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Ancelotti: Bellingham is Great, but I'll Stick with Madrid Youngsters

Real Madrid's head coach Carlo Ancelotti waits for the start of a Spanish La Liga soccer match between Valladolid and Real Madrid at the Jose Zorrilla stadium in Valladolid, Spain, Friday, Dec. 30, 2022. (AP Photo/Pablo Garcia)
Real Madrid's head coach Carlo Ancelotti waits for the start of a Spanish La Liga soccer match between Valladolid and Real Madrid at the Jose Zorrilla stadium in Valladolid, Spain, Friday, Dec. 30, 2022. (AP Photo/Pablo Garcia)
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Ancelotti: Bellingham is Great, but I'll Stick with Madrid Youngsters

Real Madrid's head coach Carlo Ancelotti waits for the start of a Spanish La Liga soccer match between Valladolid and Real Madrid at the Jose Zorrilla stadium in Valladolid, Spain, Friday, Dec. 30, 2022. (AP Photo/Pablo Garcia)
Real Madrid's head coach Carlo Ancelotti waits for the start of a Spanish La Liga soccer match between Valladolid and Real Madrid at the Jose Zorrilla stadium in Valladolid, Spain, Friday, Dec. 30, 2022. (AP Photo/Pablo Garcia)

Carlo Ancelotti hailed English midfielder Jude Bellingham, who has been linked with a move to his Real Madrid team, but said Friday he has plenty of young talent at his fingertips already.

Los Blancos have three of the most exciting midfield prospects in world football in Aurelien Tchouameni, Eduardo Camavinga and Fede Valverde, AFP said.

Borussia Dortmund's Bellingham played well for England during the World Cup in Qatar until Gareth Southgate's side were knocked out by Tchouameni and Camavinga's France in the quarter-finals.

"Bellingham showed at the World Cup that he is a great midfielder," Ancelotti told reporters on Friday ahead of his team's La Liga clash with Villarreal.

"A lot of youngsters stood out, like Enzo (Fernandez) with Argentina, and the Spaniards Pedri and Gavi had a very nice tournament.

"There are a lot of young midfielders emerging but I'll stick with mine. We have very good ones, Tchouameni, Camavinga, Valverde. We have a lot of youngsters."

French duo Tchouameni and Camavinga finished as runners-up, defeated in the final by Argentina.

Bellingham's deal with Dortmund expires in 2025 and the 19-year-old has been linked with various teams, including Spanish champions Madrid, who sold Casemiro to Manchester United last summer.

Long-serving Madrid midfielders Toni Kroos and 37-year-old Luka Modric have contracts that expire in the summer of 2023.

Los Blancos signed Camavinga, 20, from Rennes in 2021 and then last year brought in Tchouameni, 22, from Monaco.

Valverde, 24, joined Madrid's youth ranks from Penarol in 2016, but has often been deployed on the right flank instead of in central midfield.

They are all establishing themselves at Madrid, who are level on points with league leaders Barcelona ahead of their first match of 2023, a tricky test at Quique Setien's Villarreal on Saturday.

"They have changed a bit, they have a very clear identity, different from (Unai) Emery's Villarreal," added Ancelotti.

"Setien likes attacking football, their players are well positioned on the pitch. To win there, you have to be at your best."

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Flame Arrives in Italy for Milano Cortina Winter Games

Olympics - 2026 Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics - Olympic torch due to arrive at Rome airport and Italian Presidential Palace - Rome, Italy - December 4, 2025 President of the Milano Cortina 2026 Organizing Committee, Giovanni Malago and tennis player Italy's Jasmine Paolini arrive with the Olympic torch REUTERS/Remo Casilli
Olympics - 2026 Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics - Olympic torch due to arrive at Rome airport and Italian Presidential Palace - Rome, Italy - December 4, 2025 President of the Milano Cortina 2026 Organizing Committee, Giovanni Malago and tennis player Italy's Jasmine Paolini arrive with the Olympic torch REUTERS/Remo Casilli
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Flame Arrives in Italy for Milano Cortina Winter Games

Olympics - 2026 Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics - Olympic torch due to arrive at Rome airport and Italian Presidential Palace - Rome, Italy - December 4, 2025 President of the Milano Cortina 2026 Organizing Committee, Giovanni Malago and tennis player Italy's Jasmine Paolini arrive with the Olympic torch REUTERS/Remo Casilli
Olympics - 2026 Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics - Olympic torch due to arrive at Rome airport and Italian Presidential Palace - Rome, Italy - December 4, 2025 President of the Milano Cortina 2026 Organizing Committee, Giovanni Malago and tennis player Italy's Jasmine Paolini arrive with the Olympic torch REUTERS/Remo Casilli

The Olympic flame arrived in Rome on Thursday in preparation for a two-month torch relay designed to stir excitement across Italy before the Winter Games in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo in February.

Italian Olympic tennis doubles champion Jasmine Paolini and Milano Cortina Games organizing chief Giovanni Malago carried the lantern down the steps of an ITA Airways flight from Athens, Reuters reported.

The Italian hosts had received the flame in a ceremony at Athens' Panathenaic Stadium earlier on Thursday.

In a scaled-down event due to heavy rain warnings, as was the case when the flame was lit in ancient Olympia last week, the handover took place inside the vast marble-clad stadium.

