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MANCHESTER UNITED CONDOLE WITH RIVALS MANCHESTER CITY AS PEP GUARDIOLA LOSES MUM TO COVID-19

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Rival club to Manchester City, Manchester United has sent condolences to Pep Guardiola whose mother just died from the coronavirus.

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Sadly, the death occurred just days after the Manchester City manager donated £920,000 to fight the virus in his native Catalonia.

The Premier League champions confirmed the sad news on Monday that Dolors Sala Carrio had passed at the age of 82 in Manresa, Barcelona.

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Pep Guardiola’s (right) mother, Dolors Sala Carrio (left), has passed away from coronavirus

It read: ‘The Manchester City family are devastated to report the death today of Pep’s moth Dolors Sala Carrio in Manresa, Barcelona after contracting Corona Virus.

‘She was 82-years-old. Everyone associated with the club sends their most heartfelt sympathy at this most distressing time to Pep, his family and all their friends.’  

City paid tribute to their manager on social media, saying: ‘Everyone associated with the club sends their most heartfelt sympathy at this most distressing time to Pep, his family and all their friends.’

Dolors was a former sales assistant, and was married to Pep’s father Valenti, a bricklayer. Tottenham and Brighton sent their condolences to Guardiola for his loss shortly after the news was announced.

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‘Everyone at Spurs sends their deepest condolences. Our thoughts are with Pep and his family at this time,’ Spurs tweeted.

Liverpool, Norwich and Arsenal also took to social media to offer their support to Guardiola and his family.

Rio Ferdinand and ex-Barcelona striker Gary Lineker also sent their condolences to Guardiola on social media.

‘Really sorry to hear that Pep Guardiola’s mother has passed away. Thoughts are with him and his family. So sad,’ Lineker tweeted.

Ferdinand said: ‘Sending my love & condolences to Pep and his family!’ 

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The tragic news comes weeks after Guardiola himself made a generous donation of £920,000 (€1million) to help fight the coronavirus in Spain. 

Guardiola earmarked the money, sent to the Angel Soler Daniel Foundation, to be spent on purchasing medical equipment.  

The fund is named after a doctor from Santpedor – the town Guardiola hails from – who passed away in the 1970s.

The foundation had raised just over €33,000 after the initial plea and Guardiola’s personal contribution has rocketed their resources. 

The Barcelona medical college said that equipment is in short supply across Catalonia and Guardiola’s generosity will go a long way to easing the strain on health centres. Catalonia is reported to have the most concentrated number of cases in Spain.  

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Spain has suffered one of the worst outbreaks of the virus in Europe.

According to the latest numbers from Johns Hopkins, Spain has had 135,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19, second only to the United States, and more than 13,000 deaths, second only to Italy which has suffered almost 16,000.

As part of the club’s Cityzens At Home intiative, Guardiola last week recorded a video urging fans to stay at home and to follow the advice of scientists, doctors and nurses. 

‘We miss football,’ he said. ‘We miss the life that we had a few days ago but now is the time to listen, to follow our scientists, doctors and nurses. 

‘You are my football family and we are going to do everything possible to make you feel better. We’ll come back from this stronger, better, kinder… and a little bit fatter. Stay inside, stay safe.’

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Guardiola’s video message came as the club launched the new ‘Cityzens At Home’ website dedicated to providing fans with news, advice and activities during these unprecedented times.

There will be bespoke coaching videos from members of the City staff, as well as daily skills challenges and players’ favourite recipes among other offerings.

Kunle Solaja is the author of landmark books on sports and journalism as well as being a multiple award-winning journalist and editor of long standing. He is easily Nigeria’s foremost soccer diarist and Africa's most capped FIFA World Cup journalist, having attended all FIFA World Cup finals from Italia ’90 to Qatar 2022. He was honoured at the Qatar 2022 World Cup by FIFA and AIPS.

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Liverpool stay top of Premier League as Arsenal, Man City win

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Liverpool's Cody Gakpo, centre left, Ryan Gravenberch, centre, and Diogo Jota celebrate after the English Premier League soccer match between Crystal Palace and Liverpool at Selhurst Park in London, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024. AP

Liverpool beat Crystal Palace 1-0 to remain top of the Premier League as Arsenal and Manchester City came from behind to win on Saturday.

City were 3-2 victors over Fulham to stay one point behind Liverpool, alongside Arsenal who saw off Southampton 3-1.

Arne Slot has now won nine of his first 10 games since succeeding Jurgen Klopp as Liverpool manager, but was frustrated that the visitors invited a late onslaught from the winless Eagles.

Jota prodded the Reds into the lead from Cody Gakpo’s cross on nine minutes.

The Portuguese international was then guilty of missing two big chances to extend Liverpool’s advantage.

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Palace failed to make them pay, but victory came at a cost for Slot as goalkeeper Alisson Becker limped off with a hamstring injury.

“If you score the second you break them mentally,” said Slot. “All the fans kept believing in a result because it was only 1-0, even though in my opinion we were the dominant team.”

