TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2014 SPORTS

Marchisio wants new-look Juve to aim high in Europe

MILAN: Juventus midfielder Claudio to start each game believing it’s a final,” former Milan handler Massimiliano three qualifying rounds, beating FK has injected some life into Allegri’s side. Marchisio has called for complete focus said Marchisio, who opened his account Allegri. With two wins out of two so far Ventspils, Sparta Prague and FC Juve looked solid throughout their 2- as the Italian champions prepare to host for the season with a superb strike in in Serie A, Allegri has taken a small step Salzburg over two-leg ties before being 0 win over Udinese at the weekend Malmo in the Champions League today Saturday’s 2-0 home win over Udinese. towards convincing the detractors he is drawn with Olympiakos, Atletico Madrid when Carlos Tevez claimed his opening with sights already set on winning “We’ve got even more quality in our the man to revitalise Juve’s bid to rejoin and Juventus. goal of the season before Marchisio’s Group A. The Bianconeri last reached the side compared to last year.” Although Europe’s elite. But that also means any- The Swedes, coached by Age second-half strike. latter stages of the competition in 2012 only a handful of changes have been thing less than a win for the former two- Hareide, are set to be without Brazilian Ahead of Tuesday’s challenge, the before being humbled by eventual made to the nucleus of the Juventus time champions on Tuesday would undo defender Ricardinho (knee) and mid- Italy midfielder warned: “We can’t afford champions Bayern Munich in the quar- squad assembled by Antonio Conte over his good work so far. fielder Simon Thern (calf). any slip-ups. In Europe when you lose ter-finals. And having dropped into the three success-laden years, there is a dis- Reigning Swedish champions, Juve will be missing midfielders points it’s hard to win them back.” Europa League last season, where the tinct air of change in the corridors of Malmo-who finished European Cup run- and Andrea Pirlo (both Asked if Juventus could win the Italians were ousted by Benfica at the Juventus Stadium. ners-up to Nottingham Forest in 1979 — thigh) and defender Andrea Barzagli group, Marchisio added: “We have to semi-final stage, Marchisio believes Conte, who led Juve to three consec- are Sweden’s first group stage represen- (calf), although the recent signing of win the group. That’s our objective. We new-look Juve have to aim a lot higher. utive league titles, quit to become the tatives since Helsingborgs IF in 2000- wingback Patrice Evra and young strik- don’t just want to qualify, we want to go “In the Champions League we have Italy manager and has been replaced by 2001. Malmo also had to come through ers Kingsley Coman and Alvaro Morata as far as we can.” —AFP

Bayern face injury problems ahead of Man City game

MUNICH: Bayern Munich are struggling Their attacking game was far too static with fitness and injury problems ahead of for Guardiola’s taste ahead of the game their Champions League group opener against City who beat them at home in the against Manchester City tomorrow. same stage last season to end Bayern’s Dutchman Arjen Robben is doubtful record 10-game winning streak. after missing training on Sunday with a “We know we have to improve further knee problem and fellow winger Franck against Manchester City,” captain Philipp Ribery made his season debut on Saturday, Lahm said. “They are a top team, they are coming on as a substitute and scoring in English champions and we want to start the 2-0 win over VfB Stuttgart. the competition well. We are still missing a Coach Pep Guardiola, however, will need bit of rhythm.” to reshuffle his defence with Holger City have also not had an explosive start Badstuber tearing a thigh muscle tendon to their season with seven out of 12 possi- during the game and set to undergo sur- ble points and Martin Demichelis’s late gery. header rescued a 2-2 draw against Arsenal The 25-year-old, who had only recently in the on Saturday. won back his starting spot after a 20- Coach Manuel Pellegrini will not be on month absence following consecutive cru- the bench at the Allianz Arena as he serves ciate ligament tears, will be out for months. out a touchline suspension following an With the addition of Xabi Alonso, how- outburst at the referee in last season’s ever, Guardiola has one player who has defeat by Barcelona. seamlessly integrated into the Bayern The Chilean will also have to make do game. “With Xabi we had a lot of posses- without key defender Pablo Zabaleta who sion against Stuttgart,” Guardiola said of is suspended. the former Real Madrid midfielder. “Bayern are the most strong team but “He knows his job in this position. He my team has a great personality to try to has an eye for short and long passes but we win everywhere,” Pellegrini told reporters. have to help him because if he does every- “We showed that against Arsenal. Last thing then he will be dead.” season, we lost three early away games to Bayern, who won the Champions Cardiff, Aston Villa and Chelsea but we League in 2013, have yet to hit top form went on to beat Bayern in Munich. this season, with many players tired after “We have the personality to try to play the World Cup and others, including Thiago everywhere in the same way. If we contin- Alcantara, Bastian Schweinsteiger and ue like this, it will be a very close game Rafinha, out injured. against Bayern.” — Reuters

