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Samuel Chukwueze: The one-v-one phenomenon in AC Milan

Football has always come easy to Samuel Chukwueze, but it hasn’t always been the game that he was destined to play.

“I got home from training really late again when I was 13”, he recalled in an interview with the Spanish football show El Dia Despues, “so my mother took my boots, my training top, put it all in a rubbish bag and burnt it all.”

A distraction from his studies, Chukwueze’s passion interfered with his future.

It was only his grandmother, eventually talking the family around, that allowed ‘Samu’ his shot at stardom. Trials close to home in Nigeria followed, with a trip to play a tournament in Portugal his reward for being one of the best players.

The first time that he had ever left his hometown, and with his mother’s blessing, Chukwueze dazzled with his dribbling and never looked back.

Just 10 years on from watching his only pair of boots smoulder, Chukwueze finds himself making a move to one of Europe’s most illustrious clubs, AC Milan, having already created history with another.

Aged 16, he signed a pre-contract with Spanish side Villarreal, after a deal with Arsenal fell through.

Five seasons and 207 appearances later, Chukwueze not only helped the Yellow Submarine to their first-ever major honour, lifting the UEFA Europa League in 2021, but he also fired them into the following season’s Champions League semi-final with an unforgettable breakaway goal at Bayern Munich.

“Everyone loves Samu”, a source at Villarreal, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect their position, told The Athletic. “No one at the club has a bad word to say about him.”

“He’s always really happy and in a good mood. His rise from the under-19s to the first team took less than a year, which is unheard of really.”

He is shy and grounded off the pitch, but he lets his football do the talking.

An admirer of Jay-Jay Okocha as he grew up, years of devotion to dribbling means that Chukwueze is one of few players in Europe that can consistently tie defenders in knots.

Operating primarily on the right flank, the 24-year-old often wastes no time in taking on his man, always looking to tempt the challenge with an attacking first touch before jinking away from the outstretched boot.

Even when opposing teams double up, Chukwueze’s commitment and creativity mean that he is still difficult to mark out of the game, as shown below against Real Sociedad, squirming between two challenges before bearing down on goal and forcing a good save from Alex Remiro.

The numbers paint a similar picture, showing Chukwueze to be one of the most efficient dribblers in La Liga. As the scatter plot below shows, Chukwueze boasted the second-highest success rate of any player to have attempted more than six take-ons per game last season, beating his man 49.1 percent of the time.

While not quite as relentless in the volume of his attempts as Vinicius Junior, Chukwueze was the closest player to the Brazilian in terms of the overall total of successful dribbles across the whole of 2022-23, having beaten his man on 86 occasions. Vinicius completed 112, but from 131 more attempts than the Nigerian. Quality enables Chukwueze to keep up with quantity.

More than ever, he is following up his take-ons with end product, especially when it comes to creating chances for his team-mates. Last season was the Nigerian’s most prolific in terms of assists — providing five killer passes, all from the left half-space.

His dribbling has been crucial for Villarreal to pick their way through stubborn blocks, like against the five-man defence of Getafe below.

As usual, Chukwueze receives the ball on the right and instantly squares up to his man. Aware of his ability to chop inside, striker Borja Mayoral drops deep to block Chukwueze’s route to a left-footed shot on goal.

Manipulating the ball with quick touches, Chukwueze feints to cut inside before producing a quick stepover and then ducking away to the right, leaving Gaston Alvarez wrong-footed, poking his boot at fresh air.

Having escaped the challenge, Chukwueze drives towards the byline and rolls the ball back for Jose Luis Morales to score.

When it comes to taking on the shot himself, Chukwueze has a trademark.

Much like Antony at Manchester United, the Nigerian often looks to cut in from the right and aim for the far corner. As the shot-location graphic below illustrates, Chukwueze isn’t afraid to try his luck from range, and particularly likes the zone to the right of the penalty area, allowing him plenty of distance to set the ball outside the post and bend it into the corner.

Most notably, Chukwueze scored a sensational winning goal at the Santiago Bernabeu last season, to top off the best individual performance of his Villarreal career.

Receiving the ball on the corner of the box, he shuffles across the edge of the penalty area before guiding a perfectly placed shot beyond the despairing dive of Thibaut Courtois.

There have been some spectacular efforts along the way too, as against Sevilla below, where Chukwueze’s dribbling ability saw him burst past Marcos Acuna before unleashing an effort that bounced off the crossbar and away.

The data suggests that, while his shooting technique has undeniably improved, Chukwueze could benefit from varying his decision-making when he receives the ball with space to shoot.

Despite being his primary shooting zone, the below shot map outlines an area from which Chukwueze scored only once from 67 attempts on goal across his five seasons in the Spanish top flight.

