PARIS (AP) — Strasbourg's push for a Champions League place is peaking at the right time under English coach Liam Rosenior.
The Alsace-based club is unbeaten in nine Ligue 1 games ahead of Saturday's trip to Monaco. A victory for sixth-placed Strasbourg would move it level on points with second-placed Monaco.
The top three teams earn an automatic place in the Champions League while the side finishing fourth enters qualifying. A complication for Strasbourg is being owned by Chelsea, setting up a breach of UEFA rules on multi-club ownership in its competitions.
“I’ve felt for a while that this group has something (special)," Rosenior said this week.
The attack is led by Dutch striker Emanuel Emegha, who has 13 league goals, and Brazilian midfielder Andrey Santos, who has nine. The defense has kept six clean sheets in the past nine games — including a run of five straight games.
Strasbourg goalkeeper Đorđe Petrović will be tested at Stade Louis II by a Monaco attack which is also ending the season strong.
Mika Biereth has 12 goals in 12 games for Monaco and is particularly effective at home, where he has three hat tricks. He is combining well with Switzerland striker Breel Embolo and Japan's Takumi Minamino. Attacking midfielder Maghnes Akliouche has eight assists, the equal second-best tally in the league behind Bradley Barcola.
“We know Monaco is a team which likes to play. We’re keeping the same course, we’re not changing anything,” Rosenior said. Strasbourg “has lost only one (league) match in 2025.”
It has been a remarkable first season for 40-year-old Rosenior, who played in the Premier League for Fulham, Reading and Hull as a defender. His father Leroy Rosenior was a bustling striker with Fulham and West Ham in the 1980s.
Rosenior’s coaching career started three years ago with a brief stint at English club Derby, followed by taking charge of Hull. He was among the nominees last season for manager of the year in England's second-tier Championship.
Few observers gave him a chance of doing so well in his first season in charge in France, especially as he had only two weeks to prepare with his players.
“Preseason preparation was short, some players arrived late," Rosenior said. "We never really had all the players together.”
Chelsea's holding company BlueCo bought into Strasbourg in 2023. UEFA has rules aiming to protect competition integrity by preventing two clubs with the same owner from playing in the same competition.
Chelsea is currently sixth in the Premier League, where the top five will enter the Champions League. Chelsea and Strasbourg could both qualify together for the Champions League or second-tier Europa League.
In similar recent scenarios, UEFA required multi-club owners to divest from one club for the entire season, likely through a blind trust, and restrict cooperation between clubs on transfers and knowledge sharing.
When bitter local rivals Saint-Etienne and Lyon meet on Sunday, two Georgia teammates will face each other — in good form.
Saint-Etienne’s Zuriko Davitashvili has scored seven goals and provided seven assists despite being in a struggling team. The fleet-footed Georges Mikautadze has nine goals for Lyon and has set up five.
While Saint-Etienne's defense is poor, with 67 goals conceded, the attack is dangerous.
Davitashvili is well supported by Lucas Stassin and the skillful Irvin Cardona, who scored twice last weekend in a 3-3 draw against Brest with a header and a deft lob.
“We’ll need everyone for this battle until the end,” Cardona said of the relegation fight.
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
FILE - Brazil's Andrey Santos celebrates after scoring his side's fourth goal against Tunisia during a FIFA U-20 World Cup round of 16 soccer match at La Plata Stadium in La Plata, Argentina, Wednesday, May 31, 2023. (AP Photo/Gustavo Garello, file)
FILE - Strasbourg's Emanuel Emegha controls the ball during the French League One soccer match between Paris Saint-Germain and Strasbourg at the Parc des Princes in Paris, on Oct. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena, File)
FILE - Strasbourg players celebrate after Strasbourg's Emanuel Emegha scored his side's third goal during the French League One soccer match between Lyon and Strasbourg at the Groupama stadium in Decines, outside Lyon, France, Friday, Aug. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani, file)
President Donald Trump President Donald Trump wraps up a Mideast tour in the United Arab Emirates with a breakfast for business leaders and a visit to an interfaith place of worship named for the Abraham Accords he negotiated.
