OSLO: Erling Haaland played down concerns he sustained an injury in training with Norway this week — and revealed a message he was sent by Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola before going away on international duty.
Haaland has linked up with his national team ahead of friendly matches against the Czech Republic on Friday and Slovakia on Tuesday.
Footage from a Norway training session on Tuesday showed Haaland in apparent pain, even if the Norwegian team doctor said afterward there was no problem with the striker’s fitness.
Speaking at a news conference in Oslo on Thursday, Haaland said he was “feeling fine.”
“I didn’t walk off the training — I don’t know who wrote that,” he said in English. “I trained the full training and I’m feeling good and ready to play the game.”
Guardiola will be hoping Haaland comes through Norway’s games unscathed, with City facing a run of big matches after the international break in their bid to win the English Premier League-FA Cup-Champions League treble for the second straight season.
Indeed, City play Arsenal, one of their rivals for the Premier League title, in their first game back on March 31.
Haaland, the top scorer in the Premier League last season and this season so far, has already missed nearly two months of this season because of a foot injury.
“The only thing Pep said,” Haaland said cheerfully in quotes carried by Norwegian newspaper VG, “was, ‘If you’re not well when you come back, I’ll come after you.’”
Haaland referenced the challenge of playing so many games for club and country each season, with the March international break coming at an awkward time for club managers ahead of the final weeks of the domestic seasons.
“It’s nice to play for the country,” Haaland said in VG. “But facing Arsenal next weekend versus (playing) the Czech Republic at home is different. I’m not going to lie. There’s a big difference.
“But what do you do? There are as many games as possible on the calendar. That seems to be the goal.”
Norway haven’t qualified for the European Championship being played in Germany across June and July.
Haaland plays down injury concerns and reveals message from Guardiola ahead of joining Norway squad
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Haaland plays down injury concerns and reveals message from Guardiola ahead of joining Norway squad
- Haaland said he was “feeling fine”
- “The only thing Pep said,” Haaland said cheerfully in quotes carried by Norwegian newspaper VG, “was, ‘If you’re not well when you come back, I’ll come after you’”
Nassr’s title hopes dented by Qadsiah
Al-Nassr lost 2-1 to Al-Qadsiah on Friday in what was a huge blow to their chances of winning the Saudi Pro League title. The defeat means that while the Yellows stay in third and eight points behind the leaders Al-Ittihad, there are now just six games to go. Time and matches are running out.
It was a hard-fought clash between two teams who may have to settle for a top three finish and a place in next year’s Asian Champions League. Both had chances, and both teams will feel that they could have taken all three points.In the end, however, there was just one winner.
Ten minutes before the break and Al-Qadsiah were ahead to draw first blood. Pierre-Emerick Abuameyang broke free down the right and while the Gabonese goalgetter’s shot was blocked, Turki Al-Ammar was on hand to open the scoring from close range.
It was a close run thing for much of the match, with Cristiano Ronaldo working hard to inspire Al-Nassr. Six minutes from time, however, Al-Nassr were level thanks to Sadio Mane. The Senegalese forward timed his run perfectly and then controlled a long pass from Otavio to and then fired home past the goalkeeper in one quick motion.
It seemed that Al-Nassr had earned a point at least but, then, with three minutes remaining, the hosts retook the lead and took the points. Nahitan Nandez hooked the ball into the six yard box and there was Aubameyang to head home to give the newly-promoted team a vital win.
Earlier in the day, Al-Ahli thrashed Al-Fayha 5-0. Brazilian defender Ibanez scored twice before England striker Ivan Toney also bagged a brace. Riyad Mahrez completed the five-star performance from the Jeddah giants.
"It was important to get the win but there is a long way to go until the end of this season," said Al-Ahli coach Matthias Jaissle. "Let's see what happens."
In the end however, Al-Ittihad remain in first place while Al-Hilal are in second.
Treble-chasing Inter sweat over Thuram’s fitness
- The Frenchman, Inter’s top scorer in Serie A with 14 goals, is likely to miss Sunday’s Serie A match
- “The tests revealed fatigue in the adductor muscles of his left thigh,” Inter said
MILANO: Inter Milan striker Marcus Thuram has a thigh injury, the Serie A leaders said on Friday as they wait to see if he can recover in time for their Coppa Italia semifinal against AC Milan next week.
The Frenchman, Inter’s top scorer in Serie A with 14 goals, is likely to miss Sunday’s Serie A match at fifth-placed Bologna, Italian media reported as the club confirmed Thuram underwent medical tests this morning.
“The tests revealed fatigue in the adductor muscles of his left thigh. His condition will be assessed day by day,” Inter said in a statement.
Champions Inter lead the Italian top-flight standings on 71 points after 32 games, three ahead of Napoli.
They host Milan in the second leg of their Italian Cup semifinal on Wednesday, after the first leg ended in a 1-1 draw.
Inter, one of eight teams who have won a league, cup and European Cup treble, could repeat the feat this season.
They face Barcelona, another treble-winning side, in the Champions League semifinals after advancing to the last four of Europe’s elite club competition with a 4-3 aggregate win over Bayern Munich.
Thuram, who has started 26 league games and missed only one this season, recently dropped out of the France squad due to an ankle injury.
Klopp ‘happy’ in new job despite Real Madrid rumors: agent
- Agent Marc Kosicke said 57-year-old Klopp was enjoying his new job
- RB Leipzig coach Zsolt Low said he “could not imagine” Klopp moving to Real Madrid
BERLIN: Jurgen Klopp is “very happy” in his current post at Red Bull despite rumors linking him to a return to management with Real Madrid, his agent said Friday.
