Key events
Lazio player reports racist abuse
Lazio winger Loum Tchaouna was substituted after being racially abused by fans during their 2-0 win at Dutch club Twente in the Europa League, the Italian club’s coach Marco Baroni said.
Frenchman Tchaouna, pictured below, was clearly incensed before being taken off in the 89th minute and imitated someone making monkey noises when explaining to the bench what had upset him.
Baroni said he was preparing to substitute Pedro but decided to take off Tchaouna after being unable to calm the 21-year-old.
“The howling at Tchaouna? Unfortunately I confirm that the player perceived this,” Baroni told Sky Sport Italia.
“It’s a subject I don’t want to expand on now, we tried to calm him down and then I substituted him because he was no longer in the emotional condition to continue. But I think the fourth official saw what happened.”
Uefa did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters about the abuse of Tchaouna sent outside normal business hours.
Lazio are one of a string of clubs sanctioned by UEFA for the racist behaviour of their supporters in European competition this season. The Serie A club were fined €45,000 (around £37,500) and will be forced to close two sections of their stadium for their next Europa League home game.
Also in the world of football this weekend, in a lovely twist of narrative, England’s women play Germany at Wembley tonight.
The friendly clash is the first meeting between the sides since the Euro 2022 final and comes JUST DAYS after England’s men’s side appointed a German, Thomas Tuchel, as manager. Of course, the Lionesses have had an overseas manager for some time and she’s done rather well.
Leah Williamson has been speaking some sense, as usual, about the situation.
Williamson said: “You can’t pick and choose when it suits us [to have a foreign coach], just based on the result. We’ve had great times with Sarina, I think she’s an honorary Brit now anyway. I know that we’ve all been very happy with Sarina.”
Preamble
Good morning and happy (nearly) weekend, football fans. Mercifully, it’s one of those more enjoyable autumn weeks that doesn’t call itself an international break and so it’s been jam-packed with juicy action. From the idiosyncratic touchline antics of peak José Mourinho in Istanbul last night, to a historic European win for Welsh minnows TNS, to all the fallout from the Champions League, which will quickly turn into domestic league buildup as the press conferences rev into gear today.
And it is a doozy of a weekend in the Premier League, to be fair. Arsenal host table-topping Liverpool – (will Bukayo Saka be fit? Probably not) – Erik ten Hag faces a somewhat tricky away trip to West Ham and the team Manchester City will put five past at the Etihad on Saturday is … checks notes … Southampton.
Myself and John Brewin will be here until the afternoon, at which time the right honourable Barry Glendenning will take over to see you through. Let’s start off with some classic Friday preview reading.
