Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson has been ruled out of their Champions League last-16 second leg against Atletico Madrid with a hip injury. Alisson will also miss Saturday’s home Premier League game against Bournemouth and is a doubt for the Merseyside derby at Everton on 16 March. Liverpool host Atletico on Wednesday, trailing 1-0 from the first leg. “He is not available for tomorrow and then the next week,” manager Jurgen Klopp said of the 27-year-old.
The Morocco Football Federation has ordered all matches in the country to be played behind closed doors, to try and combat the spread of the coronavirus. It means that the Confederation Cup quarter-final second legs being hosted in Morocco on Sunday will be played without any fans. Hassania Agadir hold a 5-0 advantage as they host Libya’s Al Nasr, while Renaissance Berkane take on visiting Al Masry of Egypt with the tie locked at 2-2.
Ghana’s former football chief Kwesi Nyantakyi has officially been charged with fraud by a high court in the capital Accra. He was charged with dishonestly obtaining $65,000 as an inducement for showing favour to a potential sponsor of the Ghanaian FA. Mr Nyantakyi was filmed taking $65,000 from a reporter in a 2018 undercover investigation.
Harry Maguire is doubtful for Sunday’s Manchester derby after missing Manchester United’s FA Cup tie at Derby with a slight ankle injury. The England international faces a race to be fit to face neighbours Manchester City, in a vital match for their top-four hopes. Maguire expressed his disappointment on social media after he was ruled out of the match at Pride Park on his 27th birthday.
A bus crash has killed at least eight players from Guinean second division side Etoile de Guinee, with a further 17 injured. The accident happened just outside the city of Mamou, some 250 kilometres east of the capital Conakry where Etoile are based. The team were on their way to play in the city of Kankan, a further 400km east of Mammou, in what was meant to be the first match of the league season.
Former Brazil forward Ronaldinho is being held by police in Paraguay for allegedly using a fake passport to enter the country, authorities say. Police searched a hotel in the capital, Asuncion, on Wednesday, where the star had been staying with his brother. Paraguay’s interior minister told ESPN Brazil that the pair had not been arrested but are under investigation.
Danish side Brondby have quarantined 13 people, including a player and their assistant coach, after former Denmark international Thomas Kahlenberg was diagnosed with coronavirus. Brondby director of communications Christian Schultz says Kahlenberg contracted the virus in Amsterdam last weekend and was at Brondby’s game against Lyngby on Sunday.
The Premier League has announced that the pre-match handshakes between both teams and officials will not take place until further notice because of fears over the spread of coronavirus. The measure comes the day after the government asked the league “to step up its contingency planning”. The teams will still line up as usual but the home team will walk past the away side without shaking hands. There have been more than 90,000 cases of the virus in 87 countries.
Manchester United striker Odion Ighalo says he “doesn’t care what anybody says” about his surprise move to Old Trafford after his two goals ensured an all-Premier League FA Cup quarter-final line-up and comfortable 3:0 win at Derby County. January signing Ighalo again showed why his shock acquisition in January may yet prove to be shrewd business with two smart finishes to book a tie with Norwich at Carrow Road later this month.
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