Shinji-mania grips Dortmund ahead of Arsenal clash MADRID: Real Madrid’s Portuguese forward Cristiano Ronaldo (C) takes part in a training session at Valdebebas in Madrid yesterday on the eve of the UEFA Champions League football match Real Madrid vs Basel. — AFP DORTMUND: are hop- Kagawa. “When we play well together then ing attacking midfielder Shinji Kagawa, we are extremely strong.” who returned after two years at Arsenal’s own Manchester United sign- Manchester United, can help lift the ing Danny Welbeck failed to score on his Real out to break holders’ German team past Arsenal in the own league debut against Manchester City Champions League today despite a grow- on Saturday but Arsene Wenger’s team still ing injury list. snatched a 2-2 draw ahead of their game at jinx in 60th European Cup The 2013 Champions League runners- Dortmund. up host Arsenal today after the two sides A late Martin Demichelis header denied were drawn together in the group stage for Wenger’s team what could have been a the second season in a row. memorable win. LONDON: It was who once pressure is too much. You have to go back to Dortmund and Chelsea hosting Schalke 04 - Kagawa, a crowd favourite who won The French coach, however, has his own noted famously that watching the World Cup Arrigo Sacchi’s Milan in 1990, three years may be the pick of the other opening round back-to-back league titles in 2011 and 2012 injury concerns with Mathieu Debuchy was as excruciating as visiting the dentist before the inaugural Champions League final, games. before leaving for United, returned this sea- injured on Saturday and doubtful for the while offering the counterpoint that the to find the last back-to back European cham- For a bit of romance, though, look no fur- son and scored in his first match back, a 3-1 game. Champions League was much more fun, pions. ther than Anfield where the returning five- win over Freiburg on Saturday. “Debuchy has a bad ankle sprain. I don’t quite the best competition in football. More than that, no champions since then times champions Liverpool will play host to The 80,200 crowd, unfurling Japanese know how long he will be out for but it To be fair, the old Manchester United man- have ever been succeeded by a club from the unsung Bulgarian side Ludogorets and flags and banners, gave the 25-year-old, doesn’t look too good,” Wenger said. ager did make this observation long before their own country. their amazed new celebrity, Cosmin Moti. who failed to hold down a starting spot at “People told me they need a bit more time the exhilarating 2014 edition of the World So Barcelona, with their own set of striking Defender Moti was the unlikely hero who, United, a standing ovation and hope it will to assess how long he will be out but it’s a Cup restored most football folk’s faith in the Galacticos - Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez - pressed into emergency action as substitute not be the last one. bad ankle sprain.” sport’s premier event. and last year’s beaten finalists Atletico goalkeeper in Ludogorets’ qualifying playoff “Shinji is very good for us, very good On the positive side, Wenger enjoyed So now it is time for UEFA’s ever more Madrid, still hewn from Diego Simeone’s against Steaua Bucharest, scored one and indeed,” said midfielder Sebastian Kehl. watching creative midfielder Jack Wilshere unstoppable juggernaut of an event to re- inspirational one-for-all image, have their saved two in his side’s victorious shootout. “Especially given the current situation with hit top form. establish its bragging rights as the 60th edi- work cut out. “Everything in football is possible,” said the injuries we are faced with. He still needs a “He’s coming back physically to his lev- tion of the European Cup competition - and Yet for Real, surely the pressure of finally man who had laughed that Steaua’s penalty bit more to catch up with us but he’ll get el where he can be. Unfortunately it takes the 23rd in its Champions League guise - landing the fabled 10th crown - La Decima - takers could not possibly know what he was there.” time to find that fraction of a second kicks off this week with its first set of group last season ought to make the idea of win- going to do because he did not know himself. Kagawa’s return could not have come at where you feel you can make a differ- matches on the long road to a climax at ning the not-so-exacting ‘Undecima’ seem a With Ludogorets’ first-choice keeper a better time with Dortmund missing mid- ence,” said the coach. “It looks like today Berlin’s Olympiastadion next June. mere trifle? Vladislav Stoyanov suspended, their coach fielders Nuri Sahin, , Jakub was the first time he found it on a consis- Blaszczykowski and Ilkay Guendogan along tent level through the 90 minutes.” The Champions League’s paymasters can If it