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Sports
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17, 2020
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MILAN (AFP) - Maurizio Sarri takes on his former club
Napoli in early tomorrow’s
(3am Brunei time)
Ital-
ian Cup inal looking for his irst trophy as Juventus
coach days before Serie A resumes after a three-
month shutdown.
Juventus are chasing a record-extending 14
th
Italian
Cup against ive-time winners Napoli in Rome, after the
Turin giants’ four-year cup-winning streak was ended
last season.
Sarri took over at Juventus one year ago after a
season with Chelsea during which the Premier League
side won the Europa League.
Before that the 61-year-old spent three seasons with
Napoli, battling Juventus for the title, before falling out
with club owner Aurelio De Laurentiis.
Sarri claimed he only found out he had been sacked
and replaced by Carlo Ancelotti when he switched on
the television.
De Laurentiis blasted his former coach on Monday.
“He (Sarri) betrayed me, he left with the vulgar
excuse of money, forced me to change, and still
had a two-year contract,” De Laurentiis told
Corriere
dello Sport
.
Sarri’s return to Napoli’s Stadio San Paolo ended in
a 21 league defeat in January.
But the former Chelsea manager will have another
chance for just the second trophy of his 30-year coach-
ing career at an empty Stadio Olimpico.
A win would help the eight-time defending Serie
A champions set the tone when the title battle re-
sumes next week, with Lazio just one point behind in
second place.
Juventus striker Gonzalo Higuain, who helped Na-
poli to their last Italian Cup triumph in 2014 and was
Serie A’s top-scorer with 36 goals under Sarri in the
20152016 season, remains a doubt for the Turin side
with a thigh injury.
Cristiano Ronaldo, who missed a penalty in last
Friday’s semi-inal second leg against AC Milan, will
start up front for Juventus, while Napoli winger Dries
Mertens is fresh from breaking the club’s all-time scor-
ing record with a last-four goal against Inter Milan.
Ronaldo, who has scored 25 goals this season, can
lift a 30
th
career trophy in Rome.
“The missed penalty was unfortunate,” said Sarri. “It
will take a little patience.
“The players have been on their sofas for weeks,
and so getting them back to complete physical and
mental eiciency is not simple or automatic.”
Napoli are sixth in Serie A, and chasing their
irst trophy since 2014, after a diicult start to the
season with Gennaro Gattuso replacing Ancelotti
last December.
The last time the two teams met in a inal was the
Italian Super Cup in December 2014, with Napoli com-
ing out on top.
Napoli and Juventus last met in an Italian Cup i-
nal eight years ago, with the southerners winning 20
at the Stadio Olimpico for their irst major trophy in
22 years.
LONDON (AFP) - Arsenal manager
Mikel Arteta admitted players will have
to ind motivation without the urgency
provided by fans when the Premier
League restarts today.
Arteta’s side will feature in the
second game of the Premier League
relaunch when they face Manchester
City at the Etihad Stadium, just hours
after the opener between Aston Villa
and Sheield United.
The remaining 92 top-light match-
es will all be played behind closed
doors because of the coronavirus.
Having
watched
Germany’s
Bundesliga return without fans on
television before experiencing the sit-
uation himself last week during friend-
lies, Arteta is aware of the challenges.
He believes it will be hard for some
players to display their usual intensity
because they will not have the energy
of a full stadium to feed o.
“When I was at the Emirates and
there was no crowd, you cannot feel
that energy, push or drive,” Arteta told
reporters in a video press conference
on Monday.
BERLIN (AFP) - Borussia Dortmund coach Lucien Favre
insisted he will resist the urge to rush Erling Braut
Haaland back into the starting side to avoid putting
the teenage striker under unnecessary strain.
Haaland, 19, came o the bench to score Dort-
mund’s last-gasp winner at Fortuna Duesseldorf last
Saturday which secured Champions League qualii-
cation for next season.
Bayern Munich lead second-placed Dortmund by
seven points with three games to play, and victory at
Werder Bremen would secure an eighth consecutive
Bundesliga title.
Norway international Haaland has scored 11 goals
in 12 league games since arriving from Salzburg in
January, but he has been struggling with a knee injury
of late.
With a top-four inish guaranteed, Favre said Haa-
land is unlikely to start at home to relegation-threat-
ened Mainz tonight.
“He is 19. It’s normal that he is sometimes tired,”
Favre said in Monday’s press conference.
“He’s still growing up, has been injured two or
three times since he’s been here. We have to be care-
ful and dose out what he does.
Just as he did in Duesseldorf, Julian Brandt is set to
start up front instead of Haaland against Mainz.
“We have a plan with him (Haaland),” explained
Favre. “It is impossible for many players to play
three games in one week,” the Swiss added.
“We need him. I like his mentality, he always wants
to play, he always wants to win. Of course he still has
to develop and has so much potential.”
Sarri targets first
Juventus trophy against
former club Napoli
File photo shows Juventus’ Cristiano Ronaldo shooting and missing a penalty kick during the Italian Cup
semi- inal match against AC Milan. PHOTO: AFP
Dortmund coach determined not to
burn out Haaland
Arteta ready for challenge
of Premier League relaunch
“The game is dierent. The inten-
sity drops a little bit. That urgency
from the crowd doesn’t exist any-
more, how passionate the crowds are
in England. We have to adapt.
“We have to experience it. We
have to ind ways to motivate our
players as well in moments.”
Like most managers, Arteta has
concerns about the itness of his
players after they were forced to work
out on their own before the gradual
return to organised training.
With the rest of this season being
crammed into just six weeks, Arteta
has told his players to forget the un-
usual circumstances and embrace
their return to action.
“We try to make the best of it.
Don’t try to make any excuses, go for
it and enjoy because I think we are all
missing football so much,” he said.
“I think we have found the right
balance, and the most important
thing was to provide the players
with a safe environment to work
where they could feel there was no
risk, or a very limited risk, to devel-
op their profession.
“I think we have managed to do
that and from now on, the physical
part is really good and the mental
side as well has been a challenge
over those three months. Now let’s
see how ready we are to compete.”
Sheield United manager Chris
Wilder and Aston Villa boss Dean
Smith said they were aware the eyes
of the world would be on their match
at Villa Park.
“First game back is going to be a
little bit dierent, what we understand
is the magnitude of the game, the
coverage of the game,” Wilder said
at his pre-match video press confer-
ence on Monday.
“From our point of view we want
to put on a good show and make sure
we play well.”
Sheield United, who have 10
games to play, are seventh in the table,
chasing Champions League football.
Villa are in the relegation places,
but Smith said it was an honour to be
playing the irst game in the English
top light since March.
Victory over the Blades, their
game in hand over their relegation ri-
vals, would take them out of the drop
zone with nine matches remaining.
“The eyes of the world will be on
us and we are looking forward to it,”
Smith said.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has told
his players to embrace their return to
action. PHOTO: AFP