Mowing the lawn, playing football with your dog, turning on the TV… footballers around Europe are struggling to fill the “big void” created by the coronavirus shutdown.

Many are writing about the unfamiliar experience on social media. Some have already come to the conclusion that “there is nothing to do”.

Real Madrid players, forced into quarantine by a case of coronavirus in the club’s basketball squad, have been training at home, where most of them already had facilities and equipment.

Captain Sergio Ramos posted a video on Instagram showing him sprinting on a treadmill.

Marco Asensio, who suffered a knee injury last summer, posted a video showing that he was continuing his recovery programme in his garden.

But even for sportsmen used to working out, there is a limit.

“I’m here, in my garden, there’s nothing to do,” French striker Karim Benzema said in a video on social media where he appeared alongside his dog, earning him a comparison with Will Smith in the post-apocalyptic film “I am legend”.

Fabien Causeur, a Real Madrid basketball guard, has launched a live video channel to show his quarantine challenge.

He has been taking on athletes and celebrities in three-minute simultaneous excercise including Thibaut Courtois, the Real Madrid goalkeeper, and NBA star and former Real Madrid teammate Luka Doncic.

At Barcelona, players are following a “specific and personalised” programme set by the club which is monitoring their efforts remotely using biometric tags.

Luis Suarez had been a step ahead of Ramos, posting a video of himself trudging on a treadmill last week.

In Italy, Juventus midfielder Douglas Costa filmed himself practising his dribbling in his back garden with his dog struggling to fill the role of defender.

– Chopped wood –

Alexis Sanchez, on loan to Inter Milan, has two golden retrievers and a much bigger garden but he comfortably outplayed them in a video he put up online. He also posted photos of himself topless, gathering chopped wood.

Jessica Melena, the wife of Ciro Immobile posted a cookery video on Instagram, showing the Lazio striker waving a spatula and mixing a cake while she coached him.

Immobile posted his own video in which he juggled furry toys with his feet.

Napoli’s Belgian forward Dries Mertens posted pictures of a work out with a huge bottle of red wine.

In France, Strasbourg midfielder Adrien Thomasson, was looking ahead to another empty week.

“We’ll have nothing to do, in the middle of the season, it’s never happened before. Our habits have been turned upside down,” he said.

Thomasson is a ski fan but as other sports are also at a standstill that leaves a “big void” for this ski lover.

“I’m going to watch series, movies, it’s going to be really limited.”

Television is also the refuge for James Lea Siliki, a Rennes midfielder, who tweeted the times of a couple of French quiz shows. Later he admitted a passion for a French TV karaoke show adding “I’ll spare you my voice”.

Romain Thomas, a defender at Angers, said his daily routine involved jogging, gardening and watching French reality TV.

He said he has talked to team-mates.

“We said to each other: ‘Look, it’s a beautiful day, it’s time to mow’. So I mowed the lawn in the garden, it gives me time to think about something else.”

Source:  AFP

Four footballers from Sampdoria and one at Fiorentina have tested positive for coronavirus, the Italian clubs said on Friday.

Gambia defender Omar Colley, Sweden midfielder Albin Ekdal, Norway playmaker Morten Thorsby and former Italy Under-21 forward Antonio La Gumina as well as team-mate Manolo Gabbiadini are suffering from COVID-19.

“The state of their health is good and they are at home in Genoa,” a statement said.

Former Southampton striker Gabbiadani’s case was confirmed by the outfit on Thursday for the virus.

Club doctor Amedeo Baldari has also tested positive.

Fiorentina’s Serbia forward Dusan Vlahovic was the fifth player case to be confirmed on Friday.

Juventus’ Daniele Rugani is the other instance in the Italian top-flight but the defender posted on Instagram on Wednesday saying he was “fine”.

Serie A as well as all sport in Italy has been suspended until April 3 and earlier on Thursday the country, the most affected by the virus in Europe, recorded its highest one-day death toll yet of 250.

Source:  AFP

Holders Liverpool crashed out of the Champions League in the last 16 after Atletico Madrid scored three goals in extra time to earn a shock 3-2 victory at Anfield on Wednesday that sent them through 4-2 on aggregate.

After falling 2-0 down on the night, substitute Marcos Llorente struck twice in extra time and Alvaro Morata added a late third to ensure a famous victory for Diego Simeone’s side against a Liverpool team unbeaten in their last 25 home games in European competition.

Premier League leaders Liverpool enjoyed the greater possession, created more chances, drew a series of saves from Atletico keeper Jan Oblak and scored through Georginino Wijnaldum and Roberto Firmino.

Yet after last season’s memorable comeback by Liverpool against Barcelona in the semi-finals, it was the Spaniards who turned the tables this time.