Fresh from a dominant win over Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League, Arsenal were expected to sweep aside winless Southampton.

But the Saints shocked the Emirates 10 minutes into the second half when Cameron Archer fired in his first Premier League goal since a summer move from Aston Villa.

The lead only lasted three minutes before Kai Havertz scored for the seventh consecutive home game.

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Gabriel Martinelli was introduced after an hour and took just eight minutes to make his mark with a finish on the volley from Bukayo Saka’s cross.

Having set up Arsenal’s first two goals, Saka pounced on a loose ball to score the third himself.

Fulham’s outrageous opener
 

Rodri’s season-long absence due to a serious knee injury is expected to be a major blow to City’s chances of retaining the title for a fifth consecutive season.

But it was the Spaniard’s deputy Mateo Kovacic who scored twice to turn the game around for the champions at the Etihad.

The visitors had not lost since the opening night of the season at Manchester United and led thanks to Andreas Pereira’s finish from an outrageous backheel assist by Raul Jimenez.

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Kovacic’s deflected effort quickly brought City level before a cleaner strike less than two minutes into the second half made it 2-1.

Jeremy Doku then smashed into the top corner from outside the box to give City a two-goal cushion, which they needed.

Rodrigo Muniz gave Fulham hope on 88 minutes, but City held out for a 17th consecutive win against the Cottagers.

West Ham eased the pressure on new boss Julen Lopetegui by ending a run of three home defeats to start the new season.

Michail Antonio, Mohammed Kudus, Jarrod Bowen and Lucas Paqueta struck for the Hammers in a 4-1 win over Ipswich, who are still waiting for their first Premier League win 22 years.

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There were six goals before half-time as Brentford beat Wolves 5-3 to leave the visitors still rooted to the foot of the table.

Leicester secured their first league win of the season as Facundo Buonanotte’s strike beat Bournemouth 1-0.

Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag faces a huge match if he is to remain in charge when the Red Devils visit Aston Villa in the pick of Sunday’s action.

-AFP

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Premier League rejects City request to delay next season’s games after Club World Cup

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 Premier League - Newcastle United v Manchester City - St James' Park, Newcastle, Britain - September 28, 2024 Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola reacts REUTERS/Scott Heppell/File photo

The Premier League has rejected Manchester City’s request to postpone the first two games of the 2025-26 season to help the players recover after their FIFA Club World Cup campaign in the U.S., the club’s manager Pep Guardiola said on Friday.

City and Chelsea are the two English clubs who have qualified for the expanded month-long Club World Cup set to start on June 15. The Premier League’s season will begin in August.

An increasingly packed soccer calendar has been a concern among a growing number of players and managers. A report by global players’ union FIFPRO said some players get only 12% of the year to rest.

The Premier League did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside regular business hours.

City midfielder Rodri said in September that players could be close to strike action over the time they are required to play. A knee ligament injury has since put him out for the season.

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“I don’t know if we will play more games than the treble year (2022-23)… maybe we’ll play less games,” Guardiola told reporters.

“The Premier League has not allowed us to postpone the first two games for our recovery. Thank you so much. They don’t postpone these games so that will be the moment of, oh, what do we have to do?”

He said the Club World Cup will make it even more difficult for clubs to manage player workload.

-Reuters

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Ten Hag’s Man United future not my call, Ratcliffe says

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FA Cup - Final - Manchester City v Manchester United - Wembley Stadium, London, Britain - May 25, 2024 Manchester United co owner Jim Ratcliffe is pictured in the stands before the match Action Images via Reuters/Andrew Couldridge/File Photo

Manchester United co-owner Jim Ratcliffe said a decision about under-fire manager Erik ten Hag is not his call, and was reticent about whether he still has faith in the team’s boss amid their worst start to the Premier League season since 1986-87.

“I don’t want to answer that question,” Ratcliffe told the BBC. “I like Erik. I think he’s a very good coach but at the end of the day it’s not my call, it’s the management team that’s running Manchester United that have to decide how we best run the team in many different respects.

“That team that’s running Manchester United has only been together since June or July. They weren’t there in January, February, March or April — Omar (Berrada, CEO), (Sporting Director) Dan Ashworth — they only arrived in July.

“They’ve only been there . . . you can count it in weeks almost — they’ve not been there a long time so they need to take stock and make some sensible decisions.”

Ten Hag’s job was the subject of speculation for much of last season en route to the team’s lowest Premier League finish of eighth. After an FA Cup final victory over Manchester City and an end-of-season review, however, Ten Hag signed a new contract to extend his stay at Old Trafford until 2026.

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“Our objective is very clear, we want to take Manchester United back to where it should be, and it’s not there yet, obviously, that’s very clear,” Ratcliffe said.

Ten Hag continues to plead for patience from fans with the team languishing 13th in the Premier League table, having lost three of their six opening games. They were headed towards defeat by Porto in the Europa League on Thursday before Harry Maguire scored a last-gasp goal to salvage a 3-3 draw.

-Reuters

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