All but one of those attempts were left-footed efforts, with 20 drifting wide of the left post and a further 24 being blocked, pointing to an insistence at finding that curled finish towards the far corner.

He can sometimes try to force the angle, leading to overhit shots as he tries to force a way through no matter what.

Here against Real Betis, for example, Chukwueze receives the pass and instantly sets up to cut inside, controlling the ball with the outside of his boot. Juan Foyth had made a storming underlapping run, but the winger has already made up his mind.

Having darted away from full-back Juan Miranda, Chukwueze is charged down by Andres Guardado, and elects to quickly take the shot before the shooting angle is closed. Leaning back, his rushed attempt flies over the bar and into the stands.

His dribbling was as incisive as always, drawing in three players and creating space for the simple lay-off, but Chukwueze would benefit from resisting his favourite shot more often, especially when the set-up is not quite right.

He certainly has the ability to mix things up — emphatically shown by his assist against Getafe — and he tends to be effective when he decides to drive to the touchline.

His attacking carries map below tells much the same story, affirming not only his productivity down the right-hand side with the ball at his feet but also his improved output when he releases it.

Chukwueze is too talented to stop taking on the spectacular shot, but slightly more variety in the final action would surely see his attacking output increase.

While generally a touchline-hugging winger, Chukwueze can be extremely effective when he wanders into smaller spaces in the middle of the pitch.

During a sizzling run of form between February and April last season, Chukwueze scored five, assisted three more and won a crucial penalty in the space of just eight games. Chukwueze was notably effective in central areas in this spell, from a first-time volley against Osasuna to a delicate dinked finish at Mallorca.

His opener at the Bernabeu highlighted how dangerous he can be from the middle, applying the effortless finishing touch to his dribble in one sweeping move.

Similarly, in a Champions League-chasing clash with Real Sociedad, Chukwueze picks up the ball further back, immediately looking to run at the back-line. First, he chops inside Igor Zubeldia and bursts through the gap…

Joining up with the similarly electric Rafael Leao at San Siro, you can be sure that Serie A full-backs and centre-backs alike will be drawing nervous red rings around their dates with the Rossoneri in 2023-24.

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Bonmati Hospitalized With Meningitis Ahead Of Euro 2025

Spain’s Ballon d’Or holder, Aitana Bonmati, is hospitalised with meningitis two weeks before the Euro 2025 championships.

Spain midfielder Aitana Bonmati, the two-time Ballon d’Or holder, has been hospitalised with viral meningitis less than a week before the Women’s European football championship begins.

Spain coach Montse Tome said late on Friday that her star player had felt ill and was taken to a hospital in Madrid where she tested positive for meningitis.

Spain’s team is set to travel to Switzerland on Sunday for the tournament. Its first game is against Portugal on Thursday in Bern. It will also face Belgium and Italy in Group B at Euro 2025.

“Aitana is a very important player for us and we will wait for her,” Tome said after Bonmati missed Friday’s friendly against Japan in the Spanish capital when Spain beat the visitors 3-1.

Tome said that Bonmati started feeling bad with a fever during practice early on Friday.

“She has authorised me to say that she has viral meningitis,” Tome said. “The word is scary, but the doctor tells me that she is under control. She will remain in the hospital and we don’t know for how long.”

The 27-year-old Bonmati has won the top individual award for women for the past two years. The Barcelona player was key in Spain winning the 2023 Women’s World Cup.

Bonmati’s vision, dribbling skills, passing and goals have also been vital to Barcelona reaching five consecutive Champions League finals, with the Catalan club winning three titles.

Her absence would put more pressure on Alexia Putellas, herself a two-time Ballon d’Or winner, and fellow Barcelona midfielder Patricia Guijarro, to lead Spain. Against Japan, Tome started 18-year-old Vicky Lopez in place of Bonmati.

Three years ago, Putellas tore her ACL three days before starting the 2022 European Championship. Spain was eliminated in the quarterfinals without its then-top player.

Aljazeera.com

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There’s Great Enthusiasm And Spirit, Says Tudor

The FIFA Club World Cup continues. After the 5-0 victory in their opening match, Juventus await the challenge against the Moroccans of Wydad AC, fresh from their defeat against Manchester City in their opening match of the competition. From home of the Philadelphia Eagles, in the usual pre-match press conference, Coach Igor Tudor previewed the match, scheduled for Sunday 22 June at 12:00 LT (18:00 CEST).

WYDAD AC
“It’s a different opponent, with the match being played at a different time. We have prepared for it as best we can, as always. It will be an important match against a quality team and we will have to give our best, going full throttle for 90 minutes. The heat? We will have to prepare to face it, but it’s something both teams will face and then we will have to forget it, to focus on what we have to do. Wydad could have scored two goals against City in the first half – it is impossible to make comparisons between one match and another, each match has its own particularities.

