Zlatan Ibrahimovic brought the curtain down on a long, trophy-packed career on Sunday when he unexpectedly announced his retirement from football.

Veteran striker Ibrahimovic revealed his decision to quit the game during an on-pitch ceremony following AC Milan’s 3-1 win over Verona.

“It’s the moment to say goodbye to football, not just to you,” said Ibrahimovic on the San Siro pitch.

“There are too many emotions for me right now. Forza Milan and goodbye.”

The 41-year-old had been expected to simply bid farewell to Milan fans after his departure from the seven-time European champions was announced on Saturday.

He returned to Milan in late 2019 for a second spell after a previous two-year period in which he won the Serie A title in 2011.

Ibrahimovic was a key figure in Milan’s resurgence to the top of Italian football after his return to the club, helping to bring them back from the doldrums and eventually win the Scudetto last season.

“The first time I came here you gave me happiness, the second time you gave me love,” said Ibrahimovic.

“You welcomed me with open arms, you made me feel at home, I will be a Milanista for the rest of my life.”

Over the course of his career Ibrahimovic won league titles in the Netherlands, Italy, Spain and France, although his only major European trophy was the 2017 Europa League with Manchester United.

He has hardly featured for Stefano Pioli’s side this term after being plagued with injuries, returning in February following surgery on his left knee in May.

In July he signed a deal which netted him around one million euros ($1.02 million) in fixed salary, with large bonuses linked to appearances and achievements.

But the 41-year-old only started one match and netted once for Milan this season, a 3-1 win at Udinese in March in which he became the oldest goal scorer in Serie A history.

He then picked up a calf injury in a pre-match warm up in April and ended his career sidelined before scotching rumours that he was set to move to Monza and targeting Euro 2024 with Sweden.

Source: AFP

Lionel Messi arrived two years ago wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with ”Ici C’est Paris” (This Is Paris) — a favorite cry among Paris Saint-Germain fans — and to chants of “Messi! Messi! Messi!”

The soccer superstar will leave the team on Saturday not quite so revered.

The cheers have been replaced by jeers and boos in recent weeks at the Parc des Princes, where the World Cup winner will play his final game for the French league champion.

Christophe Galtier confirmed on Thursday that the looming end of the season is also the end of Messi’s time at PSG.

Messi will bow out in their league finale against Clermont on Saturday. His contract expires at the end of June.

“I had the privilege of coaching the best player in the history of soccer,” Galtier said. “This will be his last match at the Parc des Princes, and I hope that he will receive the warmest of welcomes.”

PSG recruited Messi in August 2021 with the ambition to finally win the Champions League. The team is still waiting.

Although PSG won its record-extending 11th French league title last weekend, it again exited Europe’s top tournament in the round of 16.

Messi’s adventure in France has been bittersweet. In spite of pretty good statistics, he has been embodying the team’s shortcomings in the view of many PSG fans who have repeatedly whistled his name sarcastically in recent weeks.

After struggling to adapt to the French league — the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner scored only six league goals in his first 26 games — Messi improved this season as he developed an efficient understanding with forward Kylian Mbappe.

In 31 league matches, the 35-year-old Messi has 16 goals and delivered as many assists. In all competitions, Messi netted 21 times and had 20 assists for PSG.

“This year, he has been an important part of the team, always available, always committed during training sessions,” Galtier said. “I don’t think any of the comments or criticisms are justified.”

Despite Galtier’s support, PSG’s appreciation of Messi has not always been so positive.

Last month, the club suspended him following an unauthorized trip to Saudi Arabia. Messi has a commercial contract with Saudi Arabia to promote tourism and has been linked with a lucrative move there at the end of the season.

There has also been talk of a return to Barcelona, where he spent the majority of his career, or to the United States to play in MLS.

Messi arrived at Barcelona at age 13 and left having won 35 titles. He helped the club win the four Champions Leagues, 10 Spanish leagues, and seven Copa del Reys.

Source: AP

With no Frenchmen seeded in singles at Roland Garros this year, the home country is unlikely to see its first male champion since Yannick Noah’s lone win back in 1983. But as one generation of nearly-men bows out, there are signs a new one is readying to take up the challenge.

No Frenchman has won a Grand Slam title since Yannick Noah’s French Open triumph in 1983.

It’s been 40 years since a Frenchman last won a singles Grand Slam title – and marking the anniversary of Noah’s famous win has become a nostalgic ritual for a nation starved of success.

The former tennis-champ-turned-pop-star was back on the French Open stage at the weekend for a celebration of his 1983 title, this time holding a mic instead of a racket. He strode barefoot on the famous red clay of Court Philippe Chatrier and performed a dozen songs – joined on stage by his opponent from 40 years ago, Matts Wilander.

Asked why no other Frenchman had emulated his success since then, he joked: “Because I’m not coaching anymore.”

Noah, who captained France to victory in both the Davis Cup and Fed Cup, later had a stark piece of advice for French youngsters hoping for a breakthrough: to pack their bags and travel abroad.

“You have to go and nourish yourself elsewhere, because we’re used to losing at all levels,” he told reporters. “All coaches have lost. None of them have won. So you’re surrounded by people who have all lost.”

‘As if Real Madrid had won nothing’

Look abroad is precisely what the French Tennis Federation (FFT) has done, tapping Croatia’s Ivan Ljubicic, the former player and coach who was credited with improving Roger Federer’s game in his twilight years, guiding the Swiss to three more Grand Slam titles.

