AFP n MILAN
Gian Piero Gasperini warned thatpsychology will be key as Italiannewcomers Atalanta look to
avoid another huge defeat at the handsof Champions League rivals ManchesterCity in Milan today.
The Premier League championscan seal their ticket to the knockoutrounds with a win over Atalanta, whohave lost all three Group C games intheir first ever foray into the eliteEuropean competition.
Man City are top of their group withmaximum nine points and 10 goalsscored, with the Bergamo side bottomafter conceding 11 goals conceded andscoring just two.
Five of those came last time out,when an 11-minute Raheem Sterlinghat-trick helped City to a 5-1 win inManchester.
“The psychological aspect will befundamental,” said Gasperini.
“It’s a tight turnaround, but we’ll pre-pare as best we can.”
Atalanta hit back in Serie A dayslater with a 7-1 demolition of lowlyUdinese, but they have felt the absenceof star Colombian striker Duvan Zapata,who has been out with a thigh injurypicked up on international duty lastmonth.
Without him Atalanta have slippedfrom third to fifth in Serie A, eight pointsbehind leaders Juventus after a 2-0 defeatto Cagliari at the weekend.
Juventus, Inter Milan and Napoli areused to measuring themselves againstthe European elite, but Atalanta’s onlytrophy was the Italian Cup back in 1963.
The turn around in their fortuneshas been orchestrated by former Genoaand Palermo boss Gasperini who tookover in 2016.
The 61-year-old’s success at Atalantacame eight years after being sacked byInter Milan after just three months.
The northeners sprinted to third inSerie A last season ahead of InterMilan, their best ever finish, with themost goals scored, and reached theItalian Cup final.
This season they have continued onthe same path leading the way in thescoring charts with 30 goals scored after11 rounds.
ZZAAPPAATTAA RREETTUURRNN EESSSSEENNTTIIAALLTheir success has been largely pow-
ered by Zapata, who stayed on after fin-ishing second top scorer in Serie A lastseason with 23 goals.
Fellow Colombian Luis Murielarrived last summer from Fiorentina,joining Argentine forward AlejandroGomez and Slovenian striker JosipIlicic.
Zapata (6) and Muriel (8) haveaccounted for 14 league goals betweenthem this term.
And Gasperini expressed his furywhen Zapata, on a four-game scoringrun, pulled up injured in a “useless”friendly with Colombia.
Zapata has been key to Atalanta’sexciting high-pressing and fast pacedstyle of play, which should in theory havecarried over to Europe.
But they have had a baptism of firewith defeats at Dinamo Zagreb (4-0),Man City (5-1) and letting a 1-0 lead slip
against Shakhtar at the San Siro to lose2-1.
Despite their struggles Braziliandefender Rafael Toloi insisted thatAtalanta are in their rightful placeamong the European elite.
“We’ve earned to the right to playsuch opponents,” the 28-year-old saidahead of meeting Man City.
“They have super players, Sterlingis very fast, so we’ll have to be aggres-
sive and very careful in the markings. Weknow that with our fans at home we cando well.”
Atalanta can still theoretically reachlast 16.
And their ‘home’ game will be at theSan Siro, 56km from Bergamo, deemedmore suitable by UEFA than their21,000-seater Stadio Atleti Azzurrid’Italia.
But the odds are stacked as they take
on Man City, who are second in thePremier League and on a run of 10 winsfrom their last 11 matches in all com-petitions.
sport 16BHUBANESWAR | WEDNESDAY | NOVEMBER 6, 2019
AFP n LONDON
Ajax coach Erik ten Hag onMonday ruled himself out
of the running to take over asBayern Munich coach for thetime being, saying he would bestaying at the Dutch champi-ons until at least the end of thecurrent season.
Ten Hag reportedly is highon the list to take Kovac’s placeafter Ajax’s scintillating run tothe Champions League semi-finals last season and theirimpressive start to this cam-paign.
He was Bayern’s reservescoach from 2013-15 underPep Guardiola, but toldreporters on Monday he wouldnot be tempted to return toBavaria just yet.
Asked at Stamford Bridgewhether he would be stayingat Ajax, he said “I can confirmthat.”
“I have a strong connec-tion with my team, with every-one at Ajax, so I can confirmthat I stay in Ajax this season,”said the 49-year-old.
However Ten Hag, who isunder contract at Ajax until2022, refused to entirely ruleout an eventual move.
