Europe

For those who thought that marble racing, cherry pit spitting and the Stupid Robot Fighting League represented the future of sports, I regret to inform you that they’ve now each had their respective moments to shine and failed miserably.

The outbreak of COVID-19 has reshaped our lives now and forever, but there’s just no point in hoping that an android with a vacuum cleaner chassis for a body and plastic skateboard deck for a fist can ever captivate in the ways that Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo could.

In many ways the 2004-05 Premier League season marked the beginning of Newcastle United’s fall from grace. Over the course of the previous three years, Newcastle had finished fourth, third and fifth while rubbing shoulders with the likes of Juventus, Inter and Barcelona in European competition.

But the excrement hit the air conditioning in ’04, beginning with an unproductive summer that saw Real Madrid poach Jonathan Woodgate while recruitment was defined by $10 million flop Jean-Alain Boumsong and the rapidly fading star of Patrick Kluivert.

Former Liverpool player and manager Kenny Dalglish, who tested positive for the coronavirus, has been released from hospital, British media reported on Sunday. 

Liverpool said on Friday that Dalglish, 69, was admitted to hospital for an infection. He required intravenous antibiotics but was asymptomatic. The former Scotland international is now back home where he is self-isolating and he hailed the healthcare workers at the National Health Service (NHS) as they battle the pandemic that has killed over 108,000 people worldwide. 

Paul Pogba's stint on the sidelines has made him more determined to succeed on his return from a layoff for a foot injury, the Manchester United midfielder has said. Pogba's injury restricted him to eight appearances so far this season, but he was primed to return before professional football in England was suspended because of the COVID-19 outbreak. 

Social distancing may have stopped players and club officials from meeting in person but Zenit St. Petersburg had a novel idea when it delivered their Player of the Month award using a drone.

Brazilian Malcom won nearly 30 percent of the fan vote to pick up the award for March after Zenit build a nine-point lead at the top of the Russian Premier League standings before the season was suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic.

LONDON — AC Milan and Inter Milan will play their first-ever virtual derby on Saturday after joining forces with digital sports broadcaster DAZN, the clubs said in a statement on Thursday.

With Serie A, like the rest of Europe's elite leagues, suspended because of the coronavirus pandemic, fans will be able to watch the rival clubs go head to head on KONAMI’s popular soccer video game Pro Evolution Soccer 2020.

At the control will be Milan's Portuguese forward Rafael Leao and Inter's striker Sebastiano Esposito, selected for their self-confessed expertise on video games.

LONDON — Some of England's leading players will go head-to-head from their living rooms over Easter as part of a new FIFA 20 tournament launched by the FA on Thursday.

With real action suspended because of the coronavirus pandemic, players will find themselves in limbo over the holiday weekend — usually one of the most intense times of the season when leagues are nearing their climax.

LONDON — Premier League footballers, facing pressure to accept wage cuts during the coronavirus outbreak, have launched a fund to raise money for National Health Service (NHS) charities to help tackle the coronavirus outbreak.

With the Premier League at a standstill, the players have been criticised in the British media over the last week for resisting calls from the clubs to accept wage deferrals and cuts to reduce wage bills.

The players union, however, questioned the call for a 30-percent player wage reduction, saying it would reduce tax revenue for Britain's NHS.

LONDON — Tottenham Hotspur have told their players to respect the government's social distancing guidelines after several squad members were pictured training in a London park, the Premier League club said on Wednesday.

Manager Jose Mourinho was photographed in an outdoor training session at Hadley Common with France midfielder Tanguy Ndombele despite government rules that you can only execise alone or with members of your household due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

BERN — FIFA president Gianni Infantino has said that football will be "totally different" when it re-starts after the coronavirus. He has talked of smaller, but more meaningful, competitions, more balance and football being "more attentive to true values."

Infantino has not yet gone into further details and some may question his credentials in this matter: as FIFA president he has increased the World Cup from 32 to 48 teams and, in a previous role as UEFA general secretary, oversaw growing financial inequality in European football.