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      in Soccer

      Manchester United protester snorts white powder off stolen club corner flag

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      A PROTESTER who ran across the Old Trafford pitch with a Manchester United corner flag was later filmed sniffing a suspicious white powder off it.In scenes that will do nothing for his cause, he was shown outside the ground emptying the substance on the bottom of the pole.
      A protester was pictured running across the Old Trafford pitch with a Manchester United corner flagCredit: AFP
      He was later filmed sprinkling a suspicious white powder on to the flag pole
      After appearing to snort it, he holds up the flag — bearing the club’s crest — and shouts “United” while laughing into the camera.
      The video was shared on Snapchat with a laughing emoji and a caption reading: “Striped off the flag.”
      Sunday’s demo saw 1,000 fans gather outside the stadium to protest at the club owners, the US-based Glazer family, in the wake of the failed European Super League proposals.
      Around 100 stormed the pitch. Others massed at the hotel where United players were staying.
      The match against Liverpool was postponed.
      Police said six officers were hurt, including one who suffered a fractured eye socket and another whose face was slashed.
      Assistant chief constable Russ Jackson said: “We fully respect the right for peaceful protest. But it soon became clear many present had no intention of doing so peacefully.”
      The grinning supporter showed off the club crest on the flag
      The fan appeared to sniff white powder off the flag base

      United denied claims that staff had opened a stadium gate for protesters and insisted they had smashed their way in.
      PM Boris Johnson, who was anti-Super League, said: “I don’t think it’s a good idea to have disruptive behaviour.
      “But I do understand people’s strength of feeling.”
      The video was shared on Snapchat with a laughing emoji and a caption reading: ‘Striped off the flag’
      Sunday’s demo saw 1,000 fans gather outside the stadium to protest at the club owners, the US-based Glazer familyCredit: PA
      Around 100 fans stormed the pitch while others massed at the hotel where United players were stayingCredit: Getty
      Police said six officers were hurt in the protestsCredit: Reuters
      Angry Man Utd fans break into Old Trafford and storm pitch in protest against Glazers More

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      in Soccer

      Arsenal ace Bukayo Saka upsets neighbours by leaving piles of earth outside his house as he installs football pitch

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      RISING footie star Bukayo Saka has upset neighbours by leaving piles of earth outside his home.The 19-year-old Arsenal and England player is having a football pitch with changing room installed at the £2.3million mansion he bought only last year.
      Bukayo Saka has upset neighbours by leaving piles of earth outside his homeCredit: Rex
      The footie player is having a football pitch with changing room installed at his £2.3million mansionCredit: Louis Wood News Group Newspapers Ltd
      He called in bulldozers to level off the back garden — but they left what residents call a mountain of mud.
      One of his neighbours near Hatfield, Herts, said: “The building work is causing a real eyesore.
      The footie ace called in bulldozers to level off the back garden — but they left what residents call a mountain of mudCredit: The Sun
      One of his neighbours said: ‘The building work is causing a real eyesore’Credit: Louis Wood News Group Newspapers Ltd

      “It’s a horrendous sight and a lot of the neighbours aren’t at all happy.
      “The area has a lot of very well-to-do people who don’t expect this sort of thing.”
      But another said; “If he keeps scoring for Arsenal, I’m not bothered.”
      Arsenal legend Martin Keown slams Mikel Arteta for ‘exposing’ Granit Xhaka at left-back against Villarreal More

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      in Soccer

      Diego Maradona lay dead for eight hours after dying in his sleep, say medics

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      DIEGO Maradona died in his sleep and lay undiscovered for up to eight hours, a medical board will tell prosecutors.The World Cup-winner, 60, was declared dead at 1.15pm on November 25 after a 45-minute attempt to revive him.
      Diego Maradona’s body lay undiscovered for eight hours, examiners sayCredit: AFP
      His doctor Leopoldo Luque had called for an ambulance at midday.
      But experts preparing a report for prosecutors heading a manslaughter probe put the time of his death at between 4am and 6am, reports say.
      The 20-strong medical board is also set to confirm his death was caused by a pre-existing heart disease that was not being treated properly.