“Bayern is a fantastic club,I felt really comfortable andreally enjoyed to work there
and they are still in my heartbut now I’m in Ajax,” he said.
“I’m not a dreamer, I focuson Ajax, and that is important.I live for today and my onlyfocus is on Ajax.”
CCOOAACCHH IINN 33 WWEEEEKKSSMUNICH: Bayern Munich pres-ident Uli Hoeness says theGerman giants will take theirtime to find Niko Kovac’s suc-cessor, but expects them to be
able to name a new headcoach within three weeks.
Kovac was sacked onSunday after 16 months incharge in the wake of Bayern’s5-1 drubbing at EintrachtFrankfurt.
Kovac’s assistant coachHansi Flick has been namedinterim boss.
Hoeness says Bayern’ssenior figures will “think calm-ly about how to handle” find-
ing a new head coach with adecision expected to be madeduring the forthcoming inter-national break.
“I think that by the timethe next away game comesaround in Duesseldorf (onNovember 23), we’ll knowhow the coach’s issue has beenresolved,” Hoeness added.
According to SkyGermany, PSG coach Tuchel,who has a contract until 2021,has been approached byBayern, but has already ruledout an immediate switch.
While, Ajax coach Erik tenHag, one of the early favouriteshaving coached Bayernreserves from 2013-15, hasalso announced he will notleave the Dutch side before theend of the season.
Massimiliano Allegri, JoseMourinho and ArseneWenger, who are all currentlywithout a club, have beenmentioned as possible candi-dates.
Flick, Joachim Loew’sassistant coach when Germanywon the 2014 World Cup, willbe in charge at least forBayern’s home matches todayin the Champions Leagueagainst Olympiakos and onSaturday in a crunchBundesliga match againstBorussia Dortmund.
PTI n NEW DELHI
Indian hockey star P RSreejesh feels that goal-
keepers are like winewhich gets tastier if keptlonger, reflecting on hisillustrious career fromwarming the bench tobecoming one of the bestin the world.
Sreejesh, a former cap-tain, said the setbacks inthe early part of his careertaught him lessons to takefailures as stepping stonesto success.
“The first few yearswere quite hard for me. Ittook time for me to under-stand what exactly is inter-national hockey. With timethe game has changed, thegame has got faster, soevery tournament teachesyou something,” Sreejeshsaid.
“When I started mycareer I used to concede alot of goals but still everyone had faith in me, theykept motivating me. Thebest part of a goalkeeper isthat when you are the sec-ond choice you get to gaina lot of experience by sit-ting outside and watching.I am very much grateful tomy seniors for their advis-es and suggestions,” hesaid.
“And this is where Iam today after overcomingall the obstacles.Goalkeepers are like wine,the longer you keep it, thebetter it tastes.”
At 33, Sreejesh is at thetwilight of his career butthe lanky custodian fromKerala has not plannedanything yet about hisfuture.
“I am not planninganything yet because nowit’s more important tofocus on Olympics andafter that how the circum-stances will be we don’tknow. So, it’s all aboutshort-term goals,” he said,when asked about hisretirement plans afterOlympics.
“For me the next focusis FIH Pro League where
we are going to meet a lotof tough opponents. Whenit comes to a senior-mostplayer you need to keepshort goals all the time tosharpen yourself and per-form your best,” Sreejeshadded.
The former captainfeels that the country hasleft behind the lean patchof 2008-2012 and predict-ed a much-improved showin the Tokyo Games thanany of the last fewOlympics.
India failed to qualifyfor the 2008 Olympics andfour years later, the teamfinished last in the LondonGames. In the 2016 RioOlympics, India bowedout in the quarterfinals.
“If you take it from2008 till 2016, the lowpoint for Indian hockeywas 2008 when we failed toqualify. In 2012, we fin-ished last, and in 2016 wefinished eighth. I feel thistime we will improve andprove ourselves.”
India qualified forTokyo Olympics after beat-ing Russia 11-3 on aggre-gate in Bhubaneswar onSaturday, and Sreejesh,regarded as one of thebest goalkeepers of theworld, is expected to manthe Indian goal in Tokyo.
“It’s a great thing for usthat we are going to Tokyo.After every tournamentwe analyse ourselves and inthis tournament we got avery good lesson that wecan’t underestimate anyteam,” said Sreejesh,known as the ‘wall ofIndian hockey’.
