Sports Burst - Ney-way Out To Tokyo
PSG prepares for Coupe de France semifinal clash with Lyon as Olympic Games stand-off brews with Neymar and Mbappe
by Tim Stannard
PSG faces Lyon in Coupe de France semifinal encounter with Tuchel promising a chilled Neymar after recent red card rancor
A tough opponent on the rise...
A hostile atmosphere in the home of the club whose dominance in France was usurped by the big-spending Parisians...
And two sulky children about to have another temper tantrum...
The latest acts of rebellion from the pair are the duo wanting to be released by PSG to play for their countries in the Olympic Games. Indeed, France has already preselected Mbappe for the squad.
The problem is that the jamboree in Tokyo starts just two days after the end of both the Copa America and European Championships where Neymar and Mbappe will both be involved.
The Olympics is not an event where clubs are required by FIFA to release their footballers, which in turn leads to an incredible sulks from players who want both medal podium and Olympic village action.
Neymar was the main talk of Tuesday's press conference ahead of the Lyon game. The last the world saw of the Brazilian was the forward being sent off in a reckless tackle in a league game against Bordeaux.
Before that, the most notable off-the-pitch action was Neymar publicly blaming the team's medical staff for his lackluster performance in the Champions League defeat against Borussia Dortmund.
However, Thomas Tuchel is optimistic that Neymar has his head in a happier place going into a crucial week for PSG. "I have the feeling he is really ready, that he is calmer, more confident, and that he has found his rhythm," declared a charmingly optimistic PSG boss.
PSG takes on Lyon live on beIN SPORTS at 3PM ET.
That follows two tremendous women's soccer internationals from Le Tournoi in France with Canada taking on France followed by Brazil against World Cup finalists, Netherlands. It all gets underway at 11AM ET on beIN SPORTS.
Formula 1 start at risk over coronavirus precautions as more Italian soccer is stopped
Precautions to stop the spread of the global coronavirus outbreak continue to have impacts across sport.
Formula 1 has said that a race will not be held in countries that have imposed travel restrictions that impacts specific teams. Basically, it's either all in or all out. This means that races in March in Australia, Bahrain and Vietnam are currently all in doubt.
Many restrictions have been imposed on travellers from Italy, which is where Ferrari are based in terms of F1. It's for this reason that the MotoGP season-opener in Qatar scheduled for this weekend was cancelled with many riders and teams being based in the country.
Italian soccer continues to be the least equipped in making decisions on what to do with sporting events.
Wednesday's Coppa Italia match between Juventus and Milan was called off less than 24-hours before, which meant the Milan team had to return to the city pretty much as soon as they had arrived. 40,000 tickets had been sold for the match.
A meeting is set to be held on Wednesday with the nation's soccer bosses planning what to do with the backlog of postponed games in Serie A and the Coppa and how to handle the upcoming weekend's schedule of games.
Flamengo and Palmeiras look to continue Brazil clean sweep in the Copa Libertadores
The Copa Libertadores group stages got underway on Tuesday and it was a win-win-win-win night for Brazil with all four clubs playing on the night, all picking up victories in the opening day. Internacional, Santos, Athletico Paranaense and Gremio set the trend that reigning champions, Flamengo, will hope to continue on Wednesday.
Flamengo are away at Junior in a game that is live on beIN SPORTS at 7:30PM ET and completes a Brazilian double on the network at Palmeiras travel to take on Tigre of Argentina.
Boca Juniors came away with a draw from a visit to Caracas. River Plate are in action on beIN SPORTS ESPANOL with a trip to LDU Quito.
