the times | Thursday December 3 2020 2GM 77
Sport
FA investigates Cavani word
The FA has started consulting South
American language experts as it
weighs up whether to charge
Edinson Cavani for a controversial
Instagram post (Paul Hirst writes).
The Times understands that the
FA has been in contact with
academics to help it gain a better
understanding of the connotations
of the word “negrito”.
Cavani, the Uruguay and
Manchester United striker, used the
word, which literally means “little
black”, in a post to a friend who was
congratulating him on his two goals
in the 3-2 win over Southampton.
If the FA determines that the word
is discriminatory, it will charge
Cavani, who would then face a
three-match ban.Tim Crow, a sports marketing expert,
said Uefa needed to update its model as
the group stage is in danger of
becoming stale.
“It has become moribund,” Crow
said. “It has certainly lost its zing. If
there are more games and [more] ran-
dom games, that will be seen as good.
[There will be] fewer dead matches.”
Broadcasting industry insiders say
they are intrigued by the new model but
are waiting to see the final proposals.
Richard Worth, of Team Marketing,
which sells the commercial and
broadcast rights for Uefa, said that it
was important to ensure that any new
format did not lead to even more
meaningless group games.
He said: “I haven’t studied the Swiss
system in detail but I think you should
be cautious about changing too much
as the balance right now is pretty good.”He should have
seen red earlier
Zidane is under pressure as
Real’s season unravelsOne-group format ‘would
revive stale tournament’
Martyn Ziegler Chief Sports ReporterPlanned reforms of the Champions
League that would involve clubs playing
ten different rivals in the group stage
could restore the “zing” to the competi-
tion, according to marketing experts.
Uefa is holding talks over the next
two weeks on proposals to use a model
called the “Swiss system” — often used
in chess — which would have 32 or 36
clubs in a single division. A random
draw would select ten opponents of
varying strength based on seeding.
It would be the biggest shake-up of
the competition since the 1990s and the
aim would be to satisfy demands of the
top clubs for more matches against
other elite teams, while remaining
attractive to broadcasters. It would,
however, mean ten group games for
each club instead of six.Zidane in peril as
Real slide towards
a premature exit
Ian HawkeyZinédine Zidane, the most successful
Real Madrid coach of the Champions
League era, faces the most perilous ten
days of his decorated managerial
career. With Real’s defence of their
Spanish league title derailing after
taking a single point from their past
three matches, the club now confront
the unprecedented: elimination at the
group phase of the competition they
have won more than any other club.
After Tuesday’s 2-0 defeat in Kiev by
Shakhtar Donetsk left Real in third
place in group B, Zidane insisted: “I will
not step down.” The question of resig-
nation had been put to him because
there is now a reasonable assumption
that the Real president, Florentino
Pérez, may ask him something similar if
over the course of three taxing games,
against Seville this weekend, Borussia
Mönchengladbach on Wednesday and
the Madrid derby against Atletico, the
slump has not been corrected.
Pérez’s advisers have floated a provi-
sional shortlist of possible replace-
ments, headed by Mauricio Pochettino,
who is seeking work a year after leaving
Tottenham Hotspur.
Pérez will part with Zidane reluctant-
ly, even if his confidence in the coach
has been shaken. The president per-
suaded Zidane to return to Madrid for a
second stint in charge in March 2019,
and the Frenchman’s Midas touch, one
that had yielded three successive
Champions League titles in the 2½
years until he abruptly walked
away in 2018, returned.
In his first full season back
Zidane guided Real to the
2019-20 Spanish league title,
although for the first time
under Zidane the club’s
Champions League
campaign was not a
success; Manchester City
comfortably knocked
Real out at the round-of-
16 stage.
Since then Shakhtar have
beaten Real twice this
season to leave group Bthrillingly open. Real and Inter Milan
were supposed to be the heavyweights:
the Spanish champions and Antonio
Conte’s Inter have been in third and
fourth place after most match days, and
a topsy-turvy sequence of results has
left a final match-day scenario in which
any of the four clubs could go through.
The task for Zidane is straightfor-
ward. Real must beat Mönchenglad-
bach in Spain next Wednesday to be
sure of progress.
