Football news, match reports and fixtures | theguardian.com

Real Madrid's Gareth Bale is ready to give Schalke his best shot
Olympiakos 2 Manchester United 0: Five Champions League talking points | Paul Chronnell
Olympiakos 2-0 Man Utd
Olympiakos v Manchester United: Champions League – as it happened | Jacob Steinberg
Awer Mabil: 'I will move on but I won't forget'
Champions League: Olympiakos v Manchester United - in pictures
Ranger a 'sex pest', alleged rape victim claims
Zenit 2-4 Borussia Dortmund
Zenit St Petersburg v Borussia Dortmund: Champions League – as it happened! | Ian McCourt
Newcastle United make profit for third year in a row
Liverpool can score their way to Premier League success, says Kolo Touré
Football League mulls over Massimo Cellino's £25m Leeds takeover
The Fiver | The Increasingly Grouchy One's nonexistent Netflix account | Jacob Steinberg
The NFL cares more about its image than addressing racism on the field | David Dennis
Arsenal defender Johan Djourou wants permanent Hamburg move
Mourinho denies trouble with Eto'o
Sherwood backs Spurs to save season
European best XIs plus Champions League last-16 tactical previews
1D's Tomlinson in Doncaster debut
Danny Welbeck set for Manchester United return against Olympiakos
Zenit St Petersburg prepare for Borussia Dortmund Champions League clash – video
Why Brazil's footballers play to half-empty stadiums l Jonathan Watts
Manchester United's David Moyes and Wayne Rooney on Robin van Persie and Olympiakos – video
World Cup: 25 stunning moments ... No3: West Germany 1-0 Austria in 1982 | Rob Smyth
What is the best sports bet you have ever made? – open thread

Real Madrid's Gareth Bale is ready to give Schalke his best shot

Posted: 25 Feb 2014 02:59 PM PST

He may not have hit the heights so far, but Gareth Bale is growing in confidence as the Champions League progresses

The look on Sergio Ramos's face said it all. His eyes were wide, his mouth was open and his jaw had hit the floor. He had just seen something spectacular. He scrambled to his feet and applauded loudly. This, coming from a man who has spent the last few seasons watching the continually dazzling displays of Cristiano Ronaldo, was high praise but it deserved it.

Xabi Alonso squared a pass to Gareth Bale, who found himself surrounded by space about 30 yards away from goal. He controlled the ball with his right foot, set it up with his left, and before the Elche defence could react, the ball had whizzed and fizzed its way into the back of the net. For those who had witnessed the Welshman's wonder goals over the past few seasons for Tottenham Hotspur, this phenomenon was as new as water being wet or grass being green. Not so for Ramos and the rest of the Bernabéu.

Bale's season so far has been fair to middling for a man who cost the club a reported €100m (£86m), but as Madrid travel to Schalke on Wednesday night in their Champions League round of 16 tie, it is time he and their season got down to business.

There have been some incredible highlights, not least his latest goal, his perfect hat-trick against Valladolid – it took Ronaldo 62 games to perform this feat but it had taken Bale just 13 – or his debut home performance against Sevilla when he scored twice, set up another two and left the opposition defence with a face redder than Rudolph's nose. From afar, his La Liga numbers look good. There have been nine assists to go with his 10 goals in 17 appearances. The numbers, however, only tell part of the story.

At times he has struggled against the bigger sides – see his first El Clásico for further details – and he has often looked as if he is trying too hard, a sure sign of a player who is overcompensating as he struggles to settle into his new surroundings. The former Real Madrid manager, Jorge Valdano, noted as much when he said: "Bale has a rare anxiety because he doesn't seem to be with the pace of the game. When you're anxious, you play at a speed above what suits you, but he is absent."

The defenders in Spain did not take too long to cotton on to the fact that a primarily left-footed attacker playing primarily on the right needed to be pushed into using his weaker foot rather than being allowed to cut inside.

The criticism has not just been from without, however, it has also come from within. After Madrid cruised to a most comfortable win over Getafe – in which the rest of the forward line found the back of the net in the absence of the suspended Ronaldo, while Bale left his shooting boots in the dressing-room – the manager, Carlo Ancelotti, said the Welshman had "lacked quality" if not "quantity".

In defence of Bale, he did not have a proper pre-season, and niggling injuries throughout the season will not have helped him find his rhythm and his best form and, of course, a period of adaptation is to be expected from a player who has a new language and a new culture in which to immerse himself.

There is also the weight of expectation on his shoulders. He is now the world's most expensive player and with all due respect to Tottenham and their ambitions, he has gone from playing in a side challenging for a place in the Champions League to a club challenging for the Champions League itself. As Bale freely admits, playing for Madrid is more white-hot heat than White Hart Lane. "There is a lot of expectation here," he said in a recent interview, "we're the biggest club in the world, we want to win every game and there's an expectation for us to win every game but it's one that we all like."

Madrid will travel to Schalke with a sense of trepidation. Maybe it is the heavy beer or the fried sausages but something unsettles the Madrid stomach once they cross the German border. They have played 25 games there in both the Champions League and its previous incarnation, and they have a record as miserable as a kid without a toy on Christmas Day. They have lost 18, drawn six and won just once. That win came 14 years ago but more recently Borussia Dortmund and Robert Lewandowski inflicted the mother of all hammerings.

The form of the German side should also give them something to worry about. They had been poor enough before the winter break but with rest in their bones they have improved of late. Only Bayern Munich have picked up more points in the Bundesliga over the last six games and the fact they have qualified for this stage of the competition for the second season in a row – the first time the club have managed to do so – shows they are a squad not without quality.

And after the victory over Elche, Ancelotti admitted that this season had left Bale bereft of a bit of backbone. "He was lacking confidence before that great goal. After that you saw him in a different game," said the former Chelsea manager. "It was a case of playing OK before the goal and fantastic after it," he added. That goal should thus have him walking into this game with his shoulders back and his head held high. And if he can replicate the sort of moments that had Ramos jumping from his seat and help his side take an important step towards that 10th European Cup, then his season may finally be up and running.

Ian McCourt

Olympiakos 2 Manchester United 0: Five Champions League talking points | Paul Chronnell

Posted: 25 Feb 2014 02:54 PM PST

David Moyes favoured caution over flair, leaving out players such as Welbeck, Kagawa and Januzaj. He must be braver if United are to turn the tie round in the second leg

1 Caution instead of flair is Moyes's downfall again

This was one of the more eagerly awaited teamsheets of the David Moyes reign, and while picking a side for the away game of a two-legged tie can sometimes be an understandable exercise in caution, the starting XI put forward by Moyes would have disappointed many a United supporter.

While it was widely expected that the United manager would opt for the industry of Antonio Valencia on the right flank, the inclusion of Ashley Young ahead of either Danny Welbeck or the mysteriously absent Adnan Januzaj on the left set the safety-first tone. The choice of Tom Cleverley and Michael Carrick as the defensive shield confirmed it, and the English pair were woeful on the night. Like Welbeck, Marouane Fellaini, Shinji Kagawa, and Ryan Giggs were all warming the bench and were more than entitled to wonder why. Welbeck and Kagawa were belatedly introduced on the hour, but by then it was 2-0 and the damage was done. Moyes seems to have a natural distrust of some of his more creative players, but this team is crying out for their inclusion.

2 Whatever is worth £300,000 a week, that wasn't it

Short of picking the team and having the Sir Alex Ferguson Stand at Old Trafford renamed in his honour, there is little more Manchester United could have done for Wayne Rooney over the past week. Call it a statement, a show of faith or an act of desperation, the 28-year-old now expected to inspire United for the next five years put in a performance that is all too familiar to supporters of United and England in recent years. Not only was the £300,000-per-week man ineffective despite being awarded the creative forward role craved by some of his team-mates, his suspect temperament that has so often exasperated from Gelsenkirchen to Podgorica was again in evidence in some petulant moments of frustration. On this evidence he hardly looked like the captain of United's next generation he is so handsomely rewarded to become. With Juan Mata ineligible for the Champions League, like United as a whole Rooney simply has to improve in the second leg.

3 Creaking old guard were reunited to no avail

Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic have not started too many games together (nine before Tuesday night) since the arrival of Moyes, and with the latter definitely leaving this summer and the former's future also unclear, the defensive old guard had seemed to be on the way out. But Moyes had paired them together in Saturday's 2-0 win over Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park, and there was a recognisable solidity to United in that game, so perhaps it was no surprise he did so again here.

The Serb immediately proved his worth with a superb block to deny Alejandro Domínguez early on and it was not the only decisive challenge he made. Ferdinand, on the other hand, looked rusty and more like a player on his way in the summer. The fact that the opposite is the case is yet another worry for Moyes, as is the fact that none of Chris Smalling, Phil Jones or Jonny Evans yet look like natural successors to the old warhorses.