After opting out in itsmaiden season last year,India will make its debut inthe FIH Pro League againstthe Netherlands in a homefixture on January 18 and19.
The Pro Leagueinvolves nine teams inmen’s and women’s sec-tions, each playing onhome and away basis on atwo-year schedule.
India will host theirfirst six matches.
PTI n NEW DELHI
Former Australia wicket-keeper Adam Gilchrist is
hopeful of India agreeing toplay a Day/Night Test in hiscountry next year after ViratKohli and his men were con-vinced to compete in theirmaiden pink ball match by newBCCI chief Sourav Ganguly.
India were requested toplay a Day/Night Test inAustralia during the 2018-19tour but the visitors haddeclined the offer. A year later,India will be playing theirmaiden Test with pink ballagainst Bangladesh fromNovember 22 in Kolkata.
“They would be here nextsummer after the T20 WorldCup. I expect there will be a
Day/Night Test there. I haven’theard from Cricket Australiabut I expect there would beone,” Glichrist said on the side-lines of an event by TourismAustralia.
“I was a reluctant starter ofDay/Night Tests but now Ican totally see the positiveoutcomes that is going to helpTest cricket stay relevant,” headded, referring to his ownapprehensions about the pinkball.
There have been 11Day/Night Tests so far withAustralia being involved infive of them. Australia and NewZealand were the first to playthe format in 2015.
“There is going to teethingissues, particulary in Indiawith dew, working out what
series, what venues and it istake a bit of time. I used to beworried about the statistic ofthe game, can you comparewith Day/Night in twilight tobatting in broad day light,” heexplained his take on the inno-vation.
“It is different. But therewas a time we didn’t have cov-ered wickets, helmets, so a lotof things have changed. It is agame that has evolved overtime. So whatever it takes tokeep it alive and now I am verysupportive of Day/Night,” hesaid.
The 47-year-old formerAustralia vice-captain was alsoasked about the newly-intro-duced World TestChampionships in which teamsare collecting points for every
bilateral result. “I understand why the ICC
is trying to make sure that eachTest means something even ifit is 2-0 in a three-Test series,make sure that the teams keepfighting and salvage some-thing towards the Test cham-pionship,” he said.
“It will be interesting to seeover the cycle if players find itmore relevant. But I don’t thinkit is necessary a guarantee thatmore people attending Testcricket. I think the days of con-sistent crowds of Test cricketare probably gone.
“The big marquee serieslike India-Australia and theAshes will still garner a decentcrowd. There’s still a verystrong passive following ofTest cricket,” he reasoned.
Goalkeepers arelike wine: SreejeshSWEET 16
FOR
CITY
Raheem Sterling celebrates after completing his hat-trick against Atalanta during UEFA Champions League group C match at Etihad stadium AP
Atalanta vs Man CityLive from 1:30am IST
SONY TEN 2 NETWORK
Gilly expects Ind-Aus to play D/N Test next year
IANS nMADRID
Real Madrid will entertainGalatasaray in the Santiago
Bernabeu Stadium today in a gamewhere a win will go a long way in assur-ing their place in the knockout stage ofthe Champions League.
Madrid’s 1-0 victory in Istanbul afortnight ago may have only left themon four points from three games in theirqualifying group, but Paris SaintGermain’s (PSG) 5-0 win in Brugesmeans that if PSG secure a home winagainst the Belgian side (as expected),a win in Madrid today would give RealMadrid a five-point cushion over thirdplace.
Zinedine Zidane’s men go into thegame after another disappointing dis-play at the weekend which saw themheld 0-0 at home by struggling Betis andZidane needs his strikers to be moreeffective than at the weekend.
One likely change will see FedeValverde back to inject some energy intocentral midfield and Marcelo could stepin to give more attacking projection atleft-back, while Zidane may opt toreplace one young Brazilian winger,Rodrygo with another, Vinicius Jr.
Galatasaray will be cheered on byaround 3,000 travelling fans, but theircause is not helped by an injury to strik-er Radamel Falcao, who has travelledwith the team but won’t form part of theMatchday squad, while full-back SenerOzbayrakli is also out after beinginjured in Galatasaray’s last game.
Real targetGalatasaraydouble
Sergio Ramos battles for ball possession AP
Premier League championstravel San Siro to repeat Etihadshow against debutants Atalanta& seal knock out spot inChampions League
I�ll finish season at Ajax: Ten Hag