A former world number three, Ljubicic was put in charge of a programme dubbed Ambition 2024, aimed at improving French tennis and nurturing a new generation of champions. As he took on the job in December, the towering Croat expressed bafflement at the dearth of tennis success in France.

“Non-French people are always puzzled by tennis in your country,” he told French reporters. “It’s as if Real Madrid had won nothing for a long time.”

Switzerland’s Stan Wawrinka, the 2015 French Open champion, made blunter comments at a tournament in Marseille earlier this year, saying it was “sad” not to see better players in a country “with a Grand Slam tournament and ample resources to invest in the future of tennis”.

 Self-flagellation has been a recurrent theme at the French Open, particularly on anniversary years. In 2018, as organisers marked 30 years since the last time a Frenchman – Henri Leconte – reached the final, the 1988 runner-up blasted the players’ lack of dedication and mental toughness.

“They don’t train on clay as much as we used to,” said the flamboyant Leconte. “They are afraid to play at the French Open. They are always coming with an excuse, saying, ‘Oh, I have a bad back or elbow’.”

The harsh assessment was shared by some fans at Roland Garros, who flagged the home players’ inability to cope with expectations.

“The French have great courts and great players, but at this level in tennis it’s the mental strength that makes the difference,” said Marcus from Denmark, sheltering from the sun that has blessed the tournament’s opening days. He drew a parallel with the former world number one Andy Murray, who finally ended Britain’s decades-long wait for a male Grand Slam title “despite facing even greater pressure at Wimbledon”.

Murray, who lost eight of his 11 Grand Slam finals, all of them against either Djokovic or Federer, would certainly have seen more success had he not landed in the era of the “Big Three”. It’s a point Marion Bartoli, the last French player to win a major in 2013, also raised in the run-up to the French Open, stressing that the likes of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Gaël Monfils were equally unfortunate to have faced such formidable opponents throughout their careers.

Culled from France 24

Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti’s said on Tuesday that FIFA’s racism protocol in football was “obsolete” after Brazilian forward Vinicius Junior was abused by Valencia fans.

The 22-year-old forward suffered vile racist taunts at Mestalla on Sunday in La Liga, with three fans arrested by Spanish police on Tuesday.

Referee Ricardo de Burgos Bengoetxea activated the racism protocol after Vinicius squared off with fans, singling out one whom he saw abuse him.

FIFA’s three-step process involves the match being paused until a stadium announcement is made asking for racist abuse to stop, which happened at Mestalla.

The second step, after any further abuse, is to temporarily take players off the pitch and the third step, if it continues, is to abandon the game and give three points to the opposition.

“The protocol is obsolete,” Ancelotti told reporters.

“The protocol had to be applied when the team bus reached the stadium, because the insults started there.

“Two hours before the game, and it was not an isolated case — someone from Valencia said it was — sure, it was not 46,000 people but it was not one or two.”

Video emerged Monday of Valencia fans chanting “Vinicius, you are a monkey,” when Real Madrid arrived at Mestalla.

“The protocol has to start there,” continued Ancelotti.

“If you start the protocol in the 70th minute, you have made a mistake.

“It has to start two hours before the game, and then during the game. It’s obsolete, yes.”

Vinicius was sent off later in the game for hitting Valencia’s Hugo Duro and will not be able to face Rayo Vallecano on Wednesday.

Ancelotti said the player did not train on Tuesday because he felt some knee discomfort.

The striker said Spain was viewed as a “racist country” in a statement he made on Instagram late on Sunday, which Ancelotti disagreed with, but he called for drastic action to combat racism.

“Spain is not racist, I have to say that too, but there is racism in Spain, like in other places and that has to end,” Ancelotti said.

“It’s a moment to take drastic measures. Institutions have chances, above all now, to take radical measures on this important subject.”

Source: AFP

A brace by Kylian Mbappe propelled Paris Saint-Germain to a 2-1 win at Auxerre on Sunday that effectively secured a second straight Ligue 1 title and a ninth in the last 11 seasons.

Mbappe’s goals, his 27th and 28th of the season in Ligue 1, both came in the first eight minutes at the Stade Abbe-Deschamps and set PSG up for victory.

Auxerre pulled one back early in the second half through Lassine Sinayoko but Paris held on for a victory which leaves them six points clear of second-placed Lens with two games remaining.

They require just a draw away to Strasbourg next weekend to officially be crowned champions for a French record 11th time.

However, a goal difference advantage of 16 over Lens means they are almost certain to win the title even if they end the season level on points with their rivals.

Mbappe opened the scoring in style, collecting a Fabian Ruiz pass and turning home defender Gauthier Hein inside out before shooting high into the net.

It was 2-0 two minutes later, as Hugo Ekitike left a Lionel Messi pass for Mbappe to rifle in a shot from the edge of the area.

Rayan Raveloson hit the bar late in the first half for the hosts, who reduced the deficit six minutes after the break when Nuno da Costa headed on a long clearance downfield for Sinayoko to run through and score.

Christophe Galtier’s PSG team had hoped to celebrate winning the league on Sunday, but a 3-1 victory for Lens in Lorient earlier ensured they would have to wait at least another week regardless of their result in Auxerre.

The result left Auxerre still one point and one place above the relegation zone with two matches of the season to play.

Source: AFP