Real try to avoid Liverpool comeback in CL
Gregg ‘eligible’ to coach after probe
NEW YORK, March 14, (AP): Gregg Berhalter remains a candidate to stay on as the U.S. men’s national team coach after a report by a law firm determined he did not improperly withhold information about a 1992 domestic violence allegation involving the woman who later became his wife.
The report, released publicly Monday by the U.S. Soccer Federation, also concluded that Berhalter’s conduct “likely constituted the misdemeanor crime of assault on a female.”
Berhalter’s contract expired on Dec. 31 and Anthony Hudson, one of his assistants, was appointed interim coach on Jan. 4. The coaching decision will be made after a new sporting director is hired.
“Me and my wife, Rosalind, respect the process that U.S. Soccer went through,” Gregg Berhalter told The Associated Press in a telephone interview from Britain. “We look forward to what is next.”
“I’m open to all options,” he added. “It’s a job that interests me, and I’m keeping all options open.”
The firm Alston and Bird was retained after former U.S. captain Claudio Reyna and wife Danielle Egan Reyna, the parents of current American midfielder Gio Reyna, informed the USSF of the 1992 incident following the decision by Berhalter to use Gio Reyna sparingly at last year’s World Cup.
The firm concluded the Reynas were not guilty of extortion but said Claudio Reyna’s conduct might have violated provisions of FIFA’s code of ethics for conflicts of interest, protection of physical and mental integrity, and abuse of position.
Claudio Reyna resigned as technical director of Major League Soccer’s Austin team on Jan. 26.
The probe included interviews with 16 witnesses, but investigators said Claudio Reyna refused to be interviewed - an assertion he denied through his agent.
MADRID, March 14, (AP): Real Madrid got used to pulling off dramatic comebacks in the Champions League last season. Now it needs to avoid one to keep its title defense going.
It will be Liverpool needing to do something magical at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium on Wednesday to reverse a 5-2 loss from the first leg in the round of 16.
It definitely won’t be easy - no away team has ever erased a three-goal loss from the first leg in the Champions League. Only five times the team that lost at home rallied in the second leg, with Manchester United the only one to overcome a two-goal deficit in a round-of-16 matchup against Paris Saint-Germain in 2019.
Liverpool did manage a huge comeback at home in the 2019 semifinals, rallying against another Spanish club, Barcelona. It had lost 3-0 at the Camp Nou before pulling off a 4-0 win in the second leg at home to keep alive a run that eventually ended with the team winning the trophy. Only three other teams overcame a deficit of three or more goals - Barcelona, Roma and Deportivo La Coruña.
“We need to go and do something special,” Liverpool defender Trent Alexander-Arnold said. “It’s about throwing the kitchen sink at it and going all out.”
Madrid, which beat Liverpool in last season’s final for a record-extending 14th European title, pulled off thrilling comebacks on its way to that final, rallying from behind against PSG in the round of 16, Chelsea in the quarterfinals and Manchester City in the semifinals.
Madrid also rallied against Liverpool in the first leg this season after going down 2-0 in the first half in England, eventually building its comfortable threegoal advantage with two goals each by Vinícius Júnior and Karim Benzema. Éder Militão also scored for Madrid at Anfield.
Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti expected an open second leg and said his team will not play too defensively.
“The message to the team is simple,” Ancelotti said Tuesday. “We have to try to play as well as possible, just like in the first leg. We won’t try to speculate, we have to be in the game from the first minute. We have to go into the game with maximum intensity and enthusiasm and try to win it.”
The only time Madrid failed to advance in the Champions League after winning the first leg on the road was