4 Arsenal may have found another gem in Joel Campbell

Not many outside of the Emirates know much about Joel Campbell, but Arsène Wenger is a big fan of the 21-year-old Costa Rican, and 10 minutes into the second half he showed why with the exquisite turn inside Michael Carrick and left-foot curled finish beyond David de Gea. Wenger signed the forward in the summer of 2011, but work permit issues have seen him spend time on loan with Lorient in France, Real Betis in Spain, and this season in Greece. He had scored eight goals in 24 appearances before Tuesday night, but this one is now firmly the highlight of his fledgling career, and perhaps one that might raise an eyebrow from Roy Hodgson ahead of England's meeting with Costa Rica in June. Looking at the game but limited display of Yaya Sanogo against Bayern Munich last Wednesday Arsenal supporters may wonder quite why Campbell is still exiled, but perhaps this was why Wenger opted against signing another striker in the January transfer window …

5 This was a disastrous result, but all is not lost

Olympiakos are Champions League stalwarts and don't lack for experience, but something that has remained as a constant of many of their European Cup campaigns is that they are nowhere near as strong away from their Piraeus stronghold. Despite their miserable season so far, United will know that overturning a two-goal deficit at Old Trafford on 19 March to reach the quarter-finals is not beyond them, even if they have not done so since 1984 when Bryan Robson's heroics accounted for Barcelona in the Cup Winners Cup. Moyes now has little choice but to be more adventurous in the second leg, and the likes of Welbeck, Kagawa and Januzaj will surely be considered as starters, not to mention a player who has started more Champions League games than any other in the tournament's history and has two winner's medals to show for it: Giggs. It promises to be a night when experience and quality come to the fore for United and the veteran Welshman is surely a better man to orchestrate a comeback than Cleverley or Carrick. It will be a night when their season, and perhaps even their manager's future, is now on the line. Ferguson built a legacy on Old Trafford comebacks, how his beleaguered successor needs to summon one now.

Paul Chronnell

Olympiakos 2-0 Man Utd

Posted: 25 Feb 2014 01:50 PM PST

• In pictures: the best images from the game in Greece

In a season of lows this is surely a nadir from which Manchester United now have to respond. To lose away to Olympiakos, the Greek champions of a league some way below the standard of England's top flight, in the easiest of last-16 draws for United, will cause the most serious postmortem yet.

What is alarming for David Moyes is that United never looked close to scoring. Even towards the end, when Chris Smalling put Robin van Persie in for a clear sight of goal, the usually lethal Dutchman fired over. Moyes continues to grasp for answers to the big question of why a team that won the title by 11 points last season is so far off the pace this year.

While the goals from Alejandro Domínguez and Joel Campbell have not yet knocked United out of the Champions League, whether the manager can get the response of three unanswered goals in the second leg at Old Trafford on 19 March has to be in doubt.

The players had walked out to the deafening sound of a sold-out Karaiskakis Stadium for an occasion the excited locals were billing as their match of the year before kick-off.

Moyes took a belt-and-braces approach to selection. With Juan Mata ineligible, he eschewed the more creative talents of Adnan Januzaj, who was not in the match-day squad despite starting at Crystal Palace at the weekend, and Shinji Kagawa – named on the bench – for the steadier Antonio Valencia and Ashley Young, either side of Wayne Rooney.

Moyes did retain Rio Ferdinand alongside Nemanja Vidic at centre-back and with Patrice Evra and Smalling also selected, United had the same back four from that visit to Selhurst Park.

As might have been expected, Olympiakos had the early play. Evra was booked for deliberate handball when challenging Campbell, the forward loaned to United's opponents by Arsenal. While the resulting free-kick amounted to nothing for the Greek champions, moments later Vidic's intervention was required to clear lines after successive mistakes from Smalling and Ferdinand.

It was the captain who made a fine last-ditch tackle on Domínguez after the Argentinian playmaker ran at a visiting defence that parted too easily. All of this indicated how Moyes's team were finding it hard to settle. Indeed, the opening half was nearly 20 minutes old before United managed to string a few passes together, although when space was finally fashioned for Valencia the winger's delivery was nowhere near the waiting Rooney.

Most of the play was coming at the other end, with Domínguez finding gaps through which the No10 delighted in slipping through. From one such opening he drove Olympiakos forward and when the ball came to Hernán Pérez, he cut inside Smalling and let fly with an effort that missed narrowly.

Once more the fault line in United's play was proving to be an inability to control midfield and with it the contest. The manner in which Young gave away the ball when a simple pass forward was on – midway through the period – was indicative of a problem that has plagued the side all season. It meant Van Persie and Rooney were starved of service that forced the latter back to pick up play to try to do the job of his midfield.

If the sight of the striker passing straight out of touch when attempting to do so was dismal, what happened on 38 minutes was crushing for United. When Giannis Maniatis, the home captain, took aim from 25 yards it looked speculative but the dire luck Moyes has attracted all season continued as the shot went into a crowd of players in the area and Domínguez reacted quickly to wrong-foot David de Gea with a flick and that was 1-0. The closest United came to an equaliser before the break came from a Rooney free-kick. When it was swung in Kostas Manolas's header nearly beat Roberto, the home goalkeeper, but the ball sailed over.

Domínguez's neat flick meant this was the 16th time in Moyes's inaugural term as manager United had conceded the opening goal. It was also yet another occasion where, at half-time, the Scot had to convince his players they could turn a match their way.

After nine minutes of the second half the task became even harder. Campbell collected the ball about 10 yards outside United's area, evaded Michael Carrick's challenge, then swung a sweet left boot through the ball that beat De Gea to the Spaniard's right. The roar this brought from the home faithful split the air and added to the shock that swept across the stunned United's players.

On the hour Moyes introduced Shinji Kagawa for Tom Cleverley and Danny Welbeck for Valencia but, again, it was Olympiakos who threatened when Olaitan, the lone striker in Míchel's 4-2-3-1, aimed an attempt that came close to beating De Gea and all but consigning United to the most humiliating of exits from the competition. As it is, Moyes faces questions regarding his selection and how, precisely, he can motivate players who ended this game with belief drained.

Jamie Jackson

Olympiakos v Manchester United: Champions League – as it happened | Jacob Steinberg

Posted: 25 Feb 2014 01:44 PM PST

Minute-by-minute report: Fine goals from Alejandro Dominguez and Joel Campbell gave Manchester United a mountain to climb in the second leg of their Champions League tie

Jacob Steinberg

Awer Mabil: 'I will move on but I won't forget'

Posted: 25 Feb 2014 12:44 PM PST

The Adelaide United striker hopes to complete his journey from a refugee camp to Manchester United

Jack Kerr

Champions League: Olympiakos v Manchester United - in pictures

Posted: 25 Feb 2014 12:32 PM PST

All the best images from Athens where David Moyes will be looking for another victory in the Champions League, which has been a saving grace for him as his Manchester United side struggle in the Premier League

Steven Bloor

Ranger a 'sex pest', alleged rape victim claims

Posted: 25 Feb 2014 12:14 PM PST

• Former Newcastle player accused of raping woman in hotel
• Alleged victim also referred to striker as 'Nile Ripper'

The former Newcastle striker Nile Ranger was labelled a "sex pest" and a "predator" by a woman he allegedly went on to rape in a hotel, a court has heard.

The 22-year-old is accused of raping the woman after they had been out drinking together in Newcastle city centre.

Ranger, who plays for Swindon, denies the charge that relates to an incident that took place in January last year.

Newcastle crown court heard that the pair met at the Empress bar, where he bought them drinks, but she was unable to remember anything else until she woke up naked in a hotel room the next day.

The jury was read a series of messages from the weeks prior to the incident that Ranger sent the alleged victim, often in the early hours of the morning.

In these he would repeatedly ask her to meet him at a flat or to go out for drinks but she refused. In one exchange she said: "No, you're a sex pest, told you I would be mates, nothing more."

In another she wrote: "You're like a crazy sex pest animal let out of its cage on a monthly cycle." And in another: "You're a predator, can't deal with that shit." She also referred to him as "Nile Ripper".

Giving evidence by video link, the woman said Ranger had been messaging her for over a year and she regularly told him that she had a boyfriend.

In one message she said: "No, it's not all about sex, you know, Nile, I have been dating him for a while."

CCTV footage was shown of the pair arriving in a taxi at the Carlton hotel in Jesmond, Newcastle, and she can be seen falling out of the car.

Christine Egerton, prosecuting, told the court it was "crystal clear that she was not consenting" as at the time "she was so incapacitated by drink or something unknown that she found it difficult to walk and has no memory whatsoever of what occurred".

The alleged victim told the jury she had also received messages from the footballers Andy Carroll and Titus Bramble. She claimed Carroll asked her to meet in a hotel. "I asked Nile where they were getting my number from but he said he did not know," she said.

Toby Hedworth QC, defending, put it to her that the amount of contact between them showed she had been happy with messaging him.

"What is so difficult about not messaging someone back if you don't want to be messaging him?" he asked. "You were perfectly happy to be his friend and sending messages to him."

But she said it was only ever friendship that she was interested in and said: "I'm point blank not attracted to Nile."

The case continues.

Zenit 2-4 Borussia Dortmund

Posted: 25 Feb 2014 11:24 AM PST

Robert Lewandowski scored twice as Borussia Dortmund took a big step towards the Champions League quarter-finals with a commanding victory at Zenit St Petersburg on Tuesday.

