French defender Jules Kounde, injured in his left ankle, will miss El Clásico against Real Madrid, according to what Barcelona's German coach Hansi Flick confirmed on Saturday, on the eve of the upcoming match in the Spanish Football League.
Flick said in a press conference: “Jules will not be available on Sunday. We do not want to risk him.”
The French international defender, who suffered a sprain in his left ankle last week against Real Betis (5-2), did not recover enough from his injury to hope to maintain his place in the starting lineup of the Catalan team.
In addition to Conde, Barcelona, the Spanish champion for the last two seasons and the undefeated leader in the league, will be without several key players, Sunday, in El Clásico against Real due to various injuries: Eric Garcia (thigh), Dani Olmo (left adductor muscle), and Danish Andreas Christensen (torn in the left anterior rectus muscle).
The German coach was asked about the first defeat this season, which he suffered on Tuesday against Paris Saint-Germain (4-2) in the Champions League. He confirmed that he analyzed the match and drew conclusions on the defensive level.
He said: “We did a lot of good things, but we also saw situations in which we had to improve. We have to improve as a team. Tomorrow we face one of the best teams in the world, and it will be a new opportunity to do that.”
Elena Rybakina, the defending champion of the Ningbo Open Tennis Championship, defeated sixth-seeded Russian Diana Schneider 6-3, 7-5 in a semi-final match on Saturday, reaching another final match and sending a warning to her competitors before the start of the season-ending tournament next month.
The world number one will play against Leila Fernandez in the final on Sunday, after the unseeded Canadian won 6-3, 7-5 over Czech Marie Bouzkova in the other semi-final.
Rybakina, winner of the Australian and US Opens this year, who arrived at the tournament with the aim of defending her title after a severe defeat in Beijing and a foot injury that forced her to withdraw from Wuhan, showed glimpses of her best levels despite some fluctuations against Schneider, ranked 13th in the world.
A strong offensive start with successful strikes from deep helped Rybakina, winner of three major tournaments, to take complete control of the opening set, which she won on the 11th attempt for the set point after a sudden decline in her level.
Rybakina (27 years old) continued to struggle with the accuracy of her first serves in the next set, but she won the decisive points to advance 4-3 by breaking her opponent’s serve, before she was broken without achieving any point in the tenth game.
Rybakina responded strongly to take the lead again in the next game thanks to her powerful strikes, before sealing the victory with a more confident serving performance to book her place in the final.
Uli Hoeneß, honorary president of the German football club Bayern Munich, criticized the behavior of young winger Lennart Karl, announcing his intention to have a serious conversation with him.
“I decided to have a serious talk with him,” Hoeneß told the Welt am Sonntag newspaper. "He is still far from being a big star. Young players need to be humble."
Hoeness considered that the exaggerated praises that Karl received during last season may have made him feel more important than his size.
He added: “Young players also need pressure. “I don’t know if it would be beneficial for Lennart Karl to have everyone constantly pat him on the shoulder and praise him.”
He continued: “Comparisons with his colleague Michael Oliseh are certainly not in his favor, as there is a huge difference between them.”
Karl (18 years old) left a strong impression with Bayern Munich's first team last season, after scoring nine goals and assisting eight others.
These levels enabled him to join the German national team, but he missed participating in the World Cup during the summer due to a thigh muscle injury.
Since then, the player has had difficulty regaining his best levels, as he participated in only 267 minutes during nine matches this season, during which he scored one goal and assisted another.
