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      Bayern vs Man Utd offer: Get 45/1 for Marcus Rashford 1+ shot on target in Champions League showdown with Paddy Power

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      PADDY POWER have a sensational offer to celebrate the start of the Champions League groups.Brand new customers who sign-up to Paddy Power can get bumper odds of 45/1 for Manchester United talisman Marcus Rashford to register at least one shot on target in their opening clash against Bayern Munich!
      Get 45/1 for Rashford 1+ shot on target with Paddy Power
      Bayern vs Man Utd: Rashford 1+ shot on target | 45/1!*
      Rashford 45/1 shot on target offerHow to claim

      Visit the Paddy Power website by clicking HERE*
      Register a brand new account, add a debit card and make a deposit of at least £10
      Place a maximum £1 on Marcus Rashford in the ‘Player To Have 1 Or More Shots On Target at 1/2’ in your bet slip
      If you’re successful, the winning bet will be paid at the normal price
      The extra winnings will be paid out as free bets – taking the total odds to the 45/1
      You will receive your free bet after your qualifying bet settles. Free bets are valid for 7 days.

      Bayern vs Man Utd: Rashford 1+ shot on target | 45/1!*

      What’s the Paddy Power Champions League offer?
      Paddy Power are offering brand new customers whopping odds of 45/1 for Marcus Rashford to register at least one shot on target during Manchester United’s Champions League clash with Bayern Munich!
      How do we claim this offer?
      It couldn’t be any easier! Visit the Paddy Power website HERE*.
      Register an account, add a card and make a deposit of at least £10.
      Place a maximum £1 on Marcus Rashford in the ‘Player To Have 1 Or More Shots On Target at 1/2’ in your bet slip.
      What happens next?
      If you’re successful, the winning bet will be paid at the normal price.
      Then, Paddy Power will pay out the extra winnings as free bets – taking the total odds to the 45/1 advertised.
      You will receive your free bet after your qualifying bet settles. Free bets are valid for 7 days.
      Bayern vs Man Utd: Rashford 1+ shot on target | 45/1!*

      Remember to gamble responsibly
      A responsible gambler is someone who:

      Establishes time and monetary limits before playing
      Only gambles with money they can afford to lose
      Never chase their losses
      Doesn’t gamble if they’re upset, angry or depressed
      Gamcare – www.gamcare.org.uk
      Gamble Aware – www.begambleaware.org

      For help with a gambling problem, call the National Gambling Helpline on 0808 8020 133 or go to www.gamstop.co.uk to be excluded from all UK-regulated gambling websites.

      *New customer offer. Place a max £1 bet on Marcus Rashford to have one or more shots on target against Bayern Munich, Wednesday, September 20th. Winnings paid in cash at normal odds and are topped up to the enhanced price in Free Bets. Free bets are valid 7 days, only deposits with cards are eligible. Excludes multiples & in-play bets. T&C’s apply. Please gamble responsibly. 18+ begambleaware.org More

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      Celtic ‘Active Service Unit’ hooligans & Feyenoord ultras hold brutal fists-at-dawn brawl before Champions League clash

