Sports FRIDAY, JANUARY 24, 2014 44

Preview Bayern must shed holiday spirit as league resumes

BERLIN: Leaders Bayern Munich must Bundesliga lead over second-placed ankle injury and missed training this eight games before the winter break. quickly ditch any lingering holiday spirit Bayer Leverkusen and a further 11 from week, making his participation also “We have been training hard and we are or risk a bumpy Bundesliga restart at third-placed Gladbach before the tradi- doubtful and raising questions about his third in the league after all. We want to Borussia Moenchengladbach today, mid- tional break in December. Borussia fitness for the rest of the season. The give Bayern in their own stadium a run for fielder Thomas Mueller warned. Dortmund are a further point behind in Germany international has failed to hit their money.” The Bavarians suffered a surprise 3-0 fourth. They are through to the top form this season, plagued by the nag- Leverkusen, eager to remain on defeat to Austria’s Salzburg in a friendly Champions League Last 16 where they ging injury that required surgery last year Bayern’s heels and secure second spot, last week and Mueller said the result was will face English leaders Arsenal as they and saw him miss the start of the season. travel to lowly Freiburg tomorrow. Fellow proof that the runaway leaders needed to seek to become the first club to win back- Gladbach will be a tough nut to crack, Champions League competitors up the tempo against Gladbach. to-back titles. They are also on track to having set a string of club records en Dortmund, still without injured Ilkay “Gladbach will make our lives very dif- defend the German Cup. Bayern coach route to a third-place finish at the start of Guendogan, Mats Hummels and Neven ficult,” Mueller said yesterday. “We have Pep Guardiola will have to deal with some the winter break. They have dropped just Subotic, host Augsburg and are in des- to snap out of that holiday atmosphere injury problems, though, with Arjen two points in their nine home games this perate need of a home win after losing because there are three points up for Robben back in training in the last few season. The five-times German champi- their last three league matches at their grabs.” days following a seven-week absence. “I ons will be without defenders Tony stadium. Schalke, the fourth German “Saturday’s defeat was good in a way am obviously not at 100 percent yet,” the Jantschke and Roel Brouwers but will team to advance in the Champions because it showed us that with just half of 30-year-old Dutchman told reporters on have Spaniard Alvaro Dominguez back League, will be hoping striker Klaas-Jan our commitment you cannot achieve any- Wednesday. after he broke his shoulder in October. Huntelaar will make his comeback after a thing,” said the Germany international. Holding midfielder Bastian “We are ready for Bayern,” said five month injury absence when they Bayern stormed into a seven-point Schweinsteiger is also still nursing an Dominguez, whose were unbeaten in travel to Hamburg on Sunday. —Reuters

Preview Preview Barca eye league boost from in-form Messi

BARCELONA: Barcelona will hope Lionel Messi’s return to 15 matches ago. It is what we expected and so the situation form and full fitness can inspire them to victory at home to now is not surprising. We have always been in a contest with Malaga this weekend after a rare back-to-back winless run Barca and Madrid.”—Reuters opened up the La Liga title race. The Argentine laid on three assists for Cristian Tello on Wednesday as Barca came from Fredy Guarin behind to beat Levante 4-1 in the first leg of their King’s Cup quarter final tie — Messi’s 400th appearance for the Catalan Guarin situation adds to club. It was a very different encounter to when the two side’s the confusion at Inter met in the league last weekend, where Levante managed to ITALY: Inter Milan are hoping that their decision to pull out of frustrate the champions and temper the Argentine’s flair in a an agreed swap involving Fredy Guarin, which critics say has 1-1 stalemate. badly damaged the club’s credibility, will have at least placated Messi has been brought back slowly after several ham- their restless fans. Inter, joint fifth in Serie A, host joint-bottom string injuries during 2013, the latest in mid-November see- club Catania on Sunday (1400) after a turbulent week in which ing him sidelined until after Christmas. He was initially intro- fan power appeared to be decisive in persuading club presi- duced twice as a substitute but is now firing on all cylinders. dent Erick Thohir to call off the deal to exchange Guarin for “When Messi plays like he did in the second half he was Juventus forward Mirko Vucinic. The Indonesian business able to open up the game and could open up any other,” tycoon abandoned the deal after fans wrote an open letter of Barca coach Gerardo Martino told reporters after the protest and then gathered outside the club offices on Tuesday. Levante cup match. The decision angered Juventus, who said their bitter rivals “Leo came more into the contest and it changed. When had shown a lack of respect to both players and treated them you have little space and the rival closes you down you need unfairly. Inter have won only one out of eight Serie A games players like Messi to create that space. He didn’t score but since Thohir replaced Massimo Moratti in November and the gave three key assists to turnaround the game. new president has upset fans by warning them that the club “When we need him most, like today, he has come and are in a transitional period. Thohir took over after the helped us.” The return to form of Messi is all the more impor- International Sports Capital consortium, owned by himself and tant with Neymar’s ankle injury, picked up against Getafe, two Indonesian partners, paid 75 million euros ($101.73 mil- likely to see him miss several matches. Barca’s draw with lion) and took on all of Inter Milan’s debt of about 180 million Atletico Madrid at the top of La Liga, followed by both sides euros in exchange for a 70 percent stake. Guarin’s future again failing to win last weekend has opened up the title remains uncertain, with media speculation now saying that he race. Real Madrid are now just one point behind. may move to an English Premier League club before the end of Real, who face Granada, have found consistency follow- the transfer window. The Colombian midfielder, who joined ing a stuttering start to the campaign. They have won their Inter two years ago, has been given two days’ off following the last eight games in all competitions and haven’t conceded a collapse of the deal, according to Italian media. goal in seven of those. Forward Diego Milito said there were no hard feelings “This is the line to follow for us as if we can keep secure at against Guarin, who has reacted angrily to being substituted the back then we know we will get chances in attack with on a couple of occasions. “We’ll welcome him as we always the quality we have there,” Real defender Alvaro Arbeloa have done because he’s a great team-mate and he’s always told reporters. “There is a good relationship in the dressing given so much,” the Argentine striker told Inter’s website room with the coach and we need to keep this run going.” (www.inter.it). Atletico remain behind Barcelona on goal difference and “I’m not going to put myself in his shoes because it’s now have a derby with struggling Rayo Vallecano. Knowing between him and the club and we hope the issue can be that Barca had only managed a draw against Levante, they resolved in the best way for everyone. wasted the chance to go two points clear as they were also “All I can say is that Fredy needs to stay calm, whether he held 1-1 by Sevilla last Sunday. “Normally we have been stays or goes...the rest of us are just thinking about Sunday’s playing before Barcelona and if it had been the other way match.” “(I hope) that the fans support us on Sunday as they’ve round then we would be happy,” Atletico coach Diego always done, they’ve shown how close they are to us over the Simeone told a news conference, refusing to be downheart- years, in the good times and bad.—Reuters ed. “(Real) Madrid are now where we expected them to be Barcelona’s Argentinian forward Lionel Messi