عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Sports

PSG and Messi Face Grudge Match in Marseille

Paris St Germain's Idrissa Gueye celebrates scoring their first goal with Lionel Messi and Nuno Mendes. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier
Paris St Germain's Idrissa Gueye celebrates scoring their first goal with Lionel Messi and Nuno Mendes. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier
TT
TT

PSG and Messi Face Grudge Match in Marseille

Paris St Germain's Idrissa Gueye celebrates scoring their first goal with Lionel Messi and Nuno Mendes. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier
Paris St Germain's Idrissa Gueye celebrates scoring their first goal with Lionel Messi and Nuno Mendes. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier

Lionel Messi gets his first taste of French football's biggest rivalry this weekend as Ligue 1 leaders Paris Saint-Germain travel to face Marseille on Sunday.

A few hours after Messi's old side Barcelona take on Real Madrid in the Clasico, the Argentinian will take to the field at the Velodrome in the fixture known as "Le Classique".

It is a rivalry that grew in the early 1990s, when Marseille were the dominant force in French football and, for a short while, in Europe.

These days Qatar-owned PSG reign supreme in France, even if they missed out on the Ligue 1 title last season to Lille and their performances in this campaign have not always convinced.

They have won seven of the last eight meetings of the clubs across all competitions and have lost just once to OM in the last decade.

That 1-0 defeat in Paris came in a near-empty stadium at the start of the pandemic-affected last season. This time there will be a full house at the Velodrome as PSG aim to extend their 10-point advantage over Marseille, who are third and do have a game in hand.

Messi scored twice for PSG in their 3-2 win over RB Leipzig in the Champions League in midweek.

All three of his goals so far in a Paris shirt have come in Europe. Indeed he has played more minutes so far in the Champions League than he has in Ligue 1.

Kylian Mbappe, who scored the other goal against Leipzig, has been the main man for Mauricio Pochettino's team this season, while Neymar has struggled for form.

The Brazilian could return from an adductor muscle problem at the ground where he was sent off in October 2017 as the heated atmosphere got to him.

Marseille, who played Lazio in the Europa League on Thursday, have entertained this season under Argentine coach Jorge Sampaoli but it remains to be seen if they are capable of competing with a PSG team that have won nine out of 10 league outings.

"It's going to be a special occasion and a difficult match," said PSG midfielder Ander Herrera.

"They are in good form, and there will be a bit more than just the usual three points at stake."

Player to watch: Matteo GuendouziThe 22-year-old moved to Marseille on loan from Arsenal in order to breathe life into his career, which had stalled in north London where he had been frozen out by manager Mikel Arteta.

After a spell at Hertha Berlin last season, Guendouzi now looks right at home under Sampaoli at Marseille and is flourishing in a midfield role which allows him to get forward and join the attack.

Guendouzi, who was a non-playing member of the France squad at the recent UEFA Nations League finals, scored one goal and made two more in Marseille's 4-1 win over Lorient last weekend.

Now he comes up against PSG, the club he supported as a boy and with whom he began his career as a youth before leaving for Lorient aged 15.

Key stats10 - Dimitri Payet has scored 10 goals and provided 10 assists in Ligue 1 in 2021. According to Opta, the only other players in Europe's top five leagues in double figures for goals and assists this year are Karim Benzema (24 and 11) and Memphis Depay (16 and 11).

Most Viewed

 
 
Sports

Verstappen on Pole for F1’s Singapore Sprint After Cars Slowed by ‘Error’ in Race Control

Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen of Netherlands in action during the Sprint Qualifying at Marina Bay Street Circuit in Singapore, 09 October 2026. The 2026 Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix is held at the Marina Bay Street Circuit in Singapore on 11 October. (EPA)
Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen of Netherlands in action during the Sprint Qualifying at Marina Bay Street Circuit in Singapore, 09 October 2026. The 2026 Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix is held at the Marina Bay Street Circuit in Singapore on 11 October. (EPA)
TT
TT

Verstappen on Pole for F1’s Singapore Sprint After Cars Slowed by ‘Error’ in Race Control

Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen of Netherlands in action during the Sprint Qualifying at Marina Bay Street Circuit in Singapore, 09 October 2026. The 2026 Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix is held at the Marina Bay Street Circuit in Singapore on 11 October. (EPA)
Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen of Netherlands in action during the Sprint Qualifying at Marina Bay Street Circuit in Singapore, 09 October 2026. The 2026 Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix is held at the Marina Bay Street Circuit in Singapore on 11 October. (EPA)

Max Verstappen snatched pole position for the Formula 1 Singapore sprint race in a hectic qualifying session Friday, while George Russell seized a chance to make up ground on standings leader Kimi Antonelli.

The action was overshadowed when the cars' settings were wrongly changed by race control, affecting the cars and blamed for some drivers being eliminated from the session early.

Verstappen went fastest by 0.120 of a second from Russell, whose strategy of all-out attack this week leaves him starting Saturday's sprint five places ahead of Mercedes teammate Antonelli. Charles Leclerc begins the sprint third for Ferrari.

“I did not expect this, very happy to be first,” Verstappen said. “The last few races we have been a lot stronger but this track still highlights a few weaknesses in the car, but we have tried to drive with them as much as possible.”

After winning last week's Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia with an upgraded Red Bull car, Verstappen has now shown he can build on that success on a very different sort of track. Starting on pole is extra valuable in Singapore because overtaking is difficult on the tight street circuit.

Verstappen was summoned by the stewards in an investigation into whether he overtook Lewis Hamilton earlier in the qualifying session under yellow flags, but he was not penalized.

‘Human error' blamed for slowing cars

Cars were down on power for several minutes in the first part of Friday's qualifying session because “overtake mode” — an electrical power boost activated by the drivers — was disabled.

Williams team principal James Vowles said the issue played a role in both of his drivers being eliminated, with Alex Albon 19th and Carlos Sainz, Jr. 22nd. “We are confident this will be fully investigated by the FIA,” Vowles said.

The FIA blamed “a human error in race control” which meant cars were blocked from using overtake mode after the session was briefly red-flagged. The setting was then switched back on for 27 seconds, and switched off again.

“The FIA acknowledges that this unfortunate human error had an impact on the performance of certain cars based on the timing of their run and their position around the lap,” the governing body said.

It's the latest in a series of issues with the software which governs the 2026 cars' electrical power and comes five days after cars crawled to a halt in the rain in Malaysia, delaying the race start.

Why Russell is going all-out as title challenge fades

The sprint is Russell’s best chance of challenging Antonelli this weekend because the British driver must serve a grid penalty for Sunday's Singapore Grand Prix.

Russell's power unit suddenly failed Sunday during the Bahrain Grand Prix, leaving him with a penalty this week for an engine change.

After that, it's "all-out attack, just trying to enjoy the weekend," Russell said Thursday. "Obviously not an ideal situation, but Singapore is a place I love and I’ll try and carve my way through the pack.”

On a day when Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff slammed as “brainless” the claims that Mercedes would favor Antonelli over Russell, the Italian produced one of his worst qualifying performances of the year, nearly seven-tenths of a second off the pace.

Russell is using an older-specification car in Singapore, while Antonelli tries to make the best of an updated package he called “unpredictable” Friday which hasn't worked as expected in recent races. “I think it will be a difficult weekend,” he added.

With the final sprint race of the season Saturday, Russell and his rivals will have an unusual daylight race on the streets of the southeast Asian city state, before the typical night race Sunday.

Russell said Singapore was “probably the second-bottom of the list” in terms of the ease of fighting back after a penalty, and predicted he may need to serve another for an engine change before the season is over.

It's a big contrast with the last time Antonelli had to serve a penalty. Mercedes changed his engine for the Italian Grand Prix in a planned move, calculating that overtaking was easy enough at Monza that he could limit the damage. He did far more than that and took a statement victory in his home race.

Antonelli could clinch title in Texas

Antonelli finished second behind Verstappen in Malaysia for his sixth podium finish in the last seven races, moving him 84 points clear of Russell in the standings.