Simeone’s Atletico are famed for their defensive solidity and their superb organisation and those qualities were on full display, but it was their clinical finishing and remarkable spirit that proved the key elements.

“We don’t know where our limit is,” said Llorente who had only scored once for Atletico before this game.

“We all defended until the death and when a team all digs in like this, things like this happen. I cannot describe this feeling,” he said.

Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp was not impressed with Atletico’s approach, however.

“I don’t understand with the quality they have the football they play. They could play proper football but they stand deep and have counter attacks,” said the German.

“We accept it of course but it doesn’t feel right tonight,” he said.

After allowing an early chance for Diego Costa, which the former Chelsea forward drove into the side-netting, Liverpool, trailing 1-0 from the first leg, laid siege to the Atletico goal.

They powered forward in waves of attacks but Atletico were resilient with central defenders Stefan Savic and Felipe foiling everything Klopp’s side threw at them.

The home team broke through two minutes before halftime when Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain burst to the byline and pulled back a cross to Wijnaldum who powered an angled header into the bottom corner.

Little change

There was little change to the pattern of the game after the interval with Liverpool peppering Oblak’s goal but the Slovenian proved himself up to the task, denying efforts from Mohamed Salah, Firmino and Sadio Mane while Andy Robertson headed against the bar.

Atletico thought they had grabbed a stoppage-time winner when Saul Niguez headed in a Renan Lodi cross but the effort was rightly flagged for offside, ensuring the game went to extra time.

It took just four minutes for Liverpool to take the lead in the tie with Firmino heading against the post and driving home the loose ball as Anfield got ready for a night of celebration.

Yet then it all went wrong for Klopp’s side.

Goalkeeper Adrian, standing in for the injured Alisson Becker, passed the ball out straight to Joao Felix who fed Llorente and the substitute punished the Spanish keeper with a precise shot into the far corner.

Llorente produced a carbon-copy finish following good work on the counter from Morata to end Liverpool’s hopes of defending their European crown.

Morata put the icing on the cake in the final moments with a cool finish after Liverpool had thrown all their players forward.

The pain of this exit will surely ease for Liverpool, who are 25 points clear in the Premier League and will soon win their first domestic league title for 30 years.

But for Atletico, who have never won Europe’s premier club competition, this was a triumph which will have them dreaming of even greater things.

“This will go down in our history,” said Simeone.

“It fills us with pride as a club, to be once more one of the top eight clubs in Europe.”

(REUTERS)

Manchester City’s Premier League home match against Arsenal, which was scheduled for tonight, has been postponed, due to concerns over the coronavirus.

The decision to postpone the game has been taken after it emerged that some personnel from Arsenal have come into contact with the olympiacos owner, Evangelos Marinakis, who has been diagnosed with the coronavirus.

A number of players from Arsenal’s squad had met the 52 year old, following their Europa League meeting in London on February 27th.

Arsenal said the risk to their players was extremely low, but they would follow the medical guidelines, which recommend anyone coming into close contact with someone with the virus should self-isolate at home for 14 days.

The match against Arsenal was going to be the 1st time Pep Guardiola would have faced his former assistant, Mikel Arteta, who moved from City to the Gunners in December.

It’s also the 1st Premier League match that’s been called-off due to the coronavirus, but, for the moment, there have been no plans for any further postponements.

Source: Presstv

A second division footballer was on Wednesday the first player to test positive for coronavirus in Germany as RB Leipzig became the last Bundesliga side to annouce that they would hold their weekend match behind closed doors.

Hanover 96 revealed that defender Timo Huebers had tested positive for COVID-19, saying in a statement that they insisted that no further infections were expected, as Huebers had avoided contact with his colleagues.

Their full squad and training staff were however being tested as a precaution.

“As soon as he found out that someone with whom he had been at an event was tested positive, Timo went straight to the doctor and put himself into isolation,” said Hanover’s sporting director Gerhard Zuber.

Leipzig’s announcement that their clash with Freiburg would be closed to fans comes after similar announcements involving title rivals Bayern Munich and Borussia Moenchengladbach earlier on Wednesday.

“Despite very few infected people in the Leipzig area, we want to minimise the health risk,” said sporting director Oliver Mintzlaff in a statement.

Leipzig allowed fans to attend their Champions League victory over Tottenham on Tuesday night, even after authorities elsewhere in the country ordered stadium closures.

As the number of confirmed infections in Germany continues to rise, federal states in the country are taking measures to cancel public events and slow the spread of the virus.

On Sunday, German health minister Jens Spahn called for all events with more than 1,000 people to be cancelled “until further notice”.