The former Liverpool manager became Red Bull’s Global Head of Soccer in January, taking care of a stable of clubs including RB Leipzig, the New York Red Bulls and Bragantino in Brazil.
Real Madrid’s quarter-final elimination from the Champions League at the hands of Arsenal this week has led to speculation manager Carlo Ancelotti is headed for the exit at the end of the season.
German media reported that Klopp was one of the names that the Spanish giants want to take over in the Bernabeu dugout.
Asked about the rumors, his agent Marc Kosicke said 57-year-old Klopp was enjoying his new job.
“Jurgen is very happy with his new role with Red Bull,” Kosicke told Sky Deutschland.
Also speaking on Friday, RB Leipzig coach Zsolt Low said he “could not imagine” Klopp moving to Real Madrid, adding the German was “very happy in the job.”
Low praised Klopp’s impact, saying “he’s shown that he can bring a club together, a group of 40, 50, 60 people, and take them with him.
“He adds incredible value with his experience, his human quality and his energy.”
In a 23-year career as a top-flight manager with Liverpool, Borussia Dortmund and Mainz, Klopp left each club of his own accord, a rarity in coaching.
“No matter where he’s been, he’s given 100 percent,” Low said, adding “regardless of where he is he’s stayed and done the job. It’s important to him to make a clean exit.”
Bayer Leverkusen manager Xabi Alonso is considered a leading candidate for the Real Madrid job. Alonso, a former Madrid player, said Friday it was “not the time” to discuss his future.
Morocco ex-football club chair denies seizing villa in drug case
- Said Naciri is being tried alongside the head of a regional council in eastern Morocco, Abdennabi Bioui, in a vast drug trafficking case
- Naciri denied the allegation in court on Friday, saying he legally purchased the villa
CASABLANCA: The former president of Morocco’s most successful football club maintained in court Friday that he legally acquired a villa he is accused of seizing from a convicted Malian drug trafficker dubbed the “Escobar of the Sahara.”
Said Naciri, who was chairman of Casablanca club Wydad AC and president of the city’s prefectural council, is being tried alongside the head of a regional council in eastern Morocco, Abdennabi Bioui, in a vast drug trafficking case related to the jailed kingpin.
Both defendants — former officials of the Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM), a member of the country’s ruling coalition — have been in custody since the end of 2023, and face charges of “possession, marketing, and export of drugs,” as well as corruption and related offenses.
Naciri was accused by the Malian trafficker, Ahmed Ben Brahim, of having wrongfully dispossessed him of a villa in an upscale Casablanca neighborhood, one of Naciri’s lawyers told AFP.
But Naciri denied the allegation in court on Friday, saying he legally purchased the villa though a real estate company in 2017 before finalizing the acquisition in 2019.
“I am taking advantage of my hearing before the court to refute the false allegations being made,” he told the court, presenting documents and testimony that he said supported his version of events.
The trial is the first in Morocco to see prominent political figures accused in a drug trafficking case.
It opened last May, and involves 25 people alleged to have played roles in the trafficking network of Ben Brahim, who is currently serving a 10-year prison sentence.
Ben Brahim, whose complaint initiated the proceedings against Naciri and Bioui, accuses the pair of helping him smuggle drugs to elsewhere in North Africa and the Sahel.
The next hearing in the case is scheduled for April 25.
CAF fines its president’s club $100,000 after African Champions League fan disorder
- Motsepe has been president of African soccer’s governing body CAF for four years and was re-elected unopposed last month
- Esperance was fined $150,000 for the fan misconduct
CAIRO: CAF fined its president’s club $100,000 after violent fan clashes at an African Champions League game between two teams that are going to the FIFA Club World Cup in the United States.
Mamelodi Sundowns, owned by Patrice Motsepe — a South African mining billionaire and FIFA vice president – breached safety and security rules hosting an April 1 game against Esperance of Tunisia, the Confederation of African Football said in a disciplinary ruling late Thursday.
Motsepe has been president of African soccer’s governing body CAF for four years and was re-elected unopposed last month.
The African soccer body said Sundowns “is required to strictly implement the safety and security measures specified in the CAF regulations, guidelines and directives, particularly in their upcoming matches.”
Esperance was fined $150,000 for the fan misconduct, CAF said, related to clashes in the stands at the quarterfinal, first leg game.
Sundowns won the first leg 1-0 in Pretoria and advanced to the semifinals after the return game ended 0-0 in Tunis one week later. The South African team on Saturday hosts Al Ahly of Egypt — another Club World Cup team — in the first leg of the semifinals.
Sundowns and Esperance are both coming to the US in June as two of Africa’s four entries in the first 32-team Club World Cup organized by FIFA.
Both qualified because of consistently good results over four years in the CAF Champions League through 2024.
Sundowns has been drawn in a Club World Cup group with Ulsan of South Korea, Borussia Dortmund of Germany and Fluminense of Brazil, playing games in Orlando, Cincinnati and Miami.
Esperance is in a group with Chelsea of England, Brazil’s Flamengo and a third team that was to be Leon, which FIFA disqualified because it is in the same ownership as another Mexican team that qualified, Pachuca. Those games are in Philadelphia and Nashville.
Leon has a May 5 hearing with the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Madrid in its appeal against FIFA’s ruling. The Club World Cup is played in 11 US cities from June 14 to July 13.