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      CELTIC hooligans boasted of holding an organised brawl with Feyenoord ultras ahead of tonight’s Champions League fixture.The Scottish and Dutch champions are set to face-off in their Group E opener at De Kuip in Rotterdam, Netherlands at 8pm.
      Celtic ‘Active Service Unit’ hooligans boasted of taking part an organised brawl with Feyenoord ultrasCredit: X
      Feyenoord fans have left threatening messages to Celtic ahead of their Champions League clashCredit: @casualultras/X
      Feyenoord Ultras hold up their ‘Zero Tolerance’ banner while posing with flags they claim they stole from Celtic supporters in RotterdamCredit: X
      But it is the hooligans and ultras of each club who claim to have already kicked off proceedings.
      With fights inside stadiums now thankfully a rarity, hooligans now look to organise meet-ups and battles in the wilderness and secret locations.
      And that appears to be the case this week for the hard nut supporters of Celtic and Feyenoord.
      An image uploaded to X, formerly Twitter, by an account dedicated to Scottish football culture showed seven men lined up in a field.
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      It was accompanied by the caption: “Arranged fight- Celtic Active Service Unit v Feyenoord, 7×7 50 seconds (win Feyenoord).”
      The men in the picture had all their faces blurred out but were wearing the same branded green tops, and some wear martial arts-style wrist bindings or gloves.
      The name “Active Service Unit” appears to be a reference to a notorious Provisional IRA a military cell who were tasked with carrying out armed attacks.
      The Glasgow club has strong links with Ireland and some supporters are known to sing controversial sectarian chants.
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      The social media post suggested the group of Celtic yobs lost their battle with the opposition.
      Feyenoord’s ultras have also been pictured in social media posts ahead of the game.
      One image details the threats of “Celtic not welcome” which have been spraypainted across the city ahead of the Scottish side’s visit.
      Images were uploaded of the ultras posing with flags and banners which they claimed to have have stolen from Celtic fans.
      They are also seen holding up their own banner, which reads: “Feyenoord Zero Tolerance.”
      Symbols of certain movements and groups, such as the LGBTQ flag and the Star of David, can be seen beneath and have been crossed out with red lines in a sickening act.
      With these organised fights kept strictly confidential, it is unknown whether there is any footage and the extent of the casualties.
      Both clubs have a history of hooliganism among a small group of supporters.
      A mob of Celtic fans were caught up in a street brawl with a group of Rangers hooligans before the two sides went head-to-head in the Scottish League Cup final in February.
      And last November, 40 Celtic fans were thrown off a train at Albacete for hooliganism ahead of their Champions League fixture against Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu.
      Feyenoord’s ultras are also no strangers to hitting the headlines, having attacked a group of Union Berlin team officials ahead of a Europa Conference League game in October 2021.
      Victims included the German club’s President, Dirk Zingler, while a woman was hospitalised following the attack at a restaurant in Rotterdam.
      Elsewhere across Europe today, a Newcastle fan was stabbed three times as the Magpies prepare to face AC Milan at the San Siro.
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      Brit Eddie McKay, 58, was with his son when he was viciously attacked by seven or eight knife-wielding thugs wearing balaclavas around midnight.
      Around 5,000 Toon fans have travelled to Italy for the club’s first Champions League match in 20 years.
      Celtic’s hooligans took their ‘Active Service Unit’ name from the IRACredit: Getty
      Celtic mobs clashed with Rangers fans ahead of the Scottish League Cup final in February
      Feyenoord’s ultras attacked a group of Union Berlin team officials in October 2021Credit: Instagram
      Feyenoord thugs also clashed with Italian riot police in Rome in February 2015Credit: Getty More

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      ‘Crazy’ former Tottenham star ‘repeatedly punched Van der Vaart and threatened to KILL him for taking a free-kick’

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      TOTTENHAM cult legend midfielder Sandro has claimed former left-back and fellow cult legend Benoit Assou-Ekotto threatened to “KILL” Rafael Van der Vaart after he wouldn’t let him take a free-kick.Sandro was part of the Harry Redknapp Tottenham team that reached the Champions League quarter finals in 2011 and is fondly remembered by fans for his tough tackling and eccentric ways.
      Sandro has lifted the lid on his time at TottenhamCredit: Getty Images – Getty
      He claimed that Benoit Assou-Ekotto fought with Rafael Van Der Vaart after he did not let him take a free-kickCredit: Action Images – Reuters
      In an exclusive interview with Ladbrokes Fanzone, Sandro lifted the lid on that team, which wasn’t short of a few characters.
      The midfielder looked back particularly fondly at playing with left-back Benoit Assou-Ekotto, who he claims didn’t like football.
      The Brazilian midfielder said: “Benoit [Assou-Ekotto] is a crazy guy, he really is. We liked him a lot. We knew he was a particular kind of guy, but we liked him because of it. He never used to know who we were playing on a weekend… he just didn’t like football.
      “There’s a really funny moment that springs to my mind when I think about Assou-Ekotto. He used to like to take free-kicks for us. But one time we were playing in a game, we got a free-kick in a good position and Rafael van der Vaart picked up the ball and decided to shoot. 
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      “Assou took this very personally; he was very upset because, to him, that was his ball; he was going to shoot. As a group of guys playing with him, generally whenever Assou wanted to do something, we just left him to it… let him do it, you know? 
      “In this moment, he was mad. At half-time, we get into the dressing room and he’s punching Rafael! I tried to grab hold of him, he was so strong as well, so I’m grabbing holding of him and dragging him back because he’s trying to attack Rafa. 
      “‘Why did you take the shot? Why did you do this? It’s my ball, my friend… you don’t take it! Next time, I kill you!’
      “He was so angry. The next day, we turn up to training and Van der Vaart comes over to me and says ‘Sandro, you saved my life… thank you very much!'”
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      Assou-Ekotto was a cult legend on the Spurs terracesCredit: News Group Newspapers Ltd
      It’s not the first time Assou-Ekotto’s eccentric ways have made headlines.
      Peter Crouch also looked back fondly on his time with Assou Ekotto during an interview with The Mail, saying: “He [Assou-Ekotto] would tell us straight out that he had no interest in football whatsoever. He genuinely didn’t like it.
      “At 1.30pm on a Saturday he’d have no idea which team you were playing. ‘But Benoit, we’ve been talking about them in training all week.'”
      Crouch also recounted how Assou Ekotto would eat the same weird lunch every match day, saying: “Benoit would turn up with a Tesco’s bag containing the same four items every time: a croissant, a hot chocolate, a full-fat Coke and a packet of crisps.
      “The croissant I understood. He is French-Cameroonian. The hot chocolate: same cultural backstory. He used to dip the first into the second.
      “But the crisps, and the Coke — it was like two discrete lunches, one belonging to a middle-aged Parisian and the other a 12-year-old on the Seven Sisters Road. And it worked. He was always in great shape and rarely injured.
      “We accepted it, along with all the other weirdness: the random cars he would turn up to training in, sometimes a Smart car, then a Lamborghini; the way he would refuse to take ice baths for recovery, on the rather basic premise that they were ‘too cold’.
      “Benoit was a really weird guy but we loved him a lot.”
      Assou-Ekotto for his part claimed that it wasn’t that he did not like football, but he was honest about his intentions in seeing it as just a job.
      He said in an interview in The Athletic last year: “All people, everyone, when they go to a job, it’s for the money. So I don’t understand why, when I said I play for the money, people were shocked. [Saying] Oh, he’s a mercenary. Every player is like that. It’s a good, good job and I don’t say that I hate football but it’s not my passion.
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      “Did the other players agree with me? I’m sure, I’m sure, 200 per cent.”
      He went on to say he is now enjoying football again, playing for his local amateur club SC Saint-Nicolas-lez-Arras in Northern France for free. More

