Barcelona: Messi headbutt on Yanga-Mbiwa ‘normal’

The forward caused controversy on Wednesday by lashing out at the France international during the Blaugrana’s 3-0 friendly defeat of Roma

Barcelona vice-president Jordi Mestre has played down the seriousness of Lionel Messi‘s clash with Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa, claiming that such incidents are “normal” in football.

Messi reacted angrily to something said by the Roma defender during the first half of Wednesday’s friendly at Camp Nou, thrusting his head towards the France international before then grabbing his opponent by the throat.

Both players were booked for their role in the altercation but there have been claims that Messi was the aggressor and should have been dismissed.

However, Mestre feels that the whole affair was much ado about nothing.

“It is what happens in football games,” he told reporters on Thursday. “I think it is anecdotal and there is no reason for giving this chapter more importance.

“It happens and it will keep happening in the future. It is normal when you play football.”

After Neymar had opened the scoring in Catalunya, Messi doubled Barca’s advantage shortly after the Yanga-Mbiwa incident before being replaced midway through the second half.

The four-time Ballon d’Or winner is now expected to lead the European champions’ attack once more, in Tuesday’s Uefa Super Cup showdown with Europa League winners Sevilla.

Killing it softly: Roma incompetence robs Serie A of life

The Giallorossi put in another apathetic display to turn next week’s Juventus showdown into a sideshow

At around 14:30 CET on Sunday, Parma’s disillusioned fans were congregated outside the Ennio Tardini stadium which had been due to host a home fixture with Udinese that afternoon.

The club’s mounting debt had forced the match to be postponed, sending the supporters on to the streets to make their feelings known about the impending extinction of Parma, one of Italian football’s pillars.

On the locked gates they hung signs saying ‘Chiuso per rapina’ – Closed due to robbery.

A few hours later, Roma hung a similar sign on the Serie A table. Their 1-1 draw at Verona was a sixth stalemate in seven fixtures and left them nine points adrift of leaders Juventus.

When the Giallorossi went to Juventus Stadium in October, the two sides were level-pegging and served up a fascinating end-to-end contest. It appeared that Italy had found its new table-topping rivalry.

But when they welcome the Bianconeri to the Stadio Olimpico next Monday they do so having already given up on this season’s Scudetto. A win on Sunday and victory against Juve would have given calcio fans a glimmer of hope. A four-point gap could have teed up a twist in the tale.

Instead, Juventus will arrive in the capital with a nine-point cushion that looks likely to widen rather than narrow. With every week that passes, Roma deliver another death-knell to the once burgeoning title race. They have robbed the Italian season of the crescendo it deserved.

Roma’s string of apathetic performances has given the standings an unmerited lop-sidedness. From second to 19th spots, the league has a true competitive edge. There are no gimmes when 18 of the top flight’s 20 clubs come together.

Yet just as Parma have been shorn of their dignity at the bottom of the league, Juventus have been shorn of serious opposition at the top. The champions need to be pushed harder for everybody’s sakes, including their own.

Bayern Munich found it tough to raise their game for the Champions League semi-final clashes with Real Madrid last season, having coasted through far too much of the Bundesliga campaign. Juve could find themselves in a similar situation when the going gets tough in Europe.

Roma were meant to put them under pressure until round 38. Rudi Garcia’s side had shown enough promise in 2013-14 to suggest that they had what it would take to ask greater questions of the Old Lady. Instead, we have a one-horse race before February is out.

Even if the Trigoria outfit come out on top at the Olimpico next week, the resulting six-point gap will still remain too large for Italian football enthusiasts to convince themselves that there is still life in the season.

When Francesco Totti fired them ahead in Verona, there was momentary hope. But Bosko Jankovic soon levelled, and were it not for Vassilis Torosidis’ last-ditch double-block in the second half things would only have got worse.

“Of course, we are going through a difficult moment,” conceded Garcia during the week. “We are much stronger if the players feel the belief around them. I want everyone to make their criticism constructive.”

But nobody has any belief in Roma anymore. They may even find their second spot under threat before long.

Serie A deserves more than this. It is a hugely competitive league, but not in the place where it really matters.

Juventus will win the league again this year. The rest of the world will nod sagely and go about its business. Italian football’s reputation as a one-team shadow of its former self will be enhanced still further.

But for Roma’s recent decline, it could all have been so different.

I chose Roma to play with a monster like Totti – Doumbia

The imminent arrival at the Stadio Olimpico has revealed his admiration for the club captain, as well as praising the Giallorossi’s exciting brand of attacking football

CSKA Moscow ace Seydou Doumbia has revealed that he has decided to join Roma in order to play alongside the “monster” that is Francesco Totti.

The Cote d’Ivoire forward is currently away on international duty at the Africa Cup of Nations but is nonetheless expected to complete a €15 million move to the Stadio Olimpico before the close of the winter transfer window.

Indeed, Doumbia cannot wait to join Rudi Garcia’s attack-minded side, admitting that he is particularly excited by the prospect of teaming up with the club’s iconic captain.

“I have chosen Roma for their offensive football and in order to play with a monster like Totti,” the forward is quoted as saying by the Corriere dello Sport.

Doumbia is already a familiar face to Giallorossi fans, having faced Roma twice during the group stage of this season’s Champions League.

The 27-year-old failed to net in either clash with the Serie A outfit but he did strike three times in two games against English champions Manchester City.

The Ivorian will fill the void left by Mattia Destro, who left Roma on loan to AC Milan with a view to a permanent move away from the capital this summer.

