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Sports 38 SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2020
PARIS (AFP) - While Neymar has
been partying with an injured
rib, and Kylian Mbappe has been
making no attempt to hide his
displeasure with his coach, Paris
Saint-Germain (PSG) supporters
could be forgiven for having that
sinking feeling.
This has been the time of year
when the French club’s season has
tended to implode in recent years,
with three successive eliminations
in the „irst knockout round of the
Champions League.
They are currently unbeaten in
20 games in all competitions after
Tuesday’s 2‰1 success at Nantes,
and sit 12 points clear at the top of
Ligue 1.
However, everything is gear-
ing up towards their Champions
League last-16 tie against Borussia
Dortmund, with the „irst leg in Ger-
many on February 18.
PSG have not made it beyond
the last 16 in four years, with the
nature of defeats against Barcelo-
na in 2017 and Manchester United
last season helping make them
something of a laughing stock
around Europe.
Injuries to Neymar at this stage
in each of the last two years proved
crucial, so fans of a nervous dispo-
sition will be hoping the rib injury
su–ered by the Brazilian against
Montpellier last weekend is nothing
more than a short-term problem.
The injury did not prevent the
world’s most expensive player from
staging a lavish party at a Parisian
nightclub for his 28th birthday last
Sunday, but it did keep him out of
the Nantes game.
With the Dortmund „irst leg com-
ing into view, he could be rested for
tomorrow’s visit of Lyon.
“I hope he can play on Sunday,”
said coach Thomas Tuchel. “He was
in pain at half-time against Mont-
pellier. He is in exceptional form,
but we will decide later. He needs
to manage the pain.”
Meanwhile, Mbappe seems cer-
tain to play, just as he did in mid-
week despite an angry reaction to
being substituted against Mont-
pellier which has brought back
the rumours that the 21-year-old
- regularly linked with Real Madrid
- may not stick around in Paris too
much longer.
“He was decisive for us. There
was no need for him to show a reac-
tion,” Tuchel said of Mbappe’s mid-
week performance. The France star
is PSG’s leading scorer this season
with 22 goals.
The days when Lyon were the
most feared opponents in the coun-
try are long gone, and they have
taken just two points from their last
11 visits to Paris.
Rudi Garcia’s side are also strug-
gling in sixth place just now after
a sopori„ic 0‰0 draw with Amiens
in midweek.
With or without Neymar, PSG
will surely be too strong for them.
It is the Dortmund tie that re-
ally matters though, and Tuchel
needs his two biggest stars fully
„it and focussed in time for the trip
to Germany.
MILAN (AFP) - Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s
return to AC Milan will add spice to
the city derby against Inter Milan
tomorrow with the Swede look-
ing to thwart Antonio Conte’s side
from keeping pace with Serie A
leaders Juventus.
Ibrahimovic played his „irst Mi-
lan derby as an Inter player 13 years
ago, while his last was for rivals AC
Milan in May 2012, when he scored
a double in a 4‰2 defeat.
Ibrahimovic was the top scorer
that season with 28 goals but Milan
lost the Serie A title to Conte’s Ju-
ventus, the „irst in the Turin giants’
current run of eight league crowns.
The 38-year-old’s return to Mi-
lan - whom he helped to their last
Serie A title in 2011 - has proved a
boost with his side now eighth, sev-
en points adrift of the Champions
League berths.
Milan were on a three-match
winning run with Ibrahimovic on
the pitch but were held 1‰1 by Hel-
las Verona last weekend when the
Swede was sidelined by the „lu.
AC Milan Director Zvonimir
Boban praised Ibrahimovic’s impact,
insisting the Swede was pushing to
be ready for “a unique derby”.
Ibrahimovic, meanwhile, posted
on Twitter a video of himself roar-
ing, with the caption, “Lions don’t
sound like humans.”
Stefano Pioli’s Milan come up
against an Inter who have been
transformed since Conte’s ar-
rival last June. They are just three
points behind Juventus, who trav-
el to Verona.
Milan lost the reverse „ixture 2‰0
last September under Marco Giam-
paolo, who was sacked after just
seven games.
Last summer Inter signed
Romelu Lukaku and Alexis San-
chez, the latter on loan, from Man-
chester United.
Conte again raided the Premier
League during the winter break,
bringing in Christian Eriksen, Ash-
ley Young and Victor Moses.