Dortmund, losing finalists to Bayern Munich at Wembley last year, made a blistering start with Henrikh Mkhitaryan scoring in the fourth minute and Marco Reus doubling the lead a minute later.

Zenit, who had not played a competitive game since 11 December due to the Russian winter break, looked suitably rusty, but they pulled one back through Oleg Shatov in the 57th minute.

Lewandowski replied four minutes later after playing a pleasing one-two with his Poland team-mate Lukasz Piszczek. Then Piszczek conceded a penalty and Hulk scored emphatically from the spot after 69 minutes.

Again Lewandowski responded, this time scoring his side's fourth away goal two minutes later to leave Dortmund firmly in control for the second-leg of the round-of-16 tie on 19 March.

"We were close to optimal this evening," said the Dortmund coach Jürgen Klopp. "It was a great game, no question."

After more than two months without competitive football, the home side buckled early on under Dortmund's pressure and struggled to keep up with their quick passing game.

The pressing tactics quickly paid off for the visiting side when Reus ran at the Zenit defence, staying on his feet when he might have been awarded a penalty, before Mkhitaryan swept the loose ball past Yuri Lodygin.

The visiting fans were still celebrating when Kevin Grosskreutz knocked Mkhitaryan's cross back for Reus to volley inside the right-hand post.

"We stayed compact. We wanted to pressure them to win back the ball. That was very important," said the Dortmund captain Sebastian Kehl. "We brought the game in the right direction and made Zenit uncertain."

Zenit's attacking midfielder Andrey Arshavin went off with what looked like a hamstring injury in the 15th minute, and although last-gasp defending from their captain Nicolas Lombaerts helped prevent Lewandowski from running amok on several occasions, Zenit were generally let down by nervous defending throughout the game. And Anatoliy Tymoshchuk, who came on for Arshavin, was often guilty of giving the ball away cheaply in dangerous areas of the field.

Luciano Spalletti, Zenit's coach, said the tie is not yet decided and that his side still have a chance of going through. "In football there's always a chance of coming back," the Italian said.

"Everything depends on what kind of performance you deliver. It all depends on what you put into it and how much you're prepared to run. It all depends on your effort."

The first leg was played with the section normally occupied by Zenit's ultra fans closed as punishment for a mixture of racist behaviour, throwing of fireworks and crowd disturbances during a group stage loss at Austria Vienna in December. As a result the attendance was only 16,000.

There was also tight security in place around all areas of the Petrovsky Stadium to prevent any further trouble on the night.

Zenit St Petersburg v Borussia Dortmund: Champions League – as it happened! | Ian McCourt

Posted: 25 Feb 2014 10:53 AM PST

Minute-by-minute report: Robert Lewandowski scored twice as a dominant Dortmund took control of the last-16 tie in Russia

Ian McCourt

Newcastle United make profit for third year in a row

Posted: 25 Feb 2014 10:08 AM PST

• Profit after tax in 2012-13 was £9.9m
• United complying with Uefa's financial fair play rules

Newcastle have made a profit for the third year in a row as the club cut spending on player wages and increased their commercial income.

The club made a profit after tax in 2012-13 of £9.9m – up from £1.4m in 2011-12 – even though spending on player transfers increased. Turnover also rose by £2.4m to £95.9m with commercial revenue rising 24.2% to £17.1m.

The wage bill fell from £64.1m to £61.7m and the wage-to-turnover ratio dropped to 64%, below the Premier League's 70% average.

The club's debt remains the same in the form of a £129m interest-free loan from the owner Mike Ashley.

A statement from the club's board said Newcastle were striving to comply with Uefa's financial fair play rules and the Premier League's new spending controls.

The statement said: "As supporters will be aware, finances are a significant issue for all clubs given the introduction of financial fair play into the Premier League in addition to Uefa's regulations.

"Complying with FFP continues to be a key influence on strategy and something we have been working hard at over a number of years.

"Everyone at this club wants to finish as high up the Premier League table as it possibly can. If the club can sustain itself as a 'top 10' team year-on-year with a stable structure and the right finances, it gives itself every chance of pushing even further.

"The process requires patience but we remain absolutely committed to growing the club in a responsible and sustainable way."

Newcastle bought six senior players in the 2012-13 financial year – all in January 2013 – at a cost of £28.7m, partially recouped by £11.1m from the sale of Demba Ba, Leon Best and Fraser Forster.

Matchday turnover rose by 15.9% to £27.8m but the club's income from TV money dropped by 8% to £51m, reflecting the impact of their 16th-placed finish in the Premier League last season.

Liverpool can score their way to Premier League success, says Kolo Touré

Posted: 25 Feb 2014 09:54 AM PST

• 'We just need to keep calm and do what we have been doing'
• Liverpool have conceded seven goals in past three matches

Kolo Touré insists now is not the time to allow criticism of Liverpool's defensive vulnerability to affect their run-in.

The Reds' shaky defence is coming under increasing scrutiny after Sunday's 4-3 home win against Swansea made it seven goals conceded in their previous three matches.

Liverpool have kept just two clean sheets in their past 11 games stretching back to mid-December, moreover, but Touré, who has had his fair share of recent defensive calamities, believes they still have a grip on their situation.

Victory over Swansea, coupled with Tottenham's defeat at Norwich, means there is a six-point gap – effectively seven with Liverpool's vastly superior goal difference – between Liverpool and their nearest rivals for a top-four spot.

They remain four points behind the leaders Chelsea, but the striker Daniel Sturridge's form, scoring in his last eight consecutive league games to take his tally to 18, and the enduring quality of Luis Suárez (23 league goals) mean they are confident of outscoring most teams. "We just need now to keep calm and do what we have been doing, if we continue that we will get the same results," Touré told City Talk 105.9.

"There are going to be some tough games; Southampton [this Saturday] is a tough place to go but I think we can score goals and defend well as a team and we are working hard."

The Belgian goalkeeper Simon Mignolet also believes a sensible and composed approach will pay dividends as the season enters its final three months.

"We are in a good position at the moment but with 11 games to go there are still a lot of things that can happen," he told the Liverpool Echo.

"We need to stay calm and just focus on our next game. We won't be thinking about what's happened against them in the past [Liverpool have lost their last three visits].

"The gaffer gives everyone confidence. When you step on to the pitch you know that he's behind you and supporting you. Everyone is trying to do their job the best they can and we need to keep doing that until the end of the season."

Football League mulls over Massimo Cellino's £25m Leeds takeover

Posted: 25 Feb 2014 08:41 AM PST

• Various 'outstanding matters' still under consideration
• Cellino remains confident of receiving League's approval

The Football League has confirmed it is still in talks with Leeds over a proposed £25m takeover by Massimo Cellino.

The Italian businessman's company, Eleonora Sport Ltd, exchanged contracts with Leeds' owner, Gulf Finance House Capital, on 7 February for 75% of the club's shares and Cellino – who also owns Cagliari – has since been waiting for the League's approval.

The League said on Tuesday that while "a significant amount" of the information it had requested has been supplied, "there are still a number of outstanding matters that will require further submissions from the two parties". The League's board is due to meet on 13 March when it will receive an update unless all the remaining issues can be resolved in advance.

Cellino, who is based in Miami, has twice been convicted of fraud and is contesting a charge of embezzlement, but he remains confident of passing the League's owners and directors' test.

GFH Capital, a Bahrain-based investment firm, bought the club from Ken Bates in December 2012 and plans to retain a 10% stake. If Cellino's takeover is approved, the Leeds' chairman Salah Nooruddin will remain in post and the managing director, David Haigh, will become the chief executive.

International Investment Bank and Nooruddin (3.3%) will still own the remaining 15% of shares.

Cellino, who made his fortune in agriculture, received a 15-month suspended prison sentence in 2001 after being convicted of false accounting at Cagliari.

A conviction in 1996 for fraudulently claiming EU agricultural subsidies was overturned in 2012, while in February 2013 he spent 16 days in jail after being arrested for embezzlement – a charge he denies – in relation to the redevelopment of Cagliari's stadium.

Cellino's two convictions, nearly 13 and 18 years old, are considered "spent" in English law and it is understood they cannot be taken into consideration under the League's owners and directors' test. Although he has an outstanding charge against him, Cellino is assumed innocent until it can be proved otherwise.

Long considered one of the most charismatic owners in Italian football, Cellino was shown around Leeds' Thorp Arch training ground for the first time in October. He verbally agreed to a 75% takeover with GFH at the end of January and then tried to sack the manager Brian McDermott in favour of installing his friend and former Middlesbrough defender Gianluca Festa.

That bid outraged many Leeds fans, some of whom attempted to barricade Cellino into Elland Road on the eve of the club's home game against Huddersfield on 1 February.

McDermott stayed away from the match, which Leeds won 5-1 under the stewardship of his assistant Nigel Gibbs, while GFH released a statement during the game overruling Cellino and stating that McDermott was still manager.

McDermott returned to work as normal the following Monday and Cellino attempted to distance himself from the controversy, claiming it was the current owner who wanted to sack the manager.

