3-5-2 FOOTBALL

Juventus  won the  Supercoppa Italiana  on Wednesday with a 2-0 win over  Napoli  at Stadio Mapei thanks to second-half goals from  Cristiano Ronaldo  and  Alvaro Morata .  Lorenzo Insigne  missed an 80th-minute penalty after Ronaldo's 64th-minute opener and Morata doubled the Bianconeri's advantage at the death. The victory takes some pressure off of coach  Andrea Pirlo  with his first silverware as a coach, and Juve stretched their lead as the most successful club in the competition's history with nine titles. ASIA SPORTS CHANNEL The Italian giants brought Ronaldo in back in 2018 to continue their domination of domestic silverware and to make them more competitive in the latter stages of the  UEFA Champions League . Although it is taking time for the continental objective to come to fruition, the Portugal international continues to rake in the trophies at 35 years of age. He now has four titles to his name in Italy ...

Diego Armando Maradona , one of the greatest football players of all time, died on Wednesday at the age of 60, plunging his native  Argentina  and football fans around the world into mourning. Renowned along with  Pele  as one of the finest players ever to grace the field, the Argentine World Cup-winning captain had undergone brain surgery this month and died of a heart attack. Maradona will forever be remembered for his “ Hand of God ” goal against  England  in the 1986  World Cup  quarter-final in Mexico City, when he pushed the ball into the net. Minutes later he swerved through the helpless English defenders for a superb second goal, capping a victory that perfectly encapsulated the mixture of brilliant skill and often outrageous behaviour that ran through his life. Pele described  Maradona  as a “dear friend” and the 80-year-old Brazilian said he hoped they would “play together in the heaven” one day. Gary Lineker , who was a member...

The  Malaysian Football League  (MFL) have called off the  Malaysia Cup . MFL made the decision to cancel the remaining matches of the Malaysia Cup today following the National Security Council's (NSC) decision to reject their appeal to allow the competition to resume in states not under the Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO). On Wednesday, Senior Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the NSC could not make an exemption for the Malaysia Cup, although there were only seven more matches left to play to complete the season. "We respect the decision by the NSC. We included options to complete the tournament in accordance to the SOPs in place in our appeal to the NSC. However, we understand that the county is now fighting a battle against Covid-19,"  MFL  CEO Datuk Ab Ghani Hassan in a statement today. "Our board have decided to cancel the competition as we cannot resume the tournament beyond this month. This is because players and coaches are contracte...

  PHOTO: JST Johor Darul Ta'zim  (JDT) won their seventh consecutive Super League title after trouncing Sabah 4-1 at the Sultan Ibrahim Stadium in Iskandar Puteri yesterday. JDT got their goals through  Diogo Luis Santo  (38th minute),  Safawi Rasid  (57th, 81st) and  Leandro Velazquez  (84th) while  Sabah  got their consolation goal through  Dennis Buschening  (74th). After claiming their eighth win of the season, the  Southern Tigers  have bagged 26 points, nine more than nearest challengers  Perak  (17 points) in the 12-team standings.  JDT  still have one more match to go while Perak have two games in hand. The defeat, however, has put Sabah, who have nine points, in danger of being relegated. MURSYID ALHARAMAIN Meanwhile,  Petaling Jaya City FC  escaped from the relegation zone after an emphatic 4-2 roasting of  UiTM FC  at UiTM Stadium, in Shah Alam. The four goals of PJ C...

Bayern Munich  edged  Paris Saint-Germain  1-0 to win the 2019/2020 Champions League in Lisbon.  Kingsley Coman  scored the only goal in an entertaining affair between the league champions of Germany and France. It is their sixth Champions League victory and a first one since the 2012/2013 season. The match was entertaining and lived up to the billing. PSG will be ruing their missed chances in the first half, especially the one by  Angel Di Maria . Bayern took the lead in the 59th minute after  Joshua Kimmich  found Coman unmarked at the back post. Coman sent a powerful header to beat  Keylor Navas . TIGERS SUPER SPORTS Bayern have ended PSG's run of scoring in 34 successive games in the competition, and become the first team to keep a clean sheet against French Champions. The Champions League is  Hansi Flick 's third trophy since taking charge of Bayern in November. He had earlier lead the Bavarians to the  Bundesliga  2019/20...

  It was announced that the suspended 2020 season will finally be resumed on August 26, with only the seven remaining fixtures of the 2020  Super League  and  Premier League  'first half' set to be played out. While the FA Cup has been cancelled, the  Malaysia Cup  will still be contested after the league is concluded, albeit in a knockout format. The 2020 Malaysia FA Cup is the 31st season of the Malaysia FA Cup, a knockout competition for Malaysia's state football association and clubs. The winners would have secured a place for the 2021 AFC Cup group stage. 59 teams are involved in the competition. RUGBY ASIA

Liverpool  won the 2019/2020  Premier League . The club's title was confirmed after  Chelsea  defeated second placed  Manchester City  2-1 on Thursday night. The Merseyside giants needed one victory to seal the league but City's failure to beat Chelsea means they can't are out of the title challenge. It's Liverpool's first ever Premier League victory, and the first time in 30 years that they've won a top division league title.  As the corona virus pandemic halted the season, Liverpool supporters faced the real possibility that the season could be finished early, with some suggestions that the season would be cancelled altogether. However, this wasn't the case and the Premier League has been able to resume behind closed doors without any fans in the stadiums. TIGERS SUPER SPORTS It's a particularly unusual way to win the league because, with all the measures put in place in response to the virus, the  Reds  will not be able to celebrate their ...