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Luis Enrique admits Bayern’s superiority—and mistakes with Dembelé

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Luis Enrique admits Bayern’s superiority—and mistakes with Dembelé

Paris Saint-Germain was disenchanted by FC Bayern in the Champions League. Afterward, coach Luis Enrique admitted the superiority of the German record champions—and mistakes regarding Ousmane Dembelé.
PSG fought, scratched, and bit – but in the end, FC Bayern secured their 16th competitive win of the season. After the 2-1 defeat, with two halves that could hardly have been more different, Luis Enrique had to prepare himself for critical questions.

When confronted with the fact that the Bayern players had emphasized their superiority after the game, Luis Enrique did not want to contradict them at first. “Of course they were superior in the first half and had more chances,” said the Spaniard at the press conference, adding: “We gave them some nice gifts, and when you give gifts to players like that, it’s normal to lose the first half. They could have scored even more goals.”

Luis Enrique wasn’t the only one who saw a “completely different” second half. With a man advantage, his team “did well, created a lot of chances, but it’s difficult to attack against a team with ten players behind the ball.” However, the PSG coach did not want to answer the question of whether a draw would have been “fair.”

A small challenge

But where did Bayern’s superiority in the eleven-on-eleven actually come from? “I can’t remember a game this season where we played with a full team in top form,” Luis Enrique interjected: “It’s a different season, you have to be able to deal with that. I’m not looking for excuses, it’s our responsibility to get better, but you have to accept it.”

But no one in Paris needs to panic. “I’m calm because I know we’ll get through this,” said the 55-year-old: “I’m waiting for the team and the players to recover over the course of the season so that we can get back to our best. The competition has only just begun.”

He also issued a small challenge: “What matters is what the standings look like in March, April, and May. Then we’ll see where we stand.” A rematch with Bayern is certainly a possibility.

“I expected a better performance from us”

Luis Enrique did not see Bayern decode PSG’s code. “When you make mistakes at this level, you concede a goal like that and the game is over,” said Luis Enrique, obviously referring to Marquinhos’ mistake before the 0-2.

The Brazilian was only back in the Paris starting lineup for the second time after an injury break, and his lack of competitive practice and speed of action were clearly noticeable. The evening was even worse for Ousmane Dembelé. The Ballon d’Or winner, who had been out with injury for even longer, was somewhat surprisingly in the starting lineup, but had to be substituted shortly after his disallowed goal due to a new injury. Luis Enrique was self-critical in this regard: “I expected a better game from us, but when you bring back injured players, they are not 100 percent fit. That’s something I should have handled much better with my experience.”

St. Pauli achieves surplus of over two million euros

Lesley Summerville
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St. Pauli achieves surplus of over two million euros

FC St. Pauli held its general meeting on Saturday—with some good news: the neighborhood club generated a surplus in the 2024/25 financial year.

“FC St. Pauli closed the 2024/25 financial year with a profit. As of June 30, the group reported an annual surplus of 2,089,704 euros. The Hamburg-based Bundesliga club had already generated a surplus in the previous financial year,” St. Pauli announced on Saturday afternoon.

Revenues and other operating income rose to €102,381,443 in the past fiscal year (€80,032,723 in the previous year). The main drivers for the increase are, in particular, higher television revenues following promotion to the Bundesliga and a significant increase in marketing revenues.
“We had set ourselves two major goals for the past season: to stay in the league and to successfully implement the FCSP cooperative. Thanks to a great performance and support on and off the pitch, we were able to achieve both milestones and thus create the financial conditions for important future investments in our club infrastructure,“ explains Wilken Engelbracht, commercial director of FC St. Pauli, on the website of the club currently ranked 16th in the Bundesliga.

”We want to build bridges”

Otherwise, the general meeting was rather quiet. There was only one candidate for the presidency, so incumbent Oke Göttlich, club boss in the Kiez since 2014, will enter his fourth and final term in office.