“He’ll be more used to this
type of game, I’m just starting,”
said former Tottenham midfield-
er Eriksen of Ibrahimovic, adding
he was relishing his first Derby
della Madonnina.
“I’ve seen it on TV in the past but
playing now will be very di–erent,”
the Dane told Gazzetta Dello Sport.
“Compared to London, I expect
a di–erent atmosphere, here the
whole stadium sings, there will be
so much noise, it will be beautiful.”
Juventus travel to Verona to-
night with Cristiano Ronaldo bid-
ding to extend his scoring streak
to 10 consecutive league games,
to keep pace with Lazio’s Se-
rie A top scorer Ciro Immobile’s
25 goals.
Verona are on a seven-game un-
beaten run and held in-form Lazio to
a goalless draw in Rome midweek.
Simone Inzaghi’s Lazio are just
one point behind Inter Milan in
third and will be targetting a record
18th successive match unbeaten.
Ibrahimovic return adds spice to Milan derby
File photo shows AC Milan’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic jumping for the ball against
Torino’s Armando Izzo during an Italian Cup match. PHOTO: AP
Could Neymar, Mbappe antics derail PSG as season enters crunch time?
Paris Saint-Germain’s forwards Kylian Mbappe and Neymar celebrate a goal
during the Ligue 1 match against Montpellier. PHOTO: AP
MANCHESTER (AP) - Manchester
City manager Pep Guardiola was de-
termined to keep playing Raheem
Sterling, sure that a regular run of
games — and not a spell out of the
team — would help the England
winger recover the scoring form
that recently had deserted him.
Now that decision has been tak-
en out of Guardiola’s hands.
City’s announcement that Ster-
ling has a damaged left hamstring
and will miss tomorrow’s match
against West Ham has raised fears
that he also could miss crucial
upcoming games like the English
League Cup „inal against Aston Villa
and the Champions League match
against Real Madrid.
Will being taken out of the „iring
line be such a bad thing for Ster-
ling, who has played 98 games for
his club and his country since the
2018 World Cup and appears to be
su–ering from a crisis of con„idence
in front of goal?
Guardiola, for one, wouldn’t
agree.
“Does he need a rest? I don’t
think so,” Guardiola said last week,
adding that Sterling “could play ev-
ery two days”.
“The more he plays, the better
he feels,” the Spaniard said.
Guardiola has been ignoring the
statistics — no goals for Sterling in
eight games, no home goal since
October 26 — and the fact that Ster-
ling has missed a series of glaring
chances with only the goalkeeper
to beat in recent games, most obvi-
ously home and away against Man-
chester United in the League Cup
semi„inals and against She©ield
United in the Premier League.
Instead, the City manager has
been trying to accentuate the posi-
tives. Like the fact that Sterling had
got into the position to score, that
he had createdmany of the spurned
chances himself, that his defensive
work remained exemplary.
Yet there’s no doubt Sterling’s dip
in scoring form is a worry, snatching
at opportunities while often show-
ing a poor „inishing technique.
How it has come to this, with Ster-
ling having started this season by
scoring 21 goals in his „irst 20 games
overall, is a topic of some debate.
The slow-down in goals really
began after his 21 st game of the sea-
son, which happens to be the game
where he got in a confrontation
with Liverpool defender Joe Gomez
both on the „ield — in City’s 3‰1 loss
at An„ield — and o– it. The pair also
squared up in the England cafete-
ria while on international duty the
following day — Sterling reportedly
told Gomez, “So you think you’re
the big man?” — and was brie„ly
dropped by England coach Gareth
Southgate.
Starting from that loss at An„ield
last November 10, Sterling has only
gotten on the scoresheet in four of
his 20 appearances, one of those
games coming for England.
Could the repercussions of
that clash with Gomez still be af-
fecting him?
If that is unlikely, another theory
is that the departure of former City
assistant coach Mikel Arteta to Ar-
senal might have impacted on Ster-
ling’s „inishing.
Guardiola has been open about
the fact that Arteta’s work with Ster-
ling on the training ground improved
the winger’s „inishing in recent
years, making him more composed
and con„ident in front of goal. Since
Arteta left, Sterling has played 10
games and only scored twice.
Injury takes struggling Man City star Sterling out of firing line