Manchester United took control of their Europa League last-16 tie with a resounding 5-0 first-leg win at LASK, in front of a crowd of 500 people. Odion Ighalo’s superb goal set United on their way inside a largely empty Linzer Stadion after the Austrian government had restricted the attendance in response to the coronavirus outbreak. The 30-year-old Nigeria striker has now scored four goals in three starts United, who are now unbeaten in their last 11 games in all competitions.
Manchester City defender Benjamin Mendy is self-isolating as a precaution after a member of his family was admitted to hospital displaying symptoms of coronavirus.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has tested positive for coronavirus and the club’s game against Brighton on Saturday has been postponed. The Gunners have closed their training ground and club staff who had recent contact with Arteta will now self-isolate. The Premier League will hold “an emergency club meeting” on Friday to discuss future fixtures. “This is really disappointing,” said Spaniard Arteta, 37.
The Australian Grand Prix has been called off, two senior Formula 1 sources have said. There has been no official confirmation from F1 or governing body the FIA but the news follows a McLaren team member testing positive for coronavirus. The situation has rapidly developed throughout Thursday night in Melbourne but an announcement that the race will not take place is expected. The decision throws into doubt the rest of the Formula 1 season.
The International Olympic Committee has insisted the Tokyo 2020 Games will go ahead as the Olympic torch was lit in ancient Olympia. Thursday’s ceremony in Greece was the first since 1984 to be held without spectators because of the ongoing concern over coronavirus. IOC president Thomas Bach said organisers had “outstanding support and co-operation on all levels of government”. The Games are due to start on 24 July.
Three Leicester City first-team players have self-isolated after showing symptoms of coronavirus and “have been kept away from the rest of the squad”, manager Brendan Rodgers has said. Rodgers did not specify which players had been quarantined but added that the club had “followed procedures”. The Foxes are due to play Watford at Vicarage Road in the Premier League on Saturday.
The second leg of Manchester City’s last-16 second leg Champions League tie against Real Madrid, scheduled for Tuesday 17 March, has been postponed.
Chilean duo Alexis Sanchez and Arturo Vidal will be quarantined when they return to the country ahead of their World Cup qualifier at home to Colombia on April 1.
Electric motorsport series Formula E is seeking to expand its operations in Africa, the sport’s founder Alejandro Agag said. The series currently has just one race in Africa – with Morocco’s Marrakesh hosting one of the season’s 14 rounds – but this could be two within the next “12-24 months”. The championship has not featured an African driver since it started in 2014, but there are also plans to change this.
Football’s world governing body FIFA has postponed its Congress in Ethiopia, scheduled to take place in June, by three months owing to the outbreak of the coronavirus. The Congress has been set to take place in the capital Addis Ababa with events between 3-5 June, the day on which the Congress had been set to take place. This has now been postponed until 18 September.
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has chosen to maintain the schedule of all its competitions despite the outbreak of coronavirus, which was labelled a pandemic on Wednesday. Some 48 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers are set to take place in nearly 50 countries across the continent at the end of March. Meanwhile, the African Nations Championship (CHAN) is scheduled to take place in Cameroon between 4-25 April.
The Europa League ties between Sevilla and Roma in Spain and Inter Milan’s against Getafe in Italy have been postponed because of coronavirus. Both last-16 first-leg games were due to be played behind closed doors on Thursday but have been called off after Spanish authorities imposed travel restrictions between Spain and Italy. UEFA said it will communicate further decisions on both games in due course. Roma had already said they would not be travelling to Seville.
The NBA has announced that all matches will be suspended from Thursday until further notice, after a Utah Jazz player tested positive for coronavirus. The announcement was made just before the Jazz game against the Oklahoma Thunder was due to start on Wednesday. The NBA said the player who tested positive was not at the game. “The NBA will use this hiatus to determine next steps for moving forward in regard to the coronavirus pandemic,” a statement said. The Jazz vs Thunder game was postponed.
Manchester City’s Premier League match with Arsenal on Wednesday has been postponed as a “precautionary measure” and several Gunners players are in self-isolation after Olympiakos owner Evangelos Marinakis contracted coronavirus. Arsenal say Marinakis, 52, met a number of their players when the Gunners hosted the Greek side in a Europa League match two weeks ago.
Below are some effects Coronavirus has caused on the sporting world:
The Italian football federation (FIGC) admitted on Tuesday the Serie A season might not finish because of the coronavirus outbreak. The FIGC confirmed in a statement Serie A would stop until at least April 3 following a government decree issued on Monday as Italy began an unprecedented, nationwide lockdown imposed to slow Europe’s worst outbreak of coronavirus. It said its president Gabriele Gravina had put forward three alternatives in case the championship could not be concluded which would be discussed at a meeting on March 23.
This month’s 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers between The Gambia and Gabon should be postponed as the former cannot access seven key Italy-based players, said Scorpions coach Tom Saintfiet. On Monday, Italy announced that the entire country – which is Europe’s worst affected by coronavirus – was in lockdown as it battles to contain the outbreak. With seven of The Gambia’s players – including defender and captain Omar Colley, who plays for Sampdoria – based with Italian clubs, and thus now inaccessible, Saintfiet says it would be too unfair to play the qualifiers.
Zambia’s women’s football team qualified for the first Olympic Games in their history when beating Cameroon 2-1 in Lusaka to qualify on away goals. Trailing 3-2 from the first leg, Zambia won through on away goals after drawing 4-4 on aggregate.
Liverpool have confirmed goalkeeper Alisson will miss next week’s Merseyside derby with a hip injury. The 27-year-old has missed the last two matches and has now been ruled out of Monday’s trip to Everton as well as Wednesday’s Champions League second-leg game with Atletico Madrid. Stand-in Adrian will continue in goal.
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola says he would prefer matches to be postponed rather than played behind closed doors. Having seen matches across Europe played in empty stadiums, Guardiola feels it is only a matter of time before the Premier League is affected. The City manager said he will be guided by the game’s authorities about how games should be played but his preference would be postponements. “Does football work without spectators?” he said.
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