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Marcelo's Fluminense Contract Terminated after Clash with Coach

FILE PHOTO: Copa Libertadores - Quarter finals - Second Leg - Atletico Mineiro v Fluminense - Arena MRV, Belo Horizonte, Brazil - September 25, 2024 Fluminense's Marcelo during the warm up before the match REUTERS/Cris Mattos/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Copa Libertadores - Quarter finals - Second Leg - Atletico Mineiro v Fluminense - Arena MRV, Belo Horizonte, Brazil - September 25, 2024 Fluminense's Marcelo during the warm up before the match REUTERS/Cris Mattos/File Photo
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Marcelo's Fluminense Contract Terminated after Clash with Coach

FILE PHOTO: Copa Libertadores - Quarter finals - Second Leg - Atletico Mineiro v Fluminense - Arena MRV, Belo Horizonte, Brazil - September 25, 2024 Fluminense's Marcelo during the warm up before the match REUTERS/Cris Mattos/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Copa Libertadores - Quarter finals - Second Leg - Atletico Mineiro v Fluminense - Arena MRV, Belo Horizonte, Brazil - September 25, 2024 Fluminense's Marcelo during the warm up before the match REUTERS/Cris Mattos/File Photo

Former Real Madrid great Marcelo had his contract at boyhood club Fluminense terminated two months early on Saturday, one day after the defender's touchline spat with coach Mano Menezes.
The Brazilian club said in a statement that the decision was by mutual agreement, The Associated Press reported.
“The institutional and emotional bonds between Fluminense and Marcelo remain untouched,” Fluminense said.
Marcelo did not comment.
Last year, Marcelo won the Rio de Janeiro state championship and the Copa Libertadores titles with Fluminense, his first professional club before he joined Real Madrid at the end of 2006 at age 18. He won five Champions Leagues and six La Ligas at Madrid.
Menezes was going to use the 36-year-old Marcelo as a substitute in the final minutes of Fluminense's clash against Gremio in a Brazilian league match. The defender appeared to dispute the coach's instructions, who decided to field striker John Kennedy instead.
Fluminense led 2-1 at the time, but Gremio scored from the spot shortly before the final whistle to equalize at the Maracana Stadium.
“I was going to bring Marcelo in at that time, but I heard one thing that I did not like and I changed my mind,” Menezes said at a press conference. “He wasn't going in to solve any problem for us, he was stepping in to let us keep what we had (on the scoreboard). It was just two, three minutes to the end.”

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Antonelli Following in the Footsteps of Farina and Ascari

Mercedes driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli, of Italy, celebrates on the podium after winning the Italian Formula One Grand Prix race in Monza, Italy, Sept. 6, 2026. (AP)
Mercedes driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli, of Italy, celebrates on the podium after winning the Italian Formula One Grand Prix race in Monza, Italy, Sept. 6, 2026. (AP)
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Antonelli Following in the Footsteps of Farina and Ascari

Mercedes driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli, of Italy, celebrates on the podium after winning the Italian Formula One Grand Prix race in Monza, Italy, Sept. 6, 2026. (AP)
Mercedes driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli, of Italy, celebrates on the podium after winning the Italian Formula One Grand Prix race in Monza, Italy, Sept. 6, 2026. (AP)

Alberto Ascari was a boyhood hero for US motor racing great Mario Andretti, now 86, but few of Kimi Antonelli's compatriots were around when Italy's last Formula One world champion was making headlines.

Antonelli, 20, is set this weekend to become the only living Italian who knows what it feels like to take the chequered flag and win the Formula One championship. He would be the first to do it in 73 years, since Ascari's second title with Ferrari in 1953.

"I know the corner in Monza is named after him," the Mercedes driver told Reuters when asked what he knew about his illustrious predecessor, who was also champion in 1952 after Giuseppe "Nino" Farina won the first title with Alfa Romeo in 1950. Farina died in 1966.

"I know ‌that he was ‌the last Italian champion. And it was a long time ago. A ‌very, ⁠very long time ⁠ago."

LUCKY BLUE HELMET

Ascari was the son of a racing driver, as is Antonelli, with father Antonio a multiple race winner before his death in the 1925 French Grand Prix at Montlhery, south of Paris, long before the Formula One world championship started in 1950.

Antonio Ascari was 36 when he died, the same age almost to the day as Alberto when he crashed fatally at Monza while testing a Ferrari sportscar in 1955.

The younger Ascari had not been due to drive the car, present only to watch his friend Eugenio Castellotti ⁠in action, but decided to try it out.

Borrowing a helmet, instead of the ‌lucky light blue one the superstitious driver always wore, and ‌dressed in regular street clothes, the Milanese was thrown out of the car after it skidded and somersaulted off ‌the track at the Curva del Vialone.

The chicane is now known to F1 fans as the ‌Variante Ascari.

Four days earlier, wearing the blue helmet, he had plunged his Lancia into the Monaco harbor at the chicane coming out of the tunnel -- miraculously missing an iron mooring hidden by a hay bale -- and emerged relatively unscathed.

"You have to get straight back into the saddle after an accident, otherwise doubt sets in," he was quoted as ‌telling a friend before the fateful drive.

