Day: December 17, 2021

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UEFA to repeat Champions League draw after shocking error (VIDEO)

UEFA will repeat the draw for the Champions League last 16 after a mistake involving Manchester United, who ended up being paired with French giants Paris Saint-Germain.

The initial draw in Switzerland on Monday, which was conducted in part by Russian icon Andrey Arshavin, had appeared to set up a mouthwatering chapter in the never-ending Messi versus Ronaldo saga – but football fans look set to miss out on seeing the two dominant forces in world football renew their rivalry after UEFA made the call to repeat the entire draw following protests from several of the involved teams.

“Following a technical problem with the software of an external service provider that instructs the officials as to which teams are eligible to play each other, a material error occurred in the draw for the UEFA Champions League Round of 16,” said UEFA in a statement. 

“As a result of this, the draw has been declared void and will be entirely redone at 15:00 CET (14:00 GMT).”

The events which led to the decision occurred as such: Manchester United were initially drawn alongside La Liga outfit Villarreal, but UEFA rules dictate that teams who played one another in the group stage cannot meet in the round of 16 – with that tie going instead to Manchester City moments later.

But then came the moment which has caused controversy. Atletico Madrid were were drawn from the unseeded bowl – but Manchester United’s ball did not seem to be placed back into the pot, meaning that it was impossible for them to have been drawn against Atletico.

That effectively meant not all of the teams in the pot had the equal opportunity to be drawn against other eligible teams. 

United’s ire was compounded moments later when they were handed a tricky tie against Lionel Messi and Paris Saint-Germain, and due to the ensuing drama speculation quickly rose that the draw may be repeated – something which was later confirmed by UEFA.

According to ESPN’s Alex Shaw, Atletico Madrid discussed the situation with UEFA, with European football’s governing body debating internally if the draw could proceed as it stands – with the formal decision for a do-over coming soon after.

The decision is sure to have caused consternation for at least some of the teams within the draw. Per reporter Guillem Balague, Villarreal (who were drawn against Man City) had petitioned UEFA for a full redraw while Real Madrid, who were paired with Benfica, had asked for any redraw to begin after their ball was picked.

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Russia icon Arshavin blamed after Champions League draw fiasco

UEFA has been forced to order a re-run of the draw for this season’s Champions League last 16 after a botched ceremony in Switzerland – and some fans pointed the finger at Russian legend Andrey Arshavin.

Monday’s draw at UEFA HQ in Nyon appeared to throw up some intriguing ties – not least Manchester United and Cristiano Ronaldo being paired with Lionel Messi’s PSG.

But the dust had yet to settle before fans and pundits were crying foul across social media about an apparent error in the draw procedure.

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The UEFA Champions League draw caused controversy. © Twitter
UEFA to repeat Champions League draw after shocking error (VIDEO)

The mistake centered on Manchester United, who were initially placed with Villarreal.

However, as the two teams met in the group stage, they were not eligible to face each other in the last 16.

Manchester City were then drawn to play Villarreal instead, with Atletico Madrid next popping up.

The problem, though, was that Manchester United had not been returned to the pot of eligible teams to play Atletico, when in reality they should have been. 

Instead, United ended up appearing in the last tie of the draw against French giants PSG.

Explaining the error, UEFA laid the blame at the door of an external software provider while announcing a re-run for later on Monday.

“Following a technical problem with the software of an external service provider that instructs the officials as to which teams are eligible to play each other, a material error occurred in the draw for the UEFA Champions League Round of 16,” said the governing body.

However, that didn’t stop some fans and pundits poking fun at former Russian international Arshavin, who had been on hand to help conduct proceedings.

Some accused the former Arsenal and Zenit star of being at fault, even though he was one of several figures involved.

Arshavin, 40, was at the draw as a representative of St. Petersburg, where this season’s final will be held.

“People love football [in St. Petersburg], it’s a big event for our city, everyone dreams of holding such a big event,” Arshavin had said of his hometown, which hosts the final at the Gazprom Arena on May 28. 

Arshavin also revealed that his fondest Champions League memory as player had been scoring a late winner for Arsenal in their 2011 last-16 first-leg win over Barcelona.

Even after his retirement, Arshavin continues to make new memories for the tournament – albeit in ways not previously imagined.  

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Take two: Messi & PSG handed tough assignment in repeated Champions League draw

Defending champions Chelsea were again handed a meeting with French team Lille in a re-run of the Champions League last 16 draw in Switzerland, which also produced a clash between Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain.

The ceremony had initially taken place earlier on Monday but an error involving Manchester United meant that UEFA ordered the draw to be repeated.

READ MORE: UEFA to repeat Champions League draw after shocking error (VIDEO)

The second time around, defending champions Chelsea were placed with French team Lille – exactly the same tie as they had been given in the voided first draw.

