ENGLAND: David de Gea under scrutiny after mistakes at Man United
MANCHESTER, England — It's awards season in English soccer, typically a time to hail David de Gea's contribution at Manchester United.
Not this year.
There was no chance of the Spain international making it into the Premier League's team of the year for the sixth time in seven seasons when it was announced last week.
He can also forget about being named Manchester United's player of the year for the fifth time in six seasons, despite there being a dearth of alternatives.
Indeed, De Gea probably wants this season to be over already.
A hat trick of mistakes in three of United's biggest games of the season over the last two weeks have crowned arguably the worst year of the 28-year-old Spaniard's career.
No longer is he being talked about as the best goalkeeper in the world. In fact, there's an argument to say he shouldn't be the No. 1 'keeper at United for its final two games of the season.
Not that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is listening to the critics.
"I don't have any worries about him," the United manager said after De Gea's latest error, when he spilled a long-range shot to allow Chelsea to equalize in a 1-1 draw at Old Trafford on Sunday.
It was a mistake that could have huge ramifications, too, ending United's realistic chances of qualifying for next season's Champions League.
Naturally, De Gea retained the backing of his teammates.
"He's been the best player at the club for seven, eight years consistently," United striker Romelu Lukaku said. "I don't think we should discredit him and say all of a sudden he's a bad goalkeeper."
De Gea has been peerless in the Premier League for some time. Many will point to his display in United's 1-0 win at Tottenham in January, when he was in the right place at the right time and made 11 saves — the most he's ever made in a single Premier League game.
Yet, it is the mistakes that will more likely be remembered in a season when his halo slipped.
His year to forget started at the World Cup in Russia, when De Gea allowed a shot from Cristiano Ronaldo to ricochet off his hand and bobble over the goal line. He later bemoaned the lack of support from the Spanish public "in a difficult moment in my life" and said "I haven't killed anyone."
Even before the World Cup, he had let a shot from Switzerland defender Stephan Lichtsteiner creep under his arms, leading to a goal in a warm-up game.
The Spanish jeers returned two weeks ago when he allowed a tame shot from Lionel Messi go underneath his body and into the net in a Champions League match at the Camp Nou. The mistake was shown on the stadium's big screen just before De Gea came out for the second half, and Barcelona fans bowed to him, mockingly, and chanted his name as he took his position in goal for the restart.
A week later, he failed to keep out a shot that went straight at him from Leroy Sane, conceding a goal that clinched Manchester City's 2-0 win in the derby. Then came the mistake against Chelsea.
Earlier this season, he fumbled a header from Arsenal defender Shkodran Mustafi into his own net in a 2-2 draw in the Premier League.
A few theories have been put forward for his dip in form, ranging from a simple lack of confidence to issues with his concentration amid negotiations with United over a new deal. He only has one year left on his contract and continues to be linked with a move to Real Madrid.
United has a perfectly adequate replacement in Sergio Romero. The Argentina goalkeeper rarely fails to impress when he stands in for De Gea in cup competitions and must be the most highly-qualified understudy in English soccer.
Is it time for a change ahead of United's final two games, against Huddersfield and Cardiff? It is another big call for Solskjaer, at a time when his position at Old Trafford is starting to be questioned.
De Gea has already answered his critics in England. After some errors — particularly aerially — in the first half of his debut season at United in 2011-12, he was dropped by Alex Ferguson and accused by some pundits of being too slight for the rough and tumble of the Premier League.
He was back in the team within a few weeks and has hardly looked back.
Can De Gea bounce back again?
-- By Steve Douglas, AP
GERMANY: Dortmund on verge of giving up, but Bayern then held to draw
BERLIN — Just as Borussia Dortmund coach Lucien Favre gave up on his team's title hopes, the Bundesliga race took another twist when Bayern Munich was held to a draw at Nuremberg.
With three rounds remaining, Bayern leads by two points as it looks for a record-extending seventh consecutive league title.
Favre was desolate after watching his team lose the Ruhr derby to Schalke 4-2 after having two players sent off.