Italians turned out in their tens of thousands for the funeral, with his blue helmet resting on the ⁠coffin, and he was ⁠buried beside his father.

"He was the fastest driver I ever saw," Britain's first world champion Mike Hawthorn recalled later. "Faster even than (Juan Manuel) Fangio".

Andretti, the 1978 world champion and now on the board of newcomers Cadillac F1, has described Ascari as his "absolute idol".

"Very cool and relaxed. He sat back doing his thing, totally in control of his car. I loved that style," the Italian-born American recalls on his website.

"When I was 14, I saw my first Formula One race in Monza, Italy — the Italian Grand Prix. Alberto Ascari didn’t win that day, but he was fighting with Mercedes, the stronger team at the time," Andretti also wrote in the New York Times last April. "He was my hero regardless. That’s when the dream really was cemented."

Until Antonelli came along, Ascari held the record for most wins by an Italian in a single season and for successive victories.

Ascari still holds the record for most career wins by an Italian (13 from 32 races) but, with Antonelli on nine from a single campaign, it is probably only a matter of time before that too falls.

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Matthaeus: Ballon d'Or Title Will Help Keep Kane at Bayern

FILE PHOTO: Soccer Football - Ballon d'Or - London Palladium, London, Britain - October 26, 2026 Bayern Munich's Harry Kane makes a speech after winning the men's Ballon d'Or award Action Images via Reuters/Matthew Childs/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Soccer Football - Ballon d'Or - London Palladium, London, Britain - October 26, 2026 Bayern Munich's Harry Kane makes a speech after winning the men's Ballon d'Or award Action Images via Reuters/Matthew Childs/File Photo
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Matthaeus: Ballon d'Or Title Will Help Keep Kane at Bayern

FILE PHOTO: Soccer Football - Ballon d'Or - London Palladium, London, Britain - October 26, 2026 Bayern Munich's Harry Kane makes a speech after winning the men's Ballon d'Or award Action Images via Reuters/Matthew Childs/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Soccer Football - Ballon d'Or - London Palladium, London, Britain - October 26, 2026 Bayern Munich's Harry Kane makes a speech after winning the men's Ballon d'Or award Action Images via Reuters/Matthew Childs/File Photo

Winning the Ballon d'Or will help convince Bayern Munich striker Harry Kane to extend his deal with the German champions, former World Cup winner Lothar Matthaeus said on Wednesday.

On Monday Kane became the first Englishman to win the prestigious award -- the top individual honor in the sport -- since Michael Owen in 2001.

The England captain was prolific last season, scoring 61 goals in 51 games for Bayern across all competitions as the German side completed a domestic league and cup double. He was also a World ⁠Cup semi-finalist with ⁠England, scoring six goals in the tournament.

"We are very happy to have Harry Kane in the Bundesliga. He is an international ambassador of football," Matthaeus, who won the award in 1990 after leading Germany to World Cup victory that year, said in an online media ⁠round table.

"Maybe he was dreaming to win the Ballon d'Or. but you have to play in a big club like Bayern. He found his peace in Munich and the right club with the right teammates,” Reuters quoted him as saying.

Kane, 33, joined Bayern in 2023 in a €100 million ($111 million) move from boyhood club Tottenham Hotspur, in search of silverware. He has since won the league twice and is in talks with Bayern over a new contract.

"I think he ⁠gets a ⁠bonus (for winning the Ballon d'Or), 36 years ago I got nothing," Matthaeus said. "But it is about more than money. It is a good moment to sign (a new deal) for Bayern. Bayern helped him get this Ballon d'Or.

"The relationship between Harry Kane and Bayern Munich is perfect, and with everything that has happened in the last three years, I think Harry will sign his contract for the next two, three years."

Bayern, top of the Bundesliga standings, take on Magdeburg on Wednesday in the German Cup second round.

Sports

French Protests Push UEFA to Switch Date of Europa League Game in Rennes

Protesters face police during a demonstration against rising living costs in Rennes, France, Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Jeremias Gonzalez)
Protesters face police during a demonstration against rising living costs in Rennes, France, Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Jeremias Gonzalez)
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French Protests Push UEFA to Switch Date of Europa League Game in Rennes

Protesters face police during a demonstration against rising living costs in Rennes, France, Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Jeremias Gonzalez)
Protesters face police during a demonstration against rising living costs in Rennes, France, Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Jeremias Gonzalez)

The prospect of a general strike in France next week amid national protests on cost of living issues has pushed UEFA to change a Europa League match date in Rennes.

UEFA said Rennes will now host Olympiakos of Greece on Wednesday of next week at 4:30 p.m. local time (1530 GMT) instead of the Europa League’s scheduled program Thursday.

French trade unions are calling for a Nov. 5 general strike during widespread protests that began with students raising concerns about school conditions.

According to Reuters, UEFA said it was informed by French public authorities that routine security around the game in Rennes could not be assured on Nov. 5.

The earlier kickoff time next Wednesday avoids a clash with 6:45 p.m. Central European Time (1745 GMT) starts in two Champions League games:

Fenerbahce vs. Liverpool and AEK Athens vs. Real Madrid.

The French league also has moved games scheduled this Saturday when police and public authorities are dealing with planned marches and protests.