While You Were Asleep: Alcaraz retires due to injury, Zouma apologies for kicking cat, Guardiola says ‘I am Jealous’ of Haaland

While You Were Asleep: Carlos Alcaraz pulled out due to an abdominal strain in Paris Masters. West Ham defender Kurt Zouma was ordered to carry out community service on his incident involving kicking a cat. I don’t like it when Erling scores three goals, and all the highlights are for him, says Pep Guardiola.

3 min readNov 5, 2022 08:40 AM IST

(L-R) Carlos Alcaraz receives medical attention during his quarter final match against Denmark's Holger Rune; West Ham's Kurt Zouma celebrates a goal; Manchester City striker Erling Haaland (AP)

Carlos Alcaraz retired because of an injury at the Paris Masters against Holger Rune on Friday. This meant his opposite number 19-year-old Rune went through to the semifinal.

The world’s number one Alcaraz won the first set 6-3, Rune was ahead in the second set which is a tie-break with 3-1. It was then Carlos Alcaraz pulled out due to an abdominal strain.

“I cannot stretch. I couldn’t serve well, I couldn’t hit the forehand well,” said Alcaraz afterwards. “I preferred to retire and see [the injury] and take care of it.”

Alcaraz is hopeful of getting fit before the ATP finals in Turin on November 13. “I have some tests on how it’s going to be before Turin,”

On the other hand, Rune will face Félix Auger-Aliassime. This is a battle between two of the most in-form players on the tour. The 22-year-old Auger has extended his winning run to 16 games with a win over Frances Tiafoe and is on his way to picking up his fourth ATP title.

West Ham defender Kurt Zouma ordered to carry out community service

“I have great remorse,” said West Ham defender Kurt Zouma on his incident involving kicking a cat. The 28-year-old was ordered to carry out 180 hours of community service.

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In addition to that, the Frenchman was fined by West Ham. “It’s been a difficult spell for me and my family. Obviously, I have done something very bad and I apologise again for what I’ve done. I know it was very tough for people to watch and to see that and obviously I feel very, very sorry. Said Zouma in a video of an interview released by the club on its official website.

Earlier this year in February Kurt Zouma was filmed in a video kicking and slapping the cat which was released on Snapchat.

Pep’s ego could affect Haaland’s development:Zlatan Ibrahimovic

Pep Guardiola wrote off the claims that ego could prevent the Man City boss from making Erling Haaland a better player by Sweden striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s

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“Is Guardiola able to improve him? That depends on the ego that Guardiola has. If he allows himself to be bigger than Haaland or not. He didn’t allow me or the others to be as big.” The Milan striker said speaking to canal+ earlier this week.

When asked about it Pep sarcastically said “He is right, he is completely right,” the manager said. “In this club, in this team, my ego is beyond every other person, every player. I don’t like it when Erling scores three goals, and all the highlights are for him. I am so jealous! Honestly, so jealous!

Erling Haland has scored 22 goals in just 15 games for Manchester City this season in the Premier League.

Man City are second in the table with 29 points behind Arsenal who are leading with 31 points. Man City will face Fulham this Saturday at the Etihad stadium

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