland — things that the Spaniard used to take for granted but have been increasingly rare of late for the struggling four-time defending Premier League champions.
Savinho also netted his first goal for the club in a much-needed win, although the team still looked far from the juggernaut that has dominated English soccer for much of the Spaniard’s reign.
Leicester had several chances for an equalizer before Savinho set up Haaland for the second in the 74th as City ended a five-game winless run in all competitions.
“Just relief, that is the word to express how all of us feel,” Guardiola said. “It was not the ideal performance but hopefully the victories will give our mood a better position. ... Hopefully in the new year we can bounce back a bit from a bad moment.”
This was only the club’s second win in 14 games in all competition. And even against a team mired in the relegation zone, City was pegged back for much of the second half until Haaland’s header ended Leicester’s resistance.
Savinho put the team ahead in the 21st minute by pouncing on the rebound after Phil Foden drove forward and tried a low shot from distance that Leicester goalkeeper Jakub Stolarczyk pushed to the side. The ball fell into the path of the onrushing Savinho, who lifted it over the goalkeeper and into the net.
The winger then turned provider by lifting a perfect cross into the box for Haaland to head home the second, shortly after Jamie Vardy had missed a good chance for a Leicester equalizer.
Spurs drop points again
Tottenham’s roller-coaster of a season had another downturn as Spurs conceded a late equalizer to draw 2-2 at home against Wolves.
Ange Postecoglou has come under increasing criticism of late because of his team’s all-attacking style of play and the team’s defensive vulnerabilities were on display again as Jorgen Strand Larsen was afforded space to beat Fraser Forster at his near post in the 87th minute.
Wolves had taken the lead through Hwang Hee-chan after a well-worked free kick routine in the seventh minute, but Rodrigo Bentancur equalized five minutes later and Brennan Johnson gave Tottenham the lead on the stroke of halftime.
Substitute Dango Ouattara netted an even later equalizer for Bournemouth to draw 2-2 at Fulham, while Crystal Palace came from a goal down to beat last-place Southampton 2-1.
Antonio Conte has Napoli back atop Serie A to end 2024 after miserable title defense last season
- Juventus and Fiorentina drew 2-2 in a match that was briefly suspended because of discriminatory chants aimed at Juventus striker Dusan Vlahovic
- AC Milan drew 1-1 with visiting Roma
ROME: Napoli went through three different coaches during their Serie A title defense last season and ended the campaign in 10th place.
Antonio Conte was hired in July and now Napoli are ending 2024 level with Atalanta atop the Italian league again.
Substitute Giacomo Raspadori scored a late goal and Napoli beat relegation-threatened Venezia 1-0 on Sunday in their final match of the year.
Napoli trail Atalanta only on goal difference but both teams are one point ahead of defending champions Inter Milan, who have a game in hand.
“Even if I play cards with my daughter I want to win,” said Conte, who was hired to get Napoli back into the Champions League. “Personally, I don’t accept minimal goals. But we all know where we started and what the club’s objectives are.”
Atalanta drew 1-1 at Lazio on Saturday and Inter won 3-0 at Cagliari.
Also Sunday, Juventus and Fiorentina drew 2-2 in a match that was briefly suspended because of discriminatory chants aimed at Juventus striker Dusan Vlahovic; and AC Milan drew 1-1 with visiting Roma.
After Luciano Spalletti coached Napoli to the Serie A title in 2022-23, Rudi Garcia, Walter Mazzarri and Francesco Calzona managed the team last season, when the Partenopei finished a whopping 41 points behind Inter.
“What happened is in the past. The present is what counts,” Napoli captain Giovanni Di Lorenzo said. “It’s great to be back on top but there’s still a long way to go.”
Napoli had struggled to get the ball past Venezia goalkeeper Filip Stankovic, the son of former Lazio and Inter standout Dejan Stankovic. But Raspadori broke the deadlock in the 79th when he used one touch to fire in a loose ball from the center of the area less than 10 minutes after he came on.
“These are tough matches where it means a lot to come away with three points,” Raspadori said. “We know we’re on the right path.”