"It's ridiculous. The biggest scandal in soccer in years," Favre said of the handball penalty decision that allowed Daniel Caligiuri to equalize after Dortmund's good start. "We want the players to cut their arms off. It will be the objective of every opponent to shoot the ball against the arm. You have no balance without arms. You need your arms. It's a huge scandal for soccer."
Asked if the loss meant the end of Dortmund's title hopes, Favre replied: "Yes, of course."
The turbulent game was overshadowed somewhat by some Schalke fans who displayed a banner in support of the man who carried out a bomb attack on the Dortmund team bus in April 2017, while Jadon Sancho was also struck in the head by an object thrown from the visiting fans' section.
Favre said Sancho was not in position when Julian Weigl was adjudged to have stopped Breel Embolo's shot with his arm.
"It was too much today, too much," Favre said.
Dortmund's fourth loss of the season meant Bayern could stretch its lead to four points with a win at relegation-threatened Nuremberg the next day, but the defending champions were fortunate to emerge with a 1-1 draw after Tim Leibold missed a penalty in injury time for the host team.
"We were lucky to get a point," said Bayern sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic, who lamented his team's lack of "killer instinct."
Bayern could even have snatched a win after Leibold's penalty miss if Kingsley Coman had made more of a one-on-one with Nuremberg goalkeeper Christian Mathenia.
"But we wouldn't have deserved that today," Bayern defender Mats Hummels said. "That wasn't the level we expect of ourselves."
Bayern coach Niko Kovac remained pragmatic, referring to his team's superior goal difference over Dortmund.
"The bill is relatively easy (to work out), you don't need to have studied applied math. We need to get seven points if Dortmund wins everything in the last three games," Kovac said.
Bayern next hosts last-place Hannover on Saturday, then faces a tough game at third-place Leipzig before ending the season at home against Eintracht Frankfurt. The team also has a German Cup final against Leipzig in Berlin on May 25, but the league will be decided by then.
"You can see that there were crazy results in the last weeks and there probably will be in the last three rounds, too," Kovac said.
Dortmund has two tough away games, at Werder Bremen and the season-finale at Borussia Moenchengladbach, with a visit from Fortuna Duesseldorf in between.
Dortmund chief executive Hans-Joachim "Aki" Watzke - in contrast to Favre - said his team was not going to give up without a fight.
"We'll only give up when it's no longer mathematically possible," Watzke told Kicker magazine. "That's our duty to the fans."
-- By Ciaran Fahey, AP
ITALY: Ronaldo nets 600th club goal as goalscoring race heats up
MILAN — Cristiano Ronaldo's unrelenting hunger for goals is plain to see.
The Juventus forward netted his 600th club goal on Saturday and celebrated with typical joy. But his desire to score was far more evident in the first half against Inter Milan when he fired over the bar and showed anguish and frustration.
That appeared to spur Ronaldo to the equalizer after the break as Juventus came back to draw with bitter rival Inter 1-1 in Serie A.
"Ronaldo is lethal, I have him, and I'm happy," Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri said. "It's important to have a player like him. After he missed a chance he got very angry, then he played a different game."
Ronaldo already plays a different game to most. And after alreading clinching a record-extending eighth successive Serie A title, Ronaldo could become the first player to win the top goalscorer award and the Serie A title in his first season in Italy.
The 34-year-old Ronaldo has 20 league goals for Juventus, three less than league leader and Sampdoria forward Fabio Quagliarella.
He could also become the first player to win the top goalscorer award in three of Europe's top five leagues, having claimed the prize in Spain (three times) and England.
There are four rounds remaining.
Ronaldo has been playing and scoring regularly, even while being accused of raping a woman in 2009 in the United States — something the Portugal star denies.
The strike against Inter Milan was his 27th for Juventus in all competitions. Ronaldo scored 450 for Real Madrid, 118 for Manchester United and five for Sporting Lisbon.
"With him you always start in front, we are lucky to have him with us," Juventus captain Giorgio Chiellini said. "He will help Juventus win more."
Earlier in the season, Ronaldo became the first player to net 400 goals across Europe's top five leagues.