Cellino has since said he is willing to work with McDermott if his takeover is approved and the two men have met twice to discuss the way forward.

The Fiver | The Increasingly Grouchy One's nonexistent Netflix account | Jacob Steinberg

Posted: 25 Feb 2014 08:22 AM PST

Click here to have the Fiver sent to your inbox every weekday at 5pm, or if your usual copy has stopped arriving

THE JOSE INQUIRY

Yesterday José Mourinho said something very hurtful about his strikers at Chelsea, insinuating that the three of them are about as useful as a stringless tennis racket and saying that he'd rather have Radamel Falcao up front instead, making sure to insult Monaco for good measure as well. The least you can say is that it's never quiet when Mourinho's around. But luckily for The Increasingly Grouchy One, none of his strikers had heard what he had to say anyway. Samuel Eto'o and Fernando Torres were both lying unconscious after accidentally running into each other during shooting practice, Demba Ba had fallen down a mine and Romelu Lukaku, the world's greatest self-publicist, was busy watching DVDs of Chelsea DVDs – he's such a big fan. All things considered, it was quite the escape for Mourinho. He might have had some explaining to do otherwise.

One problem, though: Mourinho's comments were never intended for public consumption, the Chelsea manager quite rightly assuming that his off-hand remarks to some irrelevant, starstruck, suited flunky weren't being recorded. Wrong! This, after all, is the digital age. Of course, they were being recorded – though while The Fiver, desperate to break its Proper Journalism duck, would like to tell you that Mourinho had become the NSA's latest victim, what actually happened was that he was simply unaware he was being filmed and soon his comments were being broadcast on French television, presumably to the considerable amusement of Arsène Wenger. Clearly Mourinho doesn't watch House of Cards, else he'd know that when you're talking to one person, you're talking to a thousand.

Unfortunately Mourinho doesn't have time to open a Netflix account and sit on the sofa in his grundies all day. He's a busy man. But Mourinho wasn't having it. Furious at being stitched up, he used his press conference before Chelsea's Big Cup tie against Galatasaray to lecture the media on ethics, as assorted hacks looked sheepishly at the floor and promised never to do it again. We're sorry José, please don't hate us José, we never meant to upset you José – can we still be friends José?

"I think you should be embarrassed as a media professional because, from an ethical point of view, I don't think you should be happy – not you, but a colleague – is able to record a private conversation and make it public," Mourinho seethed. "You should all be a bit embarrassed because it's against the ethics you have in your work. From an ethical point of view, it's a real disgrace. I'm not defending what I'm saying. I'm attacking something that is, I think, fundamental in your professional area." And with that, The José Inquiry was in session, though The Fiver won't have to attend, our tens of readers realising long ago that we are definitely not media professionals.

LIVE ON BIG WEBSITE TONIGHT

Follow Zenit 1-2 Dortmund with Ian McCourt at 5pm and Olympiakos 0-0 Manchester United with Jacob Steinberg at 7.45pm.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"He's met all the players, but I should probably say they've met him because there are certainly a few wives, girlfriends and daughters glad that he's been around" – a Doncaster Rovers suit confirms that singing haircut Louis Tomlinson, from popular teenage hormone-stimulant 1D, will play for the club's reserves against Rotherham United tomorrow.

FIVER LETTERS

"Regarding Monday's letters, can I be the first of 1,057 pedants to … XXXXX" – Cormac Hughes (and 1,056 others).

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"Can I win yesterday's 'letter of the day' retrospectively. Nothing funny to write, but that's not a problem I gather" – Kevin Southern .

"I am disappointed in you, Fiver. How could you repeat Mourinho's slander against my club? I would like to point out that Falcao has played to an average crowd of 9,346 at home matches so far this season and given that Monaco's entire population is officially 36,136 and the stadium seats 51.25% of us, he should think himself lucky" – Phillipa Suárez.

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BITS AND BOBS

Mr Roy reckons a psychologist and an empty net will cure his England players' penalty yips. "I'm not averse to using a psychologist … we should be encouraging players to know their penalty, to practise that penalty. When you practise penalties within your group the goalkeeper knows the players, so maybe we won't do it with a goalkeeper," he Mr Roy'd.

Johan Djourou wants the same thing as Arsenal fans: to make his loan move to Hamburg permanent. "I know the coach, I love the club, I love the city," he gushed.

Everton's 12ft 7in striker Lacina Traoré has been ruled out for around three weeks with hamstring twang. "The type of player Lacina is, a sprinter, means these sort of injuries need to be well recovered," sobbed Roberto Martínez.

Finish this nib section: Tactics Tim said Spurs need what to salvage their season 1) A fake nine 2) An effective mezzala 3) Character?

And football is to blame for British TV drama being pants, according to FA chief suit Greg Dyke. "All that extra money was given to football. I'm not complaining, it was good for football and good for Sky, I'm just not sure if it was good for British drama," he said, presumably having watched Silk immediately after True Detective.

STILL WANT MORE?

Ready for a story? Good, here's Rob Smyth with the tale of the 'Disgrace of Gijón', No3 in our series of 25 stunning World Cup moments.

The killing of a Santos fan is a grim reminder of how, in the runup to the World Cup, violence scars Brazilian football, writes Jonathan Watts.

Sid Lowe gets his chat on with Roy Carroll.

Arsène Wenger gets an eyeful in Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window in this week's Gallery.

Oh, and if it's your thing, you can follow Big Website on Big Social FaceSpace.

SIGN UP TO THE FIVER (AND O FIVERÃO)

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PROOF THAT MATA CAN'T FIT IN (SCROLL DOWN)

Jacob Steinberg

The NFL cares more about its image than addressing racism on the field | David Dennis

Posted: 25 Feb 2014 08:15 AM PST

Penalising players for using the n-word while allowing the Washington Redskins to retain its name reeks of hypocrisy

Earlier this year, Miami Dolphins lineman Jonathan Martin shocked the sports world by abruptly leaving his team, citing "bullying" from teammates, namely Richie Incognito. The subsequent investigation yielded text messages and voicemails from Incognito using the dreaded n-word and using degrading language in regards to Martin's sister. The entire fiasco has been a public relations nightmare for the NFL, revealing the vulgar, crude locker room environment that players are surrounded by every day. So, as usual, the NFL has offered a knee-jerk solution that's more about defending its image than creating any real change.

The NFL is expected to implement a 15-yard penalty – one of the strictest in-game penalties during a game – on any team in which a player uses the n-word. The rule requires referees to decipher what players are saying in the heat of the game and administer game-changing penalties based on deniable audio. The rule isn't only difficult to accurately enforce, it's largely ineffective in addressing the racism that's the underlying problem. And the NFL doesn't seem to care.

Whenever faced with a potential public relations crisis, the NFL opts to make grand, largely ineffective rule changes. For example, after allegedly trying to subdue reports on long-term concussion effects on players, the NFL pushed overall confusing and overbearing penalties for "head-to-head" hits. As the NFL's commissioner, Roger Goodell, preached the importance of head safety, he kept trying to squeeze every last penny out of fans by pushing for longer seasons – which would mean more hits and injuries for athletes. While the NFL was fining players for head-on collisions, it was being sued for rejecting safer helmets in order to save money.

This new n-word policy reeks of the same hypocrisy. Roger Goodell is an employee of the NFL. He answers to its owners and is treated like royalty as long as he pleases them. That would explain why his 2012 salary was more than $40m. It would also explain why Goodell is solely concerned with penalizing players while letting the owners run rampant on the league. The n-word policy is a reflection of that preferential treatment. Because, while players are getting fined and teams are getting penalized for spewing the n-word, Goodell has yet to demand that the Washington Redskins change its name.

The term "Redskin" has been considered by Native Americans to be wildly offensive, and they've urged the NFL to change the mascot for years. Still, the owner, Dan Snyder, has insisted that the name will remain for the foreseeable future and Goodell hasn't forced the issue. Much like the concussion inconsistencies, the NFL is penalizing one form of hate speech while selling merchandise and encouraging fans to cheer for a franchise that employs the hate speech in its mascot. But changing the Redskins' name would impact the owners, and neither Goodell nor the NFL care enough to do this. Instead, they've created a penalty that digs into players' pockets. Goodell doesn't, after all, have to answer to them.

At its heart, the idea of eliminating hate speech from a football field – or any place, really – is an ostensibly honorable goal. Unfortunately, the NFL has opted to try and improve its image instead. The league hopes we'll celebrate its attempts to cover its own back the next time a player says he can't take the bullying. The league wants to jump up and shout "look at we did!" if Michael Sam – who will be the first openly gay player in NFL history – gets treated differently by any locker room bigots or opponents on the field. But the NFL isn't actually going to change anything about the language used between players either in locker rooms or on the field. And, honestly, it takes more than one arbitrary rule to undo the centuries of damage that racial slurs have caused. If the NFL really wants to effect change, it should try to address the racism at the root of the problem, instead of acting in its own self-interest. And changing the Redskins name is a good place to start.