But the decision to close stadium doors rests ultimately with regional authorities and is made on a case-by-case basis.

Fans will also be absent for Bayern Munich’s visit to Union Berlin on Saturday, after officials in the German capital ordered the club to close its doors on Wednesday.

Elsewhere, Eintracht Frankfurt announced Wednesday that they would play their Bundesliga home clash with Borussia Moenchengladbach on Sunday without fans.

Yet in a joint press conference with city health officials, the club also said that the stadium would remain open for Thursday’s Europa League clash with Swiss side Basel.

Moenchengladbach’s home ground is in North Rhine-Westphalia state, where the biggest number of coronavirus infections in Germany have been reported.

Of 1,296 infections across the country, 484 were registered in the state, which is Germany’s most populous.

Other games affected in North-Rhine Westphalia this week include the Ruhr derby between Borussia Dortmund and Schalke and the Rhine derby between Moenchengladbach and Cologne.

The latter game, scheduled for Wednesday night, will be the first in the history of the German league to be played without fans.

Source:  AFP

RB Leipzig’s Marcel Sabitzer scored two early goals as they eased past last year’s finalists Tottenham Hotspur 3-0 in their Champions League last 16 second leg on Tuesday to reach their first quarter-finals by 4-0 on aggregate.

Sabitzer fired the German side in front with a low shot from about 20 metres after 10 minutes and they never looked back, pinning the visitors, who were without injured strikers Harry Kane and Son Heung-min, in their own half.

Leipzig’s captain was given far too much space in the 21st to head home Angelino’s cross at the near post after Serge Aurier’s poor clearance, as the Spurs’ players heads started to drop. Emil Forsberg completed the win with a third in the 87th.

Injury-ravaged Tottenham, who were also missing winger Steven Bergwijn and full back Ben Davies, struggled to keep up with Leipzig’s pace and were constantly exposed at the back while posing no threat up front.

Jose Mourinho’s team, without a win in any competition since their 1-0 first-leg defeat by Leipzig in London last month, did manage a shot on goal through Giovani Lo Celso late in the first half but the absence of Kane and Son proved costly.

(REUTERS)

Paris Saint-Germain are sweating on the fitness of star striker Kylian Mbappe who has picked up a throat infection ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League last-16 return-leg against Dortmund.

The French World Cup star missed team training Monday and Tuesday and was reported to have a sore throat, with his club needing to overturn a 2-1 deficit from their first leg defeat in Germany two weeks ago.

Mbappe has scored six goals in his last three PSG matches.

At Monday’s training session Argentine forward Angel Di Maria was observed passing the ball around with Neymar. Spanish forward Pablo Sarabia is also a likely inclusion should Mbappe miss the game.

PSG lost 2-1 to an Erling Haaland-inspired Dortmund before a crowd of 80,000 in Germany last month, with the return-leg to be played in an empty Parc des Prices stadium due to the coronavirus.

Source:  AFP

Kylian Mbappé hit a hat-trick as Paris Saint-Germain cruised into the final of the French Cup with a thumping 5-1 win at Lyon on Wednesday.

The World Cup winner took his goal tally in all competitions to 30 during a win that was eased by Fernando Marcal being sent off just before Neymar put the French champions ahead in the 64th minute from the penalty spot.

Lyon’s defeat ends a five-match unbeaten run that included an impressive 1-0 win over Juventus in the Champions League and the weekend’s triumph over local rivals Saint-Etienne.

“It was a solid, serious display full of concentration,” said PSG coach Thomas Tuchel.

“After the Dortmund match (lost 2-1 in Germany), Mbappé has responded brilliantly. He uses his speed so intelligently … he is in good form.”

Mbappé equalised for the away side with a simple tap-in just three minutes after Martin Terrier had given the raucous home fans hope with a neat 11th-minute opener.

The 21-year-old was also key to PSG taking the lead in the 64th minute from the penalty spot.

Collecting the ball out on the left wing, he casually saw off two Lyon defenders before floating over a cross to fellow forward Edinson Cavani, who controlled the ball only for Marcal to then handle before the Uruguay striker could let his shot go.

Neymar slotted home the subsequent spot-kick after confirmation of the handball by VAR, while Marcal had to leave the field after being handed his second red card.

“I prefer to say nothing about the penalty,” said Lyon boss Rudi Garcia, whose side face PSG in the League Cup final next month.

“When you are 10 against 11 playing such a strong team it’s no longer a contest.”

Mbappe made sure of the Parisian’s visit to the Stade de France next month with a superb solo effort with 20 minutes left, embarrassing Bruno Guimaraes and Marcelo before calmly slotting past Anthony Lopes.

