sport 12BHUBANESWAR | WEDNESDAY | MAY 15, 2019

AFP n MANCHESTER

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer pos-sesses the qualities nec-essary to restoreManchester United as a genuinetitle contender, according to

departing midfielder AndersHerrera.

The 29-year-old Spanishinternational — who has beenlinked to a move to Frenchchampions Paris Saint-Germain— believes the common decen-cy of Solskjaer will be reward-

ed with better performanceson the pitch.

Solskjaer's star faded almostas soon as he was given the jobfull-time after a terrific spell ascaretaker manager followingthe sacking of Jose Mourinho inDecember.

The former United strikerguided them to 14 wins in 17games but the end of the seasonhas been nothing short of a dis-aster as they lost eight of theirlast 12 — ending up 32 pointsoff city rivals and championsManchester City — and missedout on Champions League foot-ball next term.

"He is one of the best peo-ple I have ever met in football,"said Herrera, quitting Unitedafter the club declined to offerhim a new contract when hedemanded increased wages of£300,000 ($388,000) a week.

"Everyone loves him in thedressing room. Everyone wantsto fight for him.

"When you have the playersbehind you and wanting tofight for you, part of the job isdone.

"I believe in karma and ifyou are a good person, if you arehonest and sincere with theplayers and the fans, sooner orlater it will work.

"I think Ole is the right per-son because he has qualities andknowledge but also he is a greatman and a great person."

Herrera, who is likely to befollowed out the door by a slewof players in the close season,added Solskjaer and his coach-ing staff needed the fans to bepatient as the turn around willtake time.

Solskjaer showed there wasa harder edge to him when he

AFP n MANCHESTER

Premier League championsManchester City said onTuesday they were concerned"individuals intent on damag-ing" the club may be behind anews report that Europeanfootball's financial regulatorsare poised to recommend theybe barred from the ChampionsLeague.

European football's gov-erning body UEFA and thePremier League launched aninvestigation this year afterallegations made in Germanmagazine Der Spiegel that theclub broke Financial Fair Playrules.

The New York Times saidon Monday that members ofthe investigatory chamber ofUEFA's financial control board,set up to analyze the accountsof clubs suspected of breakingcost-control regulations, mettwo weeks ago in Switzerland tofinalize their conclusions.

"The investigatory panel'sleader, the former prime min-ister of Belgium Yves Leterme,will have the final say on the

submission to a separate adju-dicatory chamber, which couldbe filed as soon as this week.The body is expected to seek atleast a one-season ban," said theTimes.

However, City said theywere fully co-operating with"the CFCB IC's (club financialcontrol body investigatorychamber) ongoing investiga-tion".

"In doing so the club isreliant on both the CFCB IC'sindependence and commit-ment to due process; and onUEFA's commitment of March7 that it 'will make no furthercomment on the matter whilethe investigation is ongoing',"read their statement.

"The New York Times reportciting 'people familiar with thecase' is therefore extremelyconcerning.

"The implications are thateither Manchester City's goodfaith in the CFCB IC is mis-placed or the CFCB IC processis being misrepresented by indi-viduals intent on damaging theclub's reputation and its com-mercial interests. Or both."

AFP n MUNICH

Bayern Munich goalkeeperManuel Neuer has admit-ted that he may not be fit toplay in Saturday's Bundesligatitle decider against EintrachtFrankfurt.

The Bayern captain hasbeen sidelined with a calfinjury since mid-April, andhad hoped to return to full fit-ness in time for last weekend'svisit to RB Leipzig.

He is now in danger ofmissing the last league game ofthe season on Saturday, inwhich Bayern hope to wrap upa seventh successive

Bundesliga title."I still have the Frankfurt

game in my sights," said Neueron Monday at a ceremony inwhich he was presented witha Bavarian state medal for thework of his children's charity,the Manuel Neuer KidsFoundation.

"Whether I can play or notI can't say. I am working hardon it and we will have to seehow it looks from one day tothe next," he said.

Two points ahead of titlerivals Borussia Dortmund,reigning champions Bayerncould still be dethroned ifthey lose to Frankfurt andDortmund beat BorussiaMoenchengladbach onSaturday.

Yet Neuer said he is "opti-mistic" that Bayern would winthe title for the seventhstraight year.

The 33-year-old goalkeep-er also missed out on last sea-son's title win, after missingmost of the season with ametatarsal fracture.

Second-choice goalkeeperSven Ulreich, who stepped infor Neuer both last season andin recent weeks, said that he isready to play in Saturday's titledecider.

"If Manu is able to trainand play then he will play, butotherwise I will try to help theteam, and I am preparing forthat," Ulreich told Kicker mag-azine on Monday.