CONTE CRAZINESS
Roma fans are starting to believe the reports that Antonio Conte could become the club's next coach.
With Claudio Ranieri in a caretaker role following Eusebio Di Francesco's firing, speculation is rampant that Roma is in talks with Conte about taking over the team for next season.
When Conte, the former Juventus, Italy, and Chelsea coach, was spotted at Rome's Leonardo Da Vinci Airport on Sunday, Roma fans stopped him for selfies and spread the word on social media — even though it appeared Conte was merely traveling to his home in Turin.
While the Roman-born Ranieri has said he would like to remain with Roma, even he acknowledged the club would do well to hire Conte.
"I would love to see him on the Roma bench, but I don't know anything: I would be the last to know," Ranieri said with a smile following Roma's 3-0 win over Cagliari on Saturday. "I would be super happy if Conte came in. I would go and collect him from the airport."
Retired Roma captain Francesco Totti, who has a position in Roma's management, called Conte "one of the best coaches in Europe."
"Wherever he's gone he's won. Any squad would do something crazy to get him," Totti said, adding that there are also reports that Inter Milan and Bayern Munich are interested in Conte. "There are a lot of squads chasing him."
ATALANTA STADIUM
Fresh off qualifying for the Italian Cup final, Atalanta has announced plans for a complete overhaul of its Atleti Azzurri d'Italia stadium.
Work on the 40 million euro ($45 million) project will begin following Atalanta's game against Udinese on Monday, meaning the team will play its final two home matches of the season in Reggio Emilia at Mapei Stadium, Sassuolo's ground.
The three-phase project should be completed in time for the 2021-22 season, at which time the stadium will be renamed Gewiss Arena.
Atalanta beat Fiorentina on Thursday to advance to the May 15 Cup final against Lazio.
-- By Daniella Matar and Andrew Dampf, AP
SPAIN: Zidane has had enough, wishes Madrid's season was over
MADRID — Real Madrid just can't wait for the season to end.
Even the usually mild-mannered Zinedine Zidane lost his patience after his team's latest setback, a 1-0 loss to relegation-threatened Rayo Vallecano in the Spanish league on Sunday.
"We will play these last three games and then this is finally over," the Madrid coach said after seeing his team get outplayed and outhustled by then last-place Rayo.
The result practically ended the team's chances of catching Atletico Madrid for second place. If Madrid can't erase the nine-point difference over the final matches, it will finish out the top two in consecutive seasons for the first time since 1973-74.
A day before the disappointing performance against Rayo, Madrid fans had to endure seeing Barcelona clinch its second straight league title, and eighth in 11 seasons.
And in a few days, fans will watch Barcelona — along with Liverpool, Tottenham and Ajax — compete in the first leg of the semifinals of the Champions League, the tournament Madrid won the last three years.
Zidane was uncharacteristically upset after the setback against Rayo, the team's fourth in six matches.
"I'll always defend my players, but not today," Zidane said. "We can't play like that, and I'm responsible as well. We didn't do anything. We have to apologize."
Madrid was coming off a scoreless draw at Getafe and previously had drawn with Leganes and lost to Valencia, all in away matches. Zidane has a perfect record at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, with four victories, but has yet to win away.
"At least against Getafe we showed some good things, we created some chances," Zidane said. "But we didn't do anything today. Nothing from Minute 1 to Minute 90."
When Zidane took over from Santiago Solari eight matches ago, with the team in tatters, he said the main goal was to rebuild for next season, but also to regain confidence after one of its most disappointing campaigns in years. Madrid was off to a good start under Zidane, with three wins in four matches, but risks finishing the season on another low.
Madrid was 12 points behind Barcelona and two points behind Atletico when Zidane arrived. Now it is 18 points from the Catalan club and nine below its city rival.
Instead of just focusing on which players to keep and how to improve the squad for next season, Zidane will also have to make sure the team plays good enough to please the club's demanding fans in the final matches.
Madrid will host relegation-threatened Villarreal next weekend, then visits midtable Real Sociedad before closing out the season at home again against Real Betis.
