Kristoffer Ajer diverted a Dmitri Shomko shot beyond Craig Gordon as Astana took the lead on 26 minutes, but Scott Sinclair settled Celtic nerves with a superb equaliser. However, Serikzhan Muzhikov drilled Astana back ahead on the night before Ghanaian striker Twumasi added a brace to leave Celtic rattled and facing a tense final 20 minutes. Olivier Ntcham ended Astana’s hopes though when his deflected strike made it 4-2 before Leigh Griffiths reduced the deficit further in the final minute.
Monaco fans take aim at want-away striker Mbappe
Monaco’s unsettled striker Kylian Mbappe came under fire yesterday from hardcore supporters of the French champions. Ultras Monaco 1994 took to Twitter to claim that the reported Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid target had “proved nothing special in his few dozen matches as a professional”.
Mbappe was left out of Monaco’s squad for Friday’s Ligue 1 outing at Metz as speculation intensified surrounding the teen sensation’s future. “Kylian is not at 100%. He is not in great form. But that is to be expected of a kid who is just 18,” Monaco coach Leonardo Jardim explained.
Mbappe’s new employers will have to meet a reported 180mn euros price tag to secure the services of a player who scored 26 goals in 44 matches last season. The club’s Ultras said they were “amazed and indignant” at the amount of money “involved in Mbappe’s transfer and in his salary to extend his contract”.
“No player is worth so many millions of euros,” argued UM1994.
In their Twitter criticism Monaco’s Ultras spoke of “the love and respect for the shirt of the club that helped shape him for life”. And they reminded Kylian Mbappe “and his entourage” that “nothing or no one is bigger than AS Monaco.”
Their statement concluded with a vote of confidence in the club’s directors “to construct a team capable of defending our title with or without Mbappe”. Monaco have lost three key members of the title-winning team this summer.
Full-back Benjamin Mendy was sold to Manchester City for a reported £52mn fee, a world record for a defender, last month, joining Portuguese playmaker Bernardo Silva at the club. Powerful midfielder Tiemoue Bakayoko meanwhile joined Chelsea.
Former boss of Dinamo Zagreb shot and wounded
Zdravko Mamic, the former boss of Croatian football club Dinamo Zagreb and one of country’s richest men, was shot and wounded in the leg by two attackers in western Bosnia yesterday, local media reported.
Dinamo Zagreb, where Mamic is now an adviser, called the incident “attempted murder”. Web portal 24sata said Mamic, 58, was visiting his father’s grave near the Bosnian town of Tomislavgrad when two masked gunmen fired shots at him.
He was transferred to a nearby hospital where he was treated for injuries to his leg, local media quoted a police spokesman as saying. Reuters could not immediately reach the police or representatives of Mamic for comment. Mamic, a powerful figure in Croatian football who is currently on trial for tax evasion, has been the target of other physical attacks in the past few years, which soccer officials blamed on rival teams’ fans, but this was the first time he has been shot and the motive was unclear.
Dinamo Zagreb, Croatia’s biggest football club, said in a statement after Tuesday’s attack that it was “horrified by the armed attack and the attempted murder of the club’s adviser”.
Mamic and two other former senior officials from Dinamo Zagreb are on trial after being charged with avoiding paying 12.2mn Croatian kuna ($1.94mn) in taxes and diverting 116mn kuna from the football club. All three deny the charges.
