Improving Hazard show good news for Real Madrid
As Real take on Galatasaray in Group A, the winger has everything to play for
warned that psychology will be key as Italian newcomers Atalanta look to avoid another huge defeat at the hands of Champions League rivals Manchester City in Milan on Wednesday.
The Premier League champs can seal their ticket to the knockout rounds with a win over Atalanta, who have lost all three Group C games.
Man City are top of their group with maximum nine points and 10 goals scored, with the Bergamo side bottom after conceding 11 goals and scoring just two.
Five of those came last time out, when an 11-minute Raheem Sterling hat-trick helped City to a 5-1 win in Manchester.
“The psychological aspect will be fundamental,” said Gasperini. “It’s a tight turnaround, but we’ll prepare as best we can.”
BAYERN WARNED
MUNICH: Bayern Munich’s stars have been told to knuckle down under interim coach Hansi Flick ahead of their Champions League clash with Olympiakos following
Niko Kovac’s sacking.
Former Bayern and West Germany defender Andreas Brehme says the Bayern squad “let Kovac down” with a series of lacklustre recent performances that led to the coach’s dismissal, while the club’s director of sport Hasan Salihamidzic has demanded more effort from his off-form players.
Group B leaders Bayern host bottom side Olympiakos with a fourth straight Champions League win in their sights after beating the Greek side 3-2 in Athens a fortnight ago.
However, all is not well with the Bavarian giants, who dismissed Kovac on Sunday. Saturday’s 5-1 drubbing at Eintracht Frankfurt did it for Kovac, who never enjoyed the full confidence of the club.
Meanwhile, Ajax coach Erik ten Hag ruled himself out of the running to take over as Bayern Munich coach for the time being, saying he would be staying at the Dutch champions until at least the end of the current season.
ASHWIN SET TO JOIN DELHI CAPITALS
NEWDELHI: Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin is all set to join Delhi Capitals in a trade off with Kings XI Punjab for the upcoming season of Indian Premier League in 2020.
Ashwin, who had captained the KXIP for two seasons without much success, was supposed to join Delhi Capitals earlier but once Anil Kumble came on board, it was learnt that KXIP weren’t ready to release their senior bowler.
“Yes, Ashwin is joining Delhi Capitals. The deal had earlier fell through as KXIP didn’t get the two DC players that they wanted in a trade-off with Ashwin.
Now they are getting those two players and it’s 99 percent done,” a senior BCCI official, privy to IPL trade-offs, told PTI on conditions of anonymity.
However it couldn’t be confirmed as to which two players Delhi will be trading.
HARYANA’S RACHNA BREAKS NATIONAL MARK IN 800M
GUNTUR: Haryana’s Rachna marked her shift from being a single-lapper to 800m with a memorable victory in the 35th National Junior Athletic Championships, breaking Tintu Luka’s 11-yearold under-20 meet record with a 2:06.12 effort here on Tuesday.