happens, Ancelotti would be the first Georgi Dermendzhiev suggested, perhaps with captain for the Group Turkey’s Galatasaray and Belgium’s ask again who cares about the World Cup coach ever to win ‘the Cup with the big ears’ only half in jest, that Moti might end up in D opener. Anderlecht have also been drawn in the when hundreds of millions are able to see four times. Added to his two titles as a player goal at Anfield. “We have a team with a lot of depth and group with the top two advancing to the Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and company with Milan, it would cement this quiet achiev- It would not be just Liverpool’s Kop, who with a very high level,” said a beaming knockout stage. —Reuters strut the dandiest stages of European club er’s standing as equalling Real Madrid’s have long believed in Champions League football week in, week out over the next 10 Francisco Gento as the most decorated figure fairytales, but the entire tournament which months? in European Cup annals. would adore that. — Reuters The competition, which was worth 57.4 Gento played in all six of Real Madrid’s million euros ($74.40 million) in prize money European Cup triumphs between 1956 and to last season’s champions, has mushroomed 1966. into an unrecognisable phenomenon and Matches on TV veritable cash cow from the inaugural 29- Major casualty (Local Timings) game, 16-team tournament of 1955-1956 Surely, as Real prepare to start their which made an intriguing bow with no televi- defence at the Bernabeu against Basel on sion or sponsorship nor, indeed, sniffy Tuesday, President Florentino Perez must UEFA Champions League Englishmen. believe they can break the Champions Some things never change, though. Just as League holders’ jinx, especially if Cristiano Olympiacos v Atletico 21:45 the Cup’s first edition in 1956 was won by Ronaldo can maintain his supersonic form of beIN Sports 6 HD Real Madrid, so the Spanish aristocrats begin last term, with his record 17 goals in a cam- beIN Sports Max 4 tournament number 60 as holders and warm paign. Juventus v Malmo 21:45 favourites, even after their underwhelming Ronaldo himself predicts he is not finished beIN Sports 2 HD start to the La Liga campaign. yet, stating: beIN Sports Max 5 Even without AC Milan and Manchester “In terms of individual achievements I’m United, 10-times winners between them, in going to try to break my own records. I know Liverpool v Ludogorets 21:45 this year’s draw, there is predictability to what it’s tough, but I’m going to try.” beIN Sports 5 HD will eventuate. Indeed, it seems a decent bet that this sea- beIN Sports Max 6 It is no coincidence that the four favourites son, both Ronaldo and Messi will shoot past this season - Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, the all-time tournament record of 71, held by Real Madrid v Basel 21:45 Barcelona and Chelsea - are also the last four Real’s former immaculate marksman, Raul. beIN Sports 1 HD heavyweight winners of the trophy. Traditionalists may pine for the days The last genuine surprise winners? Jose before the occasionally less than gripping Monaco v Leverkusen 21:45 Mourinho’s Porto in 2004, 18 of the last 19 group stages when a big fish could be netted beIN Sports 3 HD winners having come from one of the conti- early in a straight knockout competition. beIN Sports 1 HD FR nent’s big four leagues - La Liga, , Yet there is always room for a major casu- Premier League and Serie A. The Champions alty to go tumbling before the end of the Benfica v Zenit 21:45 League is not big on fairytales. year. beIN Sports 7 HD Here is another predictable prediction. Bayern Munich and Manchester City, the beIN Sports Max 7 Carlo Ancelotti can claim that his Real Madrid champions of Germany and England respec- squad “is stronger than it was last year” - a tively, meet on Wednesday for the third tour- Spor v Anderiecht 21:45 beIN Sports 12 HD highly debatable assertion without Xabi nament out of four and have to repel both beIN Sports Max 8 DORTMUND: Dortmund’s Japanese midfielder Shinji Kagawa plays the ball during Alonso and Angel di Maria offering their Serie A runners-up AS Roma and Russian the German first division Bundesliga football match Borussia Dortmund vs SC excellent balance - but they will not defend champions CSKA Moscow in a highly com- Borussia v Arsenal 21:45 Freiburg in Dortmund, western Germany. Borussia Dortmund received a big boost their title. petitive Group E. beIN Sports 4 HD just ahead of the kick-off of their Champions League season at home against Arsenal Why? Modern Champions League lore dic- A couple of other Anglo-German clashes - beIN Sports 2 HD FR with Shinji Kagawa’s return to Germany easing the injury loss of Marco Reus. — AFP tates that the winner never repeats, that the Arsenal renewing familiar rivalry at Borussia