Carlo Ancelotti without mincing words

Finishing outside the top eight in the Champions League’s single round will force Real Madrid not only to play two more games in an already busy schedule, but also to contend with Manchester City, which although it is, this season, performing less well than the standards of recent years, è still a big name in European soccer.

Just talking about calendars, Carlo Ancelotti relaunched his strong opinion, expressing himself harshly on the need to face a match every three days for most of the season: “The calendar è absurd – said, without mincing words, the Blancos’ coach to the microphones of ‘Sky Sport’ -. We have to deal with too many injured players, at this time especially in defense”.

It is not è the first time that Ancelotti has spoken out against what he says is è an excessive jamming of the calendar. D’on the other hand, Real Madrid è busy this year in La Liga, the Champions League and the Spanish Cup, played the Super Cup in Saudi Arabia in January, the Intercontinental Cup in December and will be among the protagonists of next summer’s Club World Cup.

Considering the competitions already played and assuming Real Madrid makes it to the bottom of all competitions, that would make a total of 71 competitions played between August 2024 and July 2025. A demand, according to Ancelotti, that is too severe for the physique of his players, althoughé the structuring of tournaments is increasingly going to meet this kind of need at the calendar level.

The Itas Trentino è the only Italian representative in CEV Cup

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After getting rid of Arcada Galati, Benfica and Corona Brasov in the previous rounds, Itas Trentino is looking forward with great ambition to the quarterfinals of the 2024-2025 CEV Cup, where it will face Chaumont coached by Silvano Prandi. Fabio Soli, coach of the Gialloblù, wants to continue the dream of an encore in the continental sphere, after last year’s Champions League success, repeating itself also in the CEV Cup where the Trentino team is the only Italian club registered.

“The competition enters its final part,” said the 1979-born coach, “the one that is the most complicated and difficult but at the same time also the most beautiful, because the eight teams left in the running are all of the highest level. Among them there è certainly the training of a master of the sport as Professor Prandi”.

“Chaumont,” Soli explained, “knows how to play very effective volleyball both in the break point phase, thanks to excellent hitting and wall and defense organization, and in the ball change thanks to the qualities of their excellent setter, the American Worsley. This is only the first match, but è an important moment of our path in this event”.

“We must necessarily manage to get a positive result and then face the return match with more chances of qualification. It will not beà easy but we have all the means to do it” then concluded Fabio Soli. The formula of the quarterfinals è the same as in the previous and subsequent rounds: round-robin matches, with 3 points awarded in case of a 3-0 or 3-1 win, 2 points for a tie-break victory and 1 for a five-set loss. If after the return match the two teams have obtained the same points, a golden set will be played that will determine the winner.

Brian Priske exonerated: no longer è the Feyenoord coach

Just forty-eight hours after the first leg of the Champions League playoff against AC Milan, Feyenoord has decided to relieve Brian Priske of his role as first-team coach. The decision sounds surprising not only because it comes on the immediate eve of a very important match for the red and white club&#39s European destiny, but also because no later than Saturday the same Feyenoord won the derby against Sparta Rotterdam by a clear 3-0.

“Feyenoord and coach Brian Priske have mutually decided to part ways, effective immediately,” the club announced on Monday. The main reasons for the decision are inconsistent results and lack of chemistry with the team. In addition to coach Brian Priske, assistants Lukas Babalola Andersson and Bjorn Hamberg will also leave Feyenoord immediately. On Tuesday, the name of the next interim coach” will be announced.

“It’s very disappointing, for both parties, to arrive at such a decision,” explained the Rotterdam club&#39s technical and general manager, Dennis te Kloese. “Although Feyenoord has achieved some important results with Brian, especially in the Champions League, the first team&#39s performance has been too inconsistent in recent months and, unfortunately, the progress made has not been sufficient”.

“As a professional and as a person, I still hold Brian in high esteem,” Te Kloese added. “However, one has to conclude that despite good intentions, things simply do not work out and a point is reached where there isn’t enough mutual support to continue together”.