Pablo Sarabia added a fourth with a stinging low strike 11 minutes later, and Mbappé completed his hat-trick in stoppage time, tapping home Neymar’s cross after good work on the left from the world’s most expensive footballer.

Saint-Etienne and Rennes meet in the second semi-final on Thursday.

(AFP)

Lionel Messi is the “greatest” footballer of all time, ahead of even Diego Maradona, Napoli coach Gennaro Gattuso said on Monday ahead of his side’s Champions League clash with Barcelona.

The 32-year-old Messi scored four goals at the weekend in Barcelona’s 5-0 win over Eibar and has now been involved in more than 1,000 goals in his career, scoring 696 and assisting another 306.

Gattuso was quick to praise Messi, comparing the Barca star to Napoli legend Maradona.

“He’s the greatest and an example for everyone,” said Gattuso ahead of the sides’ last-16 first leg on Tuesday.

“He never says anything inappropriate. He does things that only exist on the Playstation, unthinkable things.

“But I saw him (Maradona) on VHS, or DVD. I never saw him up close, at a stadium.

“I know the champion he was and I know I missed something wonderful. I regret it. Today I see Messi doing things that Maradona was doing.”

Napoli captain Lorenzo Insigne was not so keen to accept that Messi has reached greater heights than 1986 World Cup winner Maradona.

“Messi is the best in the world today,” said Insigne. “But for us Neapolitans, Maradona is everything and I don’t want to compare them. Maradona is sacred.”

But Insigne and Gattuso agreed that their team have to be careful not to focus only on trying to stop Messi.

“We have to be careful with their whole team, because it’s not just Messi,” said Gattuso.

Napoli are enjoying a recent upturn in form after a dreadful start to the Serie A season which culminated in the sacking of Carlo Ancelotti following a 4-0 win over Genk that sent them into the Champions League knockout stage.

Last season’s Serie A runners-up have won six of their last seven games.

“Tomorrow (Tuesday), I want a Napoli side that are not afraid,” added Gattuso.

“I want to see a team that knows how to battle… You need to stand up to Barcelona — you can’t worry.

“I want to see a lively team that plays with joy until the end. Can Napoli win the Champions League? Never say never.”

It is the first time Napoli have reached the knockout rounds since a last-16 loss to Real Madrid in 2017, while Barcelona are bidding to make the quarter-finals for a 13th consecutive season.

Source:  AFP

Gabriel Jesus struck to give Manchester City a 1-0 win at Leicester City on Saturday, strengthening their hold on second place behind champions-in-waiting Liverpool.

Pep Guardiola’s men have endured a turbulent week after they were banned from European club competitions for two years for breaches of financial fair play rules.

But a second-half winner from substitute Jesus after Sergio Aguero had failed to convert a penalty put them 17 points clear of fifth-placed Tottenham.

City, who still trail Liverpool by 19 points, bossed possession in a lively opening spell at the King Power Stadium but Leicester should have taken an early lead when Jamie Vardy was put through.

The pacy forward, who has not scored since December after an electric spell, was preparing to celebrate but saw the ball rebound agonisingly off the base of the post to safety.

A minute later, former Leicester favourite Riyad Mahrez went close, striking a left-footed shot from outside the box that was palmed away by Kasper Schmeichel.

Ilkay Gundogan had a chance after being played in by Aguero but he scuffed his shot from close range.

James Maddison tested Ederson with a free-kick in the 37th minute and minutes later played in Kelechi Iheanacho, who was floored in a collision with Ederson.

Aguero had the ball in the net on the stroke of half-time but the goal was ruled out for off-side.

Both sides maintained their intensity after the break and Schmeichel produced a fine save, diving down to his right, to save keep out a Kevin De Bruyne shot.

Defender Aymeric Laporte was replaced by Nicolas Otamendi in the 58th minute, sparking concern ahead of City’s midweek Champions League clash against Real Madrid.

– Penalty saved –

The decisive moment appeared to come just after the hour mark when Manchester City were awarded a penalty after a VAR check confirmed that Leicester’s Dennis Praet had handled the ball in the area.

Aguero blasted the ball down the middle but Schmeichel kept it out with his legs, moments later denying the Argentine hitman with his left foot.

Guardiola replaced Aguero with Jesus with less than a quarter of an hour to go and the change paid quick dividends as the Brazilian stretched to put the ball past the diving Schmeichel after an assist from Mahrez.

City, who could win their third consecutive League Cup next weekend when they face Aston Villa at Wembley, are appealing their UEFA ban at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Leicester, have won just one out of their past Premier League matches after a fine start to the season and will be glancing nervously over their shoulder at Chelsea, now just six points adrift after their 2-1 win over Tottenham.

Source:  AFP