David Dennis

Arsenal defender Johan Djourou wants permanent Hamburg move

Posted: 25 Feb 2014 06:07 AM PST

• The 27-year-old defender went on loan in July last year
• 'I know the coach, I love the club, I love the city'

The Switzerland defender Johan Djourou would be open to a permanent move from Arsenal to Hamburg in the summer.

The 27-year-old first moved to Hamburg on loan in July 2013 after a successful loan spell with Hannover.

Djourou, who came through the Arsenal youth system, is be keen to stay in the Bundesliga.

"I know the coach, I love the club, I love the city. HSV [Hamburg] is incredible," Djourou said in the German newspaper Bild. "The club has so much potential. We have to go way up. The fans are great. The mood is different than in England. If all goes well and the club also want to, I would stay."

Mourinho denies trouble with Eto'o

Posted: 25 Feb 2014 06:01 AM PST

• Chelsea manager made disparaging remarks about striker
• Hits out a 'disgraceful' media for reporting private chat

José Mourinho has denied that his relationship with Samuel Eto'o has been compromised despite appearing to make disparaging remarks about the Chelsea striker during a secretly recorded conversation.

The Chelsea manager was livid after a private conversation was reported by French television station Canal Plus in which he criticised his forwards.

Mourinho was unaware he was being filmed and was instead conducting what he believed to be a private and light-hearted conversation with the head of Hublot watches at a sponsor's event. He is heard to say: "The problem with Chelsea is we lack a scorer. I have one [Eto'o] but he's 32. Maybe 35, who knows?"

However, at his press conference in the runup to Wednesday's Champions League game against Galatasaray, Mourinho turned on the French media, describing the story as a "disgrace".

Mourinho insists Eto'o does not have a problem with his comments. "I'm not defending what I'm saying. I'm attacking something that is, I think, fundamental in your professional area," he said. "That person showed exactly what he is, or what he doesn't know about the job. From my perspective, the comment is obviously not a good one, and obviously not something I would do in a serious way, an official way in an interview.

"First of all because I don't make fun. Secondly, because if there are managers in the world who really defend their players, I'm obviously one of them. And thirdly because Samuel Eto'o is Samuel Eto'o. He's four times a Champions League winner: people think three times, but one in Real Madrid, two in Barcelona and one with Inter.

"It was with him that I had the best ever season of my career. He's one of the few players who is working with me at a second different club, and a manager doesn't do that if he doesn't like the player or the person. He has no reason to be upset.

"Also, he told a few years ago, that Mourinho is the only manager in the world who I would never play for, and after a year he was playing with me at Inter and now here.

"There is no story. No story. I repeat: it was a funny conversation between me and somebody who doesn't belong to the football world. We were laughing. I think it's a disgrace that someone is taping and recording a private conversation when, obviously, we don't know."

Sherwood backs Spurs to save season

Posted: 25 Feb 2014 05:18 AM PST

• Spurs are six points off Champions League spot
• 'You can't crawl into a corner and hide,' says manager

Tim Sherwood maintains his Tottenham squad are not about to "crawl into a corner and hide" as they attempt to recover from their recent poor form.

Spurs suffered a second successive defeat when they were beaten 1-0 at Norwich on Sunday, having lost the first leg of their Europa League last-32 clash away to Dnipro earlier in the week.

Sherwood's men are now in fifth place, six points behind fourth-placed Liverpool in the race for Champions League qualification. However, with the return leg against the Ukrainians and the former Spurs manager Juande Ramos on Thursday tomorrow night swiftly followed by the visit of struggling Cardiff on Sunday, Sherwood sees no reason why his team cannot produce the required response to set themselves up for testing fixtures against Chelsea and Arsenal.

"Good players and good teams come back when they're down and that's what we've got to do straight away," Sherwood told Spurs TV. "We certainly need to have character now to play in front of our home fans after the disappointment of losing to a team around the bottom of the league. That happens, what can you do? You can't crawl into a corner and hide. You have to confront it and have a go."

Sherwood was appointed on an 18-month contract after replacing André Villas-Boas in December, and at 45, is one of the youngest managers in the Premier League. However, his long-term future remains the subject of some scrutiny, with the Holland manager, Louis van Gaal, recently suggesting Tottenham were set to approach him in the summer after the World Cup.

The Norwich City manager, Chris Hughton, who worked with Sherwood when he was on the Spurs' coaching staff, feels those were unhelpful words from a fellow professional.

"As managers in the game it's not the best policy to be mentioning potential jobs when there are already other managers in the job," Hughton told talkSPORT.

"It's a difficult job as it is and there's a quick enough turnover in management without the mention of potentially other managers coming in. So if he has said that, it's certainly not something he should have done."

European best XIs plus Champions League last-16 tactical previews

Posted: 25 Feb 2014 04:53 AM PST

A look forward to Olympiakos v Manchester United and Galatasaray v Chelsea, plus best XIs from Europe's big leagues

Champions League previews

Galatasaray v Chelsea

It might not be quite as extreme as witnessing a partner renew acquaintances with with their former love, but Galatasaray will provide a hostile environment for Didier Drogba's emotional reunion with former club Chelsea on Wednesday night. He will be at the centre of attention, and while we will all be awaiting his muted celebration if he scores, there is still the small matter of a Champions League quarter-final place at stake.

Overcoming Galatasaray will be no mean feat. Roberto Mancini, the man who managed Manchester City to their Premier League title in 2012, has won six of his 11 meetings against Chelsea. The Turkish Superlig holders provided the biggest surprise of the group stages, subjecting Italian giants Juventus to the knockout phase of the much less valued – and significantly less valuable – Europa League, beating them in controversial circumstances in Istanbul. The weather made the pitch nigh on unplayable and stopped Juve from playing their normal passing game. Galatasaray won't have that advantage against Chelsea, but the crowd will be fired up and will make this a typically difficult visit for the away side.

José Mourinho teams playing away from home tend to allow strong opponents possession in the early stages and work on stopping them from having any chances. In their recent away fixtures at Arsenal and Manchester City (twice), Chelsea had a total of two shots in the first 15 minutes of all three games.

They will again look to sit back at first and draw their opponents out, leaving space behind into which they can counter. No team scored more counter-attacking goals away from home in the Champions League group stages than Chelsea (two). They will again look to utilise the pace and dribbling skills of Eden Hazard and Willian.

Galatasaray, meanwhile, will look to break up Chelsea's passing. They made more interceptions (125) than any other side in the group stage. When they drew in Turin, they made a combined total of 65 interceptions, tackles and fouls, and they will try to disrupt Chelsea in the same way on Wednesday.

Brazilian midfielder Felipe Melo is known as "the Pitbull" at the Türk Telecom Arena, and his characteristically dogged approach will be key. His defensive input is vital to the side, and he is their second-highest rated player this season behind, you guessed it, Drogba.

Drogba has proven at the age of 35 that he is still good enough to compete at this level, picking up two goals and three assists in the group stages. Plenty of people have questioned why Chelsea continue to loan out Romelu Lukaku, but they could also come to regret Drogba's departure.

Olympiakos v Manchester United

Manchester United were given one of the best draws in the last 16 and will not want to let this opportunity slip through their fingers. With their Premier League title surrendered already, David Moyes needs his side to do all they can to pacify their increasingly frustrated fans with a run in Europe's elite competition. Olympiakos won two of their three home games in the group stage, but will be without their top scorer after Kostas Mitroglou's move to Fulham in January.

With Javier Saviola also missing, their options up front will be limited, though they can call on 21-year-old Nigerian Michael Olaitan who has scored six goals in his last six appearances. He does not have Champions League experience and that could mean journeyman Nelson Valdez is handed a chance, though he is struggling for fitness, having only recently joined on loan from Al Jazira. Valdez scored in this competition last season when he came off the bench to score for Valencia at the Allianz Arena.

Olympiakos have the ability to overcome good teams, having beaten Benfica in the group stage, but this tie is winnable for United if they turn up. They won their group at a canter but, as we all know, they have barely hit top gear all season. Wayne Rooney produced a glimpse of why United are willing to pay him £300,000-a-week with a wonderful volleyed finish at Crystal Palace at the weekend, but if – or when – he clicks with Juan Mata and Robin van Persie, United will surely become a real threat once again.

Olympiakos goalkeeper Roy Carroll believes his team have a chance, saying that his former club "look nervous" and are there for the taking. Just about anybody can score against this United side, and the Greek Super League leaders are no different.

Successive recent clean sheets at Arsenal and Palace should not hide the two goals United shipped at Stoke City and Fulham just before that. Olympiakos were one of only two group runners-up to make it into double figures for goals scored, and they could certainly get past this wobbly, vulnerable United back line.

Premier League team of the week

La Liga team of the week

Bundesliga team of the week

Serie A team of the week

Ligue 1 team of the week

All statistics courtesy of WhoScored.com, where you can find yet more stats, including live in-game data and unique player and team ratings.

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Alistair Tweedale

1D's Tomlinson in Doncaster debut

Posted: 25 Feb 2014 04:42 AM PST

• Pop star to play for club's reserves against Rotherham
• 4,000 fans expected at Keepmoat Stadium

One Direction heart-throb Louis Tomlinson will make his Doncaster debut in a reserve team fixture on Wednesday, with over 4,000 fans expected to cheer him on.