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      How much each team will get for playing in Champions League with total pot almost DOUBLING to staggering £3.8BILLION

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      MANCHESTER City are set to be biggest winners from Uefa’s new Champions League cash pot.Nyon chiefs and Europe’s biggest clubs agreed a new distribution deal with the total prize pot for next season’s expanded competitions set to rise to £3.78bn per season.
      Manchester City are set to cash in from the new Champions League prize potCredit: Rex
      While the continent’s smallest clubs and leagues will benefit as the “solidarity” payments for them will more than double to £378m, Prem and other major sides also stand to make millions more.
      And Champions League holders City are poised to be top of the winners’ pile after further details of the money split were revealed by European Club Association chief executive Charlie Marshall.
      The deal between Uefa and the ECA was confirmed at the club group’s general assembly in Berlin.
      Uefa announced that the current system, with four different pots for competing clubs – known as “pillars” – will change to three.
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      It means a bigger qualification bonus for all 36 teams in the new competition, worth a starting £28.9m per team before a ball is kicked – up from £16.3m this season.
      Performance related bonuses will also increase, with payments based initially on places in the table after the eight games in the initial phase and then extra for negotiating the knock-out round.
      And while the controversial “historical coefficient” payments have now been merged with the TV “market pool” – English teams take the biggest cut between them because of the size of the deal agreed by BT Sport before its recent rebrand as TNT Sport – City will still cash in.
      Marshall revealed that while historical payments will remain, they will be based on performances over the past five years and not the current 10-year calculation which takes previous titles going back to the 1950s into account.
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      It means City, fourth in the 10-year table, are odds-on to be top and take the biggest share of the smaller percentage pot – a total of £1.32bn will be split between the clubs – adding to their income stream.
      City, who banked £117m for the Champions League exertions alone last term, could realistically now get nearer £200m for winning when the new-look competition begins next term.
      Marshall confirmed: “The calculation will be on a five-year basis, not 10 as it is currently.”
      Speaking after the meeting, which elected City chief executive Ferran Soriano to the board position vacated by Spurs’ Daniel Levy, ECA head Nasser Al-Khelaifi dismissed the threat posed by the Saudi Pro League.
      He said: “We have the best club competition in the world, the best coaches, the best clubs and the best players.
      This season’s Champions League will have a total of £3.78billion in prize money on offerCredit: Getty
      “We do not need to talk about things outside Europe. I don’t think there’s any danger from Saudi Arabia.”
      But Bayern Munich’s new chief exec Jan-Christian Dreesen, who replaced the ousted Oliver Kahn at the Bavarian giants, did suggest Europe needed to make sure global transfer windows were aligned – and vowed to ensure the Champions League showpiece stayed in Europe.
      There has been talk of the final moving on a rotation basis to other continents, with New York and Qatar mentioned as potential venues.
      Dreesen insisted: “We’re not the Cirque du Soleil.
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      “We are talking about a European competition and championship. We play our matches in Europe.”
      He added: “I think it would be good if we closed the window at the same time everywhere. I will propose we find a way to make this happen.” More

