Barcelona have denied what the club describes as “serious and unfounded accusations” of corruption after a former vice-president claimed someone “had put their hands in the till”.

Emili Rousaud was one of six board members to resign on Thursday night as Barca continue to be embroiled in political crisis under their current president Josep Maria Bartomeu.

All six resigning board members called for the 2021 presidential elections to be brought forward in a joint letter published on Friday by the newspaper La Vanguardia.

In an interview with Spanish radio station Cadena Ser, Rousaud discussed the social media controversy that rocked the club in February, when Barcelona were accused of hiring a company called I3 Ventures to discredit opponents of Bartomeu online, including players like Lionel Messi and Gerard Pique.

“If the auditors tell us the cost of these services is 100,000 euros and we have paid one million, it means someone has put their hand in the till. I have no evidence and I cannot say who,” Rousaud told the programme RAC1 on Friday.

Barcelona responded with an official statement that read: “In the light of the serious and unfounded accusations made this morning by Emili Rousaud, ex-vice president of the club, in different interviews with the media, FC Barcelona categorically denies any activity that can be described as corruption and therefore reserves the right to any legal action that may correspond.”

Bartomeu terminated the club’s contract with I3 Ventures in February. He said the company had been hired only to monitor posts on social media and announced an internal audit to investigate any irregularity.

“The analysis of the monitoring services of social networks is being subjected to an independent audit by PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC), which is still ongoing and, therefore, without any conclusions,” Barcelona’s statement added.

Rousaud had been appointed as a club vice-president in January and was seen as a leading candidate to succeed Bartomeu, who cannot stand again when the presidential elections come round next year.

Instead, Rousaud has quit, citing frustrations with the club’s management, along with fellow vice-president Enrique Tombas, as well as directors Silvio Elias, Josep Pont, Jordi Calsamiglia and Maria Teixidor.

Bartomeu has overseen a string of political spats in recent months being played out in public, with Messi also involved.

Messi reacted angrily in January to Eric Abidal, the club’s technical secretary, suggesting the players were to blame for the sacking of Ernesto Valverde and last month, the Argentinian criticised the club’s handling of negotiations with the squad over pay cuts.

Those remaining swiftly addressed the resignations from the board. “The resignations of the members of the board of directors announced over the last few hours have come about due to a reorganisation of the board put forward by president Josep Maria Bartomeu and which will be completed in the next few days,” the statement added.

Source: AFP

Bayern Munich have confirmed that players will return to training on Monday for the 1st time since the Bundesliga was suspended due to the coronavirus.

The Bavarians said in a statement that the training session will be held in coordination with government policy and the relevant authorities. It added that players will train in small groups and that all hygiene regulations will be strictly observed.

 The club also urged supporters to stay away from the training ground in order to further slow the spread of the deadly virus. Bayern’s return to training is in line with the German Football League’s policies.

 DFL had recommended that clubs should not train until the 5th of April. Germany’s top flight, which was initially halted on the 13th of March, will remain suspended until at least the 30th of April, with Bayern sitting atop, 4 points clear of Borussia Dortmund.

Source: Presstv

Germany’s biggest football stadium, Borussia Dortmund’s Signal-Iduna-Park, is to be partially transformed into a medical centre to help treat patients during the coronavirus pandemic, the German Bundesliga club announced Friday.

“Our stadium is a symbol of the city… its technical, infrastructural and spatial set-up make it the ideal place to help people who are potentially infected,” said club directors Hans-Joachim Watzke and Carsten Cramer in a statement.

Dortmund said they had transformed the north stand of the 81,000-capacity stadium — the one opposite the famous “Yellow Wall” — into a treatment centre in collaboration with a local medical association.

The centre will provide check-ups, issue prescription medicines and even offer initial treatment for those diagnosed with COVID-19.

It will be available only to those who are showing symptoms of the disease, and will be open daily from 12 noon to 4.00 pm.

“In this way, possible chains of infection can also be broken by avoiding contact to other patients, doctors and staff in the individual doctor’s surgeries,” the club said.

“It’s obviously strange at first to go to a football stadium when you have fever and breathing difficulties, but we actually do have optimal conditions here,” said Dirk Spelmeyer, chairman of the local Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KVWL).

He added that the stadium would relieve pressure on the other specialised coronavirus treatment centre in the north of the city.

The Signal-Iduna-Park is the second major European stadium to be used in the fight against the virus, after Spanish giants Real Madrid offered their Santiago Bernabeu — another 81,000-seater — to store medical equipment.

