Daniel Maldini, the son of one of the most famous Italian football players, defended himself against allegations of drug use, following a traffic accident that occurred while he was driving under the influence of alcohol. According to The Athletic, Maldini, a Cagliari player, was involved in a traffic accident in the early hours of last Sunday morning, after his Porsche Carrera collided with another car in the city of Milan.
The accident came hours after he excelled against his former team, “Atalanta,” in the nearby city of Bergamo, where he gave a decisive performance that led “Cagliari” to victory in the match.
Maldini underwent a test to measure the percentage of alcohol in exhaled air, and it was found that the 24-year-old player, the son of Milan legend Paolo Maldini, exceeded the permissible legal limit for the percentage of alcohol while driving. As a result, his driving license was suspended.
After Italian media published reports claiming that Maldini did not pass a preliminary drug test conducted by the police, the player published, via his Instagram account, the results of a separate examination that he underwent at a clinic in the city of Cagliari.
The results published by Maldini showed no traces of amphetamines, cocaine, marijuana, methadone, ecstasy, opioids or buprenorphine, a prescription opioid drug.
Danilo Bongiorno, Maldini's lawyer, touched on the circulating reports of positive results in toxicology tests, describing these reports as "unfounded."
Bongiorno stressed that Maldini “reserves his right to protect the player’s reputation” by taking “civil and criminal measures.”
Beppe Rizzo, Maldini's agent, also defended his client, saying: “No one doubts the fact that Daniel made a mistake, but there are mistakes and mistakes.”
He added: “You must be careful about what you write and the titles you use. It requires more care and respect. There is always a search for the most influential story from a media standpoint, with the aim of putting him in a difficult position.”
Rizzo continued: “Daniel is one of the few players we have in Italy who has real talent.”
Maldini participated in 6 international matches with the Italian national team, and also made a strong start to the current season, after scoring in his team’s last two victories.
Cagliari currently occupies fifth place in the standings, in the team's best start in the league since the early 1970s.
Tommaso Giulini, president of Cagliari, spoke about the crisis on Tuesday morning, on the sidelines of a shareholders’ meeting at the headquarters of the Italian League in Milan. “As a father, I always tell my children not to drive a car or a motorcycle when they go out to have an alcoholic drink,” Golini said. “I think Daniel knows that too, and that next time he won’t make the same kind of mistakes that could put his safety and the safety of others at risk.”
He added: “What we read in some media coverage during the past few hours has shocked us. “At the moment, it seems to me that traces of drugs are in the newspapers more than anywhere else, and this is extremely dangerous.”
The Cagliari president continued: “We trust the young man’s good faith, and he confirms that he did not take any drugs, and that the matter did not go beyond consuming a few alcoholic drinks, which was confirmed by the results of the alcohol test.”
Daniel Maldini returned to Cagliari training on Monday. The question remains, now, about whether the player will reserve a place in the Italian team roster led by Roberto Mancini, in preparation for the upcoming matches in the European Nations League, which includes two matches against Turkey, in addition to two matches against France and Belgium.
Perhaps Ethan Ampadu was expecting to hear words of congratulations from Daniel Farke, after successfully performing the task against Newcastle United, and on the day he celebrated his twenty-sixth birthday, but what he got instead was a quick lecture from the Leeds United coach, during which he explained to him where he and the team had gone wrong, despite the great victory with a score of 4-1, according to the “The Athletic” network, and since the beginning of 2026, Leeds has collected 35 points, and only 4 surpassed them in this tally. Clubs.
Over the course of 29 league matches since December 1, the team lost only 5 times, and was only defeated by a difference of more than one goal against Arsenal and West Ham United, noting that the last match came after its result had no real impact for Leeds. The victory over Newcastle was the latest addition to what has been a positive picture for nine months, but, if we look only at the short and volatile stage of four matches, it also gave the team's fans the pleasure of seeing Leeds in third place in the league table for the 2026-2027 season. However, even in these circumstances, and on his birthday, Ampadu was receiving a reminder of what he could have done better.
