Injury-prone Bale risks losing dream final berth to Isco
MADRID: Playing in the Champions League final in his hometown of Cardiff was a dream for Real Madrid’s Gareth Bale but there is popular clamour in Spain for the club’s record signing to sit out Saturday’s showpiece to make way for in-form Isco.
Bale has endured a difficult fourth season with Real littered with injuries which have limited him to 24 starts, and when he has been fit he has struggled to replicate his form of last year and his spectacular Euro 2016 campaign with Wales.
Yet even though his time at Real has been interrupted by 17 injuries, Bale has been decisive in finals.
He scored a breath-taking solo goal to win the 2014 King’s Cup against Barcelona and headed his side in front for the first time in their 4-1 win over Atletico Madrid in the 2014 Champions League final.
In the 2016 final against Atletico, he set up Sergio Ramos’s opening goal and scored in Real’s penalty shootout win.
Yet the overwhelming feeling in Spain is that Bale could hinder Real’s chances of beating Juventus and the Spanish media are crying out for midfielder Isco to start in his place in Cardiff.
Spain international Isco has come into his own in the final stretch of the season while Bale has been out with a calf injury.
Isco, voted Real’s player of the season by the club’s supporters, has scored five goals and provided three assists in his last eight games, prompting Spanish daily Marca to remark that leaving him out of the Champions League final would be “the biggest injustice in memory”.
Bale’s best hope of starting in Cardiff ahead of Isco is that coach Zinedine Zidane continues to show loyalty to the Wales international over Isco, who has started only four of 12 Champions League games.
The Frenchman has passionately defended the under-performing Bale, and remarked earlier in the season that he would always pick Bale, Ronaldo and Karim Benzema if the trio were available.
Atletico slam CAS as transfer ban stays
BARCELONA: Atletico Madrid complained of discriminatory treatment and a lack of respect by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) after their appeal against a transfer ban for signing minors was rejected on Thursday.
The La Liga club said in a statement that CAS had reduced their January 2016 FIFA-imposed fine of 900,000 Swiss Francs ($927,548) to 550,000 but upheld a two-window transfer ban, prohibiting them from registering players bought this summer.
Real Madrid were also banned from signing players for two transfer windows at the same time and given a smaller fine of 360,000 Swiss Francs, although the length of their ban was reduced last December to one window.
“We believe the decision to maintain the prohibition of registering players in the summer of 2017 shows preferential and discriminatory treatment to our club as recently in a similar case the sanction was partially lifted,” the statement said.
“This ruling is unfair and causes an irreparable damage to our club. This shows a lack of respect for our institution.
“We want to reiterate that we have been penalised despite strictly complying with Spanish legislation, as we have always processed all our licenses with Madrid’s Football Federation, as the Sports Law indicates.”
Atletico finished third in La Liga last season, 15 points adrift of Real Madrid, and risk falling further behind the champions and Barcelona next season as Spain’s two biggest clubs are expected to spend big on renovating their squads.
The decision could also affect the future of striker Antoine Griezmann, the subject of frequent speculation linking him with a move to Manchester United, who could snap up the France international by triggering his 100 million euro ($112 million) release clause.
Mourinho will adapt to suit United style, says Anderson
HONG KONG: Former Manchester United defender Viv Anderson believes Jose Mourinho will look to return to the club’s traditional footballing values after securing a Champions League place in his first season in charge at Old Trafford.
The 20-time English champions defeated Ajax Amsterdam in the final of the Europa League last week to secure direct entry into the group phase of next season’s Champions League, the first time the club has acquired automatic passage to that stage of the competition since the retirement of Alex Ferguson in 2013.
“It’s not been pretty to watch this season but, if you look at the stats, at the end of it he’s won two trophies in his first season, so whatever he does he wins trophies,” Anderson, who was Ferguson’s first signing for the club in 1987, told Reuters.
“I think he can improve on the way they play, but I think that will come in time. It’s a nice stepping stone by getting to the Champions League and he will adapt to the way Manchester United are expecting to play.
“I think it was a means to an end and he’s got his trophies. He’s taken some criticism this season from all sides because of the way they play, but I think he will adapt and change his style now they’re in the Champions League.”
Tapal CC beat Friends CC in KG Ramazan Festival T20
By our correspondent
KARACHI: Tapal Cricket Club overwhelmed Friends Cricket Club by six wickets in the Omar Associates Karachi Gymkhana Ramazan Festival Twenty20 here at the Karachi Gymkhana on Thursday.
Put into bat, Friends CC were restricted to 131 for nine in 20 overs despite the blazing start provided by opener Asif Babar, who hammered two sixes and four fours in his breezy 45 off 32 balls. Tapal CC pulled it back through their spin trio of Rafay Safdar (2-17), Raza-ul-Hasan (2-36) and Yasir Hussain (2-38) who was also aided by tight spells from Imran Ali (1-8) and Wasim Ali (1-15).
Friends CC brought the match to life by picking up three wickets through left-arm spinner Ali Asghar but they could not get past Hamza Ghanchi, who returned undefeated on 52 off 43 balls to steer his side to a comfortable victory in the penultimate over. He was adjudged Man of the Match.
