The Premier League returned Wednesday after a 100-day hiatus like it had just left its keys, wallet and cell phone. Nothing has changed: Aston Villa vs. Sheffield United featured a heinously controversial abuse of technology, and Manchester City vs. Arsenal continued the ballad of David Luiz.
Former Bradford City left back Tyrell Robinson has admitted in court to engaging in sexual activity with an underage girl in August of 2018 and to distributing child pornography through Snapchat. Robinson could very well be facing jail time after being bailed and sentenced to a later date.
The 22-year-old was playing for Bradford in League One when the club first suspended him back in 2018. After police announced the charges against Robinson in February of 2020, Bradford released the winger for gross misconduct.
If it was sporting controversy you missed, the Premier League restarted Wednesday in a big way. Relegation-threatened Aston Villa hosted European-hopeful Sheffield United at an empty Villa Park, and things descended into chaos shortly before halftime.
Sheffield should’ve opened the scoring in the 42nd minute with a free kick that ended up in the back of Villa’s net, but that’s apparently not the definition of a goal anymore in our new normal.
Arsenal defender Hector Bellerin has said he will ensure 3,000 trees are planted for every victory by his team over the rest of the season to highlight the need to tackle climate change.
"For every game we win this season I will plant 3,000 trees to help combat the carbon emissions issues we have," the Spain international said on Twitter.
Aston Villa and Sheffield United re-started the Premier League on Wednesday after a 100-day hiatus caused by the COVID-19 health crisis with a strong statement of support for the worldwide protests against racism.
All the players' names on the back of their shirts were replaced with the words “Black Lives Matter” as the Premier League formally joined the international protest campaign sparked by the death of George Floyd in America.
Football supporters groups from around Europe have criticized attempts to liven up matches in empty stadiums by using artificial crowd noise, describing it as a rebuke to match-going fans.
The fans said that the recent return of football following the coronavirus stoppage, with matches behind closed doors, had shown that supporters were "the lifeblood of the game" and their contribution should be recognized by leagues and clubs.
This season's Champions League, suspended in March because of the COVID-19 pandemic, will be completed with an eight-team mini-tournament which will be held in Lisbon in August, European soccer's governing body UEFA said on Wednesday.
The quarterfinals and semifinals will be staged over one leg, instead of the usual two, with the final to be held on Aug. 23, UEFA deputy general secretary Giorgio Marchetti said after an executive committee meeting held by video conference.
With soccer being an obvious contact sport, the possibility of social distancing in matches is in question. To put those nagging questions to rest, the Premier League posted the safety measures for its behind-closed-doors matches.
The key takeaways:
Bayern Munich won a record eighth straight Bundesliga title on Tuesday, beating Werder Bremen 1-0. That wasn’t a surprise. What was a surprise was the record-breaking Alphonso Davies speed recorded during the match.
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In October 2019, Bulgaria national team manager Krasimir Balakov stated that he believed England had a bigger racism problem in soccer than Bulgaria did.
"In the Bulgarian championship, we have a lot of players of different ethnicities and skin color," Balakov said, "I don't think that we have this big problem like, for example, England do."