Göttlich also took the opportunity to comment once again on the Jackson Irvine case. After talks with the captain, there had been “no indication” that the midfielder held misanthropic views. “We want to build bridges, not deepen divides,” Göttlich made clear in the packed Audimax hall at the University of Hamburg.

St. Pauli finalizes expansion plans for Millerntor Stadium

Göttlich also finalized FC St. Pauli’s long-term plans to expand Millerntor Stadium. The goal is to have 40,000 to 50,000 seats, said the 49-year-old. The club is delighted that politicians have agreed to support the expansion of the Millerntor and to tackle it together – in close cooperation with the neighborhood and the fans. The plans are independent of Hamburg’s Olympic bid, it was said. The club has wanted this for a long time, and demand from fans is high, with many often missing out on tickets. The first division club’s stadium is almost always sold out. St. Pauli achieved an average attendance of 29,506 fans in the 2024/2025 season. This corresponds to a capacity utilization of 99.86 percent. Most recently, the club’s newly founded cooperative took over the majority stake in the stadium.

What Hoeneß wants to see from Bouanani

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What Hoeneß wants to see from Bouanani

Badredine Bouanani has only scored one goal for VfB Stuttgart so far, and according to coach Hoeneß, the Algerian needs to get into scoring positions more often. However, another problem is even more glaring.

The high quality of the squad is currently one of VfB Stuttgart’s trump cards. Coach Sebastian Hoeneß can rotate his players effectively, and the substitutes bring new impetus. This is particularly true of the attacking line.

“He has an outstanding finish, but …”

Badredine Bouanani has performed well there so far. The €15 million new signing has made his mark, spending significantly more time on the pitch across all competitions (763 minutes) than his rival Chris Führich, for example. Unlike Bilal El Khannouss, for example, the 20-year-old has yet to really hit his stride.

Hoeneß thinks highly of Bouanani: “When he has the ball at his feet, you can see that things are going to happen. He’s got a lot going for him with his left foot. He has an outstanding finish, but he doesn’t get into those situations often enough.” Still, Bouanani has a shot on goal every 34 minutes. That puts him only slightly behind Tiago Tomas (every 28) and Jamie Leweling (every 33) and even ahead of El Khannouss (every 37) and Führich (every 40).

The weakest dribbling and tackling rates

However, when it comes to goal assists, the left-footed player is only fourth in comparison with his positional rivals. He provides an assist every 69 minutes, with only Tomas doing so less frequently (every 103 minutes) – although the Portuguese player has also had to play as a center forward on occasion due to injuries to Ermedin Demirovic and Deniz Undav, who has since recovered. So he basically had different tasks to fulfill than when playing in the number 10 position or on the offensive wing.

“He just has to make sure he’s even more active in his game, gets even more action through intensity, runs without the ball,” Hoeneß demands of the offensive player brought in from OGC Nice. And one aspect is statistically significant: Bouanani needs to work on his assertiveness. Among the professionals who are eligible to play behind the center forward, regardless of the specific formation, he has the weakest dribbling (24 percent won) and tackling (31 percent) statistics. Tiago (dribbling 41/tackling 54), Leweling (48/44), Führich (50/48), and El Khannouss (53/44) all outperform him in this regard.

Bischof: “That gave us a lot of confidence”

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Bischof: “That gave us a lot of confidence”

Tom Bischof made his mark on the German U21s’ game against Malta. And he helped keep the pressure on group leaders Greece.

His parents were there to witness it all on Friday evening in Fürth, so Tom Bischof was able to give them the collector’s item to take home with them to Amorbach. “First everyone will sign it, and then there will be a little memorabilia corner at my parents’ house,” revealed the Bayern player. “There isn’t that much there yet, but with this ball it’s now four, and I hope there will be more to come.”

That’s to be expected, but three goals in one game are still a rarity for the dangerous long-range shooter. Most recently, he “managed it in the U16 or U17, but unfortunately not yet at the professional level.” Bischof scored three long-range shots in the 6-0 rout of Malta. “I practiced my finishing yesterday, and I’m pretty good at shooting.”