In the first half, Stankovic saved a penalty kick from Romelu Lukaku. Then in the second half Stankovic deflected a shot from Lukaku off the post.
Napoli produced 25 shots to Venezia’s four.
Napoli’s 27 goals scored are the least among the top six teams in the standings.
“The squad is improving under every point of view. We just need to score more goals,” Conte said.
Discriminatory chants aimed at Vlahovic prompt brief suspension
Discriminatory chants aimed at Juventus striker Dusan Vlahovic by visiting Fiorentina fans prompted a two-minute suspension during the first half.
Vlahovic, a Serbia international who played for Fiorentina before transferring to Juventus three years ago, appeared to tell the referee about the chants. The ref then stopped play, gathered the teams and ordered a warning announcement to be made over the stadium’s public address system.
The announcement said that the match would be suspended definitively if there were more discriminatory chants.
Play then resumed.
Khephren Thuram put Juventus ahead midway through the first half. Former Juventus striker Moise Kean equalized before the break with his 15th goal across all competitions this season. Thuram added another in the second half and Fiorentina equalized again with a volley from Riccardo Sottil in the 87th.
Juventus and Fiorentina are both nine points behind the leaders.
Juventus is the only unbeaten team in the league but the Bianconeri have drawn more matches (11) than they’ve won (seven).
At the San Siro, Tijjani Reijnders put Milan ahead early on and Paulo Dybala equalized for Roma. Under-pressure Milan coach Paulo Fonseca was sent off for protests at the end of the first half.
Earlier, Torino came back from two goals down to draw 2-2 at Udinese.
Gulf Cup final rescheduled, competition organizers announce
- Committee did not give reason for change of date
- First semifinal sees Saudi Arabia face Oman
KUWAIT CITY: The final match of the 26th Arabian Gulf Cup will now be played on Saturday, Jan. 4, the Competitions Committee of the Gulf Football Federation announced on Sunday.
Originally scheduled for Jan. 3, the championship match will now take place a day later at the Jaber Al-Ahmad International Stadium in Kuwait City.
Khaled Al-Muqrin, head of the committee, said that the decision to reschedule the final had been reached during a committee meeting on Sunday and followed consultations with Gulf football federations, all of which unanimously approved the change.
The committee did not give a reason for the change of date.
While the final has been moved, the semifinal matches will proceed as planned.
The first semifinal sees Saudi Arabia face Oman on Tuesday afternoon. Later that evening, Bahrain will take on hosts Kuwait.
The Green Falcons reached the last four after a convincing 3-1 win over Group B rivals Iraq on Saturday and will hope to reach their fifth final since 2009 and secure a first Gulf Cup title since 2004.
Manchester City stop the rot with victory at Leicester
- Savinho and Erling Haaland struck either side of half-time
- City ended a run of eight away games without a win
LEICESTER: Manchester City provided Pep Guardiola some relief with a 2-0 victory at Leicester to secure just a second win in 14 games for the crisis-hit English champions on Sunday.
Savinho and Erling Haaland struck either side of half-time as City ended a run of eight away games without a win.
The performance was still far from the standards that Guardiola’s side have set in winning an unprecedented four consecutive English top-flight titles.
But the effusive celebrations of Haaland’s header 16 minutes from time showed that three points was all that mattered for the visitors to at least temporarily halt their remarkable slump.
Victory lifts City up to fifth but they are still 11 points behind leaders Liverpool, who have two games in hand.
Defeat leaves Leicester still rooted in the bottom three.
Guardiola made just one change from the 1-1 Boxing Day draw against Everton as Kevin De Bruyne replaced his Belgian international colleague Jeremy Doku.
De Bruyne’s fitness struggles have played a part in City’s slump and he immediately showed what Guardiola’s men have been missing for most of the season.
Rico Lewis picked out De Bruyne, who cushioned a cross into the path of Haaland but his low effort was well saved by Leicester’s stand-in goalkeeper Jakub Stolarczyk.
Leicester have now lost their last four games after a bright start to Ruud van Nistelrooy’s reign.
The Foxes were left to rue not taking their chances to inflict more misery on a City side still showing a clear lack of confidence.
Any time the home side crossed into City territory in the first half they appeared a major threat.
