A round-up of today's other stories in brief
Anti-racism doing little, says Barnes
FORMER LIVERPOOL and England winger John Barnes claims football’s anti-racism initiatives are doing little to rid the problem from wider society.
And Barnes believes that until the country tackles its underlying issues on the subject, football’s measures can only be superficial in the long run.
Racism has been high on the agenda throughout the season, most notably because of high-profile race rows involving Liverpool striker Luis Suarez and Chelsea captain John Terry.
Barnes, speaking at the Soccerex forum in Manchester yesterday, said: “As far as racism in football goes, until we get rid of racism in society, it will always be in football.
“We are looking at it the wrong way round, we have to cut it from society.
“All the legislation has been passed to sanction clubs or give life bans, fining, whatever; stealing has been illegal for years and people still steal. That is not going to get rid of racism.”
Student who mocked Muamba may be released
A STUDENT jailed for mocking footballer Fabrice Muamba on Twitter after a near fatal heart attack could be released as early as today.
A handcuffed Liam Stacey (21) was taken away in tears on Tuesday after being jailed for 56 days for admitting inciting racial hatred.
A High Court judge in Swansea, south Wales, will today hear an appeal against his sentence which, if successful, could win his immediate release.
Support for Stacey’s jail sentence was widespread on the day it was handed down, and widely debated on Twitter. But a significant minority criticised his punishment and claimed it was politically motivated to make an example of him.
Villas-Boas had plans to move Cech on in summer
ANDRE VILLAS-BOAS'S sacking at Chelsea may have saved Petr Cech's career at Stamford Bridge after it emerged the goalkeeper was among the players the Portuguese manager wanted to move on in a summer of rebuilding in which Edinson Cavani and Hulk were his top targets, writes Daniel Taylor.
Three weeks after the brief and turbulent Villas-Boas era ended, the full extent of his rebuilding plans demonstrates how determined he was to break up the old guard.
Villas-Boas was not only determined to sever his ties with Frank Lampard and Michael Essien, as well as Didier Drogba, Paulo Ferreira, Salomon Kalou and Florent Malouda, but was not convinced by Cech’s performances and had talked to Roman Abramovich about selling the man who once had legitimate claims to be recognised as the best goalkeeper in the world. Sporting Lisbon’s Rui Patricio was one possible replacement.
Bilbao on track for last four after away win at Schalke
ATHLETIC BILBAO, fresh from their elimination of Manchester United in the previous round, showed their resilience in Germany last night, coming back from 2-1 down to beat Schalke 4-2 in their quarter-final, first leg.
After Fernando Llorrente gave them the lead, Schalke’s veteran Raul scored twice but goals from Llorente again, Oscar De Marcos and Iker Muniain put Bilbao in a strong position.
All the other ties are finely balanced after 2-1 home wins for Atletico Madrid, Sporting Lisbon and AZ Alkmaar over Hannover, Metalist Kharkiv and Valencia respectively.
Eduardo Salvio scored a last minute winner for Atletico against Hannover. Falcao gave Madrid an early lead but it looked as if Mame Diouf had earned a draw for the Germans.
France blow still haunts Given
SHAY GIVEN admits the blow of losing a World Cup qualifying play-off to France in 2009 is something he will probably never get over, but he can soothe the memory this summer, even if progression from a group that contains Italy and holders Spain will not be easy.
“I won’t have got over what happened in Paris in another 20 years,” said Given. “That was a huge disappointment and when we missed out on the World Cup a lot of people might have felt sorry for themselves.
“But we showed in that campaign we are a good team. And thankfully we had the belief to reach another major championships.
“But we are not happy with that. We want to give a good account of ourselves.
“The draw couldn’t have been much tougher; Spain, Croatia and Italy. But we are looking forward. The whole country has been given a boost by us qualifying.”
And, as Given concedes, Ireland’s status as underdogs suits them. “We have always responded against the bigger nations.”
