MILAN (AP) — Romelu Lukaku has been the focus at Napoli this week. Just not in a good way.
Lukaku failed to turn up to training on Tuesday and the club issued a hardline statement that it may take “appropriate disciplinary action” against the forward. That includes freezing him out of the first team.
Whatever happens, Lukaku is unlikely to be available for Monday’s crucial Serie A match against AC Milan — a head-to-head battle for second place.
For his part, Lukaku — who missed the first half of the season with a serious thigh injury — insists he stayed in Belgium for medical reasons after national team doctors detected a muscular problem that had not been diagnosed by Napoli, but had kept him on the bench for the club’s previous two matches.
“As it is the second problem I have had since I returned at the beginning of November, I chose to do the rehabilitation in Belgium,” Lukaku added in a social media post. “I could never turn my back on Napoli, ever.
“There is nothing I want more than to play and win with my team… but right now I have to make sure I’m 100% clinically, because recently I haven’t been and this has also had a mental impact … but in the end I’ll make it and I’ll help Napoli and the national team achieve their goals when I’m called upon. It’s everything I want.”
Lukaku went to Belgium to join the national team but was forced to pull out of the squad and did not travel to the United States for the friendly matches against the U.S. and Mexico.
Napoli and Belgium teammate Kevin De Bruyne could try and ease the tension between Lukaku and Napoli.
De Bruyne said after Wednesday’s draw against Mexico, “Once I get back to the club, I will be more up to date. I will try to help, if necessary."
Milan is in second place, just a point above third-placed Napoli.
The Rossoneri are six points behind league leader Inter Milan, which itself faces a tough matchup against Champions League-chasing Roma on Sunday.
Roma is level with fifth-placed Juventus, three points behind Como and the final Champions League berth.
Juventus hosts Genoa on Monday, shortly after Como visits Udinese.
Italy players will have to swiftly recover from the disappointment of failing to qualify for a third straight World Cup.
Inter defender Alessandro Bastoni has become the face of the latest catastrophe after his red card during the defeat to Bosnia and Herzegovina in the World Cup playoffs on Tuesday.
Fortunately for Bastoni, his first match back will be at San Siro, where the Inter fans can drown out any boos from other supporters.
Fiorentina forward Moise Kean is a doubt for Saturday’s trip to Hellas Verona after he was substituted just minutes after scoring Italy’s early goal against Bosnia. Kean appeared to twist his ankle while turning off the ball, two minutes after scoring.
Carlos Augusto is suspended for Inter, while Roma is still without star forward Paulo Dybala following knee surgery.
The sale of San Siro to the Milan clubs has run into more controversy after Italian financial police raided the city council’s offices this week in an investigation into the 200 million euro deal.
Computers and mobile phones were among the items seized, with nine individuals placed under investigation for bid-rigging and collusion.
Inter and Milan completed the purchase of the 99-year-old stadium and surrounding area in November — clearing the way for the clubs to tear it down and jointly build a new 71,500-seat arena.
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Italy's Moise Kean (11) celebrates with teammates after scoring during the World Cup qualifying playoff final soccer match between Bosnia and Italy in Zenica, Bosnia, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (Fabio Ferrari/LaPresse via AP)
FILE - Napoli's Romelu Lukaku attends a training session in Dimaro, Italy, Friday, July 18, 2025. (Alessandro Garofalo/LaPresse via AP, File)
FILE - Napoli's Romelu Lukaku reacts after an injury during a friendly soccer match between Napoli and Olympiakos at the Teofilo Patini Stadium in Castel Di Sangro, Italy, Thursday, Aug. 14 , 2025. (Alessandro Garofalo/LaPresse via AP, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The funding lapse for the Department of Homeland Security will likely stretch into next week as the House contemplates passing a Senate plan it had previously rejected to fund the bulk of the agency, but not its immigration enforcement operations.
There was no resolution Thursday to the standoff, now in its 48th day, after both chambers met for just a few minutes in pro forma sessions. Nonetheless, the Republican leadership and President Donald Trump have coalesced around a plan to fully fund DHS as part of a two-step process. The agreement puts the congressional leaders on the same page for ending the impasse after they had pursued separate paths that resulted in Congress leaving Washington last week for its spring recess without a fix.
During the brief sessions, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., put aside the House plan to fund the entire department for 60 days. Then the House met briefly without taking up the bipartisan Senate plan that had been worked out with Democrats, though Thune is looking toward eventual passage.
“I don’t know the particulars around what the House will do with it,” Thune told reporters. “My assumption is, at some point, hopefully, they’ll move it.”
House Republicans were expected to hold a conference call later in the day to discuss the next steps.
Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and John Thune, announced Wednesday that they would return to the Senate measure, which funds most of DHS with the exception of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Border Patrol. Republicans will try later to fund those agencies through party-line spending legislation that could take months to finish.
Neither outcome is guaranteed, and the strategy could potentially still face opposition from the GOP’s own ranks even though Trump has given his support.
Thune pointed to a “number of conversations” when he was asked how the Republican leadership and Trump aligned to move ahead after their apparent divisions a week earlier.
“The thing that some people want to do, we can’t do,” said Thune. “And so you have to figure out what’s in the realm of the possible. And you have to just continue to define reality for people.”
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York blamed Republicans for not acting more quickly.
“Republican divisions derailed a bipartisan agreement, making American families pay the price for their dysfunction,” Schumer said.
Even with the progress, the most conservative lawmakers are likely to seek full funding for all of Trump’s immigration and deportation operations.
“Let’s make this simple: caving to Democrats and not paying CBP and ICE is agreeing to defund Law Enforcement and leaving our borders wide open again,” Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., posted on X. “If that’s the vote, I’m a NO.”
Meanwhile, the budget package that Trump wants prepared for later this year is expected to fund ICE and Border Patrol through the remainder of Trump’s term, as a way to try to ensure those agencies are no longer at risk from Democrats objecting to his immigration enforcement agenda. Trump said he wants that legislation on his desk by June 1.
Thune acknowledged the potential hurdles to that route, such as efforts to expand the scope of the bill. He said the goal is to keep it “as narrow and focused as possible” to speed passage.
“We need to kind of move with haste,” he said. “It’s probably not a likely magnet for all these other issues.”
The vast majority of DHS employees have reported to work during the shutdown, but many thousands have gone without pay. As more Transportation Security Administration agents called out from work, there was increasing frustration for air travelers confronted by long waits at some airport security lines. Those bottlenecks appeared to be clearing this week as agents began receiving backpay after Trump signed an executive order.
AP Congressional Correspondent Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report.
Sen. Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., speaks during a news conference after a policy luncheon on Capitol Hill,Tuesday, March 24, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)
Sen. Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., speaks during a news conference after a policy luncheon on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, March 24, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill, Friday, March 27, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)
