The_Times__6_March_2020

the times | Friday March 6 2020 1GM 67

Sport

Ronaldinho accused of

using fake passport

Ronaldinho has been held by

police in Paraguay after

authorities accused the former

Brazil forward of using a fake

passport to enter the country.

Police searched a hotel in

Asunción yesterday where

Ronaldinho and his brother

Roberto de Assis were staying.

The public prosecutor’s office said

the men had not been arrested

but the authenticity of their travel

documents was being checked.

The two men deny any

wrongdoing and are co-operating

with the authorities. Police say

their investigation is ongoing.

De Bruyne could miss

Manchester derby

Manchester City face an anxious

wait to see if Kevin De Bruyne

will be fit for Sunday’s derby

against Manchester United at Old

Trafford after tests revealed that

the playmaker has a minor

shoulder injury. Pep Guardiola,

the City manager, has not made

his mind up on whether to field

the 28-year-old and will give the

player a late fitness test before

the match. Should De Bruyne fail,

Guardiola may hand a start to

Phil Foden, the 19-year-old

academy graduate who shone in

the 2-1 Carabao Cup final win

over Aston Villa last Sunday.

M

ikel Arteta

wants Pierre-

Emerick

Aubameyang’s future

resolved before the

end of the season,

with the Arsenal head

coach anxious to keep

the forward.

Aubameyang, 30,

enters the final year

of his contract this

summer. The Gabon

forward has scored

20 goals in 31 games.

“For me it is very

easy,” Arteta said.

“I want to keep

him under any

circumstances.”

Arteta is waiting to

learn the full extent of

Lucas Torreira’s

injury. The midfielder

fractured an ankle in

a challenge by James

Bolton, right, in

Monday’s FA Cup

fifth-round win away

to Portsmouth.

Arteta:

Arsenal

must keep

forward

The Uefa president has said “it would
be better for everyone” if the English
League Cup were dropped to ease
fixture congestion.
In an interview with The Times,
Aleksander Ceferin, 52, insisted that
there had been no final decision to
expand the Champions League —
although he did not rule out extra
matches — and said that he understood
why Manchester City fans were booing
the Uefa anthem after the club’s ban
from European football.
Ceferin, a Slovenian lawyer who was
elected to the most powerful position in
European football in 2016, also
revealed that Uefa would move to end
fractional VAR offside calls.

Elite clubs such as Real Madrid have

raised the prospect of a breakaway

“Super League” but Ceferin warned:

“They shouldn’t forget that the

Champions League is the biggest club

sports competition in the world, with

some tradition. You don’t just say, ‘Now

I play differently’ and all the fans go and

watch you.”

Uefa’s two-year ban for Manchester

City for financial fair play breaches —

which is being challenged at the Court

DAVID PRICE/GETTY IMAGES

Uefa chief calls for League Cup to be axed

Uefa is in talks over Champions

League reform with the European Club

Association (ECA), a group of 232 of the

continent’s leading teams who are

pushing for more games and more

guaranteed places. That would be a

problem in English football’s packed

calendar, and Ceferin questioned whe-

ther having two domestic cup competi-

tions was sustainable — but accepted

that smaller clubs would need financial

compensation if it was reduced to one.

Speaking in Amsterdam, he said:

“The League Cup is off in France

already [this season is its last edition].

Only England remains. I think that

everybody knows that it would be bet-

ter for everyone if that were not played

any more. But the problem is that,

through that cup, you finance a lot of

clubs that are quite disadvantaged, so I

understand the problem. The English

are also quite traditionalist, you like

things that have been there for ages.”

Asked if there could be more matches

in the Champions League post-2024 —

the ECA’s original demand for ten extra

games a season appears to have

dropped to four — Ceferin added: “The

important step is the post-2024 calen-

dar, and then we have to form a strong

European team that will negotiate the

calendar with Fifa.

“Some proposals are ‘more matches’,

some proposals are different distribu-

tion of solidarity [payments]. We have

many proposals on the table.

“I’m not naive enough to think that

everybody will be happy. Everybody

will have to step back a bit.”

of Arbitration for Sport — has led to an

outpouring of vitriol towards the

European governing body by City fans.

Ceferin insisted that he has not been

involved in the case nor the sanction

imposed by the independent Club

Financial Control Board, but under-

stood the fans’ negative reaction.

He also revealed that Uefa would

change its VAR system so that thicker

lines are used for offside decisions in

the Champions League next season

and possibly Euro 2020 matches this

summer to prevent attackers from

being penalised for fractional offsides.

“Thicker lines are essential for me,

because when you lose a match worth

€100 million because of 1cm, because

your foot is long or your nose is long, it’s

a bit too much,” he said.

Martyn Ziegler Chief Sports Reporter Ceferin questioned
whether two cups
were sustainable