      Argentinian media claims the board will call the former Barcelona star’s care following a brain blood clot op “negligent and incompetent”.
      Dr Luque is among seven people under investigation.
      He denies any wrongdoing.
      Diego Maradona died on November 25, 2020 aged 60Credit: Getty
      Diego Maradona’s Argentina shirt from 1982 World Cup debut up for auction and expected to sell for £145k More

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      in Soccer

      Arsenal ace Bukayo Saka upset neighbours by leaving piles of earth outside his home

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      RISING footie ace Bukayo Saka has upset neighbours by leaving piles of earth outside his home.The 19-year-old Arsenal and England star is having a football pitch with changing room installed at the £2.3million mansion he bought only last year.
      Bukayo Saka has upset neighbours by leaving piles of earth outside his homeCredit: Rex
      The footie player is having a football pitch with changing room installed at his £2.3million mansionCredit: Louis Wood News Group Newspapers Ltd
      He called in bulldozers to level off the back garden — but they left what residents call a mountain of mud.
      One of his neighbours near Hatfield, Herts, said: “The building work is causing a real eyesore.
      The footie ace called in bulldozers to level off the back garden — but they left what residents call a mountain of mudCredit: The Sun
      One of his neighbours said: ‘The building work is causing a real eyesore’Credit: Louis Wood News Group Newspapers Ltd

      “It’s a horrendous sight and a lot of the neighbours aren’t at all happy.
      “The area has a lot of very well-to-do people who don’t expect this sort of thing.”
      But another said; “If he keeps scoring for Arsenal, I’m not bothered.”
      Arsenal legend Martin Keown slams Mikel Arteta for ‘exposing’ Granit Xhaka at left-back against Villarreal More

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      in Boxing

      Craig Richards out to banish underdog tag with monstrous win over feared Russian Dmitry Bivol in WBA world title fight

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      HAVING knocked down every one of his title goals so far, Craig Richards has just one more to go – his WBA world light-heavyweight duel with Dmitry Bivol. Richards, an 11/1 underdog, hasn’t been favoured by many. Bivol is as tough, well-schooled and as assassin-like as they come in the ring.
      Craig Richards challenges Dmitry Bivol for the WBA light-heavyweight titleCredit: /Mark Robinson#3/ Matchroom Boxing
      Craig Richards’ last win came against Shakan Pitters for the British titleCredit: Mark Robinson Matchroom Boxing
      But the Matchroom Elite Gym fighter promises his hand will be raised, just like four of his stablemates before him over the past six weeks in Conor Benn, Ted Cheeseman, Felix Cash and Joe Cordina.
      Trained by Peter Sims, brother of Tony, Richards details his journey from ‘survival mode’ – without the same Olympic hype the likes of Lawrence Okolie, Joshua Buatsi, Josh Kelly and Cordina had – to world title challenger in just a matter of years.
      He says in an exclusive chat with SunSport: “I was getting on buses on my own from a young age and if you ask Peter when he met me, because I dedicated myself to boxing I couldn’t work.
      “So I was in a small survival mode where I was getting on three trains and a bus to get to Essex, two hours and 20 minutes every day before my debut.
      “I’ve had to kick doors down the hard way, I wasn’t an Olympian, when I come through I didn’t have someone pulling me through like my father.
      “I’ve put myself in this position. I’ve had to earn the right to be here and it’d be a shame to come this far… to only come this far.”
      Richards is well-aware of the risk fighting someone like Bivol brings.
      The Russian is 17-0, picked up his first boxing title in his fourth fight and has been at least an interim champ from his seventh onwards.

      🥊 CHISORA VS PARKER: TV, live stream and start time info ahead of the big fight
      Often-touted as one of the best pure boxers in the game, he holds wins over former world champion Jean Pascal, current WBO titleholder Joe Smith Jr and grizzled veterans in Sullivan Barerra and Isaac Chilemba.
      Richards’ best win came in his last outing against against Shakan Pitters, stopping the Birmingham fighter in nine rounds.
      But ‘Spider’ as the South Londoner is known, also knows he’s failed to perform in lower-stakes fights, which is why he’s confident Bivol’s skill level will ramp him into top gear.
      “For me, if you look at my career, whenever I fight someone I’m supposed to beat, I’m flat. It’s whenever I’m the underdog I perform, go out there and get the stoppage,” he adds.
      Dmitry Bivol is defending his WBA title against Craig Richards on SaturdayCredit: Mark Robinson Matchroom Boxing
      “I need big fights to get the best out of me, and there ain’t much bigger than Dimitry Bivol.
      “He does plenty well, he’s world champion. He has flaws, though. I need to exploit those flaws, take away his strong points. With Shakan as well, 14-0, British champion, I said he did things well, but I took them all away and I did the job comfortably and easy.
      “This won’t be as easy, I know that. But it’ll get me through my gears, I’ll be in highest possible gear, I promise.
      “We asked for the fight, I was in and around the ranking anyway, like No 5. I’ve been in the top 10 with the WBA for the last two years.

