Lionel Messi Skips FC Barcelona Training Despite Transfer U-Turn; Manchester City Beat Aston Villa 2-0 (Football Round-Up)
FC Barcelona players during training session on September 5. Lionel Messi was not part of the session.
Media reports stated Lionel Messi skiped FC Barcelona training on September 5 morning despite his transfer u-turn and decision to stay at the club.
On September 4, the Argentine footballer announced he has been forced to stay at the club. He further claimed that the president of Barcelona, Josep Maria Bartomeu broke his promise to let him leave.
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The training began at the Joan Gamper training complex at 07:30 GMT, was attended by other players including Jordi Alba and Philippe Coutinho. Messi was nowhere to be seen.
Messi had also missed the mandatory coronavirus test for Barcelona players intentionally last week.
Barcelona’s local media reports suggest that Messi will first need to clear the Covid-19 test to return to training, most likely on September 7.
City’s WSL season opener
Many errors in the beginning of the match punished Aston Villa, who stood their ground and showed signs of improvement and fight as the match progressed. Manchester City, however won the match 2-0, making the scoring opportunities that come their way count, in the Women’s Super League (WSL) opener.
Two spells of defensive communication error paved the way for Georgia Stanway to score twice for Manchester City in the frist half. Villa found the back of the net once, but the goal was flagged offside, adding to the misery.
After the first-half errors, Villa came back strongly in the second half. However the night belonged to City, who brought out a a class performance
Dutch Begin Post-Koeman Era
The Netherlands had a 1-0 win over Poland in the post-Koeman era with the approach used by their former coach in their Nations League Opener.
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Last month, Ronald Koeman left and joined FC Barcelona as manager. After the departure, his assistant, Dwight Lodeweges, assumed the role of the interim coach due to which the team did not go through much change.
“Ronald Koeman congratulated me by text. He thought we had a really good second half. So, thank you Ronald,” Lodeweges told Dutch television post the match.
The team is set to play against Italy in Amsterdam on Monday after which the process of appointing a new coach will begin by the Dutch football association (KNVB). However, sources at KNVB have stated that there will be no hurry in the replacement.
Touré Axed From Charity Match
Ivorian midfielder Yaya Touré will no longer participate in Soccer Aid, Unicef’s annual charity football match, after he allegedly posted a pornographic video in a WhatsApp group with other players and also offered to hire 19 sex workers for them.
According to the report, a series of complaints were made against Touré and on Friday he also faced criticism during breakfast with other players.
“Inappropriate content was shared in a private group text,” a spokesman for Soccer Aid said. “The message was quickly deleted and a full apology was made to all. Soccer Aid for Unicef has discussed the above with the individual involved and he has decided to no longer continue to participate in this year’s event.
“While it was an error of judgment, it was felt that the behaviour didn’t align with the values of the event and its cause, and it was the right thing for him to step back from this year’s match,” he added.
However, Touré tweeted an apology: “I would like to apologise to everyone involved in Soccer Aid for an inappropriate joke I deeply regret. It was meant as a joke, however, I lacked thorough consideration for the feelings of all the other participants, he said. “That being said I deleted the jokes within minutes and I immediately apologised to all inside the group.”
Fans Set to be Back in France
7,000 fans will be allowed in the stadium at the French football league second division match between Auxerre and Clermont next week.
The coronavirus restriction permits clubs to allow a total number of 5,000 spectators in the stadium unless they are given a special dispensation from their local authorities.
Auxerre was given dispensation from the authorities and will be seen with over 5,000 fans at the Stadium on September 12, making this the first game in France to allow so many spectators since the formation of the rule.
“The French league salutes the decision,” the LFP said in a statement Saturday.
While fans are allowed, they will still be expected to wear masks inside the stadium and follow the social distancing protocols.
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