Manchester City, the dominant force in English football for over a decade, finds itself once again under the Premier League's microscope. This time, however, the allegations are not about intricate financial dealings or sponsorship controversies, but something seemingly more mundane: breaches of kick-off timing regulations. Recent reports confirm that City has been hit with a substantial fine of £1.08 million for delaying kick-offs and re-starts on nine separate occasions during the 2024/25 season. While a million-pound fine might seem like a drop in the ocean for a club of City's financial might, these sanctions underscore a deeper tension within the Premier League – a battle between sporting integrity, commercial interests, and the relentless demands of a global broadcasting behemoth. This isn't merely a trivial matter of punctuality. It speaks to the meticulous choreography of modern football, where every second is accounted for, and every deviation from the schedule has...
Bayer Leverkusen, the German champions, have a couple of important games coming up, first traveling to Frankfurt for a difficult away game in the Bundesliga before facing Bayern Munich in the first of two Champions League last-16 matches on Wednesday.
In a press conference on Friday, Leverkusen coach Xabi Alonso insisted that he has no plans to field a second-string side against Eintracht ahead of the midweek match at the Allianz Arena.
"We always play full-throttle. There isn't a game in which I don't believe so. We'll go into tomorrow's game with the best team," Alonso said, adding that the "best preparation" for the trip to Munich is "a good game."
"We want to win, play a good game with and without the ball with a lot of discipline and be very well organized," said the forward.
Xabi Alonso has a full squad available for Saturday's game, with the exception of Piero Hincapie, who is suspended, and the long-term injured Jeanuel Belocian and Martin Terrier.
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