      “First of all Eddie said ‘cor blimey!’, then he spoke to Bivol’s team, they showed interest and negotiations went from there.
      “And here we are, I’m going to win the rounds, box very well, and when it’s time to show it I’ll get him out. I carry my power both late and early, I get stronger as the rounds go on.
      “People doubted me before, you were wrong before and it’ll be the same thing again and you’ll all stop doubting me. It’ll be one of the biggest wins in British boxing history.”
      Outside the ring, Richards is a much more passive person. He talks to kids at schools, gives back to communities in Penge and Lewishman where he grew up, and it’s clear he wants to change the way youths think today.
      Knife crime and gang violence has always been prevalent in London, so much so that it’s even become a bit of a cliche that the young, tearaway, disadvantaged kid uses boxing to escape a much darker life path.
      Craig Richards is an 11/1 underdog in his clash with Dmitry BivolCredit: /Dave Thompson#3/ Matchroom Boxing
      Richards is clear on the matter. Gang violence is something he was never interested in, but growing up where he did, it was often inescapable.
      “You also get involved in things that are nothing to do with you, it’s all postcode wars and stuff,” he explains. “You end up with trouble with boys and you don’t know how you’re drawn in.
      “When you grow up in South London it was hard not to get involved in certain things. You get on a bus and then 10 boys get on a bus and try and rob you.
      “Then you get labelled as being part of a gang, all because of your postcode. It’s stupid and I’ve had friends die, been involved in bad stuff, stabbed. It’s all just a waste of time.
      “Youth today need to understand they’re wasting them time with that. That’s why I go into schools so I can tell all of them that. I want that culture to change.

      “When I was a kid all I did was watch boxing, I didn’t want to be tangled up with the other stuff. I didn’t even watch football, which is what most kids my age did.”
      There are two huge motivating factors for Richards heading into his clash with Bivol – his mother and grandad, who passed away not long after his first title win against Alan Higgins in 2017.
      “My grandad was anti-boxing. He was telling me to get a job and go to university and before he passed away I had my first title fight.
      “I went to his house, he had the poster on his wall so I managed to get his blessing before he died.
      Craig Richards is hoping to upset the applecart in his clash with Dmitry BivolCredit: PA
      “And as for my mother, it’d be nice if I could give her everything she ever wanted.”
      And as for any final words from the 30-year-old, they assume the same confidence the previous 17 minutes of his sermon did while sat on the ring apron at the Matchroom Gym in Essex.
      “Prediction? Richards win,” he says. More

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      in Soccer

      Football fans have less sex after their team loses, study reveals

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      FOOTBALL fans get less bedroom action when their team loses, research reveals.Experts found birth rates plunged nine months after a shock defeat.
      Football fans have less luck in the bedroom after a defeat for their teamCredit: Alamy
      They think the unexpected losses can trigger changes in key hormones that result in lower libido.
      Being grumpy over a loss also reduces fans’ chances of getting frisky.
      Poor results for a team saw birth rates locally down by 0.8 per cent nine months later.
      Researchers found the effect was even more dramatic if teams lost a relegation battle or a major European match.
      In those cases, nine months later births were down by as much as 1.3 per cent.
      Scientists analysed 14 years’ worth of data and matched every result in Spain’s La Liga with local birth rates.
      By comparing betting odds with actual scores, they could calculate whether or not the result was an upset.
      Supporters moods can swing after a defeat from grumpiness to lack of energyCredit: Alamy

      But experts found the opposite was not the case, with no increase in birth rates nine months after a major win for a team.
      Writing in the European Journal of Population, lead researcher Fabrizio Bernardi said: “We find that unexpected losses of local teams lead to a small decrease in the number of births nine months thereafter.
      “Negative mood induced by a defeat has a negative effect on fertility because it reduces the probability of intercourse.”
      Man, 28, arrested after ‘throwing sex worker out of 25ft-high window when she failed to ‘please him with her skills’ More

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      in Soccer

      Peter Crouch would lie about ‘important’ footie work to skip baby duties with wife Abbey Clancy and go boozing