Jamie Vardy would surely have won a penalty had he not strayed offside before being brought down by Stefan Ortega, while James Justin’s header hit the post after a goalmouth scramble.
City, though, got the crucial opening goal on 21 minutes.
Stolarczyk should have done better than to parry Phil Foden’s long-range effort into the path of Savinho, who swept the rebound into the roof of the net for his first City goal.
Chances continued to come and go for Leicester early in the second half.
Justin should have levelled but his mishit finish from close range allowed Manuel Akanji to clear off the line.
Vardy then had the biggest chance to level when he prodded over Stephy Mavididi’s brilliant in-swinging cross.
However, they were hit by a City sucker punch to end the defending champions’ miserable run on the road.
Savinho was the creator this time as his cross perfectly picked out Haaland, who powered home his 19th of the season ending his four-game goal drought.
Atalanta snatch late draw at Lazio to hold Serie A lead
- Atalanta showed great character to battle back from Fisayo Dele-Bashiru’s 27th-minute goal which came in an intense opening period from Lazio
ROME: Atalanta kept hold of top spot in Serie A on Saturday after escaping Lazio with a 1-1 draw which kept Inter Milan at bay but ended their club-record league winning streak at 11 matches.
Marco Brescianini tapped home into an open goal with two minutes remaining to snatch a point from the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, where a passionate crowd thought a big win was coming their way.
Instead Atalanta will end a historic year a point ahead of Inter, who have a game in hand, after the champions briefly drew level on points with a 3-0 win earlier at Cagliari.
Europa League holders Atalanta will lead the league even if Napoli beat Venezia on Sunday and draw level on 41 points with Gian Piero Gasperini’s side who have a significantly better goal difference than the 2023 champions.
Should two teams finish level at the top of Serie A come the end of the season they will face off in a single match to decide the destination of the Scudetto, which Atalanta have never won.
“We struggled for long periods in the first half, but we were much better in the second,” said Atalanta coach Gasperini.
“This year has been the best year in Atalanta’s history, let’s hope we can make 2025 the same.”
Atalanta showed great character to battle back from Fisayo Dele-Bashiru’s 27th-minute goal which came in an intense opening period from Lazio.
The away side were initially blitzed by Lazio, with Marco Carnesecchi making two sensational stops before Matteo Guendouzi curled a great strike off the post in the 11th minute.
But as the match wore on, Atalanta, who were without injured star striker Mateo Retegui, grew into the game and deservedly drew level in front of a boisterous and hostile crowd in the Italian capital.
Brescianini netted his third goal of the season thanks largely to Ademola Lookman, who made up for earlier missing from yards out by beating Lazio’s offside trap, meeting Nicolo Zaniolo’s hooked pass and rolling across to his teammate to salvage a precious point.
Next up, Atalanta travel to play the Italian Super Cup in Saudi Arabia, where they will face Inter on Thursday.
Lautaro Martinez ended an eight-match scoring drought at Cagliari, netting the second in an engaging contest in Sardinia which Inter won with second-half goals from the Argentina striker, Alessandro Bastoni and Hakan Calhanoglu.
Inter have won their last five in Italy’s top flight, scoring 19 and conceding just once, a burst in form which has re-established Inter as favorites to retain the Scudetto.
The only thing missing for Inter were goals from captain Martinez, who hadn’t scored since November 3 before he prodded home Nicolo Barella’s cross in the 71st minute on Saturday.
“The most important thing is that Inter win. If I get a goal too, then that’s a bonus,” said Martinez.
“We work hard every day to win trophies and anyone who sets foot on the pitch will give their all for the team. We’ve just got to keep going and make 2025 like this year.”
Inter could have won by an even more convincing margin had captain Martinez not wasted great chances in each half and Cagliari goalkeeper Simone Scuffet not pulled off superb saves to deny Marcus Thuram and Barella.
But Martinez did net his seventh goal this season in all competitions and seven minutes later Calhanoglu made absolutely sure of the points from the penalty spot.
Cagliari are just inside the relegation zone after a fourth consecutive defeat for Davide Nicola’s side, a point behind Verona and Como who both play on Monday.