Source: AFP

UEFA has postponed this year’s European Championship until 2021, a source close to European football’s governing body told AFP on Tuesday, as the continent battles with the coronavirus pandemic.

The source’s confirmation of the decision came after the Norwegian FA tweeted that the new plan is for the tournament to take place from June 11 to July 11 next year, turning Euro 2020 into Euro 2021.

The decision was made as UEFA held crisis talks with its national associations as well as clubs and players bodies via videoconference on Tuesday. The decision was ratified at a UEFA Executive Committee meeting in the afternoon.

The move comes with most of Europe’s domestic leagues having ground to a halt over the last week as football confronts its biggest issue in modern times.

The UEFA Champions League and Europa League competitions for clubs have also been suspended, with both still in the last-16 stage, but postponing the European Championship for national sides means they, along with national leagues, will have the chance to be completed, assuming travel restrictions are lifted in time.

Europe has become the epicentre of the coronavirus pandemic, with France on Tuesday having joined Italy and Spain in applying strict lockdown measures and European leaders also planning to ban all non-essential travel into the continent.

More than 2,100 people have died in Italy, which was supposed to host the opening game of Euro 2020 in Rome. The head of the Italian football federation, Gabriele Gravina, had already led calls for the Euros to be postponed.

Euro 2020 was due to be held in 12 different cities across the continent, from as far apart as Dublin and Bilbao, to Saint Petersburg and Baku.

The semi-finals and final were due to be played in London and there would considerable knock-on effects to postponing the competition — the women’s European Championship is scheduled to run from July 7 to August 1 next year in England, with the final at Wembley.

UEFA have also planned to stage an Under-21 Euros in Hungary and Slovenia in June next year.

Twenty of the 24 teams set to take part in the Euro have already qualified, but play-offs to determine the final four participants, due to be played later this month, will have to take place at a later date.

– Collision course with FIFA? –

Moving the Euro by a year also puts UEFA on a collision course with football’s world governing body FIFA, whose president Gianni Infantino has planned to stage the inaugural edition of his highly lucrative Club World Cup in June and July next year in China. Some of Europe’s top club sides are expected to be involved.

“FIFA will keep in regular contact with all relevant stakeholders during this difficult period and look to find in due course solutions in a spirit of cooperation, taking into account the interests of football at all levels,” Infantino wrote in an open letter on Monday.

“Health first and sporting solidarity should be the key principles guiding decision-making at this important moment in time and I am sure that the whole football community will live up to the great values of our sport.”

– ‘Final Four’ proposal –

As for its flagship club competitions, UEFA may come to a decision to try to complete the Champions League and Europa League by curtailing the competitions, meaning ties up to the semi-finals could be decided in one-off matches.

Reports on Tuesday also indicated both tournaments could conclude with a ‘Final Four’ meeting in the scheduled host cities — Istanbul for the Champions League and Gdansk in Poland for the Europa League, meaning the two-legged semi-finals would be removed.

Financially, UEFA will undoubtedly prefer postponements to outright cancellations, or playing matches behind closed doors, even if it is impossible at this stage to know when club football can resume.

The last European Championship, held in France in 2016, generated total revenue of close to two billion euros ($2.2 billion) for UEFA.

“The financial stakes are enormous,” according to one senior figure in the international game. “We know that FIFA has significant reserves but we don’t know about UEFA or the different leagues.”

Source:  AFP

Juventus defender Daniele Rugani, the first Italian top-flight footballer diagnosed with coronavirus, said on Monday he was “doing well” and hoped his case “served to sensitise everyone” to the illness.

“I’m fine, I reassure everyone. I’ve always been quite well, I haven’t had any serious symptoms. I consider myself lucky,” Rugani told Juventus TV.

The 25-year-old Italian international was diagnosed last Wednesday with the Turin club saying he was asymptomatic.

Since then a total of 11 Serie A players have being diagnosed with the illness which has killed more than 1,800 people in the Mediterranean country.

“There was a huge media explosion right away. A lot of people wrote to me and I thank them,” said Rugani, who is currently self-isolating in a room at the team’s J-Hotel, beside the Italian champions’ training centre.

“I hope it served to raise awareness, especially those who had not understood the seriousness of this problem.

“I’m going to get over it, we’re going to get by and I hope we’ll all come out even stronger.

“The quarantine is tough, even more so because you are alone, so I can’t wait to embrace all my loved ones.”

Source:  AFP

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