As part of the accords, the UAE and some other countries in the Middle East recognized Israel. Trump departs Abu Dhabi after his visit to the Abrahamic Family House .
During his visit to the region, violence flared in the West Bank, and Gaza. Israeli strikes killed at least 20 people Friday, adding to the more than 120 people who died in recent days.
Here's the latest:
Hostage families called on their government Friday to work with President Trump to release those still held in Gaza.
A statement from the hostages forum, which supports the families said people woke up with “heavy hearts” amid reports of increased attacks across Gaza at the end of Trump’s visit to the Middle East. There were widespread attacks in northern Gaza Friday as Trump was finishing his visit to Gulf States but not Israel.
Israel says about 23 of the hostages are said to be alive.
Israeli Prime Minister had earlier this week called for Gaza scalation
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed earlier in the week to push ahead with a promised escalation of force in Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip to pursue his aim of destroying the Hamas militant group, which governs Gaza.
The hostage families called on Netanyahu to “join hands” with Trump’s efforts to release the hostages.
“Missing this historic opportunity for a deal to bring the hostages home would be a resounding failure that will be remembered in infamy forever.
Trump is wrapping up his four-day visit to the Middle East, but he’s keeping a close eye on what’s going on back in Washington.
Before heading out Friday morning to the Qasr Al Watan presidential for the final engagements of his trip, the president took to his Truth Social platform to hammer “Radical Left Sleazebags” after Supreme Court justices on Thursday heard more than two hours of arguments debating how the lower courts should handle Trump’s executive order on birthright citizenship.
“I hope the Supreme Court doesn’t fall for the games they play,” Trump added. “The people are with us in bigger numbers than ever before.”
President Donald Trump is kicking off the final day of his Middle East trip with a meeting of U.S. and UAE business executives alongside UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Energy, health care, aviation, entertainment and other business leaders will be in attendance to highlight ties between the two countries -- a central focus of Trump’s trip to the region. Trump will then tour the Abrahamic Family House, a complex that houses a church, mosque and synagogue and is a symbol of interfaith tolerance. Trump has encouraged other countries in the region to join the Abraham Accords and recognize Israel, as the UAE did in 2020. The president will then depart back to Washington.
Israeli strikes killed at least 20 people in Gaza on Friday morning, as U.S. President Donald Trump wraps up his Middle East visit.
An Associated Press journalist counted the bodies at the Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza, where they were brought. Survivors said many people were still under the rubble.
The widespread attacks across northern Gaza come as Trump finishes his visit to Gulf states but not Israel.
There had been widespread hope that Trump’s regional visit could usher in a ceasefire deal or renewal of humanitarian aid to Gaza. An Israeli blockade of the territory is now in its third month.
The Israeli military had no immediate comment on the strikes.
President Donald Trump will make several stops before taking off on Air Force One to end his Mideast trip on Friday.
He’ll attend a business summit in the morning in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates.
Trump later will visit the Abrahamic Family House in Abu Dhabi. It is home to a mosque, a church and a synagogue. The UAE built it after diplomatically recognizing Israel in an agreement known as the Abraham Accords, as Christianity, Islam and Judaism are all known as the Abrahamic faiths.
Etihad Airways announced Friday it would purchase 28 wide-body Boeing aircraft during a visit by President Donald Trump to the United Arab Emirates.
Etihad is the government-owned airline of Abu Dhabi that also flies East-West routes like Emirates, the long-haul carrier in neighboring Dubai.
Etihad said in a statement that the sale included “a mix of Boeing 787 and 777X aircraft, powered by GE engines and supported by a services package.”
Boeing did not immediately acknowledge the deal.
Trump was due to address a business conference in Abu Dhabi on Friday, the last day of his Mideast trip that’s also taken him to Saudi Arabia and Qatar, which booked a major Boeing order for its long-haul carrier, Qatar Airways.
President Donald Trump and UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan talk at Qasr Al Watan, Thursday, May 15, 2025, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
President Donald Trump and UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan arrive at Qasr Al Watan, Thursday, May 15, 2025, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
President Donald Trump and Sheikh Khaled Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, right, tour the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, Thursday, May 15, 2025, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
