MUNICH (AP) — Bayern Munich defender Hiroki Itō is out indefinitely with another serious foot injury, adding to the team’s defensive woes ahead of its Champions League quarterfinal against Inter Milan.
The Bavarian powerhouse said Sunday that Itō suffered a recurrence of a fracture in his right metatarsal during Bayern’s 3-2 win over St. Pauli in the Bundesliga on Saturday. Itō had gone on as a substitute and was unable to finish the game, leaving Bayern, which had used all of its substitutes, a player short for the final minutes.
Itō, who joined Bayern from league rival Stuttgart before the season, first suffered the injury in a pre-season warmup game against Düren. There was a setback during his comeback in November, necessitating another operation. The Japan defender finally made his comeback in February, playing in six Bundesliga games and two Champions League matches.
“He’s only just battled back after months of rehab and will now be out for a long time again – we can barely imagine how he’s feeling,” board member for sport Max Eberl said. “He’ll get all the support he needs from us.”
Last week, Bayern had defenders Alphonso Davies and Dayot Upamecano ruled out with knee injuries sustained on international duty.
“We’ve now lost a third defender in a short space of time,” Eberl said. “We will now pool our forces even more to continue pursuing our goals.”
Bayern, which leads the Bundesliga by six points with seven rounds remaining, hosts Inter for the first leg of their Champions League quarterfinal on April 8, with the second leg in Milan on April 16.
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Bayern Munich's Hiroki Ito walks during the Bundesliga soccer match between Bayern Munich and St. Pauli at the Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany, Saturday March 29, 2025. (Peter Kneffel/dpa via AP)
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Kirill Marchenko scored three goals for his third career hat trick and added an assist, and the Columbus Blue Jackets beat the Nashville Predators 8-4 on Tuesday night.
Sean Monahan had two goals and two assists, Adam Fantilli had two goals and an assist, Dante Fabbro had a goal and an assist, and Zach Werenski and Kent Johnson each had two assists for Columbus. Elvis Merzlikins stopped 24 shots.
Filip Forsberg, Michael Bunting, Justin Barron and Jordan Oesterle scored for Nashville, and Luke Evangelista had two assists. Juuse Saros gave up a season-high seven goals on 26 shots through two periods, and Justus Annunen had 10 saves in the third.
Marchenko scored from between the circles 1:15 into the game, Fantilli doubled the lead with 3:26 remaining in the first from the right circle, and Monahan made it 3-0 on the power play from nearly the same spot with 1:50 left in the period.
Forsberg got the Predators on the scoreboard 24 seconds later with his 29th of the season, but Marchenko got his second of the night at 4:12 of the second to restore Columbus' three-goal lead.
Bunting and Barron scored 43 seconds apart to pull Nashville to 4-3 at 6 1/2 minutes into the middle period.
Fantilli, Monahan and Fabbro all scored in the final 8 minutes of the period to help the Blue Jackets pull away, and Marchenko finished off his first hat trick since Dec. 19, 2023, at 5:23 of the third to make it 8-3.
Predators: Nashville, languishing near the bottom of the Western Conference standings, has lost four straight and five of six.
Blue Jackets: Columbus won for the third time in four games, and remained two points behind Montreal for the second wild card in the East.
After Nashville closed to 4-3 early in the second period, Columbus' Boone Jenner picked off Fedor Svechkov's pass toward the front of the goal, brought the puck up the middle and found a streaking Fantilli near the blue line. Fantille skated in and beat Saros to make it 5-3 with his fourth multigoal game of the season, and the Blue Jackets took off from there.
The eight goals by the Blue Jackets set a season high, and was their highest output since a 9-4 win at Buffalo on Dec. 19, 2023.
Predators visit Dallas on Thursday, and Blue Jackets host Colorado.
AP NHL: https://www.apnews.com/hub/NHL
Columbus Blue Jackets goaltender Elvis Merzlikins celebrates after the Blue Jackets defeated the Vancouver Canucks in an NHL hockey game Friday, March 28, 2025, in Columbus, Ohio. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