Elsewhere, Manchester United, who had originally been paired with Paris Saint-Germain, were given a tie against Atletico Madrid in the repeated draw.

PSG and Lionel Messi were given a blockbuster meeting with record 13-time Champions League winners Real Madrid.  

FULL CHAMPIONS LEAGUE LAST 16 DRAW

  • FC Salzburg (Austria) vs Bayern Munich (Germany)
  • Sporting Lisbon (Portugal) vs Manchester City (England)
  • Benfica (Portugal) vs Ajax (Netherlands)
  • Chelsea (England) vs Lille (France)
  • Atletico Madrid (Spain) vs Manchester United (England)  
  • Villarreal (Spain) vs Juventus (Italy)
  • Inter Milan (Italy) vs Liverpool (England)
  • Paris Saint-Germain (France) vs Real Madrid

The ties will take place across two legs, the first of which will be spread across February 15, 16, 22 and 23. The return legs will be played on March 8, 9, 15 and 16.

The seeded teams (all group winners) will be away for the first legs and play the second legs at home.

A rule change for the knockout stages means that the away-goals rule is no longer in force. Any ties that are level after 180 minutes across two legs will go to extra-time and then potentially penalties.  

This season’s Champions League final will be held in St. Petersburg on May 28 at the 68,000-seater Gazprom Arena, which is home to Russian champions Zenit.

Gazprom Arena will be the venue for the final. © AFP



Having initially been paired with Benfica in the first draw on Monday, Real Madrid will likely be the most aggrieved with the revised version as they will now play a star-studded PSG containing former Barcelona nemesis Messi.

Instead of having to contend with Messi and Co, Cristiano Ronaldo and his Manchester United teammates will play Diego Simeone’s Atletico.

Elsewhere, last season’s beaten finalists Manchester City will be favored to overcome Sporting Lisbon, while German giants Bayern will also be strongly fancied to steamroll Austrian rivals Salzburg. 

Six-time winners Liverpool emerged from their group stage campaign with six wins from six, and will be tipped to overcome Serie A champions Inter Milan.  

WHAT HAPPENED IN THE FIRST DRAW? 

In remarkable scenes earlier on Monday at UEFA HQ in Nyon, football bosses had declared the first draw of the day null and void.

The controversy surrounding the placement of Manchester United for their tie. 

The Old Trafford club were initially placed with Spanish team Villarreal.

However, as the two had already met in the group stage, they were not eligible to face each other in the last 16.

Manchester City were then drawn to play Villarreal instead, with Atletico Madrid next appearing. 

The problem was that Manchester United had not been returned to the pot of eligible teams to play Atletico, when in reality they should have been. 

Instead, United only came up in the last tie of the draw against French giants PSG.

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Andrey Arshavin found himself at the center of the storm. © Reuters
Russia icon Arshavin blamed after Champions League draw fiasco

Explaining the error, UEFA later laid the blame at the door of an external software provider.

“Following a technical problem with the software of an external service provider that instructs the officials as to which teams are eligible to play each other, a material error occurred in the draw for the UEFA Champions League Round of 16,” said the governing body.

Monday’s re-run will leave some teams happier with their lot, but others – most notably Real Madrid – appear to be much worse off than they were. 

There were reports that Real had tried to convince UEFA to keep their original draw with Benfica intact before the re-run, as the mistake with Manchester United had only come afterwards. 

In the end, the Bernabeu giants were included in the repeated draw and appear to have a much trickier assignment on their hands against Mauricio Pochettino’s PSG come February and March. 

  

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Ukrainian boxing great accused of lacking patriotism with flag gesture

Former world heavyweight boxing champion Wladimir Klitschko has angrily called out fellow Ukrainian ring star Vasiliy Lomachenko for not posing with the country’s flag after his victory in New York at the weekend.

Lomachenko earned a unanimous decision victory over Ghana’s Richard Commey in their lightweight WBO inter-continental title fight at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night, putting in an impressive performance which on several occasions included the Ukrainian imploring his rival’s corner to step in and prevent more damage for their man. 

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Vasiliy Lomachenko comprehensively defeated Richard Commey. © Twitter
‘Classy’ or ‘disrespectful’? Ukraine legend Lomachenko splits opinion with ring gestures (VIDEO)

The display from ‘Loma’ earned widespread praise – but one gesture by the boxer after the fight did not go down well with some of his countrymen.

As he celebrated, Lomachenko was seen posing with the flag of his hometown of Belgorod-Dnestrovskiy draped across his shoulders, rather than that of Ukraine.   

That drew an angry tweet (in English) from former heavyweight king Klitschko.

