World Soccer - UK (2020-03)

GELSON MARTINS

The Monaco winger was suspended indefinitely

and faces a lengthy ban after he pushed

referee Mikael Lesage twice, before and after

being sent off during Monaco’s 3-1 Ligue 1

defeat at Nimes.

MARIO BALOTELLI

His red card in Brescia’s 2-2 draw at home to

Cagliari in Serie A was the 13th of his career

and made him only the second player in

Europe’s top five leagues to have been

dismissed in each of the past four seasons,

along with Monaco defender Jemerson.

MARTIN ODEGAARD

The Real Sociedad loanee scored the first goal

against his parent club Real Madrid in a shock

4-3 Copa del Rey quarter-final upset at the

Bernabeu Stadium.

VISSEL KOBE &

KASHIMA ANTLERS

A crazy finish to the Japanese Super Cup saw

players from both teams miss nine penalties

in a row between them. After the first four

penalties were converted, Hotaru Yamaguchi

eventually

secured

victory

for Vissel

Kobe with

the 14th

kick of the

shoot-out.

CHRISTINE SINCLAIR

The Canadian set a new world record for either

men or women when her two goals in an 11-

victory over St Kitts & Nevis took her past

Abby Wambach’s previous best and on to

185. The 36-year-old was described as “an
     amazing human being” by former national
     coach John Herdman.

ERLING HAALAND

The Norwegian became the first substitute to

score a hat-trick on his Bundesliga debut. The

19-year-old achieved the feat in Borussia

Dortmund’s win against Augsburg.

THE MALDINIS

When Daniel Maldini lined up against Verona

in Serie A he became the third generation of

his family to represent Milan, following in the

footsteps of his grandfather Cesare and his

dad Paolo. The 18-year-old’s debut left the trio

just five short of 1,000 collective appearances

for the club.

“She could and should be a multi-millionaire, but she

never asked for a penny more than her team-mates.

She’s always put her team, her country first”

John Herdman on record-breaking Canadian international Christine Sinclair

SOULEYMANE CAMARA

The Senegalese forward set a new club record

when he made his 430th appearance for

Montpellier as a substitute in a 5-0 win over

Caen in the French Cup.

CAF president Ahmad and his attache, Loic
Gerand, in the deal with Tactical Steel. The
company’s financial dealings with CAF were
described as “highly suspicious”.
Ahmad has strenuously denied any
wrongdoing. FIFA president Gianni Infantino has
proposed a series of reforms to African football
(see page 30).

ENGLAND

Chelsea agree

deal with Ajax

for Ziyech

Chelsea have agreed a £37.6million

deal with Ajax to sign Moroccan winger

Hakim Ziyech in the summer.

Chelsea’s two-window transfer ban

for breaching the rules on the signing

of young players was reduced on

appeal, allowing them to sign players

in the January window. However, the

London club opted against bringing

in any new players.

Ziyech will be Frank Lampard’s first

signing as Chelsea boss. He was one of

the stars of the Ajax side that reached

last year’s Champions League semi-

finals. His departure from Amsterdam

will follow last year’s transfers of Frenkie

De Jong to Barcelona and Matthijs De

Ligt to Juventus.

HEROES VILLAINS

GLOBAL FOOTBALL INTELLIGENCE

Amazing...world-record holder Christine Sinclair

Ban...Gelson Martins pushes referee Mikael Lesage

Suspicious

...Ahmad

Family affair...

Daniel Maldini

Shoot-out...

nine misses

in a row