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.
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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)
A federal judge on Thursday barred the Trump administration from deporting any Venezuelans from South Texas under an 18th-century wartime law and said President Donald Trump's invocation of it was “unlawful.”
U.S. District Court Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr. is the first judge to rule that the Alien Enemies Act cannot be used against people who, the Republican administration claims, are gang members invading the United States. Rodriguez said he wouldn't interfere with the government's right to deport people in the country illegally through other means, but it could not rely on the 227-year-old law to do so.
“Neither the Court nor the parties question that the Executive Branch can direct the detention and removal of aliens who engage in criminal activity in the United States,” wrote Rodriguez, who was nominated by Trump in 2018. But, the judge said, "the President’s invocation of the AEA through the Proclamation exceeds the scope of the statute and is contrary to the plain, ordinary meaning of the statute’s terms.”
In March, Trump issued a proclamation claiming that the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua was invading the U.S. He said he had special powers to deport immigrants, identified by his administration as gang members, without the usual court proceedings.
"The Court concludes that the President’s invocation of the AEA through the Proclamation exceeds the scope of the statute and, as a result, is unlawful,” Rodriguez wrote.
In an interview on Fox News, Vice President JD Vance said the administration will be “aggressively appealing” the ruling and others that hem in the president's deportation power.
“The judge doesn’t make that determination, whether the Alien Enemies Act can be deployed,” Vance said. “I think the president of the United States is the one who determines whether this country is being invaded.”
The chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Rep. Adriano Espaillat, D-N.Y., said in a statement the judge had made clear “what we all knew to be true: The Trump administration illegally used the Alien Enemies Act to deport people without due process.”
The Alien Enemies Act has only been used three times before in U.S. history, most recently during World War II, when it was cited to intern Japanese-Americans.
The proclamation triggered a flurry of litigation as the administration tried to ship migrants it claimed were gang members to a notorious prison in El Salvador.
Rodriguez’s ruling is significant because it is the first formal permanent injunction against the administration using the AEA and contends the president is misusing the law. "Congress never meant for this law to be used in this manner,” said Lee Gelernt, the ACLU lawyer who argued the case, in response to the ruling.
Rodriguez agreed, noting that the provision has only been used during the two World Wars and the War of 1812. Trump claimed Tren de Aragua was acting at the behest of the Venezuelan government, but Rodriguez found that the activities the administration accused it of did not amount to an invasion or “predatory incursion,” as the statute requires.
“The Proclamation makes no reference to and in no manner suggests that a threat exists of an organized, armed group of individuals entering the United States at the direction of Venezuela to conquer the country or assume control over a portion of the nation,” Rodriguez wrote. “Thus, the Proclamation’s language cannot be read as describing conduct that falls within the meaning of ‘invasion’ for purposes of the AEA.”
If the administration appeals, it would go first to the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. That is among the nation’s most conservative appeals courts and it also has ruled against what it saw as overreach on immigration matters by both the Obama and Biden administrations. In those cases, Democratic administrations had sought to make it easier for immigrants to remain in the U.S.
The administration, as it has in other cases challenging its expansive view of presidential power, could turn to appellate courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, in the form of an emergency motion for a stay pending an appeal.
The Supreme Court already has weighed in once on the issue of deportations under the AEA. The justices held that migrants alleged to be gang members must be given “reasonable time” to contest their removal from the country. The court has not specified the length of time.
It’s possible that the losing side in the 5th Circuit would file an emergency appeal with the justices that also would ask them to short-circuit lower court action in favor of a definitive ruling from the nation’s highest court. Such a decision likely would be months away, at least.
The Texas case is just one piece of a tangle of litigation sparked by Trump's proclamation.
The ACLU initially filed suit in the nation's capital to block deportations. U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg issued a temporary hold on removals and ordered the administration turn around planes that had left with detainees headed to El Salvador, a directive that was apparently ignored. Later, the Supreme Court weighed in.
The justices stepped in again late last month with an unusual postmidnight order halting deportations from North Texas, where the ACLU contended the administration was preparing for another round of flights to El Salvador.
Riccardi reported from Denver. Associated Press writers Lindsay Whitehurst and Mark Sherman contributed to this report.
The El Valle Detention Center in Raymondville, Texas is pictured, Thursday, May 1, 2025, after a federal judge in the district barred the Trump administration from deporting any Venezuelans at the south Texas detention center under the Alien Enemies Act, an 18th-century wartime law. (AP Photo/Valerie Gonzalez)
Detainees held at El Valle Detention Center in Raymondville, Texas are seen outside briefly, Thursday, May 1, 2025, after a federal judge in the district barred the Trump administration from deporting any Venezuelans from South Texas under the Alien Enemies Act, an 18th-century wartime law. (AP Photo/Valerie Gonzalez)
The El Valle Detention Center in Raymondville, Texas is pictured, Thursday, May 1, 2025, after a federal judge in the district barred the Trump administration from deporting any Venezuelans at the south Texas detention center under the Alien Enemies Act, an 18th-century wartime law. (AP Photo/Valerie Gonzalez)
The El Valle Detention Center in Raymondville, Texas is pictured, Thursday, May 1, 2025, after a federal judge in the district barred the Trump administration from deporting any Venezuelans at the south Texas detention center under the Alien Enemies Act, an 18th-century wartime law. (AP Photo/Valerie Gonzalez)
President Donald Trump arrives to speak during a National Day of Prayer event in the Rose Garden of the White House, Thursday, May 1, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
