STOPPAGE-TIME MADNESS IN PARMA

 

PARMA 2-3 ROMA | SERIE A HIGHLIGHTS

 

CARLO ANCELOTTI VIATHE REST IS FOOTBALL PODCAST

 

MIKEL ARTETA POISED TO LOSE KEY ARSENAL ASSISTANT CARLOS CUESTA TO PARMA

Carlos Cuesta’s work at Arsenal includes a heavy focus on improving tactical understanding among individual players.Photograph: PA Images/Alamy

Mikel Arteta is poised to lose one of his key lieutenants at Arsenal, with his 29-year-old assistant Carlos Cuesta expected to join Parma to take a first head coach’s role.

The Spaniard, regarded as one of the world’s best young coaches, flew to Italy on Wednesday to finalise his appointment. Cuesta is in line to replace Cristian Chivu, who left for Inter to take over from Simone Inzaghi, and would become the second-youngest head coach in Serie A history.

Cuesta joined Arsenal from Juventus in 2020 after starting his coaching career at Atlético Madrid in 2014 as an 18-year-old and has become one of Arteta’s closest confidantes, with a heavy focus on improving tactical understanding among individual players. Cuesta was heavily linked with Norwich last season and is understood to have attracted widespread interest from other clubs in the Championship and beyond.

He is believed to have been tempted by the challenge of being the youngest manager in Europe’s top five leagues and trying to return Parma to the top half of Serie A, the club having finished 16th last season after being promoted. Arteta said last year that he would not stand in Cuesta’s way should his assistant want to leave, although Cuesta was one of five members of Arsenal’s coaching staff who signed extensions until 2027 in April. His fellow assistant Albert Stuivenberg and the first-team coach Miguel Molina were among the others.

“If that’s the will?” Arteta said of forcing someone to stay. “You cannot do that. I wouldn’t, no. With the staff as well, everybody needs to feel there is a path, there is a development plan for everyone. People don’t want to do the same thing for three, four, five years. It is a way to incentivise and inspire other people and then to explore because you don’t really know the limit of a person unless you expose him to certain things.”

Arsenal are preparing to make their move for a striker having held talks with representatives of Benjamin Sesko and Viktor Gyökeres and their respective clubs, RB Leipzig and Sporting. It is understood that Leipzig value Sesko at between €80m (£68.4m) and €100m and are open to allowing him to leave if they can agree a deal, but Arsenal have yet to make a formal offer for the Slovenia striker.

Gyökeres has expressed a preference to play in the Champions League for Arsenal rather than join Manchester United. The Sweden striker is thought to have been angered by Sporting’s insistence that his £85m release clause be met after talks with Arsenal’s sporting director, Andrea Berta.

Berta also held talks with representatives of the Spain forward Nico Williams in one of his first acts after he was appointed at the end of March. Arsenal are believed to have accepted defeat in pursuit of Williams, who is thought to favour a move to Barcelona.

- Ed Aarons

MCKENNIE, WEAH SCORE AS JUVENTUS DRAW WITH PARMA

United States internationals Weston McKennie and Tim Weah salvaged Juventus' unbeaten start to the season.

The duo scored on Wednesday to help Juventus draw 2-2 at Parma. Enrico Delprato and Simon Sohm had twice given Parma the lead.

Juventus are on 18 points, seven adrift of leaders Napoli, and slipped to fourth as Atalanta moved a point ahead after their 2-0 win over Monza. Parma are 14th on nine points.

It was the second successive game Juventus had to come from behind to salvage a point after a 4-4 draw at Inter Milan on Sunday.

"I think today we conceded too many restarts. At their goal kicks we were trying to bring the defender out to then be able to press and cause an error, but we didn't succeed," Juventus head coach Thiago Motta told broadcaster DAZN.

"In the defensive phase we made a lot of mistakes."

Parma started fast and after working the ball across the pitch from a corner kick, Adrián Bernabé's cross into the box was nodded back across goal by Botond Balogh and Delprato headed into the roof of the net.