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      Newcastle fan stabbed three times in Milan after being ‘ambushed by pack of eight thugs’ ahead of Champions League tie

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      A NEWCASTLE United fan was ambushed and stabbed by a pack of men in Milan ahead of the club’s Champions League clash.Brit Eddie McKay, 58, was with his son when he was viciously attacked by seven or eight knife-wielding thugs wearing balaclavas around midnight.
      The Toon fan is pictured being treated by emergency services following the stabbing
      Local cops are investigating whether it was a football-related attack
      Italian police confirmed to The Sun that the man was targeted in a neighbourhood in downtown Milan on Navigli where he was walking with others.
      Cops described the pack as a “bunch of men wearing hooded sweatshirts” who stabbed the victim twice on the arm and the “deeply” in the back.
      The Newcastle supporter was then saved by police and taken straight to a hospital under a “code red”, according to local media.
      The 58-year-old is said to now be in a stable condition and will be hopefully discharged later today.
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      The motive behind the stabbing is not currently known and nothing was stolen from the victim.
      Italian police say they are currently investigating whether it was a football-related attack or something else.
      Mr McKay’s family will be flying to Milan later today to be by his side.
      McKay’s daughter, Rachel, told Sky News: “My dad is stable and in a bit of shock. He’s gutted he’s missing the match, but just wants every other Newcastle fan out here to be aware and be safe.
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      “He has just had two knee replacements, so he fell when he was being chased and that is when he was attacked.
      “My brother is okay, but is in shock after seeing that happen to our dad. I’m flying out there later. We haven’t slept all night.”
      A Newcastle United spokesperson told The Sun: “We are deeply concerned by reports that a supporter was seriously assaulted in Milan on Monday evening and we are liaising with local authorities to understand the circumstances.
      “Our thoughts are with the supporter and his family and we hope for a full and speedy recovering.”
      Around 5,000 Newscastle fans have flocked to the Italian city to cheer on the Magpies in their match against AC Milan at the iconic stadium of San Siro.
      It was a scramble for the 4,300 seats dedicated to the visiting team and they’ve long been sold out, while other loyal fans still rushed to the city without a ticket.
      It will be The Toon’s first Champions League game in 20 long years, making it their first taste of top-tier European football in a generation.
      But their preparations have not been plain sailing after their flight to Milan was delayed by three hours due to a storm.
      Meanwhile, footage shared on social media revealed the Magpie fans have certainly made the most of the occasion.
      In crazy scenes, the fans can be seen sliding topless in the slippery streets of Milan with dozens watching on.
      At the riverside, the Toon Army made a true show of force as they donned stripey black and white hats, scarfs and shirts, partied and waved the Magpie’s flags.
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      Spirits of the revellers appeared high, although Newcastle has a lot to prove as they kick of their European campaign.
      The last time the team played away from home in this competition was also in Milan back in 2003, where 12,000 visiting fans watched 2-2 draw with Inter.
      Newcastle fans are gearing up to watch their team clash with AC Milan tonightCredit: Reuters
      Spirits are high ahead of the mighty gameCredit: PA
      The riverside was awash with the Magpie’s coloursCredit: Reuters More

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      Shakhtar Donetsk v Porto LIVE SCORE: Latest Champions League updates as Portuguese giants take on Ukrainian champs

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      SHAKHTAR DONETSK and Porto will both be bidding to make the perfect start to their 2023/24 Champions League group stage campaigns.Both sides have made a flawless start to their respective domestic leagues as neither team has tasted defeat this season.

      Kick off time: 8pm BST
      Live stream: discovery+ app/website

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      PSG vs Borussia Dortmund LIVE SCORE: Latest Champions League updates as Parisians host Germans in epic group stage clash

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      PSG will take on Borussia Dortmund in a Hollywood clash to begin their Champions League campaigns.Luis Enrique will be hoping he can be the man to finally guide the Parisians to their first European Cup this season.

      Kick off time: 8pm BST
      TV channel/live stream: TNT Sports 3/ discovery+

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      Man City vs Red Star Belgrade LIVE SCORE: Latest Champions League updates as Treble winners begin title defence

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      MANCHESTER CITY will begin their Champions League title defence with a group-stage match against Red Star Belgrade.Pep Guardiola’s side are aiming to become the first team since Real Madrid in 2017/18 to win back-to-back European Cups.

      Kick off time: 8pm BST
      TV channel/live stream: TNT Sports 2/ discovery+

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