World Cup qualification, Italy: Because of a missed penalty shortly before the end of the game, European football champions Italy must continue to fear for their participation in the 2022 World Cup. The Azzurri only scored 1-1 (1-1) in qualifying against Switzerland on Friday evening and on the last day of the match they could still be ousted from the top spot in a long distance duel with the Swiss. Only this secures the direct World Cup ticket for Qatar next year – as second in the group, the Italians would have to go to the dangerous playoffs. The team of national coach Roberto Mancini fell behind in front of 49,714 spectators in the Olympic Stadium in Rome by Silvan Widmer from Mainz (11th minute), Giovanni di Lorenzo equalized (35th). In the 90th minute, Jorginho shot a penalty over the crossbar.
Almost to the day exactly four years ago, the Italians missed the 2018 World Cup qualification in the playoffs against Sweden and plunged an entire country into a serious football crisis. Now a similar tremor threatens: Italy and Switzerland go into the last qualifying round with 15 points each, Italy has a goal difference two goals better. A win on Monday in Northern Ireland could not be enough if the Swiss win against Bulgaria much more clearly.
FC Barcelona, transfer: Brazilian right-back Dani Alves returns to FC Barcelona at the age of 38. The Brazilian veteran who was last without a club should start training with the Catalans next week, but will only be eligible to play from January 2022, the club announced on Friday evening. Alves’ contract with São Paulo FC was terminated in September, the agreement with Barça initially runs until the end of the season. At Camp Nou he will meet his long-time companion Xavi Hernández, who was introduced as the new coach on Monday and who once helped shape the most successful era of the traditional club on the field with Alves. The club of national goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen is currently in a sporting and financial crisis, with ninth place in the table they lag far behind their own claims.
With the return of icons like Xavi and Alves, hope for a new shine is connected: the Brazilian played a total of 391 competitive games for Barça from 2008 to 2016 and won 23 titles with the Catalans – including six league championships and three Champions League victories. With the exception of the 2015/16 season, Alves always played with the club’s home grown Xavi. After leaving Barcelona, he played for Juventus Turin, Paris Saint-Germain and São Paulo.
Basketball, Euroleague: Bayern Munich’s basketball players suffered the next setback in the EuroLeague. At the French club AS Monaco, the German cup winner lost 71:94 (43:55) on Friday evening after a weak performance and already suffered his sixth defeat on matchday 9. In the event of a win, the Bundesliga team would have drawn level with the hosts (5: 4). “We showed a poor performance. Our defense was terrible in the first half,” said Bayern coach Andrea Trinchieri: “That was a really, really bad game. Something like that happened.”
The Munich got off to a bad start (2: 10/4th minute) and let Monaco pull away by 14 points in the first half. “We make millions of stupid turnovers,” complained Trinchieri during a break: “Pass the ball.” It did not help. Bayern, who recently just failed to Real Madrid (76:80), were no longer able to cause tension after the balanced third quarter (17:17) – on the contrary. Monaco pulled away even further in front of 3813 spectators. The top scorer of the guests who lost 20 balls was Vladimir Lucic (15 points).