With little at stake through the end, Zidane said Madrid needs to play for pride.
"We can't finish like this, with this image," the Frenchman said. "We have to show some respect for the game and for the club. We will have to play better."
-- By Tales Azzoni, AP
FRANCE: Tuchel feeling the pressure as PSG's season ends poorly
PARIS — Paris Saint-Germain coach Thomas Tuchel faces a lot of questions ahead of next season, having fallen short of his predecessors at the club during a complicated first campaign in charge.
Unai Emery was fired to make way for Tuchel, even though Emery had clinched a domestic treble. In 2016, Laurent Blanc was fired and replaced by Emery, despite Blanc also securing the three domestic trophies.
Under Tuchel, PSG is going backward.
Although PSG won the league title with five games to go, it failed to retain its cup titles. PSG lost the French Cup final on Saturday in a dramatic penalty shootout against Rennes, having led 2-0 midway through the first half.
In January, PSG was beaten at home by Guingamp in the League Cup quarterfinals despite leading in that game, too.
"It's difficult to say that we're not fragile mentally ... we're always missing that little something extra," Tuchel said after the Rennes defeat. "It gives the impression we're a bit fragile, not only in attack but in defense."
He added: "We're not clinical enough, not attentive enough to details."
Tuchel's accurate assessment comes too late, for PSG's season has been marred by such shortcomings since the players returned from the midseason winter break.
PSG blew a 2-0 lead secured away from home against Manchester United in the Round of 16 of the Champions League, losing at home 3-1 in March and going out to an injury-time penalty.
NOT ADVANCING
Blanc led PSG as far as the quarterfinals of the Champions League. Emery only got to the last 16 and Tuchel has not done better than that.
Some would argue he has done worse, considering PSG went out to a United lineup riddled with injuries, rather than to a Messi-inspired Barcelona in 2017 and eventual champion Real Madrid in 2018 as Emery did.
There have been alarming dips of concentration in the league, too.
Although PSG won the league at a canter, it could have sealed it with eight games to spare. Instead, PSG had a dismal three-game spell in which it lost twice, drew once, and conceded 10 goals — including a 5-1 hammering by Lille.
PSG's jittery defense has allowed 13 goals in the past five games.
"It's not an easy situation," said Tuchel, who needs time to work out where he made mistakes.
"It's too early to say," he said. "I need to think for a few days."
LISTEN TO NEYMAR
Neymar thinks he has an idea where things are going wrong.
The Brazil star said after the loss to Rennes that PSG's younger players need to fall into line more.
"They must listen more than they talk. Sometimes a more experienced guy speaks, and they answer back," Neymar said in quotes translated and reported by French media. "The coach himself speaks, and they retort. This is not how a team goes far."
For Neymar, who played alongside Lionel Messi, Xavi and Andres Iniesta at storied and highly traditional Barcelona, a brazen attitude from young players might seem hard to accept.
"We are more experienced, so they must respect us a bit more, listen a bit more," he was quoted as saying. "I had to do the same when I was starting out."
Neymar did not mention any of the young players by name, but he also had words of advice for Kylian Mbappe, who was sent off late in Saturday's game for a dangerous lunge at the knee of a Rennes player.
Although the 20-year-old Mbappe has thrilled fans with his attacking brilliance, and scored a league-leading 30 goals , Saturday's red card was already the third of his young career.
KEEP CALM
Neymar showed a lack of restraint of his own when he lashed out at a fan who was filming and verbally goading PSG's players as they walked up the stairs to collect their losers' medals.
Although he was provoked, the way Neymar responded was entirely avoidable. Other PSG players — including Gianluigi Buffon and Marco Verratti — were verbally abused by the same person and simply ignored him.
Mbappe will be suspended for Tuesday's tough game away to sixth-place Montpellier.
Neymar, meanwhile, may face another suspension, this time from the French Football Federation. He has already been suspended three games by UEFA for insulting the video review officials who awarded United's stoppage-time penalty for a handball.
While Tuchel needs to find answers, his stars need to keep their composure.
-- By Jerome Pugmire, AP
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