TURIN – Pelatih Juventus, Maurizio Sarri, memiliki rasa optimis jelang menghadapi laga kedua Grup D Liga Champions 2019-2020. Bermain di Allianz Stadium, Turin, Italia, Rabu 2 Oktober 2019 dini hari WIB, Juventus akan menjamu Bayer Leverkusen.
Rasa optimis Sarri tidak lepas dari hasil baik Juventus di dua laga terakhir. Kemenangan mampu diraih Juventus saat melawan Verona dan Brescia di kompetisi Liga Italia. Sarri pun merasa pada dua laga tersebut kemampuan para anak asuhnya mulai meningkat.
Berbekal hal positif tersebut, Sarri optimis para pemainnya juga akan mampu mengatasi permainan Leverkusen. Meski begitu, beberapa hal masih akan terus diperbaiki, terutama kemampuan dalam mencetak gol.
“Level permainan kami mulai meningkat, yang membuat saya merasa optimis. Dalam dua laga terakhir, kami lebih percaya diri dalam menguasai bola. Kini, kami harus bisa bermain lebih cepat dan memperbaiki kemampuan dalam mencetak gol,” ungkap Sarri, mengutip dari laman resmi Juventus, Selasa (1/10/2019).
Sarri sendiri tak menyangkal Juventus menetapkan target tinggi di ajang Liga Champions pada musim ini. Namun begitu, mantan pelatih Chelsea itu tak merasa target itu akan mampu diwujudkan dengan mudah. Sebab dalam kompetisi bergengsi ini persaingan begitu ketat.
“Kami sendiri masih butuh peningkatan di sejumlah aspek. Kami berambisi untuk melaju jauh hingga final Liga Champions, tapi ini adalah kompetisi top yang sulit diprediksi. Kami harus menikmati kompetisi ini dan tidak perlu terbebani,” pungkasnya.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer felt his Manchester United players were affected by the raising of an offside flag for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s goal but did not dispute that Arsenal deserved their equaliser.
Assistant referee Scott Ledger raised his flag when Aubameyang ran onto Bukayo Saka’s pass in the 58th minute following a mistake by Axel Tuanzebe but replays showed the striker was several yards onside and VAR awarded the goal.
That cancelled out Scott McTominay’s opener just before half-time and the game finished 1-1.
Solskjaer appeared unhappy with the goal on the touchline, but was magnanimous in his press conference later, saying: “Ashley (Young) certainly holds his hand up because he can look straight at the linesman.
Linesman Scott Ledger flags for offside (Nick Potts/PA)
“Maybe he hesitates a little bit. He could have probably got a block in and that probably would have helped David (De Gea) but that’s no consolation for us now because it’s a perfectly good goal for them.
“He probably should have kept the flag down. He made an impact on the situation by raising the flag.”
Solskjaer was also aggrieved that United were not awarded a penalty shortly before Aubameyang’s goal for a handball by Sead Kolasinac, which was not deemed an obvious mistake by referee Kevin Friend.
“Loads of the penalty decisions now the refs, if you don’t (give) it, you can’t go back and have it,” added the Norwegian. “But it’s a work in progress. I’m for the right decisions and they definitely deserved their goal.”
It was all too obvious in the first half an hour that this was a contest between two teams at a low ebb, with the first shot not arriving until the 29th minute.
The game improved thereafter but was lacking in quality throughout.
Solskjaer was more animated than usual on the touchline, and he said: “I thought the first 15 or 20 minutes we could have been more direct, more positive. I just wanted the boys to grasp the moment.
“Half-time just came and we didn’t come out of the blocks second half. The first 15 minutes it was almost like we gifted them the initiative. After they scored the response was fantastic. I thought we put the game to them again.”
The result left United in 10th place in the Premier League with nine points from seven games – the first time they have failed to reach double figures by this stage for 30 years.
Solskjaer remains positive there are better times ahead, though, saying: “There’s many things that we look at and many things that give me a lot of confidence.
Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer applauds the fans (Richard Sellers/PA)
“We need to learn to win these games. We know that this team is going to be improving. I thought we saw some excellent performances from Scotty, Andreas (Pereira), you can see Axel (Tuanzebe) is going to be a top, top player, so some very positive things.”
Arsenal edged back into the top four with a point that left boss Unai Emery reasonably satisfied.
He said: “We wanted to win because we were thinking it was a very good opportunity to get three points but after 90 minutes it’s a fair result for both (teams).
“That result can be a good point if we win on Sunday against Bournemouth at home. We will analyse the positive things and things to improve.
“Defensively I thought we were very competitive and offensively in some moments maybe we could do better to create more chances.”
KUALA LUMPUR: Bekas johan junior dunia, Ng Eain Yow menampilkan prestasi cemerlang menentang pemain no 28 dunia, Nicholas Mueller dari Switzerland, untuk merangkul juara di Kejohanan Skuasy Terbuka Malaysia ke-39 di Pusat Skuasy Nasional di Bukit Jalil, di sini hari ini.
Eain Yow, pemain pilihan keempat, mempamerkan salah satu prestasi terbaiknya di musim ini dengan meraih kemenangan sengit 11-7, 12-14, 11-9 dan 11-5 menentang pemain pilihan kedua Mueller dalam pertarungan memakan masa 55 minit di Nicol David Arena.
Eain Yow merupakan pemain ketiga Malaysia yang memenangi kejohanan itu selepas dua bekas pemain kebangsaan – Ong Beng Hee (2000 dan 2008), dan Mohd Azlan Iskandar (2004, 2007 dan 2010).
Terdahulu, pemain wanita kebangsaan, Rachel Arnold meraih kemenangan cemerlang 11-7, 11-13, 10-12, 11-8 dan 11-5 mengalahkan rakan sepasukan senior, Low Wee Wern di pertandingan akhir wanita yang berlangsung 61 minit.
Ini kemenangan ketiga Rachel di Professional Squash Association (PSA) Tour, setelah memenangi Malaysian Tour XI, sebanyak dua kali, masing-masing pada Dis 2015 dan Sept 2017.
Atas kejayaan itu, Eain Yow dan Rachel masing-masing membawa pulang US$30,000 dan US$20,000, pingat, serta trofi kejohanan.
Yang di-Pertuan Besar Negeri Sembilan, Tuanku Muhriz Ibni Almarhum Tuanku Munawir, berkenan menyampaikan hadiah-hadiah.
NAPLES – Gelandang Napoli, Dries Mertens, mengaku kurang puas dengan kemenangan yang diraih timnya saat menjamu Brescia di laga lanjutan Liga Italia 2019-2020. Meski Napoli menang dengan skor 2-1, tetapi Mertens tidak senang dengan satu gol Brescia di laga tersebut.
Napoli sendiri mampu memainkan laga apik sejak babak pertama hingga membuahkan gol cepat pada menit 13. Gol pembuka itu pun dicetak Mertens setelah menyelesaikan umpan dari Jose Callejon.
Jelang akhir babak pertama, Napoli mampu menggandakan keunggulan lewat Kostas Manolas pada menit 45+3. Penampilan dominan pun ditunjukkan Napoli sepanjang babak pertama, tetapi tak mampu berlanjut di babak kedua.
Pada babak kedua, Napoli justru kebobolan satu gol lewat aksi Mario Baloelli pada menit ke-67. Gol itu membuat Mertens merasa geram karena ia mengakui menurunnya performa tim pada babak kedua. Beruntung mereka masih mampu mengamankan tiga poin setelah laga 2-1 tetap bertahan hingga laga usai.
“Kita tidak bisa kebobolan gol seperti itu dan selalu membuat rumit diri kita sendiri. Kami tidak bisa terus melakukan itu dan menderita seperti ini, walaupun kami berhasil mendapatkan kemenangan,” ungkap Mertens, mengutip dari Football Italia, Senin (30/9/2019).
“Kami harus mendorong ke depan, kami harus bermain di setengah pertahanan lawan. Kami harus membangun kinerja di babak pertama dan melakukan yang lebih baik daripada babak kedua,” pungkas pemain berpaspor Belgia tersebut.