“Wikipedia: ‘Patriotism or national pride is the feeling of love, devotion and sense of attachment to a homeland. The sentiment is a shared oneness among the people.’ [Vasiliy Lomachenko] won, congrats, but did he represent the Country with his NON use of the Country’s flag? WFT,” tweeted the retired 45-year-old.

Despite winning two Olympic gold medals for Ukraine and flying the flag on previous occasions, it’s not the first time Lomachenko has been accused of a lack of patriotism.

For some in his homeland, Lomachenko is the wrong kind of Orthodox Christian as he follows a branch of the religion which remains loyal to the Moscow Patriarchate, rather than Kiev.

The boxer 33, caused outrage last year when he shared a religious video on Instagram which appeared to feature Russian special forces.

Fellow Ukrainian boxing great Oleksandr Usyk has faced similar slurs over his religious affiliations and refusal to comment on the status of Crimea.

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Flying the flag: Ukraine's Oleksandr Usyk meets Anthony Joshua in a highly anticipated heavyweight title fight. © AP / Instagram @usykaa
Usyk will fly the flag for Ukraine against Joshua – politics & religion mean getting full support in return is a different matter

Last year, both boxers appeared in a religious film, ‘Hello, Brother! Christ has risen!’, in which they spoke about the importance of their beliefs.

Lomachenko emphasized that he considers Ukrainians, Russians and Belarusians as one and the same people.

The pair were hit with a backlash, being added to the infamous ‘Myrotvorets’ list in Ukraine of supposed ‘enemies of the state’.

But after the latest accusations leveled at Lomachenko, some accused Klitschko of hypocrisy.

“You and your brother fought once each in the Ukraine in 116 fights, I wouldn’t call that a sense of devotion or attachment either,” read one reply.

“Great champ [Klitschko], but no one cares about your politics,” wrote another. “Nobody is obligated to wear any flags and nobody is obligated to display any ‘patriotism’.”

“For a guy with PhD you shouldn’t be referencing Wikipedia my friend,” joked another.

“The flag he is carrying is that of his hometown!” said another fan in defense of Lomachenko.

“Nothing pro-Russia about it. I think Lom got tired of getting sh*t on by certain political forces in the Ukraine [sic] and this was his way to troll them and say he doesn’t give a sh*t anymore,” argued another.

“The greatest boxer of all time, Klitschko, the brother of the patriot who destroyed Kiev, decided to use English to talk about patriotism,” scorned Ukrainian journalist Anatoliy Shariy, referring to Wladimir Klitschko’s politician brother, Vitali.  

Others defended Klitschko, with one person writing: “It would be different if it was an American fighting in America represented by his city’s flag. And not like anyone knew what flag it was, so why not represent your national flag? Loma isn’t a patriot and there’s been many examples to support this.”

Political squabbles aside, Lomachenko still harbors hopes of unifying all four major titles at lightweight – potentially starting with Australian champion George Kambosos Jr, who holds the WBA (super), IBF, WBO and The Ring belts after his shock victory over Teofimo Lopez last month.

“I will go anywhere I need to go to fight him,” Lomachenko said. “I need this chance. And if God gives me this chance, I’ll take it.”

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Manchester United shut down training after Covid outbreak

Manchester United have temporarily halted first-team operations at their training base as the club grapples with an outbreak of Covid-19. The team’s Premier League meeting with Brentford on Tuesday could be canceled.

“Manchester United can confirm that following PCR test confirmation of yesterday’s positive LFT Covid-19 cases among the first team staff and players, the decision has been taken to close down first team operations at the Carrington Training Complex for 24 hours, to minimise risk of any further infection,” the club said in a statement.

The Old Trafford giants did not name those who had tested positive, but said they were “isolating per Premier League protocols.”

“Given cancellation of training and disruption to the squad, and with the health of players and staff the priority, the Club is in discussion with the Premier League whether it is safe for Tuesday’s fixture against Brentford to continue, both from a Covid infection and player preparation perspective,” it added.

“Team and staff travel to London will be deferred pending the result of that discussion.”

Reports emerged on Sunday that United were facing a spate of Covid cases just hours after their Premier League game at Norwich, where they earned a 1-0 win thanks to a Cristiano Ronaldo penalty.

They are not the only Premier League club to be affected by the virus as teams approach a traditionally congested fixture list during the festive period.

Tottenham Hotspur were forced to cancel their UEFA Europa Conference League match with Rennes last week after an outbreak in the Spurs squad.

Manager Antonio Conte confirmed 13 positive cases at the club, including eight players and the rest among staff.

The result of that match is now in the hands of UEFA after it was deemed unfeasible to find a date for the rescheduled game.  

Rennes are expected to be awarded a 3-0 win, meaning Spurs exit the competition, although both teams were in the draw for the knockout stages on Monday while the matter is resolved.  

Tottenham’s Premier League fixture with Brighton scheduled for last Sunday was also postponed.