“I didn’t expect the three goals, but I hoped we would achieve a high score, which is important for the table situation so that we can put pressure on Greece,” says Bischof, but the Greeks had already won their home game against Georgia 3-0 before the Germans’ game, the DFB team’s next opponent on Tuesday in Tbilisi.

Greece still top of the group

“We need an away win in Georgia because we want to finish first. If not, then we want to put pressure on them,” said Bischof. Greece remain top of the table after Germany’s unnecessary 3-2 home defeat to the Greeks. At least the 6-0 win “gave us a lot of confidence because everyone had a lot of shots on goal, but unfortunately not all of them went in, so we could have scored even more goals,” said Bischof, “but Mio Backhaus also made two good saves, otherwise we would have conceded unnecessary goals. The rest of the defense was outstanding.”

Coach Antonio Di Salvo officially appointed Bischof and Stuttgart’s Finn Jeltsch as joint captains, with Bischof wearing the armband this time. “I was very happy about that. It’s a huge responsibility for both of us and a wonderful feeling to lead Germany onto the pitch with the armband,” says Bischof, who had already served as captain in the U-19s. “It pushes you even more and gives you even more self-confidence, but I would have had the same task without the armband and would have done exactly the same thing.”

This and other convincing performances should eventually propel him up another level to the senior national team, where he has already made his debut. When will that happen? “That’s not up to me to decide. I try to perform well, and then hopefully at some point I’ll move up.”

Three and a half weeks into the season: Pelicans fire head coach Green

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Three and a half weeks into the season: Pelicans fire head coach Green

⁠The first coaching dismissal of the new NBA season has hit Willie Green in New Orleans. After only two wins in the first twelve games of the season, the Pelicans’ head coach has been forced to vacate his position.

As the team announced on Saturday, Willie Green’s tenure as head coach of the New Orleans Pelicans is coming to an end after just over four years. The 44-year-old took over the Pelicans’ sideline in the summer of 2021, but since then has only managed a total record of 150 wins to 190 losses in the regular season. In two playoff appearances by the Pelicans under Green, they were eliminated in the first round each time. After a start with only two wins and ten losses in the first three and a half weeks of the new season, the Pelicans’ management has now drawn a line under the situation. The Pelicans had even lost their first six games, including three losses by at least 30 points. This has never happened before in the history of the NBA. The Pelicans also lost their last four games, with New Orleans only managing to secure victories against the Charlotte Hornets (record: 4-8) and Dallas Mavericks (3-10), who also had a weak start to the season.

Bottom of the table with injury worries

The Pelicans are among the five worst teams in the league in both offensive and defensive ratings, and New Orleans is bottom of the Western Conference table. However, the Pelicans have also had to contend with a number of injury worries at the start of the season. Zion Williamson, for example, has only played five games, and summer signings Jordan Poole and Dejounte Murray, who suffered a torn Achilles tendon in January, are also currently sidelined. Green’s successor on an interim basis will be former assistant coach James Borrego. The 48-year-old is set to take over the team until the end of the season and already has experience as a head coach. From 2018 to 2022, he was the head coach of the Charlotte Hornets (138 wins and 163 losses). Borrego also took over the Orlando Magic on an interim basis for 30 games in the 2014-15 season.

However, the first coaching dismissal of the season is already the second coaching change: Chauncey Billups is currently on leave from the Portland Trail Blazers due to the Hall of Famer’s temporary arrest by the FBI. Tiago Splitter has taken over the Trail Blazers for the time being.

New Formula 1 regulations: Fernando Alonso sees excitement at risk

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New Formula 1 regulations: Fernando Alonso sees excitement at risk

Fernando Alonso comments on the new technical rules for the 2026 Formula 1 season and expresses concerns about overtaking opportunities

New technical regulations will be introduced in Formula 1 for the upcoming 2026 season. The key change is the abolition of the adjustable rear wing known as the Drag Reduction System (DRS). Instead, two new systems will be introduced: firstly, the override system, which provides more battery power, and secondly, active aerodynamics.