Rovers fan Tomlinson, who is one-fifth of the multimillion selling boyband, agreed a non-contract deal last summer as part of an ongoing association with the club in aid of Bluebell Wood Children's Hospice.

The 22-year-old Bessacarr boy missed out on a planned appearance in September after being injured in a charity fixture but will pull on the red and white jersey when Doncaster reserves take on Yorkshire rivals Rotherham in their last Final Third Development League game of the season.

The Keepmoat Stadium is anticipating an influx of "Directioners" – the collective name for the group's fanatical followers – for the fixture, with some travelling from as far afield as Denmark, France and Italy.

It is not known whether Tomlinson, who picked up two Brit Awards with his 1D band-mates last week and boasts 15.5 million Twitter followers, will start the match but he is guaranteed to be given the chance to prove his footballing "X-Factor" at some stage.

Doncaster spokesman Shaun Lockwood told Press Association: "We've built a relationship with Louis over the last two years and last summer we announced he had signed for us and would play in a development game.

"He played in a celebrity match here in 2012 which was successful in raising funds for Bluebell Wood and this was a case of "can we do something different?"

"When his schedule allows he comes to watch us, because he supports the team, and he's been here a few times for training sessions ahead of the game.

"He's met all the players, but I should probably say they've met him because there are certainly a few wives, girlfriends and daughters glad that he's been around."

The club have yet to sound out their most famous fan as a potential investor, but will be keeping tabs on his on-field performance.

"There's not been a conversation about investing in the club as far as I'm aware," added Lockwood.

"I suspect he's probably more focused on his own career for the time being. But the manager (Paul Dickov) has told Louis he'll be keeping an eye on him though, so we'll have to see how he plays!"

Danny Welbeck set for Manchester United return against Olympiakos

Posted: 25 Feb 2014 04:28 AM PST

• Forward back in squad after knee complaint
• Juan Mata ineligible for Champions League clash

David Moyes is considering recalling Danny Welbeck for Manchester United's Champions League meeting with Olympiakos this evening at the Karaiskakis Stadium.

The forward has not featured since 1 February due to a knee muscle injury but is now fully fit.

Juan Mata's ineligibility for the Champions League, due to the Spaniard having played for Chelsea in the competition earlier this season, means Moyes has to decide who will replace him against the Greek champions.

Welbeck has scored 10 times in 25 United appearances, though the striker has not always been selected in his preferred position.

With United having no game this weekend due to the derby being postponed, as Manchester City play Sunderland in Sunday's Capital One Cup final, Moyes is free to select his strongest team available for the last-16 opening leg against the Greek champions. United next play on Saturday-week at West Bromwich Albion.

Jamie Jackson

Zenit St Petersburg prepare for Borussia Dortmund Champions League clash – video

Posted: 25 Feb 2014 04:17 AM PST

Zenit St Petersburg manager Luciano Spalletti says his squad is ready to face their most difficult opponent in the Champions League

Why Brazil's footballers play to half-empty stadiums l Jonathan Watts

Posted: 25 Feb 2014 04:01 AM PST

The killing of a Santos fan is a grim reminder of how, in the runup to the World Cup, violence scars Brazilian football

After I first moved to Brazil in 2012, I was struck – like many football-loving newcomers – by a mystery: why are the stadiums so disappointingly empty? It was the last thing I expected, having been brought up on a TV diet of rapturous Brazilian crowds, tales of the "beautiful game" and its enviably brilliant exponents like Zico, Pelé and Romário.

No matter how hard the cameramen tried to focus on the small pockets of fans, every wide shot of the pitch revealed the cavernous empty space that condemned game after game to near silence.

I've since heard countless explanations, including TV broadcasters' demands for late-night match schedules, high ticket prices and the exodus of big-name players to Europe. The reason that makes most sense on a visceral level was the one told to me when I first suggested to Brazilian friends that we go and watch a match. "It's too dangerous," they replied.

While I have been to plenty of matches without incident, recent news reports and statistics show this is not an baseless fear. In the latest horrific case, a 34-year-old Santos supporter was killed on Sunday as he waited for the bus home from the derby match with São Paulo. Two car loads of rival fans set on the victim with iron bars, kicking and beating him. Marcio Barreto de Toledo, who was wearing a shirt that identified him as a member of a Santos fan group, died in hospital from multiple head injuries. "It was a cowardly act to attack a 34-year-old father who was just trying to get home after a match," Cosme Damião Freitas, a director at the Santos fan group Torcida Jovem, said.

The lethal assault barely warranted a mention in the domestic media because such incidents have become all too commonplace. In each of the past three years, football-related killings have hit a new record. According to the Globo newspaper, 23 people died in 2012 and 30 in 2013.

All of the cases have been tragic, some macabre, such as the beheading of a referee who stabbed a player to death in an amateur match in Maranhão last June.

Elsewhere, supporters' groups, known as "organizados", operate like criminal mobs both in the way they fight for territory against rival gangs and in their use of threats and intimidation to influence their own clubs.

Games have been interrupted and players so frightened by physical assaults and intrusions on to a training pitch that they have threatened to strike. It is probably the frequency of the violence that is most alarming. Scenes of fighting are becoming staples on news programmes. Security guards are often deployed to escort players and the referees on and off the pitch. As I reported in December, riot police also had to be called in to break up fights during a match between Atlético Paranaense and Vasco da Gama. That game was interrupted for an hour as police quelled the unrest with rubber bullets, and a helicopter airlifted a badly injured fan from the pitch to hospital.

Such scenes help to explain why there is so little focus this year on the threat posed by English hooligans. That is unusual. Before almost every World Cup in my lifetime, notorious fans and firms have reared as large in the media buildup as damaged metatarsals, dodgy squad selections and shopping opportunities for Wags.

There will once again be travel bans for 2,500 convicted hooligans in the UK and undercover spotters are likely to co-ordinate with local police but these measures have generated less attention than in the past. This is perhaps because – compared to what is happening in Brazil – even the nastiest English pitbull fan seems relatively tame.

This is no cause for celebration for England. Rather, it is a clear sign that Brazil must do more to get its house in order or risk a far greater tragedy. Given the combination of rising violence and shoddy stadium construction, a Heysel-type calamity is far from unthinkable.

The World Cup ought to be the start of an improvement. The tournament is supposed to lift standards of play, public interest, stadium infrastructure and income for the sport. As in the UK from the late 1980s on, higher ticket prices are also meant to drive out the most violent fans.

Once the tournament is over, Brazil's authorities will still have their work cut out persuading the public that football matches are no longer disasters waiting to happen. If they cannot do that, the big new stadiums will be just as empty as the old ones.

• This article was corrected on 25 February. The original stated that 40 people died at Brazilian football matches last year, and had "seton" instead of "set on".

Jonathan Watts

Manchester United's David Moyes and Wayne Rooney on Robin van Persie and Olympiakos – video

Posted: 25 Feb 2014 02:32 AM PST

Manchester United manager David Moyes says Wayne Rooney and Robin van Persie will be crucial assets to his team when they face Olympiakos

World Cup: 25 stunning moments ... No3: West Germany 1-0 Austria in 1982 | Rob Smyth

Posted: 25 Feb 2014 02:25 AM PST

Algeria fans shouted 'fix' as West Germany and Austria played out a mutually suitable scoreline in 1982's 'Disgrace of Gijón'

You have to pity the youth of today. They were born to banter, they think it's normal behaviour to tell complete strangers on the internet what they have had for their tea. And worst of all, they have never experienced proper World Cup villainy. There was Luis Suárez's handball in 2010, yes, but that was a fleeting moment from an individual rather than an extended body of work shared between a whole squad. The World Cup – which is about great stories as much as great football – is so much richer when a team leaves the rest of the football world raging with impotent frustration.

That has not occurred since 1990, when Argentina found umpteen different ways to prod the football world in the chest, most notably when they defiled Italy's dreams on an operatic night in Naples. Four years earlier there were Uruguay, as close to a gathering of sociopaths as has been seen at the World Cup. The Scottish FA chief Ernie Walker called them "the scum of world football".

Then we have West Germany 1982, who have two entirely different and equally notorious crimes on their rap sheet. In the semi-final against France, the goalkeeper Harald Schumacher assaulted Patrick Battiston with an appalling and unpunished challenge. If that was shockingly violent, the lack of aggression was the source of criticism earlier in the tournament. West Germany's 1-0 win over Austria – in which both sides settled for a result that put them through and eliminated the tournament's darlings Algeria – became known as Nichtangriffspakt von Gijón (the non-aggression pact of Gijón).

It is not just those two incidents that rubbed people up the wrong way, or ensured that some of us would remember this particular German side with such guilty fondness. It was the way they did it. At times it seemed they were trying to exceed the most extreme German stereotype. They were imbued, individually and collectively, with the most magnificently preposterous arrogance in the history of the entire known universe. They did not so much have a squad of 22 players as a squad of 22 managers in addition to the official coach, Jupp Derwall. (The day before the World Cup final, for example, Derwall said in an ITV interview that the injured Karl-Heinz Rummenigge would only be fit enough for the bench in the big match. The next interview was with Rummennigge, who breezily confirmed that he would start. He started.) The entire squad was almost too German to function.

