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CAPE TOWN - Former Proteas captain AB de Villiers has ruled out a return to cricket after undergoing eye surgery.
The 38-year-old retired from all forms of the game in November last year, but due to his star power in India in particular, speculation had been rife that he could make a return to the playing
MILAN - Simone Inzaghi is like a boxer on the ropes. And like a fighter who collects punches and constantly covers his face because he can’t find the time to attack, he stays in the corners of the ring waiting for the referee’s final gong.
Inter Milan have lost five of their 10 matches this season, with their four Serie A wins coming against very beatable opponents, demonstrating they are not ready to face Napoli and AC Milan in the battle for the Scudetto or potentially even make the top four. Barcelona will be the judge of the manager’s destiny and now all the certainties built by the Chief Executive Giuseppe Marotta are collapsing under the blows and frailties of a coach who has not understood the differences between the Lazio bench and Inter’s.
Decisive
field for the 2023 Indian Premier League (IPL). De Villiers has reached legend status at the Royal Challengers Bangalore, and while he said he would be back one day, he confirmed it would not be as a player. De Villiers revealed to his followers that any potential comeback as a player had been ruled out by the fact that he underwent eye surgery to his right eye due to a retinal detachment.
The big match against Robert Lewandowski’s team will be a decisive stress test for the psychological strength of a team which in the event of a KO would compromise their chances of reaching the Champions League knockouts.
It would also cause an emotional crisis at the club that would be difficult to overcome.
In the case of a heavy defeat, Inzaghi could be sacked immediately after the match, but Marotta and President Steven Zhang have not made a final decision.
LIVERPOOL - Liverpool’s decision to let Sadio Mane join Bayern Munich for £35 million was the ‘worst business ever’, according to Paul Merson.
Mane left the Reds after six years at Anfield back in the summer, and the Reds have struggled ever since his departure. Jurgen Klopp’s side have won just two of their opening seven Premier League games and are already 11 points behind league leaders Arsenal - albeit, with a game in hand.
Blamed
Merson, in his Sky Sports column, has blamed Liverpool’s poor defensive record on Mane’s exit, and insisted that £85 million replacement Darwin Nunez ‘isn’t in the same league’ as the Senegalese
star.
He said: “I’ve said it from day one, in my opinion selling Sadio Mane was the worst business ever. The bloke scores big, big goals. Go through them, first goals, equalisers, winning goals in last minutes, big goals.
“He led from the front with his closing down, and for me, what they sold him for, I just didn’t get it.”