come from 2-0 down to beat
Milan 4-2 and go top of Serie A.
Monday February 10
ITALY: Without any head coach
experience at domestic level,
former Italy under-21 boss Luigi Di
Biagio becomes the first man to
make the leap from working only
with the national team set-up to
leading a club in Serie A as he
replaces Leonardo Semplici at
SPAL until the end of the season.
The club are bottom of the table,
having won just four league games.
Tuesday February 11
CYPRUS: Defending champions
APOEL fire coach Kare Ingebrigtsen
after just 45 days in charge.
FRANCE: Ousmane Dembele is set
to miss Euro 2020 after undergoing
surgery on a hamstring tear.
GERMANY: Jurgen Klinsmann
resigns as coach of Hertha Berlin
after just 76 days in charge.
PARAGUAY: After being released
by Turkish side Kayserispor for
personal reasons in December,
Togo striker Emmanuel Adebayor
joins Olimpia, where he is reunited
with former Manchester City team-
mate Roque Santa Cruz.
SPAIN: Porto goalkeeper Iker
Casillas is reported to be set to run
against Luis Rubiales in the next
elections for Spanish FA president.
Wednesday February 12
USA: MLS newcomers Inter Miami
could be forced to change their
name after losing the first part of
a legal dispute with Internazionale.
The Serie A side are suing for
trademark infringement, and claim
the term “Inter” is synonymous with
them and no one else.
Thursday February 13
FRANCE: Fourth-tier Epinal’s run in
the Coupe de France is over as they
lose 2-1 to Saint-Etienne in the
quarter-finals. Fellow Championnat
National 2 side Belfort also went
out of the competition at the last-
eight stage, losing 3-0 to Rennes
on Tuesday.
Big guns
clash again
Last-eight showdown
ast year’s Champions League
quarter-final clash between
aristocrats Al Ahly and the
“new money” of South Africa’s
Mamelodi Sundowns was one of
few classics the competition can
boast in its 23-year history.
Sundowns, owned by billionaire mining magnate
Patrice Motsepe and boasting resources few other
African sides have access to, put together a quality
performance rarely seen before on the continent
as they clinically dismantled African football’s most
successful club and won the first leg 5-0 in Pretoria.
Al Ahly, record eight-time competition winners,
had never been treated as such before and it was
their biggest defeat in 77 years. The Cairo giants were
befuddled by the outcome, finding it hard to accept
despite the obvious gulf in quality.
Usually such a reversal leads to the realisation that
the tie is lost, leaving the vanquished side to seek
some redemption in the second leg and then bow
out with a little dignity restored. But it was an almostfever-pitched thirst for revenge that characterised
the return game and it turned into a nasty affair with
a rabid crowd baying for blood.
Frenzied waves of attack ensued from kick-off,
making for a bizarre spectacle at times, but in the
end Al Ahly managed just one goal and went out
with their tails between their legs.
Sundowns then lost in the semi-finals to Wydad,
who in turn forfeited the Final to Esperance of Tunisia.
This year those four are all back for the last eight
of the 24th edition of the competition, with Al Ahly
and Sundowns drawn against each other again.
This time, the first leg is in Egypt with Sundowns’
coach Pitso Mosimane quick to suggest the chances
of another runaway win are highly unlikely.
“I believe Al Ahly did not know us and did not
respect us last year,” says Mosimane. “But after we
knocked them out, the motivation will be different
and they will be more prepared.
“They now know us, but they will also be under
pressure because they are always favourites and
there will be pressure to beat us.”
He might be overstating the expectation on the
latest generation at a club – now coached byex-Anderlecht boss Rene Weiller – with a double-
digital lead in the domestic championship but
they also had a stuttering group campaign in the
Champions League, where they finished second and
were not sure of qualification until their last game.
The draw has seen the quest for an unprecedented
third successive title for Esperance overshadowed,
even if they proved efficient in advancing through the
group phase.
They are drawn against Zamalek, which means
they take on the Egyptians three weeks in a row: first
in the African Super Cup (being played for a second
successive year in Qatar) and then in the Champions
League, with Zamalek at home in the first leg.
Esperance will be fancied to advance and meet
either Raja or TP Mazembe Englebert of the
Democratic Republic of Congo.
Mazembe and Sundowns are the only two clubs
from countries south of the Sahara in the last eight,
emphasising the long-standing dominance of the
competition by clubs from the Arabic speaking north.
Mazembe and Sundowns, however, were the onlyGone...Kane
IngebrigtsenL
“I believe Al Ahly did not know us
and did not respect us last year”
Mamelodi Sundowns coach Pitso MosimaneCAF Champions Lge
MARK GLEESON