‘Milan only have themselves to blame for exit’
MILAN: AC Milan coach Gennaro Gattuso said his team had nobody to blame but themselves after they lost 3-1 at Olympiakos Piraeus and were knocked out of the Europa League in the group stage. “We gifted the game to Olympiakos,” he said after Thursday night’s defeat in Athens, where all the goals came in the second half.
“We made fools of ourselves ... We were too naive and allowed Olympiakos to get back into the game. We are very upset because we always make the same mistakes again and again.”
Gattuso said the seven-times European champions simply went to pieces after missing their chances. “We had the game in our hands but if you create seven or eight chances in a stadium like this and then fall apart the moment things go wrong, you deserve to go out,” he said.
BARCA DRAW LEVANTE IN COPA DEL REY LAST 16
MADRID: Holders Barcelona were drawn to face Levante in the last 16 of the Copa del Rey, while Real Madrid will be looking for revenge against Leganes.
La Liga leaders Barcelona are bidding for a fifth successive Cup crown after crushing Sevilla 5-0 in last season’s final and face a Levante outfit sitting sixth in the Spanish top flight. Aletico Madrid will take on Girona, while Sporting Gijon, the only secondtier side still in the competition, face Valencia.real play Leganes, who stunned the 13-time European champions on away goals in the quarter-finals last term.
FIVE MORE LIGUE 1 MATCHES POSTPONED
PARIS: Five top-flight French soccer matches have been postponed this weekend due to security concerns following anti-government protests, depleting the league program for the second week in a row, Ligue 1 said.
Paris St Germain’s match at Dijon on Saturday is among those postponed, along with Amiens’ match against Angers and Nantes’ game against Montpellier. On Sunday, games between Olympique de Marseille and Girondins de Bordeaux and Guingampagainststaderennais have also been postponed.
REAL NEED SUPPORT FROM FANS: SOLARI
MADRID: Real Madrid coach Santiago Solari says fans need to get behind the team after they were whistled off following a humiliating 3-0 home defeat by CSKA Moscow in the Champions League.
He said, “I heard applause too the other day. Fans express themselves and that is valid and respectable. The team always looks for support and we need it. We hope that they help us and push us on.”