River confirm flight to Madrid for Copa final
Bilbao replace Berizzo with Garitano
BUENOS AIRES, Dec 4, (Agencies): The River Plate team will leave for Spain on Wednesday to play the second leg of the highly controversial Libertadores Cup final, the club announced on Monday.
In a statement to the South American football federation CONMEBOL, the Argentinian club said the team would leave for Spain “Wednesday at 1400 local time (1700 GMT) in a charter flight from Ezeiza airport”.
River Plate had earlier said it was opposed to moving Sunday’s match against fierce local rivals Boca Juniors from Buenos Aires to the Santiago Bernabeu in Madrid.
Coach Marcelo Gallardo had called it “absurd”, adding that his side had lost home advantage.
River should have hosted the match at their own El Monumental stadium on Nov 24 but it was postponed after River Plate fans attacked the Boca Juniors team bus. Several Boca Juniors players including Pablo Perez needed hospital treatment for injuries caused by shards of glass and others complained about the effects of inhaling teargas in the attack.
Boca then refused to play the match and it was postponed 24 hours, only to then be called off indefinitely the next day. Boca petitioned CONMEBOL to be awarded the trophy, but that was rejected.
The first leg at Boca Juniors’ Bombonera Stadium had finished 2-2.
CONMEBOL then switched the match to Madrid, a decision opposed by both Argentinian clubs.
Boca have not announced the timing of their team departure although, according to the local press, the indications are that they will leave on Tuesday evening with fans preparing farewell festivities for Tuesday afternoon in the neighborhood of La Boca.
On Monday, Boca and River put on sale the 5,000 tickets that each club has for fans living in Argentina. They cost 3,600 pesos (84 euros) – about a quarter of the average salary in Argentina.
In Spain, 20,000 additional tickets for River fans not residing in Argentina sold in a few hours, a source close to the organization told AFP.
Another 20,000 for Boca fans living outside the country will go on sale from Tuesday.
The second leg of the Libertadores
Inter’s Argentinian forward Mauro Icardi receives the award for the best player of 2018 at the ‘Gran Gala del Calcio’ Italian Football Association (Associazione Italiana Calciatori – IAC) awards ceremony
on Dec 3 in Milan.(AFP)
– See Page 31
Cup takes place in Madrid on Dec 9.
Athletic Bilbao sacked their coach Eduardo Berizzo on Tuesday after 13 matches without a win in La Liga.
Berizzo’s replacement will be Gaizka Garitano, who had been coaching the club’s reserve team, Bilbao Athletic, after previous spells in charge of Eibar, Real Valladolid and Deportivo La Coruna.
A club statement read: “Athletic Club has decided to terminate the contract of Eduardo Berizzo. From tomorrow, Wednesday December 5th, Gaizka Garitano will be responsible for managing the first team of Athletic Club.”
Berizzo had overseen only one league victory this term, on the opening weekend at home to Leganes. They sit 18th in La Liga.
Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley wants to sell the Premier League club before the January transfer window and told Sky News on Monday that talks on a deal had made promising progress.
Ashley, who is also majority shareholder at sportswear retailer Sports Direct, said in October he had not received any acceptable offers for Newcastle a year after he officially put the club up for sale.
Asked on Monday if it was realistic for Newcastle to be sold before the transfer window opened on Jan 1, Ashley said “possible” was a more accurate word but he was hopeful of stepping aside to find an owner “that will please everybody”.
“I’d like it to be before the January transfer window,” he said.
“Realistic? It’s possible. Realistic is maybe too strong a word. Hopefully we can carry on our recent good form and get the deal done.”
Newcastle had a difficult start to the season under Rafa Benitez but three wins in a row moved them up the table before a 3-0 home defeat by West Ham United at the weekend.
They are 15th in the standings with 12 points from 14 games. Ashley, who bought a controlling stake in the club in 2007, said he was not in exclusive talks with any party but confirmed they were “in a more progressed stage than they’ve ever been”.
He added that any potential buyer must be able to provide transfer funds.
“I’m very keen to sell it to the right buyer so that everybody’s happy,” he added. “That would be good news.”
Rafinha is likely to miss the rest of the season after Barcelona said they expect the midfielder to be out for six months on Tuesday following an operation for an anterior cruciate ligament injury.
Rafinha hurt the ligament in his left knee during the Spanish champions’ 1-1 draw with Atletico Madrid on Nov 24. “Rafinha has had the ligaments of his left knee successfully operated on,” a Barcelona statement read. “He will be out of action for approximately six months.”
Rafinha has not been a regular in the Catalans’ starting line-up this term having only featured on eight occasions for the La Liga leaders. The Brazilian enjoyed a run in the side last month while Lionel Messi was injured.
He started against both Real Madrid and Rayo Vallecano in the league, as well as at home against Inter Milan in the Champions League, when he scored the opening goal in a 2-0 win. Atalanta’s Colombian forward Duvan Zapata (left), vies for the ball with Napoli’s Brazilian midfielder Allan (center), during the Italian Serie A football match
Atalanta vs Napoli on Dec 3 at the Atleti Azzurri d’Italia Stadium in Bergamo. Napoli won 2-1. (AFP)