AC Milan host Roma this weekend, desperate to do something they haven't managed to accomplish so far this season in Serie A -- and that's win at the San Siro.
Milan's poor league form has left Carlo Ancelotti's European champions struggling to keep tabs on the leaders -- last weekend's painful 1-0 home defeat to Empoli left the Rossoneri 10 points adrift of city rivals Inter Milan.
Spirits were lifted by the 4-1 midweek Champions League demolition of Shakhtar Donesk with Clarence Seedorf for one hoping a corner had been turned.
"Having something concrete is very important for us and will help raise our morale," Seedorf said. "It will at least give us a little bit of relief after a tense few days."
Ancelotti, while playing down talk of a crisis and suggesting a charge for the title was by no means beyond them, cautioned that there were still issues to iron out despite Wednesday's win.
"Everything has not been resolved and we will probably run into certain problems again in the future," said the coach before adding: "No, it's not crazy [to talk about the title]."
Roma are in fourth on 15 points after drawing last weekend against Napoli.
After a decent start coach Luciano Spalletti's side have lost a little momentum with only one win from their last five games.
At the top of the table Inter travel to Palermo seeking their fifth consecutive win but without Patrick Vieira. He injured his right calf in Tuesday's Champion's League win over CSKA Moscow on only his second appearance of the season.
Juventus are just three points off the pace in second and Claudio Ranieri's men travel to Napoli aiming to retain their unbeaten record on the road.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but