AC Milan beat Bologna to keep Euro hopes alive
Santiago Gimenez's brace and a Christian Pulisic strike turned around a match which looked set to be Bologna's when Riccardo Orsolini lashed in his 13th goal of season three minutes after the break.
A third straight league win moved Milan up one place to eighth
A third straight league win moved Milan up one place to eighth, within three points of fourth-placed Juventus, Roma and Lazio with two matches remaining in their league season.
Juve are at Lazio on Saturday while on Monday Roma -- who host Milan next weekend -- travel to Atalanta who are five points ahead of that trio and favourites to claim one of the two remaining spots in Europe's top club competition.
League leaders Napoli and Inter Milan are contesting the Scudetto and have already obtained qualification.
Bologna, two points above Milan in seventh
Bologna, two points above Milan in seventh, are hunting a Champions League place for a second straight year and also aiming to end a 51-year wait for a major trophy when they face Milan in the domestic cup final on Wednesday.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Dubai Eye
9 hours ago
- Dubai Eye
Pyramids crowned African champions, still in shadow of Cairo giants
Egyptian club Pyramids might have been crowned African champions on Sunday, but their Croatian coach Krunoslav Jurcic said they still faced a struggle to assert themselves in their own country. The club - who changed their name, moved to Cairo and won promotion to the Egyptian top flight seven years ago - triumphed in the Champions League with a 3-2 aggregate win over two legs against Mamelodi Sundowns of South Africa. It was only a second trophy, after Egyptian Cup success last season, for the club in just their second Champions League campaign. They have been seeking to emerge from the shadow of Cairo giants Al Ahly and Zamalek, who have not only dominated Egyptian competition but the Champions League as well. "When I started with the team last season, we played excellent football and had a long run of winning matches in a row but even then, this was not enough to be champion here,' said Jurcic. "This year again, we were very close but you know that Al Ahly is the best club in Africa, they are very good, they are very strong and it's very difficult to compete against a club like them." The 55-year-old Jurcic was delighted that his appeals for support ensured a 30,000-strong crowd at Sunday's decider in the June 30 Stadium, usually largely empty for their games, where they won the second leg 2-1. Cairo's passionate football followers traditionally support either Al Ahly or Zamalek, with little affection for any of the other sides based in the city. 'I'm very grateful for the crowd that came today,' he said after lifting the trophy. 'Usually we get to the stadium 90 minutes before kickoff and there is no one here. 'It's disheartening for the players, and I find it's my job to transmit positive energy to try and get them up for the matches,' Jurcic added. The former Croatia international, who played for his country when they finished third at the 1998 World Cup, patrolled the touchline like a man possessed, jumping up and down and cajoling his players throughout the 90 minutes of action. 'I believe that I can transmit my energy in a positive way, and I think that we can be competitive in the future with all the best teams in Egypt. 'But whether we can stay a force is something to see in the future,' he added.
Dubai Eye
9 hours ago
- Dubai Eye
Piastri wins in Spain, Verstappen on brink of a ban
Formula One leader Oscar Piastri won the Spanish Grand Prix in a McLaren one-two with Lando Norris on Sunday while Max Verstappen was left on the brink of a ban after a clash with Mercedes' George Russell. Polesitter Piastri won by 2.471 seconds to go 10 points clear of Norris with his fifth victory in nine races, and McLaren's seventh of the season. Ferrari's Charles Leclerc completed the podium in a race that left the drama to the end with a late safety car deployment. "It's a nice way to bounce back from Monaco. A superb weekend," said Piastri, who finished third last weekend in a race won from pole by Norris. Verstappen, who made four stops in total and ended up fighting on hard tyres against rivals with faster softs, collided with Leclerc and then twice with Russell after the safety car restart with six laps to go. Stewards handed the four-times world champion a 10-second post-race penalty for the second collision with Russell, which appeared deliberate, dropping Verstappen from fifth on the road to 10th. The Dutch driver was also given three penalty points to take his total tally to 11 for the 12 month period. One more before the end of June would incur a one-race ban. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes 2016 world champion and now a pundit for Sky Sports television, said Verstappen should have been black-flagged for what looked to him like intentional retaliation for the earlier contact. Another investigation into the clash with Leclerc drew no further action. Russell finished fourth while Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg finished a surprising and morale-boosting fifth for the future Audi team after passing Ferrari's seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton on the penultimate lap. Hamilton ended up sixth, Isack Hadjar seventh for Racing Bulls and Pierre Gasly eighth for Renault-owned Alpine to cap a solid weekend for the Frenchman celebrating soccer side Paris St Germain's Champions League win. Continuing the football theme, the race was attended by FIFA president Gianni Infantino and most of the England squad while the chequered flag was waved by Barcelona striker Robert Lewandowski. FIRST POINTS Ferrari moved up to second from fourth in the constructors' standings, now 197 points behind McLaren. Verstappen remained third in the drivers' championship but now 49 points behind Piastri in what is becoming a McLaren battle. Home hero Fernando Alonso scored his first points of the season in ninth for Aston Martin, who had only one car on the grid due to Lance Stroll's withdrawal through injury after Saturday's qualifying. Piastri led away at the start with Verstappen seizing second from Norris while Hamilton and Leclerc moved up to fourth and fifth as Russell lost out. Hamilton let Leclerc through on lap 10 of 66 after the two Ferraris had run nose to tail. Norris took back second place from Verstappen on lap 13, the Dutch driver making no attempt to defend against the quicker McLaren and pitting in the next lap for fresh tyres. Verstappen took the lead again on lap 23 after Piastri pitted, with Norris making his first stop on lap 21 and coming out behind the Red Bull, but that lasted only until Verstappen pitted for a second time on lap 30. He came in for a third stop on lap 47 but Norris pitted the lap after to defend second place. A safety car deployment on lap 55, after Italian rookie Kimi Antonelli beached his Mercedes in the gravel, bunched up the field and triggered a rash of stops. The McLarens came in together for fresh tyres, double-stacking, and resumed ahead of Verstappen who had only hards available to him. "That safety car just came at the wrong time," he said.
The National
9 hours ago
- The National
Luis Enrique – the mentor who has transformed PSG from luxury into legacy
Luis Enrique paced the touchline in Munich as if walking a familiar path. On a night laden with expectation, he remained composed, arms folded, gaze steely, his Paris Saint-Germain side dismantling Inter Milan with a cruelty only matched by its brilliance. By the end of 90 minutes, the scoreline read 5-0, magnified on the Allianz Arena scoreboard for all to see, engrained in the memory of all those that had witnessed it. It was the kind of score that doesn't just win trophies and ruin careers, but etches names into history. For all the money and ambition that has powered PSG's rise since the 2011 takeover by Qatar Sports Investments, they have often been a gilded idea rather than a galvanised team. Managers have come and gone. Players, too. But in Enrique they have found something rare – a head coach who doesn't just tolerate pressure, but seems to thrive on it. He did not flinch when Kylian Mbappe left last summer for Real Madrid, did not beg PSG's owners to keep Lionel Messi, a player whose own brilliant past is inextricably linked to the Spaniard's, upon his arrival in Paris just under two years ago. He didn't protest when Neymar was jettisoned and the club pivoted from superstar signings to investment in youth. He welcomed it. What he built was not just a team, but an ideal. Vitinha became a midfield maestro. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, plucked from Napoli, sliced through defences like a winger of a bygone era. And then there was Desire Doue – still a teenager – whose two goals and an assist in the final will remain preserved in football's collective memory. This wasn't just a win. It was a reckoning. And at the centre of it all was a coach who has made a habit of silencing doubters, a serial winner who in his spare time runs ultra-marathons, whose principles are grounded in discipline and the unwavering belief that, above all, the team comes first. 'Since day one, I said I wanted to win important trophies and Paris had never won the Champions League,' Enrique said. 'We did it for the first time. It's a great feeling to make many people happy.' It is tempting to view Enrique purely through the prism of his achievements. The trophies – 16 in all, including three this season – demand admiration. But to understand his work is to understand the depth of his conviction. After stepping away from Spain's national team to care for his daughter Xana – who tragically passed away from cancer age nine – Enrique returned to football not diminished, but even more determined. He does not play to the gallery, does not seek approval or redemption. He only coaches – intensely, with the focus of a man who has already had the worst thing that could happen to him happen to him. In the delirium that followed the final whistle, PSG's ultras unveiled a tifo that said everything words could not. A depiction of Enrique and Xana planting a club flag into the field. The symbolism was impossible to miss – Enrique had done the same thing with his daughter after guiding Barcelona to the 2015 Champions League title on their way to a treble. Emotional in the extreme, it also symbolised the green shoots of optimism that the club can expect more nights like this in years to come. It was a full-circle moment in a career defined by evolution. The firebrand of the Roma years, the calm conductor of Barcelona's golden symphony, the resolute leader who steered Spain through chaos, and now, the mentor who transformed PSG from luxury into legacy. It also cemented Enrique's place in the pantheon of greats, becoming only the second coach, alongside Pep Guardiola, to win trebles at two clubs.
