Month: February 2025

MANCHESTER: Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim was impressed by his side’s willingness to suffer to secure a 3-2 win over Ipswich Town in the Premier League at Old Trafford.

United came from behind to lead 2-1 before Patrick Dorgu was sent off and Ipswich equalised late in the first half.

The visitors failed to capitalize on their player advantage throughout the second half, instead the hosts secured victory thanks to a goal from Harry Maguire to take the team further away from the relegation zone.

“Today I wasn’t disappointed. We controlled the game and from the first minute I could feel the players trying to play and we managed to score two goals

“The red card disrupted the rhythm a little but the fight shown by the fans really helped us collect the three points,” said Amorim.

Amorim seemed less than happy with the way young striker Alejandro Garnacho acted after being sent off as United wanted to strengthen their defence after Dorgu was sent off.

The Argentine headed straight to the dressing room, rather than joining his teammates on the bench.

“I’ll talk to Garnacho about it. You can ask me at the next press conference,” the operator said.

Jaden Philogene opened the scoring for Ipswich in the fourth minute, but United came back to equalise after visiting captain Sam Morsy had the ball into his own net in the 22nd minute.

Four minutes later Matthijs de Ligt put United ahead. Dorgu was sent off two minutes before half-time for a late challenge on Omari Hutchinson. Ipswich took full advantage to equalise through Philogene.

Maguire sealed United’s victory two minutes into the second half. United are now 14th on 33 points after 27 games.

PARIS: Qatari officials are reportedly suing to withdraw investment from Parisian giants, Paris Saint-Germain (PSG).

Qatar Sports Investments (QSI) bought PSG in 2011 and Nasser Al-Khelaifi was appointed club president with PSG enjoying their shining moment by winning 10 Ligue 1 titles in the last 12 seasons.

However, according to Agence France Presse (AFP), Al-Khelaifi was accused of being ‘involved in buying lots and abusing the freedom of voting’ and ‘being involved in abuse of power’, but Al-Khelaifi denied these accusations.

The case is closely related to French businessman, Arnaud Lagardere and charges regarding allegations of influencing voting by QSI- a shareholder in the group.

RMC Sport reports that Qatar has responded to the accusations by suing to stop investment in France.

This includes PSG and the beIN Sports sports network.

A source close to the Qatari government told RMC Sport ‘they are fed up with the accusations being thrown around.’

“Fake legal proceedings, insults, daily criticism, being blamed for the failures of others – all the problems in France are their fault.

“Every time they try to help, it is for ‘soft power’. This is abuse and they can no longer put up with it.”

MANCHESTER, England: Jude Bellingham scored the winning goal in injury time as Real Madrid twice came back to inflict more pain on Manchester City with a 3-2 victory in the first leg of their Champions League play-off at the Etihad Stadium early this morning.

Erling Haaland twice put City ahead with his first goals in five games against Madrid.

But the defending champions hit back through Kylian Mbappe and Brahim Diaz before Bellingham scored the winning goal in the 92nd minute on his return to England.

“It’s a bit strange. We played some of our best games of the season and still fell behind,” said Bellingham.

“I don’t care how City perform because they are still an incredible team. It’s often difficult against them and we finally took our chances at the end of the game.”

City now face a tough task to advance to the last 16 when the two teams meet again in the Spanish capital on February 19.

“It’s a feeling of anger and frustration,” said City defender John Stones.

“We need to finish the game better. The manager said we need to be responsible for what we do in midfield. We need to bounce back when bad moments like this happen.”

The clubs met for the fourth consecutive season in the Champions League, with the winners in each of the previous three years eventually lifting the trophy.

Madrid’s decision to boycott City midfielder Rodri’s Ballon d’Or win last year is seen as adding to their animosity as the Spanish giants feel their own player Vinicius Junior is more deserving of the award.