Under-fire AC Milan boss Marco Giampaolo admitted the pressure got to his players as they crashed to a 3-1 home defeat by Fiorentina.
The Rossoneri slumped to a fourth loss in six matches and had Mateo Musacchio sent off for a nasty lunge on Franck Ribery.
The defeat leaves a huge question mark over the future of Giampaolo, with reports in Italy claiming he would be sacked were they to lose on Sunday night.
Goals from Erick Pulgar, Gaetano Castrovilli and Ribery did the damage for Fiorentina, who also missed a penalty through Federico Chiesa, with Rafael Leao pulling one back.
“I believe in my ideas, but this Milan team looked like it turned up without ever having a training session together,” Giampaolo said on Sky Sport Italia.
“The team played with great character just three days ago (against Torino) and I saw moments of the football I like. Tonight, it played badly on an individual level, with no organisation or sense of collective responsibility.
“There are some players who are young and can try individual moves, but they can only get you so far. When things aren’t going well, you must have the strength to cling to your identity as a team.
“If we try to resolve things individually, we risk drowning in difficulties and that is what happened this evening.
“I take responsibility, of course, but I go forward because I believe in my ideas. The thing that annoyed me was the team looked like it turned up to San Siro without ever having a training session together. You can lose, but not like that.
“Up until three days ago, I liked the performance and saw good responses against Torino.
“Tonight, the pressure got to them, they felt the absolute need to win and I told them to play with all the right ingredients to win, not waiting for events to happen. We had to create the events ourselves.
“Instead, the pressure weighed on us, we were tense, not reacting quickly enough and evidently feeling the pressure.”
For Fiorentina it was a second win in five days having picked up their first victory of the season against Sampdoria in midweek.
Viola head coach Vincenzo Montella was full of praise for his side and singled out Ribery.
“It’s a great achievement to beat AC Milan at San Siro,” Montella told the club website.
“It’s never easy to play here with the fans whistling at you. We eased off a touch at 3-0 but overall I’m pleased.
“Ribery deserved the standing ovation. Once again he made the difference out there – he always does.”
JOHOR BAHRU: Johor Darul Ta’zim (JDT) berjaya melangkah ke peringkat separuh akhir Piala Malaysia 2019 dengan agregat 5-1 selepas menewaskan Terengganu FC (TFC) 4-1 dalam saingan suku akhir kedua di Stadium Tan Sri Hassan Yunos, Larkin, di sini, malam tadi.
Dalam perlawanan tersebut, JDT yang memiliki kelebihan jaringan 1-0 di tempat lawan pada aksi suku akhir pertama di Stadium Sultan Ismail Nasiruddun Shah, Kuala Terengganu, Sabtu lalu, membuka jaringan seawal minit ke-16 melalui sepakan penalti oleh Gonzalo Cabrera.
Sepakan penalti itu dihadiahkan oleh pengadil selepas Corbin Ong dijatuhkan di dalam kotak penalti oleh pemain lawan, Nasrullah Haniff Johan.
Pada minit ke-22, giliran Muhammad Safawi Rashid pula menambah jaringan buat JDT melalui sepakan percuma, sebelum merembat satu lagi gol pada minit ke-36 hasil umpanan cantik penyerang Brazil, Diogo Luis Santo.
Skuad Sang Penyu yang sudah cukup tertekan dengan jurang gol yang dijaringkan lawan terus dihukum pada minit ke-39 apabila Cabrera sekali lagi muncul wira meledakkan gol keempat buat pasukannya.
Masih tidak berputus asa, Terengganu kemudiannya berjaya menemui rentak apabila mencipta jaringan pertama mereka pada minit ke-45 menerusi kapten, Lee Andrew Tuck.
Bersambung babak kedua, JDT tampil dengan aksi lebih bertenaga dengan harapan dapat mencari lebih banyak gol manakala Terengganu pula berhasrat untuk mengurangkan defisit.
Bagaimanapun, usaha mereka tidak membuahkan hasil apabila keputusan kekal 4-1 sehingga tamat perlawanan.