With 33 points on offer across Singapore's sprint race and Grand Prix, if Antonelli scores 16 points more than Russell this week, he'd have a shot at sealing the title at the United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas, on Oct. 25.

Lando Norris may have a fix for his McLaren's straight-line speed problem, but this weekend could still spell the end of his title defense if Antonelli outscores the McLaren driver by 18 points. Leclerc and Verstappen could also be eliminated from contention.

Rain, haze, heat could test drivers

Singapore is always a tough test for drivers because of the heat and humidity, compared to a sauna by Verstappen on Friday. This week, add in a haze of air pollution from forest fires in nearby Indonesia.

The haze was present last week in Malaysia, too. Singapore organizers said Friday they are monitoring the conditions but there are “currently no plans to modify our entertainment activities” around the race.

Cadillac's Valtteri Bottas has plenty of first-hand experience of the local conditions after cycling from Sepang to Singapore this week.

There's also a chance of rain affecting the action on Saturday and Sunday. Not only is a wet street track a tricky proposition, but there's extra scrutiny on the cars after the software bug in Malaysia.

Sports

Ronaldo Returns After Portugal Quarrel and Scores in Al-Nassr Win

Ronaldo celebrates after scoring. (Abdulaziz Al-Numan)
Ronaldo celebrates after scoring. (Abdulaziz Al-Numan)
TT
TT

Ronaldo Returns After Portugal Quarrel and Scores in Al-Nassr Win

Ronaldo celebrates after scoring. (Abdulaziz Al-Numan)
Ronaldo celebrates after scoring. (Abdulaziz Al-Numan)

Cristiano Ronaldo returned to club action on Friday after a controversial international break with Portugal and bagged the opening goal as Al-Nassr beat Diriyah 3-0 in the Saudi Pro League.

The victory put the defending champion level on points behind leader Al-Qadsiah on goal difference in the eighth round.

During the international window, the 41-year-old Ronaldo walked out of the Portugal squad, for which he has scored 146 goals in 234 appearances.

In a long statement posted on Tuesday, Ronaldo said recently hired coach Jorge Jesus hadn’t been true to his word about when he would play the striker in the Nations League.

Ronaldo won the Saudi Arabia title in May with Jesus as Al-Nassr coach and opened the scoring on Friday midway through the first half.

Kingsley Coman’s shot from outside the area was blocked by goalkeeper Waleed Abdullah and Ronaldo was there to shoot home the rebound from close range for goal number 980 in his career.

Samu Costa added a second for Al-Nassr, coached by former Tottenham Hotspur boss Ange Postecoglou, just before the break and Coman sealed the win with 13 minutes remaining.

Al-Qadsiah earlier thrashed Al-Kholood 5-0 with Dutch international Tijjani Reijnders opening the scoring and Italy's Mateo Retegui and Mexico’s Julian Quinones also finding the target.

Sports

Türkiye Sack Coach Montella After Nations League Woe

Türkiye Sack Coach Montella After Nations League Woe
TT
TT

Türkiye Sack Coach Montella After Nations League Woe

Türkiye Sack Coach Montella After Nations League Woe

Vincenzo Montella was sacked as head coach of Türkiye on Friday following a string of Nations League defeats.

"It has been decided not to continue with our head coach," the Turkish Football Federation (TFF) said on X.

Türkiye have lost all four of their Nations League matches against France, Belgium and twice to Italy.

Appointed in September 2023, the former Italy international enjoyed some early success as he guided Türkiye to the Euro 2024 quarter-finals, where they were beaten 2-1 by the Netherlands.

However, despite boasting stars including Inter Milan midfielder Hakan Calhanoglu, Real Madrid's Arda Guler and forward Kenan Yildiz of Juventus, the team's results have deteriorated in recent months.

Türkiye were the first country to be eliminated from this summer's World Cup despite beating co-hosts the United States in their final group match.

Türkiye next host Belgium in the Nations League on November 12 before heading to France three days later.

Montella, 52, previously coached Italian teams Fiorentina, Sampdoria and AC Milan, and Spanish club Sevilla.