That arrogance manifested itself most deliciously in a masterclass of misplaced hubris before their first group game against Algeria. West Germany were the European champions and had qualified with eight wins out of eight (including two over Austria), scoring 33 goals in the process. African sides, by contrast, were not taken at all seriously, despite Pelé's assertion in 1977 that an African side would win the World Cup before the year 2000.

In 1978, Tunisia's forgotten trailblazers became the first African side to win a World Cup match, beating Mexico 3-1. They also drew 0-0 with West Germany in the final game; a 1-0 win would have put them through instead of the Germans. By 1982, the Germans had forgotten about that. "We will dedicate our seventh goal to our wives, and the eighth to our dogs," said one player before the Algeria game. Another reportedly said he would play the match while chewing on a cigar. Derwall declined to show videos of Algeria to his players because he thought they were laugh at him, and said he would get the next train home if West Germany lost. Algeria won a thrilling game 2-1, one of the great World Cup shocks.

Algeria lost their next game 2-0 to Austria, with West Germany walloping Chile. Then, in the final group game, Algeria romped into a 3-0 half-time lead in their final game against the eliminated Chileans, including a gorgeous first goal. At that stage Algeria were guaranteed to become the first African side to reach the second round of a World Cup, unless there was an absurd result (4-3, 5-4 and so on) in the West Germany/Austria game that would be played a day later. In the second half, however, Chile fought back to lose 3-2. Although Algeria had won again, they were now in jeopardy.

They would still reach the last 12 of the tournament if Austria avoided defeat, or if West Germany won by three goals or more. An already complex situation was exacerbated by the hatred between West Germany and Austria. At the previous World Cup, Austria had pulled off one of their most famous victories – the Miracle of Cordoba – against West Germany, even though the match was essentially a dead rubber. "My players always find a special motivation against Germany," said the Austria manager, Georg Schmidt, ahead of the match in Gijón four years later.

West Germany, on two points, were out unless they won, and started the match accordingly. In the 11th minute their clumsy striker Horst Hrubesch, whose put the hee haw in Gijón, unwittingly bundled a Pierre Littbarski cross into the net. The story goes that the game simply stopped at that point, with both sides declaring and settling for a score that would put them through ahead of Algeria. The video of the game is thus a surprise. You expect side-to-side stuff, players standing around picking spots and scratching backsides, not giving 10% never mind 110; the greatest sham on turf. That only really happens in the final quarter of an hour, when the game properly livens down, and even then it is no more brazen than subsequent examples of two teams settling for a specific score.

The 10 minutes after Hrubesch's goal would even be described as exhilarating in some cultures, with Wolfgang Dremmler forcing a fine save from Friedich Koncilia (the second and final shot on target in the match) and Paul Breitner missing two good chances. The game slows down towards half-time, principally because the hitherto dominant Germany start to play on the counterattack, There is still enough intensity. Just before half-time Manny Kaltz hares round the pitch chasing the ball like a particularly dumb dog; in the same attack, Dremmler slides two-footed through both the ball and Herbert Prohaska. A free-kick in 1982, and even that disputed by the Germans; maybe a red card in 2013.

At half-time, one of the German players makes a beeline for an Austrian (it's hard to tell who they are on the video), puts an arm round his shoulder and engages him in discourse. It looks meaningful in the context of what we now know, and the google translation of this page suggests a declaration at 1-0 was discussed by some players during the interval. Yet many of the players still say now that was not the case.

It certainly seems safe to conclude there was no formal agreement. The video suggests there is no single point at which both sides switch off, more that the whole thing develops through osmosis and that the teams run (or rather don't) with the developing mood of the game. At the start of second half there is still plenty of purposeful if unaccomplished attacking, interspersed by some periods of unpressurised passing. Both teams only become defensively active when the other crosses the halfway line. There is a significant element of keeping up appearances, of course, but it is not just that. In the 51st minute, for example, Josef Degeorgi waves his hands angrily at Karlheinz Forster, accusing him of diving.

It's as if the crowd are wise to what is going on almost before the players. The first audible unrest occurs after 52 minutes, when Rummenigge plays a long pass back to the halfway line, and again three minutes later when Austria's Hans Krankl, on the right wing, wafts a 40-yard pass with the outside of the foot back to the sweeper.

Yet at that stage those were isolated incidents. Hrubesch would have had a clear shooting chance in the 57th minute had he not hopelessly miscontrolled Felix Magath's expert chip. As late as the 77th minute, when the game was losing what edge it had, Bernd Krauss broke into the box and forced a desperate clearance from Hans-Peter Briegel. A goal then would have put West Germany out.

Pierre Littbarski, the youngest and most innocent player on the pitch, went on a series of intrepid solo runs in the second half. Austria's Walter Schachner was sufficiently piqued by a free-kick against him to be booked for dissent with 12 minutes remaining. Getting yellow-carded in this match was quite the achievement, akin to not getting lucky at a Bacchanalian orgy. Reinhold Hintermaier was also booked in the first half for a rugged foul on Littbarski.

The second half was, we should stress, hardly an end-to-end classic. Opta have a detailed archive of every World Cup game since 1966, and there are some belting statistics for those 45 minutes. There were only three shots, none on target. West Germany made only eight tackles, around one every six minutes. Both sides had an overall pass-completion ratio in excess of 90%, a level usually reserved for people like Xavi and Paul Scholes – and, more tellingly, Jamie Carragher, the king of the no-risk pass. Austria had a 99% success rate with passes in their own half; West Germany's was 98%.

The last 10 minutes are terrible, like watching Spain 2012 play against themselves, and hard to defend. The outcome gave a whole new meaning to winning ugly. Yet while there are periods of the game that could have been soundtracked by Brian Eno, there isn't the constant state of inertia we expected.

Then again, the reality rarely lives up to the spook story. At the time, almost everybody was disgusted. The Austrian TV commentator Robert Seeger told viewers to turn their televisions off and said nothing for the last part of the game. The German commentator Eberhard Stanjek said: "What's happening here is disgraceful and has nothing to do with football. You can say what you want, but not every end justifies every means."

The thousands of Algerian fans in the crowd were appalled, with money shouting "It's a fix!" Some waved money through the fences or burned it, an enduring image of España 82; others, in full why-I-oughta mode, took a running jump in a failed attempt to get over the fences and on to the field. Neutral Spanish supporters were similarly unimpressed. One German fan in the stadium burned his country's flag.

As the match reached its conclusion, ITV's Hugh Johns expressed his disgust. "A few seconds on Bob Valentine's watch between us and going-home time. And what a relief that's going to be. Breitner for Briegel for Stielike, names that run off my tongue at the moment and leave a nasty, nasty taste. Stielike … quality players who should all be in the book of referee Bob Valentine for bringing the game into disrepute. This is one of the most disgraceful international matches I've ever seen."

The outrage was even greater after the game. The Algerian FA protested straight away, describing it as a "sinister plot". West Germany were savaged by their own press, with one headline shouting "SHAME ON YOU!". One Spanish newspaper called it "the Anschluss". A Dutch newspaper described it as "football porn", inadvertently obliterating the received wisdom that the Dutch were world leaders in bongo.

The former German international Willi Schulz said all 22 players were "gangsters". There was certainly an omerta after the game, with nobody accepting culpability or even acknowledging what had happened, apart from the Austrian manager Schmidt. "It was," he said, "a shameful showing". His opposite number Derwall summoned the righteous indignation of which only the guilty are capable. "This was a grave and serious insult," he said. "We will answer any charges."

In the eyes of those involved, the end justified the meanness. "We wanted to progress, not play football", Derwall said later, while the substitute Lothar Matthäus added: "We have gone through. That's all that counts." Austria were similarly unrepentant. "We made the next round.," says Krankl. "And I don't give a damn about the Germans." The commentator Seeger says some of the Austrian players tried to get him sacked.

When a group of West German fans went to the team hotel to forcibly articulate their interpretation of the game, the players bombarded them with water bombs from the balcony.

That was nothing on the reaction of Hans Tschak, the head of the Austrian delegation, a man who made Alf Garnett seem enlightened. "Naturally today's game was played tactically," he said. "But if 10,000 'sons of the desert' here in the stadium want to trigger a scandal because of this it just goes to show that they have too few schools. Some sheikh comes out of an oasis, is allowed to get a sniff of World Cup air after 300 years and thinks he's entitled to open his gob."

Others realised the world has six other continents. The problem was not just with the cynicism shown by Germany and Austria; it was compounded by its unapologetic nature and the identity of the victims. Algeria had the charm of underdogs, played lovely football, and were from a developing football continent. West Germany and Austria had not only killed Bambi; they had sent a video of the slaying around the world and cackled maniacally at the end of that video.

