SERIE A
Ibrahimovic becomes oldest scorer as toothless Milan lose 3-1 at Udinese
AC Milan’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic became the oldest goalscorer in Serie A history but it was not enough to prevent them suffering a 3-1 loss at Udinese on Saturday in a blow to the defending champions’ hopes of securing a top-four finish.
Milan missed the chance to jump to second and remained fourth with 48 points, a point clear of fifth-placed AS Roma, who play Lazio on Sunday.
“It was a negative performance. When the team plays like this, neither aggressive, nor intense, nor precise or focused, it means the coach has worked badly in preparing the match. We were too far below our capabilities this evening,” Milan manager Stefano Pioli told Sky Sport Italia.
“Look, it’s clear we won’t retain the Scudetto, but we can win this mini-league of teams trying to qualify for the Champions League. We want and can do better this season.”
Udinese took the lead after nine minutes when Lazar Samardzic intercepted a poor pass from Ismael Bennacer in midfield and surged forward into the box, where Roberto Pereyra latched onto the ball and slotted it into the right corner.
It took Milan 20 minutes to get a foothold in the match after the hosts had taken an aggressive approach from the first whistle, creating several chances to double their lead.
It was Milan who struck next however, albeit in confusing circumstances.
Milan striker Ibrahimovic first missed a penalty after a handball late in the first half, before it was ordered to be retaken due to encroachment after play had already continued for a minute.
Udinese coach Andrea Sottil was sent off after verbally abusing the referee following the decision.
Ibrahimovic, who was starting his first game since January 2022, did not miss a second time, converting four minutes into first-half stoppage time, to become the oldest goalscorer in Serie A history at 41 years and 166 days.
He surpassed the previous record set by Alessandro Costacurta in 2007 by 141 days. Costacurta also scored his last goal from the penalty spot for Milan in a defeat against Udinese.
The celebrations were short-lived, however, as Beto put Udinese back ahead two minutes later when he converted an Isaac Success cross from close range.
Udinese made sure of the win when an unmarked Kingsley Ehizibue tapped in a pass from Destiny Udogie at the back post in the 70th minute.
The win maintained Udinese’s hopes of playing in Europe next season, as they moved up to eighth place, seven points behind Atalanta in sixth, the last qualification place.
-Reuters
Pope Leo XIV welcomed Italy’s newly crowned Serie A champions Napoli to the Vatican on Tuesday, joking about his own soccer allegiances.
Napoli won their fourth “Scudetto” on Friday with a 2-0 home victory over Cagliari, edging out Inter Milan by one point in a nail-biting end to the season.
The team, captained by Italian international Giovanni Di Lorenzo, arrived for their papal audience a day after a triumphant open-top bus parade through central Naples.
“The press says I am an AS Roma fan, but you are welcome! This is what the press says. Not everything you read in the press is true,” the pope said, according to a transcript.
Leo, the first pope to come from the U.S., follows and practices sports, including tennis. People who know him have described him to the media as an AS Roma supporter.
Napoli chairman Aurelio De Laurentiis gave him a blue Napoli jersey signed by players, bearing the number 10 and his name in Italian, “Papa Leone XIV”.
“You are a number 10, so you are a great striker”, De Laurentiis said. Leo replied with a chuckle and a simple “thank you”.
Coach Antonio Conte, whom De Laurentiis introduced as “deeply Catholic”, knelt down and kissed the pope’s hand, before Leo told him he had seen him many times on TV.
In a short speech, the pontiff stressed the importance of team spirit and collaboration, and sport’s educational value, especially for young people.
Winning comes “at the end of a long journey, where what matters the most is not a one-time exploit or the extraordinary performance of one champion”, he said.
“The championship is won by the team, and when I say ‘team’ I mean the players, the coach with the whole squad, and the club,” he added.
Leo ended his remarks giving his blessings to players and club officials, and offering congratulations, also on behalf of his personal cook.
“She is from Naples and she says: best wishes! She would like to be here too, Mrs Rosa, (she is) a big fan”, the pope said.
-Reuters
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A second-half goal by substitute Ibrahim Sulemana earned Atalanta a 2-1 home win over AS Roma in Serie A on Monday, securing Champions League qualification for Gian Piero Gasperini’s side.
Sulemana sealed the three points for Atalanta in the 76th minute, scoring with a low strike from just outside the area, after Roma midfielder Bryan Cristante cancelled out an early opener by Ademola Lookman.
Atalanta, who fell behind in the title race, sit third in the standings on 71 points and have a seven-point cushion over fourth-placed Juventus and Lazio in fifth with two games left to play.