Perhaps the main point lies here. The speech that Farke directed to his players on the field after the final whistle may be one of the reasons that explains Leeds’ rise to this high position. There is no room to be satisfied with what has been achieved or to rely on successes at this level, especially for a team that has barely entered its second season after returning to the top flight, and lacks, according to its technical director, “the best individual quality.”
“We know that we have to maintain our humility,” Farke said in the press conference after the match. We know that we must remain at the highest levels of concentration, and we realize that we may not have the best individual quality, but we can be an exceptional team.” He added: “This is what we showed today.” There are examples that also confirm that we will not allow ourselves to be carried away by enthusiasm. “We are on a good path, but no more than that.” He continued: “If we stop collecting points, the season may become long. With only eight points, we will not be able to achieve our goals.” It is not new to see Farke taking advantage of the moments immediately following the final whistle to send messages to his players, but what is striking this time is that he did so after a major victory that carries many connotations.
The coach has the right not to celebrate success before it is completed, but he was also right when he acknowledged what his team had achieved during the past nine months. Farke said: “Continuity is indeed remarkable. We have to acknowledge that, and it should also give us confidence in what is coming.” But the question now is: How high should the ceiling of this confidence be for Leeds? In the short term, Leeds are the third best team in the league. If we extend the measurement to the longer term, it is the fifth best team. Newcastle may have entered a new phase under a different leadership, but they remain an established club in the Premier League, with good players, and yet they were completely swept at Elland Road on Monday evening. At this time last year, an average of one point per game was the standard by which we measured Leeds' chances of survival.
Now, the team is averaging two points per game. It seems unlikely that Farke's team will maintain this rate throughout the season, while reaching 40 points and ensuring survival remains the declared goal for everyone, but the victory over Newcastle seemed like a clear declaration of Leeds' presence and ambition in West Yorkshire.
To begin with, Leeds' eight points came from 4 matches, from which they only gained two points last season. This is the first step forward that optimists are looking for, as we saw different faces for Leeds during the four matches. The start was against Nottingham Forest, and it is natural for the team to show some rust in their first match, but they were on their way to grabbing a good 0-0 draw away from home, before Anton Stach's late free-kick. As for the 1-1 draws against Brentford and Brighton & Hove Albion, each was like a mirror of the other. Leeds played a good half in each match, during which they should have scored more than one goal, but they also faced two difficult halves during which they had to fight and hold on.
They are a team that is solid, difficult to beat, and has the ability to keep going until the end, and then Newcastle came. The visitors were lackluster, and were the worst performers of the four opponents Leeds faced, but to what extent was that a result of the way the hosts played? Leeds seemed like a machine working with complete efficiency and harmony, and unlike their previous three matches, this time they did not just outperform their rival, but rather completely eliminated them. The hosts also succeeded in addressing two of the most prominent problems that appeared against Brighton and Chelsea, against whom Leeds lost 6-3 in the English League Cup, last week.
In the first half of both matches, Leeds scored only one goal, despite the expected goals rate (xG) reaching 1.9 against one and 1.45 against the other. The team should have benefited more from its dominance during the first half in both matches, but it paid the price in the end. Against Newcastle, it did not happen again. The visitors were completely buried, with Leeds leaving them in no doubt that there was nothing they could get from Elland Road.
Leeds scored 4 goals out of a total expected goals of 2.08, a number that highlights the extent of the offensive effectiveness shown by the team. This was a tremendous team performance. Leeds players seemed to get to every loose ball first, winning every tackle. James Trafford may have caused some concern when Yoan Wissa intercepted two of his passes, but he made great saves when he was called upon to do so and tackled set-pieces successfully.
Niko Elvedi and Tarek Muharimovich were constantly present to spoil any Newcastle progress inside Leeds' half. James Justin, Jayden Bogle and Gabriel Gudmundson caused great chaos for the opponent with their runs from deep to the sides. Bogle, in particular, was very energetic, appearing all over the field. In the heart of the field, Ampadu, Ao Tanaka and Stach imposed their control, whether in recovering the ball, making defensive tackles, or passing balls into the final attacking third. As for Noah Okafor, it was difficult to stop him every time he launched the ball towards the Newcastle defence, while Dominic Calvert-Lewin led the attack with the strength and control that we are accustomed to seeing from him. Farke was right to point out the small details and nuances when asked, on Monday evening, how he would prevent the team's fans from getting carried away by the enthusiasm. In the 41st minute, when Leeds were leading 2-0, Tanaka unnecessarily lost the ball in the halfway circle.
