A 37-year-old cancer survivor keeps shutting down Europe's top strikers

ROME (AP) — Harry Kane. Erling Haaland. Romelu Lukaku. Mateo Retegui. Moise Kean.

Across Europe and Serie A, Inter Milan center back Francesco Acerbi has held all five of those center forwards scoreless this season.

The latest defensive exploit from Acerbi came in the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinals at Bayern Munich on Tuesday, when the 37-year-old cancer survivor conceded only one shot to Kane — which the England striker curled onto the post.

Otherwise, it was the relentless man-to-man lockdown effort reminiscent of the job that Acerbi did on Haaland in Inter’s Champions League opener at Manchester City in September, which ended 0-0.

Acerbi also held Haaland scoreless in the 2023 Champions League final.

In all, Inter has conceded three goals in 11 Champions League games, but only two with Acerbi on the field — he missed the 1-0 loss to Bayer Leverkusen in December.

Acerbi, whose career was put on hold briefly due to testicular cancer more than a decade ago, has been just as effective in the Italian league.

He has held Lukaku and Serie A scoring leader Retegui scoreless twice each — two 1-1 draws with Napoli (Lukaku) and 4-0 and 2-0 wins over Atalanta (Retegui) that have been decisive in helping Inter to first place.

Actually, Acerbi has held Lukaku scoreless all four times they’ve faced each other since the Belgium forward left Inter, including two matches when Lukaku played for Roma last season.

Retegui (22 goals) and Kean (17) stand 1-2 in the Serie A scoring chart.

Kean scored twice when Fiorentina stunned Inter 3-0 in Serie A in a match that Acerbi missed. When the defender returned for a rematch four days later, Kean was held scoreless and Inter won 2-1.

While Acerbi could be rested on Saturday for a league match against Cagliari, he’ll surely be used against Kane again in the return match with Bayern at the San Siro next week.

If Inter can maintain or add to its 2-1 first-leg advantage against Bayern, there could be another top center forward to face in the semifinals or final.

Then Italy opens World Cup qualifying at Haaland’s Norway in June, although it remains to be seen whether or not Haaland will return from injury in time for that match. If he does, Acerbi should be waiting for him.

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Inter Milan's Francesco Acerbi, front right, and Inter Milan's Alessandro Bastoni, left, run for the ball during the Champions League quarterfinals first leg soccer match between FC Bayern Munich and Inter Milan, at the Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany, Tuesday, April 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

Bayern's Leroy Sane, front, duels for the ball with Inter Milan's Francesco Acerbi, left, during the Champions League quarterfinals first leg soccer match between FC Bayern Munich and Inter Milan, at the Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany, Tuesday, April 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

Inter Milan's Francesco Acerbi, front left, duels for the ball with Bayern's Raphael Guerreiro during the Champions League quarterfinals first leg soccer match between FC Bayern Munich and Inter Milan, at the Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany, Tuesday, April 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

Munich's Harry Kane, right, and Inter's Francesco Acerbi fight for the ball during the Champions League quarterfinals first leg soccer match between FC Bayern Munich and Inter Milan, at the Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany, Tuesday, April 8, 2025. (Sven Hoppe/dpa via AP)

RHO, Italy (AP) — No ice is colder and harder than speedskating ice. The precision it takes has meant that Olympic speedskaters have never competed for gold on a temporary indoor rink – until the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Games.

In the pursuit of maximum glide and minimum friction, Olympic officials brought on ice master Mark Messer, a veteran of six previous Olympic speedskating tracks and the ice technician in charge of the Olympic Oval in Calgary, Canada — one of the fastest tracks in the world with over 300 records.

Messer has been putting that experience to work one thin layer of ice at a time since the end of October at the new Speed Skating Stadium, built inside adjacent trade fair halls in the city of Rho just north of Milan.

“It’s one of the biggest challenges I’ve had in icemaking,’’ Messer said during an interview less than two weeks into the process.

If Goldilocks were a speedskater, hockey ice would be medium hard, for fast puck movement and sharp turns. Figure skating ice would be softer, allowing push off for jumps and so the ice doesn’t shatter on landing. Curling ice is the softest and warmest of all, for controlled sliding.

For speedskating ice to be just right, it must be hard, cold and clean. And very, very smooth.

“The blades are so sharp, that if there is some dirt, the blade will lose the edge,’’ Messer said, and the skater will lose speed.

Speedskater Enrico Fabris, who won two Olympic golds in Turin in 2006, has traded in his skates to be deputy sports manager at the speedskating venue in Rho. For him, perfect ice means the conditions are the same for all skaters — and then if it's fast ice, so much the better.

"It's more of a pleasure to skate on this ice,'' he said.

Messer’s first Olympics were in Calgary in 1988 — the first time speedskating was held indoors. “That gave us some advantages because we didn’t have to worry about the weather, wind blowing or rain,’’ he said. Now he is upping the challenge by becoming the first ice master to build a temporary rink for the Olympics.

Before Messer arrived in Italy, workers spent weeks setting up insulation to level the floor and then a network of pipes and rubber tubes that carry glycol — an antifreeze — that is brought down to minus 7 or minus 8 degrees Celsius (17.6 to 19.4 degrees Fahrenheit) to make the ice.

Water is run through a purification system — but it can’t be too pure, or the ice that forms will be too brittle. Just the right amount of impurities “holds the ice together,’’ Messer said.

The first layers of water are applied slowly, with a spray nozzle; after the ice reaches a few centimeters it is painted white — a full day’s work — and the stripes are added to make lanes.

“The first one takes about 45 minutes. And then as soon as it freezes, we go back and do it again, and again and again. So we do it hundreds of times,’’ Messer said.

As the ice gets thicker, and is more stable, workers apply subsequent layers of water with hoses. Messer attaches his hose to hockey sticks for easier spreading.

What must absolutely be avoided is dirt, dust or frost — all of which can cause friction for the skaters, slowing them down. The goal is that when the skaters push “they can go as far as possible with the least amount of effort,’’ Messer said.

The Zamboni ice resurfacing machine plays a key role in keeping the track clean, cutting off a layer and spraying water to make a new surface.

One challenge is gauging how quickly the water from the resurfacing machine freezes in the temporary rink.

Another is getting the ice to the right thickness so that the Zamboni, weighing in at six tons, doesn’t shift the insulation, rubber tubing or ice itself.

“When you drive that out, if there’s anything moving it will move. We don’t want that,’’ Messer said.

The rink got its first big test on Nov. 29-30 during a Junior World Cup event. In a permanent rink, test events are usually held a year before the Olympics, leaving more time for adjustments. “We have a very small window to learn,’’ Messer acknowledged.

Dutch speedskater Kayo Vos, who won the men’s neo-senior 1,000 meters, said the ice was a little soft — but Messer didn’t seem too concerned.

“We went very modest to start, now we can start to change the temperatures and try to make it faster and still maintain it as a safe ice,’’ he said.

Fine-tuning the air temperature and humidity and ice temperature must be done methodically — taking into account that there will be 6,000 spectators in the venue for each event. The next real test will be on Jan. 31, when the Olympians take to the ice for their first training session.

“Eighty percent of the work is done but the hardest part is the last 20 percent, where we have to try to find the values and the way of running the equipment so all the skaters get the same conditions and all the skaters get the best conditions,’’ Messer said.

AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

Serpentines are set on the ice of the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Workers clean the ice surface during a peed skating Junior World Cup and Olympic test event, in Rho, near Milan, Italy, Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)