The crisis of the French national football team, which is suffering from the loss of a large number of its players during the current international break due to injury, has doubled.
The French national team lost another important player from its ranks, after Daewoo Upamecano left the team camp following the 3-1 loss to Italy, at the San Siro Stadium in Milan, on Thursday evening, in the European Nations League championship.
The French national team announced on Friday that the German Bayern Munich defender had obtained permission from coach Zinedine Zidane to return to Munich for “personal” reasons.
Pio Esposito had scored two goals on Thursday, leading Italy to achieve a valuable victory over France, which was the first victory for the blue team in its home stadium over the “Roosters” in 64 years. This is also the first defeat for Zidane since he took over the leadership of the French national team, succeeding Didier Deschamps, after the last World Cup finals in the summer of this year.
With this victory, Italy topped the standings of Group A in the first level of the continental competition, ahead of France, which is in second place, and equal with it in the same score, on goal difference, and Zidane’s team is scheduled to host its Turkish counterpart, on Sunday.
Zidane is facing a successive series of injuries. Inter Milan striker Marcus Thuram and Juventus defender Pierre Kalulu were absent this week, joining a long list of previously absent players: William Saliba, Jules Kounde, Maxence Lacroix, Manu Kone, Ousmane Dembélé, and Esteban Lupul.
As for the star Kylian Mbappe, the Spanish Real Madrid striker, it was decided to rest him in the match against Italy, but he may return to participate against Türkiye.
On Thursday, the NBA suspended Houston Rockets playmaker Marcus Smart for three games after he directed a punch to the Nigerian player for the Golden State Warriors, Charles Bassey, during the two teams’ match on Wednesday.
The incident occurred during an altercation that took place in the third quarter of the match that the Rockets won at home against the Warriors 115-108, as Smart directed a punch that touched Bassey's nose. Smart was expelled as a result of the incident, before the league decided on Thursday to impose an additional penalty against him.
The NBA's executive vice president of basketball operations, James Jones, said in a statement: “Houston Rockets playmaker Marcus Smart has been suspended for three games without pay for directing a punch that struck Golden State Warriors center Charles Basie in the face.”
Smart will begin serving the suspension starting Friday when the Rockets host the Utah Jazz.
Smart (32 years old) is playing his thirteenth season in the American League after joining the Rockets last July as a free agent.
Smart was crowned the league's best defensive player in 2022.
Three people familiar with the matter reported that some Italian Premier League clubs expressed reservations about selling a stake in the tournament’s international media rights activity to the American direct investment company, Avenue Capital, which led to delays and complexity in negotiations on the deal.
Reuters reported last month that Avenue Capital emerged as the preferred bidder, as its offer is based on an investment in common stocks, without providing protection mechanisms for future cash flows sought by some competitors who submitted offers with higher valuations.
The New York-based investment company offered 320 million euros for a stake of about 10 percent in the entity that will include international broadcasting, sponsorship and betting rights for the Italian League, with an estimated total value of about 3.2 billion euros ($3.54 billion).
However, the sources said that some of the twenty clubs that make up the league do not appear convinced by the “Avenue Capital” offer, and are opposed to entering into exclusive negotiations with the fund, considering that the Italian League, during its detailed study of the offer, should retain the freedom to consider alternative offers.
One of the three people and a fourth person said that “Avenue Capital” is still, at this stage, the only party conducting active negotiations with the league, even though the league has not officially granted it the exclusive right to negotiate.
They did not provide specific numbers, but said that a sufficient number of clubs had expressed their reservations, which led to the process being postponed. Any deal requires the support of at least 14 of the 20 clubs in the Italian League.
Representatives of the Italian League and Avenue Capital declined to comment.
In 2021, the association studied a plan to sell a 10 percent stake in the most profitable local media unit to a consortium led by CVC, but negotiations collapsed after failing to obtain the required majority.
The Italian League, which includes clubs including Inter Milan, Juventus, Milan and Napoli, has faced difficulties in selling its media rights abroad in the past few years, with the interest of broadcasting companies declining due to the popularity of the English Premier League and the Spanish League, as well as the increasingly crowded schedule of international football matches.
The International Media Unit of the Italian League achieves sales of about 250 million euros annually, which is a small fraction of the sales achieved by the English Premier League and the Spanish League, according to data from the European Football Association (UEFA).