Fernando Alonso, whose first season as a regular Formula 1 driver will be 25 years ago by the time the upcoming rule change takes effect, currently has doubts as to whether the changes will really achieve their goal of ensuring more overtaking maneuvers and thus more exciting races.

When asked whether the 2026 cars will be fundamentally different from the cars he has driven in his Formula 1 career so far, Alonso replies: “I don’t think so. I think that ultimately, the car and the sport will remain basically the same. It will still be a race against time and a race against your competitors.”

“I don’t think it will be due to a difference in car performance,” said Alonso. “Maybe a little less grip, because the downforce will be lower due to the rules. The only question I have is about overtaking opportunities. In my opinion, that’s still an open question.”

The two-time Formula 1 world champion’s concern is: “If you read the rules and drive in the simulator, everyone is allowed to use DRS on the straights, both the car in front and the car behind. So there’s no real way to make a difference.”

“Unless,” Alonso continues, “you use a lot of energy on that straight. But if you use that energy, you pay the price on the following straight. Maybe you’ll be overtaken again by the car you just passed.“

When asked whether this might require clever driving, Alonso adds: ”Or you don’t even try to overtake if you lose time on the next straight because you get overtaken yourself. So it could be that there’s no incentive to overtake because both would lose time.”

“But,” continues the 2005 and 2006 world champion, “that’s just a first thought. I think as long as the cars aren’t on the track and we don’t really see how much energy you have to expend per overtaking maneuver, it’s difficult to predict.”

“And I think the most important thing will be the tires. If we have a race with three or four pit stops, then because of the difference in tire performance, for example against someone with only one pit stop, you don’t need energy or DRS. You just overtake immediately in the lap after the pit stop.”

“So I think tires will be the main issue in improving overtaking. If they wear out and require multiple pit stops. That’s probably what we as spectators want in terms of the show,” said Alonso.

MotoGP Qualifying Valencia 2025: Top 5 within a tenth! Bezzecchi on pole

Phil Laffertey
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MotoGP Qualifying Valencia 2025: Top 5 within a tenth! Bezzecchi on pole

Marco Bezzecchi wins a close qualifying session in Valencia – Alex Marquez and Fabio Di Giannantonio on the front row – Pedro Acosta fifth

In a close qualifying session at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia, Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia) secured the last pole position of the 2025 MotoGP season. Alex Marquez (Gresini-Ducati) and Fabio Di Giannantonio (VR46-Ducati) took second and third place. The top 5 were within a tenth of a second of each other.

Once again, it was a setback for Francesco Bagnaia. The Ducati rider has been world champion twice in Valencia. This time, he had to compete in Q1. At the start of the first qualifying session, wildcard starter Augusto Fernandez crashed in turn 8 with the new V4 Yamaha.

After the first attempts, Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse-Aprilia) led the standings with a time of 1:29.554 minutes. Johann Zarco (LCR-Honda) was second at this point and Bagnaia only third. However, he was only a tenth of a second behind the leader.

In the second attempt, Bagnaia initially improved to second place, but three minutes before the end of Q1, he rolled out due to a technical problem and came to a stop. That was the end of qualifying for the Ducati factory rider.

Raul Fernandez ultimately set the fastest time in Q1 with 1:29.036 minutes. Zarco was second, four tenths of a second slower than the Aprilia. Bagnaia took sixth place and will start 16th. Returnee Jorge Martin (Aprilia) qualified 17th (to the Q1 result).

After the first attempts in Q2, Alex Marquez led the timesheets with a time of 1:28.967 minutes ahead of Franco Morbidelli (VR46-Ducati) and Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha). Acosta followed in fourth and Bezzecchi was only ninth after running wide at Turn 2.

Very close decision

The second attempts brought the decision. Bezzecchi took the lead with a new lap record of 1:28.809 minutes. Acosta improved to second place, just 0.096 seconds behind the Aprilia factory rider.

Alex Marquez, Di Giannantonio, and Raul Fernandez then moved between Bezzecchi and Acosta. This meant that the top five were within less than a tenth of a second of each other!