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      PETER Crouch confessed to pulling the wool over wife Abbey Clancy’s eyes to escape baby duties and family time to go boozing – by blaming “important” football work.The former Spurs star said he had even got club secretaries to send fake emails making attendance for evening events compulsory when he was just going out on the town with team mates.
      Peter Crouch would lie about ‘important’ footie work to wife Abbey ClancyCredit: Getty
      And he admitted that now that he is a pundit and podcaster he pretends he has to miss out on time with model Abbey for “vital” work-related watching of football and having fun drinking with pod colleagues Tom Fordyce and Chris Stark.
      Talking about social bashes during his career at clubs including Liverpool, he said: “There’s been a couple of occasions where there’s a bit of a team bonding session or something like that and Ab will say ‘you don’t have to go that, do you?’ And I would be like ‘I do’.
      “There has been one or two occasions where I’ve gone to the secretary and gone ‘can you just fire an email just saying that it’s compulsory and it’s important for the team’. And we would just go and have a night out.”
      Peter, 40, said when his first child Sophia, now ten, was a baby he would avoid dealing with her, telling Abbey he had a game the next day.
      He said: “There was a few cards that I used to play. Like on a Friday, it’s like the magical time to get out of anything because Saturday’s the most important thing.
      Crouch admitted he would fib to Abbey to get out of baby dutiesCredit: Getty – Contributor
      The former England star got club secretaries to send fake emails making attendance for evening events compulsoryCredit: PA:Empics Sport
      “You train all week to play on a Saturday.
      “Certainly when you’re at home and I remember when my first baby was born, Friday night if she’s crying, I’m like ‘that’s not for me, I’ve got a game tomorrow’.”
      Asked by pal Stark, if when he fancies just watching football, he tries the excuse that he needs to do it just to keep abreast for work, Crouchie admitted: “That card has been played on many an occasion.”
      And he said he even lies that it’s a bit of a chore having to record the podcast.
      Crouch agreed with Stark that he sometimes fibs that he’s not in the mood for it and it’s a “massive pain”.
      He confessed: “Coming in here talking to you boys, let’s be honest, I’m chatting to you about football and telling her it’s work – it’s really not.
      Crouch admitted he pretends he has to miss out on time with model Abbey for ‘vital’ work-related watching of footballCredit: Getty

      “She’s feeling sorry for me, I’ve got it to the stage where I’ve gone ‘got to go down there and do the podcast’, and I’m carrying eight beers in there.”
      Meanwhile Crouch said a top football club put mirrors on the back of the away team’s toilet cubicle doors to try and ensure opponents’ performances went down the pan.
      He wasn’t flushed with pride when he had to watch himself using the facilities before a game.
      The former football star is now a pundit and podcasterCredit: Getty
      Peter Crouch has BT Sport pundits in stitches as he forgets his own Champions League heroics More

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      in Soccer

      World Cup hero Sir Geoff Hurst hails fans for stopping hated European Super League

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      THREE Lions legend Sir Geoff Hurst last night hailed fans for their role in stopping the hated Super League, saying: “They saved football.”But the 1966 World Cup hat-trick hero warned the “Big Six” had tarnished English football around the globe.
      World Cup hero Sir Geoff Hurst hails fans for stopping the hated European Super LeagueCredit: Rex
      Sir Geoff told The Sun: “What these clubs tried to do was an absolute disgrace and thank God it’s been stopped.
      “The Mickey Mouse league they were trying to set up was diabolical and disgusting.
      “I haven’t spoken to a single fan, young or old, this week who backed it.
      “If it wasn’t for the fans coming out and making it clear what they thought the game would have died.
      “We had Manchester United fans standing shoulder to shoulder with Liverpool supporters. Arsenal and Spurs fans were agreeing.
      “I’ve never seen anything like it!
      “But God bless every one of them – they’ve saved football and showed they are the best fans in the world.”
      Sir Geoff, 79, said his 1966 pals would be “turning their graves” over greedy foreign owners trying to hijack our national game.
      He added: “One of the greatest things about that team back then was how we all came from different clubs, some near the top of the League, others nowhere near it.
      Chelsea fans celebrate after the club announced it would be withdrawing from the European Super LeagueCredit: Getty
      Sir Geoff said the owners of the Big Six now needed to grovel to the fans they tried to betrayCredit: Splash
      Sir Geoff said his 1966 pals would be ‘turning in their graves’ over greedy foreign owners trying to hijack our national gameCredit: AFP

      “But we still combined to become a team, create history and do something truly amazing. That’s what makes football so special.
      “I know Bobby Moore for one would be turning in his grave.
      “That League went against everything he stood for and everything believed in as a man and a footballer.
      “And I suspect the likes of Jack Charlton and Nobby Stiles, who were never afraid to voice their opinions, would be saying the same as I am today.”
      Sir Geoff said the owners of the Big Six now needed to grovel to the fans they tried to betray.
      He said: “They need to apologise to the fans and to the players who were dragged into this. I was pleased to see so many of the footballers speaking out about it.
      “Players have a lot more influence now than back in my day.
      A statement released by the European Super League claimed the tournament will ‘reshape’ and go ahead

      “They are on social media and have millions of followers.
      “Kids around the world look up to these guys and when they were coming and saying, ‘We’re not standing for this’ the owners must have realised the game was up.
      “Now they need to say sorry and start trying to put right the damage they have done to our game.
      “If they’re not willing to do that they should clear off.”
      What happens now the European Super League has collapsed More