Newcastle converted the error into a shot on goal, but Muharimovic and Trafford cooperated to stop it. If the score had become 2-1 at that moment, the evening could have gone in a completely different direction, but based on what Leeds did during those 90 minutes, and what the team did over the past nine months, its second season after returning to the top of English football may also go in a completely different direction than many expected.
The intense emotions that Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, ranked second in the world, was famous for, turned from one of the manifestations of her combative personality on the tennis courts into a problem that threatens her ability to win major matches, after her loss in the US Open final to Kazakh Yelena Rybakina demonstrated an increasing difficulty in controlling her anger when she is exposed to pressure.
According to the British newspaper "The Telegraph", Sabalenka's spontaneity and frankness represent part of her appeal, but the manifestations of anger, smashing rackets, and irritation towards members of her technical staff have begun to negatively affect her performance, especially when the matches reach their decisive stages.
During the recent period, Sabalenka seemed as if she was waging a battle with everything around her, as her rackets were repeatedly exposed to fits of anger, and members of her technical staff also received their share of her verbal abuse, and the matter reached, on Saturday evening, an obscene phrase directed at a photographer who was taking pictures of her while she was sitting with her team.
The problem does not lie in the anger itself as much as it lies in her inability to transform it into positive energy on the field. While tennis history has known players like John McEnroe, Jimmy Connors, and Ivan Lendl for their confrontational personalities and great emotions, those qualities were sometimes part of their ability to compete, while Sabalenka's anger seemed to drain them rather than help them.
This was clearly evident during the US Open final against Rybakina, as Sabalenka began showing signs of distress and shaking her head from the second half of the match. In the second set, she succeeded in calming herself down and reducing her unjustified mistakes, but her emotions returned once the match entered the decisive stage and the level of risk increased in the third set.
The comparison with American Serena Williams highlights an important difference in dealing with great self-confidence. Williams always believed that she was the best, and that her losses were often due to the exceptional brilliance of her opponent or unusual circumstances, a mentality that contributed to leading her to 23 titles in the four major championships.
The difference was that Williams turned her sense of superiority into something like a shield that protected her under pressure, while for Sabalenka the same feeling became more like an “Achilles’ heel” that revealed her weak point when she was unable to impose her control over her opponent.
The numbers reveal the scale of the transformation. In the three seasons that saw Sabalenka win major titles, between 2023 and 2025, about two-thirds of the matches that reached a deciding set were decided in her favor.
This percentage decreased during 2026 to only 42 percent, and fell to about a third since its last title in Miami in late March, which is an indication that the problem is no longer linked to a single match, but rather has become an increasing trend in its results.
Sabalenka rarely loses matches in straight sets, but her problem appears when her opponent succeeds in keeping the match close. Her inability to impose complete superiority gradually turns into a source of frustration, as her body language begins to change, her mistakes increase, and her performance loses its balance.
Her frustration with Rybakina reached a point where, at the end of the match, she seemed far from the level of competition with which she began the match.
Jason Stacy, Sabalenka's performance coach, admitted that the trait that gives her her strength could also turn into her greatest weakness if not managed properly, referring to the "fire" in her competitive personality.
Sabalenka has previously sparked controversy because of the way she dealt with defeats, including her behavior towards the runner-up dish in the “Australian Open 2025”, as well as her statements after her loss in the “Roland Garros” final to American Coco Gauff, when she downplayed the nature of her opponent’s victory.
Although these actions were previously considered part of Sabalenka's frank and unassuming personality, the picture changed during 2026, after her emotions began to transform from controversial side scenes into a real obstacle to her ability to win.
The problem now appears to be primarily psychological and competitive: the more Sabalenka is unable to quickly remove her opponent from the match, the more frustrated she becomes, and the more her frustration increases, the less her ability to control her performance becomes, so that the strength and intensity that contributed to her reaching the top of tennis are among the most prominent factors threatening her ability to stay there.