Gervinho: Garcia absence won’t stop Roma

The Ivorian attacker does not see why his coach’s ban will affect ambitions this season of winning the Scudetto, while the Frenchman himself was critical of his sanctioning

Gervinho has claimed that Rudi Garcia‘s absence from the touchline will not hinder Roma‘s efforts to claim the Scudetto this season.

The coach was slapped with a two-match ban for an alleged altercation with a steward in their victory over Genoa, meaning he will not be present for the club’s clash with AC Milan on Saturday.

However, Giallorossi forward Gervinho does not think the absence of their coach will affect last season’s Serie A runners up and backed the capital club to push on with their title challenge ahead of the winter break.

“We are focused on Milan,” the Cote d’Ivoire international told Sky Sport. “What happened to Garcia will not affect us because we want to get back into the Champions League and win the Scudetto.

“Garcia’s focused on the team and on the task at hand, we have to think about winning games.

“In the dressing room we are aware of our strength, but it is not fair to make comparisons with other teams such as Juventus, Napoli and AC Milan – each team have their own qualities.”

Garcia himself remains furious about the ban and warned that the club will only strengthen when faced with adversity, while insisting that Filippo Inzaghi’s men pose a tough test this weekend.

“There was an individual that I still don’t know in person, apparently a steward,” the French coach said. “Apparently I hit him on the knee with a bat then shot him in the foot – other than that, nothing…

“Listen to me closely – the more they bother us, the harder we will fight. The more difficult it gets, the harder we will fight. Chapter closed.

“We know that Milan are a good team. It’s the last game of the year for us and we’ll do everything we can to put three points under the Christmas tree.

“Whoever we have before us, it changes nothing. We must play our own game, we proved in Genoa that we can play some quality football, even though we must improve our efficiency in front of the goal.

“The team is doing well psychologically and physically, and under these conditions we’ll be able to give it our all. We want to close the year with the beauty of a victory.”

Allegri: Pogba can become world’s strongest midfielder

The Juventus boss feels the France star delivered his finest performance of the season as he scored twice in a convincing 3-0 win over Lazio

Massimiliano Allegri hailed Paul Pogba ‘s performance after the midfielder netted twice in Juventus ‘ 3-0 win at Lazio on Saturday.

The France international produced two cool finishes, either side of a Carlos Tevez strike, as the reigning Serie A champions cruised to victory in Rome.

The result means Juve have now gone 20 league matches against Lazio without defeat, while it also restored their three-point lead at the top of the table after Roma had momentarily moved level with a 2-1 win at Atalanta earlier in the day.

Juve coach Allegri was full of praise for Pogba after the game and believes the 21-year-old could go on to become one of the greatest players in the world.

“Pogba had a great game, but he has the quality to do even better and become the strongest midfielder in the world,” he told Sky Sport Italia.

“He moved with the right tempo in attack and defence. It was his best performance of the season so far.

“The team did well, defended when necessary and I think we played fairly well with some good passing moves.

“We struggled a little in the first half and misplaced a few too many passes, but sorted that out.

“The lads worked hard and [Federico] Mattiello nearly scored when coming off the bench. It was important to get a win in such a difficult arena against a tough Lazio side, especially after Roma had won earlier.”

Allegri welcomed influential midfielder Andrea Pirlo back into the side after the 35-year-old had missed the 7-0 thrashing of Parma last time out and was pleased to have the experienced playmaker back among the ranks.

“Andrea Pirlo hadn’t trained with the team for 10 days, but he had a great game and when we have an extra man between midfield and defence it’s normal he has more space and protection to pass the ball,” he said.

“The team works together and the more the forwards do, the easier it is for the defenders. You have to keep the ball as far away from your own box as possible and you do that by attacking.”

Roma are better than Juventus and will win the league – Garcia

The 50-year-old feels his side showed they are the best team in the league despite their 3-2 defeat to the champions and said they must beat Chievo

Roma coach Rudi Garcia has pledged his side will win the Serie A title this season, insisting they are stronger than champions Juventus.

A late Leonardo Bonucci winner gave Juve a 3-2 success over the Giallorossi in their last game prior to the international break, helping Massimiliano Allegri’s men into a three-point lead at the summit.

Alvaro Morata and Kostas Manolas were both dismissed in a game that saw three penalties awarded and Garcia sent to the stands following an angry reaction to one of the spot-kicks.

Despite the fixture making the headlines largely for disciplinary matters, Garcia claims he saw enough from his side to suggest Roma will win the Scudetto this season.

“In that game, I was proud of my players,” he told reporters. “They showed character and it made ​​me realise that I think we are stronger than Juventus. And I say this clearly: we will win the championship, we can do it.

“Because we are stronger, we have to win tomorrow, because we have to talk about results.

“The fans must be on our side if we’re to win the Scudetto because we have to win tomorrow and the game after that and so on.”

The defeat to Juve ended Roma’s winning start to the league season and leaves them second, with Garcia’s side also second in Group E of the Champions League ahead of Tuesday’s clash with German champions Bayern Munich.

Garcia explained he had worries over the effect the media attention around the Juventus game and next week’s European clash in Bavaria could have going into the weekend’s league fixture.

“I am concerned about the game [on Saturday] because it comes after all the media furore and before the Champions League game [against Bayern Munich],” he added.

“I am the guide, the leader of the pack, but my players are the wolves.

“When they go out to play they must be aware of their strengths, and show those strengths on the field.”

The former Lille boss was asked if he thinks technology should be introduced into football to help clear up controversial incidents like those in his side’s defeat to Juve, and he admitted it would.

“I am in favor of technology, it is used to tell if a ball is in or out and it could be used to tell if a foul is inside or outside the area. Helping the referees would be important to avoid 14 days like those we have just passed.”