FATIGUE
“I don’t see any tiredness in the team, I only see enthusiasm and great spirit in playing together. The lads approached the match against Al Ain the way I like, also thanks to the work we are doing. I am happy, I have felt good with the team since day one and I feel a great energy around us, even in the Club. I hope we can do great things together, because the history of this Club is to do great things. John Elkann’s presence? He is a constant, a strong and important presence. If I may, he makes his presence felt also with the right ways and with the right words. I really liked how he spoke to the players in Turin. There is great energy from him, the players appreciated it and took it as further motivation. After the match he was happy with the performance and the energy seen on the pitch.

PRESENT AND FUTURE
“Qualifying early would be nice, of course, but you can’t plan anything. You have to think match after match. Surprises in the tournament? There certainly are, we have to try not to be a negative surprise, and avoiding that is my job and the players’ job. More optimistic than when we started? It’s too early to tell, we’ve only played had one match. I don’t look at these things, I don’t think about the finish line, I think about what we have to do, training session after training session. You have to live in the present, you learn from the past and we build the future today.”

Juventus.com

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Tennis: Gen Z Aim To Deny History-Chasing Djokovic

French Open 2025 men’s singles semi-finals

Date: Friday, 6 June Time: 13:30 BST Venue: Roland Garros

Coverage: Live radio commentaries across 5 Live Sport and BBC Sounds, plus live text commentaries on the BBC Sport website and app

The era of the ‘Big Three’ may be coming to an end – but the threat has not disappeared.

Players born in the 1990s were restricted to just two Grand Slam singles titles between them as Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic diced up the major prizes for more than two decades.

Two players born after 2000 have captured seven major titles between them.

That is the current top two of Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, who are on a collision course in Paris.

But Novak Djokovic still looms large as the ‘Gen Z’ players look to add to their hauls.

The 38-year-old faces Sinner – who is 15 years younger than him – in Friday’s first French Open semi-final, having become the oldest man to reach the last four since 1968.

“I think at the moment he’s a bit underrated,” world number three Alexander Zverev said after falling to Djokovic in four sets on Wednesday.

“I think a lot of people count him out already, but this year he’s had wins over Carlos at the Australian Open, he has beaten me at the French Open.

“Forget the age. For any player, those are pretty good results.”

Defending champion Alcaraz, meanwhile, will look to continue his recent dominance over Lorenzo Musetti in the second semi-final.

Djokovic is bidding for another slice of history. Win in Paris and he will secure a record-breaking 25th major singles title.

But no man has defeated the top three men’s players to win a major since the ATP rankings were introduced.

Djokovic is on a nine-match winning streak heading into the 51st major semi-final of his career. Victory in Geneva last month secured him the 100th tour-level title of his career – a timely confidence boost following a run of three successive defeats.

That run included consecutive opening-round defeats to begin his clay-court season, and the Olympic champion entered Roland Garros in the unusual position of sixth seed.

But he showed age is not inhibiting him as he won a 41-shot rally to save a break point in the fourth set on his way to beating Zverev in three hours and 18 minutes.

He displayed impressive variety to disrupt the German’s baseline dominance with drop shots and serve-and-volley tactics.

Sinner, however, will pose a sterner test.

While their head-to-head record stands at 4-4, the Italian has won their past three meetings.

The reigning US Open and Australian Open champion is on a 19-match winning streak at Grand Slam tournaments – the fourth longest this century after the Djokovic (30), Federer (27) and Nadal (25).

He is chasing history of his own at Roland Garros, seeking to become the first Italian man to win the tournament since Adriano Panatta in 1976.

In his 52nd week as world number one – despite serving a three-month doping suspension between February and May – Sinner could become the first man to win three consecutive majors since Djokovic in 2021.

With unshakeable consistency and devastating precision, Sinner is yet to drop a set this fortnight before attempting to break down arguably the greatest defensive player the game has seen.

Alcaraz looks to continue dominance over Musetti

Alcaraz appears to have hit top gear at the perfect time.

After losing just five games in his straight-set quarter-final win over American Tommy Paul, the Spaniard said: “I could close my eyes and everything [would have gone] in.

“My feeling today was unbelievable. I was trying to hit every shot at 100% – not thinking about anything else, just hitting.”

The four-time major winner did not face a single break point in that match and will now target a sixth successive win over Musetti, having lost just one set in their previous five meetings.

Musetti, whose sole victory over Alcaraz came in their first meeting back in 2022, has risen to sixth in the live rankings after moving to the brink of a first major final.

The Italian will hope to offer greater resistance in their latest meeting after working to improve his serve in the off-season.

“We shortened a bit the motion to have more control, and then I got more confidence in what I was having as a motion,” Musetti said.

“Right now in really difficult situations, I make an ace or have my serve as a weapon, and it was a pretty big change for my game.”

Bbc.com

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