Schalke 04's Brazilian midfielder Lincoln insisted on Thursday his side would do "whatever it takes" in their quest to lift their first Bundesliga title.
The 28-year-old was battling to shake off a thigh injury for last night's trip to VfL Bochum, but with only four games left the race for the title will go to the wire and no Schalke player wants to miss a game.
Before yesterday's game Schalke were just two points clear of second-placed Werder Bremen and having won the last of their seven German titles in 1958, this would be their first time as Bundesliga champions since the new format was introduced in 1963.
PHOTO: AP
Schalke suffered heartbreak in 2001 when they thought they had captured the title following a 5-3 win over Unterhaching only for Bayern Munich defender Patrik Andersson to grab an equalizer deep into injury-time at Hamburg which snatched the title away.
"Each of us has a job to do, everybody has to give their all. We are ready, we'll do whatever it takes," Lincoln said.
Schalke coach Mirko Slomka said his side must concentrate on winning their last four games -- against Bochum, Nuremberg, Borussia Dortmund and Arminia Bielefeld -- to make the title safe.
PHOTO: AP
"We just have to win our matches, whether on Friday, Saturday or Sunday. Our position on that score hasn't changed over the last few weeks," he said.
"It's not a question of waiting for one of the others to slip up -- we just have to put on a good performance ourselves," Slomka said.
Should Schalke lose, second-placed Werder Bremen are on their heels just two points behind and they travel to Arminia Bielefeld tomorrow, having contested the first leg of the UEFA Cup semi-final at Spain's Espanyol on Thursday.
All is not rosy in the Bremen squad with question marks hanging over the future at the club of midfielders Torsten Frings and Diego, as well as striker Miroslav Klose.
"It is not pleasant that these discussions are permanently on the agenda," Bremen coach Thomas Schaaf said.
Last weekend's defeat at VfB Stuttgart means fourth-placed Bayern Munich have a five-point gap to close to secure a top-three finish which will guarantee them a Champions League place next year.
Failure to do so would mean they miss out on a place in Europe's premier tournament for the first time in 11 years and the German giants would have to swallow the bitter pill of life in the UEFA Cup.
Five-time champion Novak Djokovic on Saturday tumbled out of the Indian Wells ATP Masters, falling in his first match to lucky loser Botic van de Zandschulp as two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz advanced. “No excuses for a poor performance,” 24-time Grand Slam champion Djokovic said after 37 unforced errors in a 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 defeat. “It doesn’t feel great when you play this way on the court,” he said. “But congratulations to my opponent — just a bad day in the office, I guess, for me.” Djokovic is just the latest in Van de Zandschulp’s string of superstar victims. He
Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday held their nerve to beat Liverpool 4-1 on penalties and reach the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals after their tie finished one-apiece on aggregate, while Bayern Munich saw off Bayer 04 Leverkusen to complete a 5-0 win over both legs. Lamine Yamal and Raphinha fired Barcelona into the next round as the Catalans bested SL Benfica 3-1, and Inter booked a last-eight meeting with Bayern by seeing off Feyenoord 2-1. At Anfield, Ousmane Dembele netted the only goal of the night as PSG bounced back from Liverpool’s late winner last week to force the tie to extra-time and penalties. Maligned
Taiwanese badminton player Lin Chun-yi had to settle for silver in the men’s singles at the Orleans Masters in France on Sunday after losing in the final to his French opponent. The 25-year-old Lin, ranked world No. 14, lost to Alex Lanier 13-21, 18-21 in a match that lasted 42 minutes at the Palais des Sports arena. It was the first time that the two players were facing each other in their professional careers. In the opener, Lin was slow to warm up, which gave the 20-year-old Lanier an opportunity to take an early lead with seven consecutive points. Despite
Taiwan’s Lin Chun-yi on Wednesday inflicted a first-round defeat on former badminton world No. 1 Viktor Axelsen at the All England Open. Lin came out of top after a back-and-forth first game before Axelsen dominated the second, but the Dane was not able to keep that form in the decider as Lin reeled off six points in a row on the way to a 21-19, 13-21, 21-11 victory. “If I don’t play my best, everyone can win against me,” said Axelsen, the world No. 4. “Today’s opponent played a fantastic game; it was disappointing, but that is how it is.” “I just tried
RSS