That sealed the deal. Bezzecchi secured his fifth pole position of the season with the new lap record. “It was a really good session. I had a lot of fun, especially in the second time attack,” said the Italian happily.

“In the first one, I made a mistake early on and was a bit too nervous. When I went back out on the track, I tried to calm down a bit and just concentrate on riding cleanly. The bike worked perfectly.”

I’m super happy. This track is really tight, with extremely small gaps between the riders. So it’s going to be really tough, but also really fun. Hopefully, I’ll get a good start and be able to fight with the best.“

Alex Marquez was second, just 0.026 seconds slower. ”It’s not like in Portimao,“ said the vice world champion. ”We see opportunities here, but we’re still missing something, especially in terms of grip and traction. We’re losing quite a bit there.”

Di Giannantonio was also only 0.044 seconds off the pace. “I said yesterday that the main goal was a good qualifying result,” said the VR46 rider. “In the end, I put in a fantastic lap, because a 1:28.8 is a great time. I’m super happy.”

Raul Fernandez was fourth, 0.044 seconds behind, and Acosta took fifth place, although he was also only a minimal 0.096 seconds off the pace. Quartararo completed the second row in sixth place (see Q2 results).

Places seven to nine on row three were secured by Morbidelli, Jack Miller (Pramac-Yamaha), and Fermin Aldeguer (Gresini-Ducati). Joan Mir (Honda), Zarco, and Ai Ogura (Trackhouse-Aprilia) will attack from row four.

Marc Marquez also arrived at the track on Saturday morning to watch qualifying. He won this year’s BMW M Award and picked up a new BMW M2 CS after qualifying.

Superbike World Champion Toprak Razgatlioglu was also in the paddock and chatted with Quartararo, among others.
He will be riding the V4 Yamaha on Tuesday during the official test day.
The final sprint of the year over 13 laps will start at 3:00 p.m. (to the starting grid).

“Ignore anyone who talks rubbish”: Norris learned to assert himself in the F1 world

Sotd Editor
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“Ignore anyone who talks rubbish”: Norris learned to assert himself in the F1 world

Lando Norris leads the World Championship, but that wasn’t always the case – he was behind Piastri – now the Brit reveals what he had to change to turn the tide

Lando Norris has spoken openly about how he deals with comments from the media and fans as he leads the Formula 1 World Championship with three Grands Prix to go. Norris trailed his teammate Oscar Piastri in the 2025 championship standings for 15 laps, but has dominated the Australian in the last six Grands Prix, scoring 115 points to 57 during that period.

After claiming his seventh Grand Prix victory of the season in Brazil, Norris was asked what had led to his turnaround. “Just ignore anyone who talks trash about you! Just focus on yourself,” was the world championship leader’s advice.

In the FIA press conference after the race, the Briton elaborated on this, explaining that he used to pay too much attention to what people said about him.

Trapped in his own head

“There are always people out there who try to bring you down a bit,” said Norris. “I guess that’s normal. But yes, when you’re on a big stage, there are a lot of people talking and saying things, trying to influence other people to make a difference. Even the cheering and the non-cheering—you hear it anyway. It’s not the nicest thing.”

“But I think that’s something I’ve done well in recent months. People’s perceptions and how I’m portrayed in the media are very important to me. I probably thought about it too much — even at the beginning of the year, I think I thought about it too much, and that probably affected me in a way that wasn’t the best.”

“I’ve just learned to deal with these things better—not by not caring, because I still want to make a good impression,” Norris continued. “I never want to be rude or do things like that. But I will always try to make my point and say what I believe in.”

Learning process: Norris with a new approach

“That’s one of the things I’ve learned the most: just to stay true to yourself, have confidence in yourself, believe in yourself, and speak your mind. So yes, it’s more about keeping my head down and focusing on myself.”

When asked if the weekend in Sao Paulo felt like a turning point for him, as he now leads the world championship by 24 points, Norris played it down.
“No,” he replied. “It just feels like another weekend where I came here to try to win, get as many points as possible, and I did that. I did that last weekend too.”