Algeria's appeal was rejected after a three-and-a-half hour meeting, in which the Fifa organising committee deemed that a result "could not be altered by any outside body" because, er, it just couldn't. Thereafter Fifa ensured final group games would be played simultaneously, a lesson they should have heeded after Argentina's controversial 6-0 win over Peru in 1978. When goal difference was replaced by head-to-head scores, the chance to theoretically fix games reappeared with inevitable conspiratorial consequences.

You wonder what might happen now, in this era of faux outrage and social-media bullying. Fifa would probably bow to public pressure. Back then, Algeria made their complaint and, when it was rejected, got on with their life. "We weren't angry, we were cool," says Chaabane Merzekane, the sensational right-back, in this excellent piece by Paul Doyle. "To see two big powers debasing themselves in order to eliminate us was a tribute to Algeria. They progressed with dishonour, we went out with our heads held high."

"Our performances forced Fifa to make that change, and that was even better than a victory," added Lakhdar Belloumi. "It meant that Algeria left an indelible mark on football history."

Algeria, Austria and West Germany – like all the other countries – went to that World Cup hoping to do something that would be talked for ever. As with Lupe Velez's death, their wish came true.

The biggest sufferers were arguably the West Germans. The country fell out of love with their international team for a while. In the book Tor!, Uli Hesse says the coach Derwall "unknowingly taught the country that there are things more important than winning".

It is certainly remembered more as a German crime, almost as if Austria had a gun to their head. On one viewing of the game – and we'd obviously like to watch the entire match a few more times to be sure – there is a powerful argument that Austria are the principal culprits: they showed significantly less attacking intent and also had a greater safety net than the Germans, who were only one goal from humiliation for the last 80 minutes.

Austria ignored the chance of immortality, too; imagine if, having lulled West Germany into a false sense of security, they scored a late equaliser. The Gijón grift would have been 100 times more famous than the Miracle of Cordoba.

Similar if slightly less prolonged examples of such cynicism, with neither team trying to score, have been evident in many big games since. Ireland and Holland did it at Italia 90, a risky tactic in the circumstances, while Manchester United won a championship in this manner in 2011, when they played 174 passes in their own half in the last 10 minutes (plus injury time) of a match at Blackburn.

In 1995 Mark Bosnich did unto Jürgen Klinsmann as Schumacher did unto Battiston; the fact he did not receive anywhere near as much criticism as Schumacher was only partially because Eric Cantona was being slaughtered for the perceived crime of kung-fu kicking a gobby cockney on the same night.

It seems that, when it comes to cartoon villainy, it's not just what you do but the way you do it. And nobody did it better than the 1982 West Germans.

With thanks to Cris Freddi, whose World Cup history is definitive, and Paul Doyle.

Rob Smyth and Scott Murray are authors of And Gazza Misses The Final, a collection of minute-by-minute reports of classic World Cup games. West Germany v Austria might be in the second volume.

What the Guardian said: Algerians protest after phoney war

By Stephen Bierley, 25 June 1982

According to West Germany's manager, Jupp Derwall, games between his country and Austria are traditionally contested with all the ferocity of an England v Scotland match. Yesterday's final Group Two match in Gijon was about as passionate as a testimonial, but neither side was complaining. At the end of a suspiciously tame encounter both progressed to the second phase, thereby squeezing Algeria into third spot and out of the Cup.

The Algerian FA president, Hadg Sekkal, described the teams' performance as "a sinister plot" and immediately registered a protest to Fifa. Even the Austrian manager, Georg Schmidt, seemed embarrassed and admitted to "a shameful showing." But Derwall was having none of it, calling the Algerians' talk of an arrangement a "grave, serious insult".

Hermann Neuberger, a Fifa vice-president, said he did not expect any action to be taken against either team. "There are no Fifa rules which say teams cannot play as they please. Fifa cannot sanction a team if they did not fight properly," said Neuberger, who is also president of the West German Soccer Federation.

So the rumours of West Germany's death were, after all, greatly exaggerated. Their opening Group Two defeat by Algeria has registered 10 on the Richter scale of Cup shocks. The world has gone daft.

In the El Molinon Stadium sanity returned or at least what passes for sanity in these lumbering opening stages of the competition. The Germans needed to win; Austria to avoid a heavy defeat. Nods and winks were duly exchanged as the two teams walked out.

Any semblance of tensions lasted precisely 11 minutes. At that point Friedl Koncilia was beaten for the first time in 191 minutes. Littbarski, flirting with offside, took full advantage of a linesman's stiff arm and Horst Hrubesch bent to head home. In fact, he missed, but the ball struck his knee and went in anyway. End of contest.

After that it was "after you Wolfgang" - "no, after you, Bruno." This was European cooperation taken to ridiculous limits. Walter Schacher occasionally gave the impression that Austria were in any way interested in crossing the half-way line but for the majority of the second half students of World Cup football had little to ponder on, unless it was that the Germans were setting an all-comers' record for back-passes.

The Algerians were not pleased. There is a growing feeling among the so-called Third World countries that Europe, Fifa and indeed referees are out to stitch them up. They may be right. Certainly there was no doubting the intentions of Austria and the West Germans. The result was the thing and to hell with entertainment.

A crowd of 40,000 responded accordingly whistles of derision ringing around the stadium. Off came Rumenigge, off came Hrubesch. On and on went the match until mercifully Bob Valentine, the Scottish referee, blew for time.

Rob Smyth

What is the best sports bet you have ever made? – open thread

Posted: 25 Feb 2014 02:11 AM PST

Curtis Woodhouse reportedly backed himself to win a boxing title in 2006 before he had taken up the sport. Betting £5,000 at 50/1 was quite a risk, but what is the best bet you have ever made?

"There is a rumour going around that I had a £5,000 bet on myself to win the British title at 50/1. I can neither confirm nor deny these rumours but the drinks are on me."

A decade ago Curtis Woodhouse was one of English football's emerging talents. He became Sheffield United's youngest ever captain aged 19, represented England at Under-21 level and then moved to Birmingham City for £1m in a quick rise to the top of the game. But things didn't quite work out as he had hoped.

Three weeks after he signed for Birmingham City, the club travelled to the Millenium Stadium to play Liverpool in the 2001 League Cup final. Woodhouse was cup-tied so watched his team-mates lose on penalties from the sidelines. That night he went out to an Indian restaurant with a few schoolfriends and ended up in a row that turned into a food-fight and then escalated into a violent brawl. He was found guilty of affray and had to pay a fine of £250 and serve 120 hours of community service.

Woodhouse struggled to make an impression in Birmingham's first team and ended up slipping down through the divisions, eventually deciding to give up football and pursue his dream of becoming a professional fighter. "Boxing has always been my first love, even as a kid," he said. "I love fighting. Rather than get locked up for it, I might as well get paid for it."

Woodhouse says he had about 100 street fights before making his debut in the ring. Part of his reason for boxing professionally was to avoid scraping in public: "If you spend four days a week fighting, the last thing you will want to do in your spare time is go out and have a fight."

His boxing career has proved much more successful than his time in football. Woodhouse retired from boxing on Saturday night after becoming a British champion in his 28th professional fight: "I promised my dad before he died that I would win this title and I have. How can I top that? I said beforehand I'd retire, no matter what, and I'm a man of my word."

If the rumours are true, Woodhouse will ease his way into retirement as a very rich man. The story goes that, back in 2006, when he was considering a change of sports, Woodhouse went to the bookies and asked what odds they would offer on him becoming a British boxing champion. The bookmakers must not have fancied his chances, as they reportedly gave him odds of 50/1. He would not confirm or deny whether he will be collecting winnings of £250,000, but if the rumours are true, it was £5,000 well spent.

What is the best bet you have ever made?

Paul Campbell

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Wednesday, 26 February 2014

Football news, match reports and fixtures | theguardian.com

07:34

Football news, match reports and fixtures | theguardian.com

1 Caution instead of flair is Moyes's downfall again

2 Whatever is worth £300,000 a week, that wasn't it

3 Creaking old guard were reunited to no avail

4 Arsenal may have found another gem in Joel Campbell

5 This was a disastrous result, but all is not lost

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Wednesday, 26 February 2014

Football news, match reports and fixtures | theguardian.com

07:34

Football news, match reports and fixtures | theguardian.com

1 Caution instead of flair is Moyes's downfall again

2 Whatever is worth £300,000 a week, that wasn't it

3 Creaking old guard were reunited to no avail

4 Arsenal may have found another gem in Joel Campbell

5 This was a disastrous result, but all is not lost

THE JOSE INQUIRY

LIVE ON BIG WEBSITE TONIGHT

QUOTE OF THE DAY

FIVER LETTERS

JOIN GUARDIAN SOULMATES

BITS AND BOBS

STILL WANT MORE?

SIGN UP TO THE FIVER (AND O FIVERÃO)

PROOF THAT MATA CAN'T FIT IN (SCROLL DOWN)

Champions League previews

Galatasaray v Chelsea

Olympiakos v Manchester United

Premier League team of the week

La Liga team of the week

Bundesliga team of the week

Serie A team of the week

Ligue 1 team of the week

What the Guardian said: Algerians protest after phoney war

Written by TBMU Admin

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