Any analysis of how the team Zidane
led to European Cup triumphs in 2016,
2017 and 2018 shrunk to a Real of two
last-16 exits (2019 and 2020), and now
perhaps worse, begins with the depar-
ture of Cristiano Ronaldo. Ronaldo’s
last match after a period at Real in
which he became the Champions
League’s record goalscorer was the
Kiev final against Liverpool. Zidane left
shortly afterwards.
The coach was then persuaded to
come back by reassurances that Real
would recruit players to make up the
shortfall. Some, such as Kylian Mbap-
pé, have been unattainable so far. One
who Zidane eagerly welcomed, Eden
Hazard, has barely hit second gear
since moving from Chelsea nearly 18
months ago. Injuries have limited
Hazard to 25 starts across all competi-
tions; he finished his first season in
Madrid with a single goal.
Zidane’s achievement, with Hazard
lame, Gareth Bale peripheral and no
new CR7, was to cultivate a rugged,
hard-to-beat side last season. There
were no crowds to complain that
Real eked out wins by narrow mar-
gins, or that Sergio Ramos, the
central defender, became their
most reliable marksman.
The captain Ramos,
nursing a muscle injury,
has been missed in the
past two weeks. Without
Ramos alongside him, his
long-term partner at
centre back Raphaël Var-
ane seems to lose rather
than gain authority. A Var-
ane error hastened their
elimination to City in
August; another against
Shakhtar pointed Real to the
precipice of the next exit.TIMES PHOTOGRAPHER BRADLEY ORMESHERI
t may have been a soft
challenge that led to Fred’s
dismissal last night but he was
firmly in the sights of the referee,
Daniele Orsato.
Fred should have been sent off
in the first half for pushing his
head into the face of Leandro
Paredes off the ball. The VAR
correctly informed Orsato that he
had missed an incident but, after
consulting his monitor, the Italian
official wrongly chose to show a
yellow card to Fred.
The midfielder escaped
punishment for treading on
Paredes moments later but was
shown a second yellow after half-
time for catching Ander Herrera.
Fred did get the ball first but, by
then, his luck had run out.Peter Walton
Former Premier League refereeGoing Fred headbutts Paredes in
the 22nd minute but gets a yellowGoing Midfielder treads on Paredes
minutes later but is not shown cardGone Fred gets a second yellow in
70th minute for this sliding tackleUnited midfielder pushed his head into the face of Leandro Paredes in the first half
only ourselves to blame for loss
you can’t really fault the boy.” Solskjaer
defended his decision to not substitute
Fred at half-time despite his hot-head-
ed first half display.
“He played well,” Solskjaer said.
“With the decision the ref made, you
maybe look back and say you should
have [taken him off] but there was no
reason from his performance to take
him off. We spoke at half time and just
said, ‘Be sensible,’ and he was.”
Harry Maguire, the United captain,
criticised Daniele Orsato, the Italian
referee. “It’s not a yellow card [in the
second half]. He wins the ball,” Maguire
said. “I was two yards away, the lines-
man was five yards. Every time you go
to the floor — especially in Europe —
you get a booking.”
Scott McTominay agreed and raged
against the officials for the dismissal
and the narrow offside call for PSG’s
second. “Where is the balance in the
game with how the referee has ap-
proached decisions?” McTominay said.
“We’re seeing mistakes week in, week
out, for us it has to be rectified, get foot-
ball back to the way it was.”
United started the group campaign
with impressive wins over PSG in
France and at home to Leipzig, but last
night’s defeat, and the loss to Istanbul
Basaksehir last month, have left them
in danger of finishing third, which
would relegate the team to the Europa
League.
“We know the destiny is in our own
hands,” Solskjaer said. “We know that
we play against a good team in Leipzig,
who were in the semi-final last year, but
we are developing into a better team as
well.”
To make matters worse for Solskjaer,
Marcus Rashford, who scored United’s
only goal, came off with a shoulder
injury. “Let’s see how quickly he recov-
ers. Hopefully he’ll be ready for the
weekend,” Solskjaer said.