Oscar Piastri says relationship with Lando Norris is stronger than ever despite F1 title battle

Jeffrey Gooding
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Oscar Piastri says relationship with Lando Norris is stronger than ever despite F1 title battle

Oscar Piastri explains why his relationship with Lando Norris is stronger than ever despite the close F1 title battle and how McLaren is dealing with the pressure internally.
Oscar Piastri sees his relationship with McLaren teammate Lando Norris as excellent despite the close title battle in Formula 1 2025. The Australian explained that the internal relationship has actually improved, even though both drivers are fighting for their first world championship title.

“It’s exactly the same or, to be honest, probably better than it’s been,” Piastri said on the Beyond The Grid podcast. “It’s better because we just know each other better. We are now in our third year together as teammates and we are slowly getting to know each other better and better.”

With three race weekends remaining in the 2025 season, including a sprint, Norris leads the drivers’ standings by 24 points ahead of Piastri. Red Bull driver Max Verstappen is another 25 points behind and still has a mathematical chance of winning the title.

McLaren continues to adhere to its philosophy of not favoring one driver over the other. The rule is to give both drivers equal opportunities and simply ensure that things remain fair on the track. Apart from a few incidents, including at the Canadian and Singapore Grand Prix, this internal directive has been largely followed so far.

“We are both the kind of people who believe that what happens on the track stays on the track,” Piastri explains. “There may be short-lived emotions off the track, but we are both pretty good at letting things cool down and leaving them on the track.”

In his view, nothing has changed in the way they work together either: “The way we continue to try to get the most out of the team is exactly the same.”

However, the pendulum has recently swung clearly in Norris’s favor in the internal team duel. While the Briton has recently recorded a series of strong results and taken the lead in the World Championship, Piastri has been waiting for another podium finish since the Italian Grand Prix in early September.

Final in Turin: “Sincaraz” rivalry enters next round

Lesley Summerville
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Final in Turin: “Sincaraz” rivalry enters next round

For the 16th time, the two dominant players in world tennis will face each other.

Carlos Alcaraz grinned broadly. Thinking about Sunday’s dream final at the ATP Finals against Jannik Sinner, the Spanish tennis star could hardly wait. “Of course it’s great to play against Jannik. I know I have to play my A-game to beat him and win the tournament,” Alcaraz said.

“We’ll push each other to the highest level, which will be great for the fans,” said the six-time Grand Slam winner after his outstanding performance in the semifinals, where he defeated Félix Auger-Aliassime 6-2, 6-4: “It will almost be like a Davis Cup atmosphere.”

And Sinner? After his easy two-set victory over Alex de Minaur, he was looking forward to his third consecutive Turin final: “These are the matches I love. They show me where my level is before the off-season begins,” said the South Tyrolean. There are a number of factors in Sinner’s favor on Sunday, not just the home advantage in Turin: Firstly, Sinner is the better indoor player, because Sinner is simply the best indoor player of his generation. He is now unbeaten in 30 matches on indoor hard courts. Secondly, the South Tyrolean had more time to recover before the final – he played his semifinal an impressive six hours earlier on Saturday.

However, Sinner is not the big favorite, because Alcaraz is something of a bogey opponent for the Italian. He has won seven of their last eight encounters on tour and, like Sinner, was in top form in his semifinal against Félix Auger-Aliassime.

What’s more, Alcaraz already has a partial victory over Sinner this year. He will finish the season as number one, regardless of the outcome of the final. The number one spot is “already a big motivation for next year, but he deserves it,” Sinner told Sky. He also said that Alcaraz is a “great guy.”

These statements make it clear how unusually friendly the two great rivals have always been with each other. “I see him more often than my mother,” Alcaraz had previously explained in a CNN double interview. That’s how you get to know each other better and better.

Nevertheless, Sunday’s match will be a close contest. After all, the two exceptional talents have shared all four Grand Slam titles between them in 2025. Sinner won the Australian Open and Wimbledon, while Alcaraz beat the Italian in the finals of the French Open and the US Open.

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