PTI n NEW DELHI

India international UdantaSingh feels that the KingsCup tournament in Thailandnext month will be a chance toshow the upward graph innational team's performanceafter its creditable show at theAsian Cup earlier this year.The Indian team was on theverge of making to the knock-out rounds of the Asian Cupin the UAE in January beforea late goal by Bahrain dashedits hopes. The team will playin the Kings Cup startingJune 5 in Thailand.

"In the AFC Asian Cup,we showed what we are capa-ble of. We were unlucky not toprogress through to the nextround. But our win overThailand was a statement ofour abilities as a young team,"Udanta said.

"We can only go upwardsfrom here and the Kings Cupwill be another good platformto grow," the India winger was

quoted as saying by the offi-cial website of the All IndiaFootball Federation.

India play Caribbeannation Curacao in their open-ing match of the King's Cupon June 5 at Buriram,Thailand.

The fleet-footed Manipurisaid strength and conditioningplays a major role in the off-season and one can exceed hisathletic capabilities with aproper programme when notengaged with football.

"I took a couple of daysoff, and I got right back intothe grind. I try to train daily,and do some sort of strengthand conditioning or stretchingdaily so as to not only exceedmy athletic capabilities but bein better physical form oncethe seasons starts," he said.

"It really depends whatyou want to do in the off-sea-son. You can relax, or you canput the work in and get readyfor the next season. I preferthe latter."

AFP n ROME

Serena Williams willtake on sister Venus inthe second round of theItalian Open more thantwo decades after theylast met on the red clay ofRome after bothadvanced in differentstyles on Monday.

Four-time Romewinner Serena, 37,returned after twomonths out injured eas-ing through 6-4, 6-2against Swedish qualifierRebecca Petersen.

But 38-year-old

Venus, whose only Rometitle came back in 1999,needed over three hoursto battle past BelgianElise Mertens 7-5, 3-6, 7-

6 (7/4).It will be another

family affair on thecourts of the Foro Italico,when she plays Venus,

with the sisters last meet-ing in 1998, 21 yearsago.

"That's crazy,"laughed Serena.

"I mean, it was likethe semi-finals or thefinals. No, the quarter-finals? I vaguely remem-ber that.

"We play each othera lot. It seems like everytournament nowadayswe meet early. Yeah, it iswhat it is. We'll see.

"She has a tough firstround," she predicted.

Venus, meanwhile,came out on top of a tightcontest that went all theway to a third-set tie-break despite letting theBelgian back in by miss-ing six match points on

her serve on Monday.She missed a fur-

ther two match points asMertens battled to levelthe set at 6-6, beforefinally taking the matchin the tie-break and set-ting up a 31st clash withher sibling.

"We're just as fierce,Venus is just as fierce. Weboth really want to getsome match play. We'llboth do the best that wecan," warned Serena,who leads 18-12, themost recent at last year'sUS Open.

Venus said sheremembered "prettymuch zero" about theirlast meeting in Romewhich she won all thoseyears ago.

OLE CAN RESTOREUNITED'S LUSTREDeparting midfielder Andres Herrera belives Solskjaer possess qualities to turn ManU into title contender

Bayern skipper Manuel Neuer trainsduring practice session FCB/Twitter

Man City concernedby CL ban story

Neuer in race to befit for title decider

Indias performancecan only go up

FAMILY AFFAIR

cancelled an end-of-seasonreview with the players becausehe was so angry at the limp dis-play in the 2-0 home defeat byrelegated Cardiff in their finalmatch of the season.

"I really believe in Ole. Ireally believe in Michael(Carrick), Kieran (McKenna),Mick Phelan, in Demps (MarkDempsey), but I think there isa tough job ahead," said

Herrera."They (the coaches) need

time because this is not goingto be from the first day. Theclub will need time, confidenceand support.

"I am sure they will give itbut the only thing I ask for themis time because this is not easy.

"(But) the right person is atthe wheel. He's the right per-son."

Aside from Herrera veter-an defender Antonio Valenciais also leaving on a free trans-fer, whilst several others includ-ing Juan Mata, inconsistentFrench World Cup winner PaulPogba and even Belgian strik-er Romelu Lukaku are thoughtto be on the way out.

According to Tuesday'sDaily Mirror Solskjaer is keento bring in fresh blood in theshape of Senegalese internation-al central defender KalidouKoulibaly from Serie A sideNapoli and Ivory Coast strikerNicolas Pepe from Ligue 1 out-fit Lille.

Koulibaly, the Mirrorclaims, would cost even morethan the £75 million Liverpoolpaid Southampton for Dutchcentral defender Virgil van Dijkwhilst Pepe would not be cheapeither, the paper citing a figureof £45 million.