Julian Schuster, coach of the German football team Freiburg, confirmed that his team topping the German League (Bundesliga) table did not occupy any space in his thoughts, whether before or after the confrontation with Schalke, which was held yesterday, Sunday.
He said after the match: “Having the experience of victory despite the numerical deficiency, with the ability to maintain pressure in this way, is much more important and valuable.”
Freiburg took the lead in the German League after Keisuke Goto replaced the expulsion of his Japanese compatriot Yuito Suzuki, and scored the late winning goal in the match that ended in a 2-1 victory for his team.
Schuster praised his striker, saying: “This player has a great desire to develop, and he accepts everything and asks questions. “It is a blessing for us as a technical staff to have players like him.”
Freiburg benefited from Borussia Dortmund's 2-2 draw with Werder Bremen on Friday, then Bayern Munich tied with the same score against Augsburg on Saturday.
Freiburg, the runner-up of the European League, raised its score to 13 points after five matches, placing it ahead of Dortmund on goal difference, and two points ahead of defending champion Bayern Munich.
For his part, striker Igor Matovic stressed that the team will not assume that things will automatically go in its favor, nor will it underestimate its Czech rival, FK Jablonecs, which it will face this week in the European Conference League.
“Oh my God, none of us were raised like this,” Matovic said.
The team's victory over Schalke was the seventh in the last eight matches in all competitions this season, noting that Freiburg has not lost any match so far.
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said jokingly that he would put a pillow under Kimi Antonelli, before praising the maturity of the Italian driver, who is close to clinching the Formula 1 World Championship title.
British news agency PA Media reported that Antonelli finished third in the Singapore Grand Prix, which was held on Sunday under floodlights, widening the gap at the top of the overall drivers' standings to 102 points in front of his Mercedes colleague George Russell.
This result opened the door to the possibility of the 20-year-old driver being crowned with the world championship title, becoming the youngest champion in the history of Formula 1, during the next round in Texas in two weeks.
On current calculations, Antonelli needs to win the Circuit of the Americas, with Russell finishing ninth, or worse, and Lewis Hamilton fifth, or worse.
Antonelli had an exceptional season, during which he dominated the competitions, especially considering the difficulties he faced in his first season in the championship last year, and it is almost certain that he will reserve his place in the annals of sports history during the next few races.
But the Italian driver also showed a tendency to exceed the limits of the circuit, as he received a new final warning in Singapore for this violation, after he had previously received similar warnings on several occasions this season, knowing that committing another violation would expose him to a penalty.
Wolff said he had a solution to this problem, which raises tension on the pit wall during races, adding jokingly: “I have a good strategy. I will put a pillow from the hotel so he can actually see the road.”
He added: “Because I think it seems like that, you know, he can’t see the ring. So I'll put the pillow so he can see, it's stressing us out. “In half the race we have already recorded three violations, but that also shows that he is pushing things to the limit.”
Antonelli did not perform at the level expected of him during most of the weekend in Singapore, but he benefited from the collision between the McLaren drivers to occupy fourth place in the sprint race last Saturday, before advancing from fifth to third in the final stages of Sunday’s main race.
Dutchman Max Verstappen achieved a perfect weekend, after adding victory in the main race to his victory in the speed race. The four-time world champion is still 119 points behind Antonelli, who admitted that the presence of the Dutch driver in the title competition would be “very scary.”
Antonelli communicated with his team on the team radio during the race to inquire about some problems he felt in the car, but he continued competing until he succeeded in climbing to the podium. On the other hand, Russell was able to advance to ninth place after having to start from the back of the starting grid.
Commenting on the performance of his Italian driver, Wolff said: “I think the way Antonelli drove was mature and good. "We talked about it and he said, 'I just have to stay calm here and make sure I finish the race.'
He added: “Dealing with a difficult car at this stage, trying to develop it, and learning from it are all good things.”
Walid Regragui, the former coach of the Moroccan national team, believed that Cristiano Ronaldo did not enjoy in Portugal the aura that surrounded Argentine Lionel Messi in his country, and he considered that the way his country’s national team handled the final stage “was not successful.” On Saturday, the Portuguese Federation announced the opening of a disciplinary measure against Ronaldo (41 years old), who left the national team camp after a dispute with his coach, Jorge Jesus, regarding the policy of including him in Portugal’s recent matches in the European Nations League.
Regragui said, during his appearance on the “Canal Football Club” program on the French channel “Canal”, on Sunday, that Ronaldo did a lot for Portuguese football, and contributed to enhancing the status of Portuguese players and giving their country’s national team a greater presence on the international scene.
He added: “Cristiano Ronaldo has given a lot to Portugal. The status that many Portuguese players have gained, as well as Portuguese football itself, is due to what Ronaldo achieved.”
Commenting on the controversy surrounding the Portuguese star, Regragui stressed that what Ronaldo presented does not mean that he can act without restrictions, but he criticized the way things were managed in the last stage, and considered that communication between the parties concerned should have been clearer.
He said, in this context: “This does not give him the right to do whatever he wants, but I think that everything in this final stage was managed poorly. They should have sat down with him and told him we have to stop here.”
The Moroccan coach, who left his position at the helm of the “Atlas Lions” in March 2026, 4 years after reaching the semi-finals of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, touched on the relationship between Ronaldo and his former coach in Al-Nasr, Jorge Jesus, noting that their previous knowledge had opened the way for a clearer dialogue regarding the player’s future with the Portuguese national team, and he considered that what happened had harmed both parties.
Regragui also discussed the comparison between Ronaldo and Messi, pointing out that the Portuguese star’s ambition may be linked to his desire to reach the 1,000-goal mark during his career, and perhaps achieve that in his country’s national team shirt.
He said: “I think that Ronaldo, also out of pride, wants to reach a thousand goals, and perhaps achieve that with the national team. But the result in the end gives a bad image.”
He added: “What I want to say is that what happened would never have happened in Argentina. “The great admiration that the Argentines have for Messi, as well as the players for him, I did not feel that the Portuguese showed the same level to Ronaldo.”
He explained that the Argentine players showed a willingness to make an effort and fight for Messi, even during the last World Cup, while he saw that the Portuguese national team did not show the same level of collective rally around Ronaldo.