Roma, who failed to capitalise on Lazio and Juventus dropping points in a 1-1 stalemate on Saturday, are sixth with 63 points.
Atalanta snapped the visitors’ impressive unbeaten league run of 19 games, with Claudio Ranieri’s side previously having been defeated mid-December at Como.
Things started off brightly for Atalanta as Lookman stroked in past Roma goalkeeper Mile Svilar to put them in front after nine minutes.
Charles De Ketelaere dribbled past the Roma defence to set the Nigerian up with a precise low cross inside the box and the striker controlled the ball to score inside the right post.
It was Atalanta’s 100th goal this season across all competitions.
De Ketelaere had two good chances to double the advantage but Roma midfielder Cristante levelled for the visitors instead, netting with a flicked header after the half-hour mark.
Things slowed down significantly after a lively first half until Roma were awarded a penalty after an hour of play, following a clash between Atalanta’s Mario Pasalic and Manu Kone.
The referee, however, overturned his decision after consulting VAR.
Sulemana eventually restored the lead for Atalanta in the 76th minute, scoring with a low strike from just outside the area — a goal that stood after a VAR check for a potential offside.
Roma host AC Milan next weekend before visiting mid-table Torino in their bid to qualify for Europe’s elite club competition for the first time since the 2018-19 campaign.
Atalanta travel to Genoa on Sunday before welcoming lowly Parma in their final fixture.
-Reuters
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Paul Pogba can return to competition with the end of his 18-month doping ban on Tuesday, with the 2018 world champion hoping to leave behind three cataclysmic years also marked by injuries and a kidnapping case of which he was the victim.
The long penance of the French international (91 caps), one of the biggest stars in the world of football, is coming to an end and the midfielder will be able to draw a line under what seems like a slow descent into hell.
Suspended for four years after testing positive for non-endogenous testosterone metabolites (DHEA) at the end of the Juventus-Udinese match on August 20, 2023, Pogba saw his sanction reduced to 18 months by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, the CAS considering that the “ingestion” of the substance “was not intentional and resulted from taking a food supplement prescribed by a doctor in Florida.”
Based in Miami, the native of Lagny-sur-Marne, east of Paris, is now ready to bounce back, his Instagram account still very popular (62.7 million followers) multiplies photos of intensive training, with a few fashion shots, another of his passions. Sign of his return, at least in the media, while waiting to be able to resume the thread of his prestigious career.
His ultimate dream remains the 2026 World Cup, but he would first have to find a club. La Pioche (32 years old on March 15), whose contract with Juventus Turin that ran until 2026 was terminated last November, “is training 1000%, he is in good spirits, he has received many offers”, assures a member of his entourage. He is also in regular contact with the coach of the Blues Didier Deschamps, “one of his advisors for sporting decisions”, according to one of his close friends.
But who could be interested in a player whose last match was on September 3, 2023 with Juve?
During one of his rare public appearances, on AmineMaTue’s Twitch channel in January, he explained that he had received ” proposals, not very interesting stuff”, such as “going to play in Russia, but that’s not the goal “.
A contract, he admitted, ” doesn’t depend on me, but on many other things.”
– Strength of character –
David Beckham’s Inter Miami could be a solution. Pogba lives in the Florida metropolis where he bought a house, he was in the stands for the Roses’ first MLS match of the season, against New York City (2-2), on February 23, and he is fine-tuning his fitness with the fitness coach of Lionel Messi, the team’s star.
Olympique de Marseille also sounded him out, and football director Medhi Benatia played with him at Juventus. But OM did not want to take the risk of signing a player whose fitness is surrounded by too many questions.
In any case, morale seems to be at its highest, with Pogba having always maintained his legendary strength of character even in the worst of storms.
“I ‘ve had a difficult year, so I have this rage, this desire to play football and enjoy it until the end of my career,” he said on Al Jazeera channel, just before his positive test.
Also badly affected by the kidnapping case of which he was the victim in 2022, he can now also try to forget this sordid episode with the end of the trial of his attackers at the end of 2024, his brother Mathias and five of his childhood friends having been sentenced to terms of up to eight years in prison.
“I can finally turn the page on this extremely difficult period. This conclusion is an opportunity for everyone to focus on the future. Now that the judgment has been delivered, I can fully concentrate on my return to professional football ,” he wrote to AFP after the verdict.
” That he can rediscover the pleasure of playing on the pitch, that’s all I wish for him because humanly he’s really a good person ,” said Didier Deschamps in 2024.
–Le360/AFP
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