"Italy is proud of its Olympic heritage... as we get ready to write the next chapter in our Olympic story," said Malago, with only a handful of officials and spectators present in Athens.

Italy, a winter sports powerhouse, last hosted the Winter Olympics in 2006 with the Turin Games.

"It will be an incredible 63-day adventure," Malago said, speaking ahead of the torch relay which starts on Saturday from Rome's fascist-era Stadio dei Marmi.

"After two decades of waiting, the Olympic flame is returning to Italy," he added.

The 12,000-km journey will take in all 20 Italian regions plus 110 provinces and pass through 60 Italian cities and 300 towns with a total of 10,001 torchbearers.

The flame will visit famous landmarks including the Colosseum in Rome and the Grand Canal in Venice, with stops in southern cities such as Palermo and Naples to generate interest in areas where winter sports are not as prominent.

It will be in Cortina d’Ampezzo on January 26 – exactly 70 years after the opening ceremony of the 1956 Games at the same venue - and the relay will finish on February 6 at the opening ceremony at Milan's San Siro stadium.

Sports

Toyota to Become Title Sponsor of Haas F1 Team

FILE PHOTO: Toyota Motor Corp's logo is pictured at its dealership in Tokyo, Japan April 3, 2025. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon/File Photo/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Toyota Motor Corp's logo is pictured at its dealership in Tokyo, Japan April 3, 2025. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon/File Photo/File Photo
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Toyota to Become Title Sponsor of Haas F1 Team

FILE PHOTO: Toyota Motor Corp's logo is pictured at its dealership in Tokyo, Japan April 3, 2025. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon/File Photo/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Toyota Motor Corp's logo is pictured at its dealership in Tokyo, Japan April 3, 2025. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon/File Photo/File Photo

Toyota Gazoo Racing, the Japanese car maker's motorsport division, will become title sponsor of the Haas Formula One team next season in a deal that strengthens an existing technical partnership.

The US-owned team, who use Ferrari engines and also have close ties with Maranello, said they would be rebranded as TGR Haas F1 from 2026.

"Our working relationship to date has been everything we hoped it would be," said Haas's Japanese principal Ayao Komatsu.

"The cultivation of personnel, all working collaboratively between Haas F1 Team and TGR, has benefited us greatly and that’s something that will only increase as our partnership matures."

Haas, the smallest of what will be 11 teams on the starting grid next season, are eighth in the standings ahead of this weekend's season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

They announced a multi-year technical partnership with Toyota in October last year, a move that brought Japan's biggest carmaker back to grand prix racing for the first time since 2009.

Toyota has provided design, technical and manufacturing services and used the partnership to develop young drivers, engineers and mechanics through a testing of previous car programs.

"Throughout our challenges in the 2025 season, I witnessed young TGR drivers and engineers begin to believe in their own potential and set their sights on even greater dreams," Reuters quoted Toyota chairman Akio Toyoda as saying in a statement.

"The time has come for the next generation to take their first steps toward the world stage. Together with Gene Haas, Ayao, and everyone at TGR Haas F1 Team, we will build both a culture and a team for the future. Toyota is now truly on the move."

The team will unveil their 2026 livery online on January 23 before a first test behind closed doors at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya on January 26-30.

Sports

Sevilla Stadium Partially Closed after Fans Throw Objects in Derby

Soccer Football - LaLiga - Sevilla v FC Barcelona - Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan, Seville, Spain - October 5, 2025 General view of sprinklers watering the pitch inside the stadium before the match REUTERS/Marcelo Del Pozo
Soccer Football - LaLiga - Sevilla v FC Barcelona - Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan, Seville, Spain - October 5, 2025 General view of sprinklers watering the pitch inside the stadium before the match REUTERS/Marcelo Del Pozo
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Sevilla Stadium Partially Closed after Fans Throw Objects in Derby

Soccer Football - LaLiga - Sevilla v FC Barcelona - Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan, Seville, Spain - October 5, 2025 General view of sprinklers watering the pitch inside the stadium before the match REUTERS/Marcelo Del Pozo
Soccer Football - LaLiga - Sevilla v FC Barcelona - Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan, Seville, Spain - October 5, 2025 General view of sprinklers watering the pitch inside the stadium before the match REUTERS/Marcelo Del Pozo

Sevilla's Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan Stadium will be partially closed for the next three games after fans threw objects onto the pitch during their 2-0 loss to Real Betis in Sunday's LaLiga derby, Spain's football federation said on Wednesday.

The disciplinary committee also imposed a 45,000 euro ($52,461) fine on the club following the incident, which delayed the match for 15 minutes when objects were hurled from behind the Fondo Norte goal, reported Reuters.

Referee Jose Munuera halted the game and eventually led players off the pitch after the crowd failed to comply.

"Sevilla FC will appeal the partial closure of the Sanchez-Pizjuan Stadium due to the events that occurred during the derby, doing so in both sporting and ordinary instances," the club said in a statement.

The disciplinary committee also punished Sevilla forward Isaac Romero with a two-match ban for a red-card offense related to violent conduct on the sidelines during the same game.

The club said Romero's expulsion "will also be appealed."

Sevilla, currently 13th in the LaLiga standings with 16 points, trail Real Betis, who sit fifth with 24 points.