Juventus should have drawn level 10 minutes later after Zion Suzuki saved a header from McKennie, but when the rebound fell to Dusan Vlahovic he somehow sent his shot over the bar.

McKennie, however, made no mistake when his USMNT teammate Weah whipped a ball into the area, steering his header past the dive of Suzuki but Parma were soon back in front as Juventus struggled to deal with the pace of the visitors.

Dennis Man collected a long ball in the area and pulled back the perfect pass for Sohm to drill past Di Gregorio and they held their lead until the break.

Juventus's unbeaten record was on the line but they pulled level again shortly after the interval. Khephren Thuram powered through from midfield before passing to Francisco Conceição out wide and his cross was volleyed home by Weah from close range.

In the draw at Inter, Kenan Yildiz came off the bench to score the two goals which levelled the match, but the Turkish forward was among the substitutes against Parma, replacing Weah and almost scoring an added-time winner.

"Weah played well at San Siro and again today, scoring," Motta told Sky Sports.

"Kenan coming on later, with the game more open, is an ideal player to create situations. He has freedom in the final metres, it was normal today to want to open things up against such a closed team."

Information from The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

Game Information

Allianz Stadium

10:45 PM, October 30, 2024

Torino, Italy

Line: JUV -1.5

Over/Under: 2.5

Referees: Luca Zufferli

- ESPN News Services

AC MILAN COACH PIOLI LEAVING AT THE END OF THE SEASON,

AP Photo 

 MILAN, Italy (AP) — AC Milan coach Stefano Pioli is leaving the Italian club at the end of the season after a near five-year stint that included the 2022 Serie A title.

Milan announced Pioli’s departure on Friday, a day before its final league game of the season at home to Salernitana.

Pioli stepping down had been widely expected, with club great Zlatan Ibrahimovic — who has been given a front-office role by Milan's American owners — reportedly already involved in the search for a successor.

The club thanked Pioli for “securing an unforgettable league title and re-establishing AC Milan’s consistent presence in the top European competition.”

“Stefano’s professionalism and human touch have significantly contributed to the growth of the squad, embodying the club’s core values from day one,” Milan said in a statement.

The 2022 league title was Milan's first in 11 years. It will finish this season in second place, behind crosstown rival Inter Milan.

Milan was taken over after its 2022 title by American investment firm RedBird Capital. Pioli's future had been in doubt since February, when RedBird owner Gerry Cardinale and Ibrahimović declined to commit to him when asked about speculation of a coaching change after the season.

Reports in Italy have linked Pioli to taking over Napoli. The 58-year-old coach also previously coached Inter, Fiorentina, Lazio, Bologna, Parma and several other clubs.

Under Pioli, Milan ended a seven-year absence from the Champions League in 2021 and reached the semifinals last season, losing to Inter.

This season, Pioli's team failed to advance from a tough group that included Borussia Dortmund, which plays in the final next week, and Paris Saint-Germain. Milan then switched to the second-tier Europa League and was eliminated by Roma in the quarterfinals.

Inter's runaway Serie A title success has established its supremacy in the city and Italian soccer, despite financial turmoil that saw the club also fall into American ownership this week. Both Milan and Inter had Chinese owners who lost control of the clubs to American investment funds after missing loan repayments.

ITALIAN STAR KEEPER BUFFON HANGS UP HIS GLOVES AFTER 28 YEARS

Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon has retired from football, the 45-year-old announced on Wednesday, after 28 years in which he reached exceptional milestones for club and country.

Buffon, who in 2006 lifted the World Cup, won 10 Serie A titles with Juventus and a Ligue 1 title with Paris St Germain.

"That's all folks! You gave me everything. I gave you everything. We did it together," Buffon said in a statement.

PARMA 0-4 JUVENTUS | RONALDO DOUBLE & MORATA LATE STRIKE SEE JUVE CLINCH VICTORY