Author: moshood

FIFA’s ethics committee has cleared president Gianni Infantino of breaching the governing body’s regulations after a preliminary investigation.

Infantino is the subject of a criminal investigation after the Swiss special federal public prosecutor opened proceedings last week over meetings Infantino held with the country’s attorney general Michael Lauber in 2016 and 2017.

In a letter to national association bosses, Infantino said the meetings were broadly to discuss the fact that Lauber’s office was investigating a series of criminal allegations in which FIFA was a damaged party.

Neither Lauber nor Infantino have been able to recollect the specific details but both deny any wrongdoing.

Fifa said the documents shared by the Swiss courts were examined and that “no aspect of the conduct analysed constitutes a violation”.

A FIFA statement read: “After examining the relevant documentation and evidence, the chairperson of the investigatory chamber has decided to file the complaint and close the case due to the evident lack of a prima facie case regarding any alleged breach of the FIFA Code of Ethics.

“Based on the information available to date, no aspect of the conduct analysed constitutes a violation of the FIFA regulations some aspects do not even fall within the provisions of the FIFA Code of Ethics, or justify the adoption of any kind of measure, including that of a provisional suspension.”

The committee said some parts of the complaints did not “even fall within the provisions of the FIFA code of ethics, or justify the adoption of any kind of measure, including that of a provisional suspension”.

Infantino was elected in 2016 to replace Sepp Blatter, who himself was the subject of criminal proceedings in 2015 and was banned from all FIFA activities by the ethics committee.

Scott Carson has signed for Manchester City on loan for another season, the club have confirmed.

Carson, 34, spent the 2019/20 season on loan from Derby County, acting as the third choice keeper to allow Aro Muric to depart on loan.

The former England international did not make an appearance, but did feature on the first team bench on a 17 occasions while Ederson or Claudio Bravo were unavailable.

Now, Carson will spend another year on loan at the Etihad, filling an important homegrown spot in City’s Premier League squad. His contract at Derby expires next summer.

Claudio Bravo has left the club, with loanee Zack Steffen set to return from his spell at Fortuna Dusseldorf to act as number two.

Announcing the signing, City said: “The 34-year-old has spent the past 12 months providing valuable back-up to Ederson and the now-departed Claudio Bravo in the first team goalkeeping department.

Everyone at Manchester City wishes Scott the best of luck throughout the next 12 months at the Club.

Internazionale defeated Shakhtar Donetsk 5-0 on Monday in Dusseldorf, setting up a Europa League final meeting with Sevilla on Friday.

Lautaro Martinez opened the scoring after 19 minutes, with the 22-year-old forward heading a Nicolo Barella cross past a helpless Andriy Pyatov to give Inter a 1-0 advantage.

In the opening minutes after the restart, Shakhtar were perhaps unlucky not to be awarded a penalty, when Alessandro Bastoni’s booted clearance from deep in his own area struck the arm of the unaware Roberto Gagliardini. The referee, however, waved play on.

Moments later, the dramatics were at the other end, when only a spectacular save from Pyatov kept Martinez from doubling Inter’s advantage, getting his fingertips to the Argentina international’s ambitious and goal-bound chip.

Moraes nearly levelled the score on the hour mark, but his point-blank header struck Samir Handanovic directly in the hands, and the Nerazzurri goalkeeper quickly gathered up the ball before the Shakhtar No. 10 could pounce on the rebound.

Three minutes later, though, Inter made it 2-0. Danilo D’Ambrosio out-jumped his marker at the far post, directing Marcelo Brozovic’s corner kick past Pyatov to double the Italian club’s advantage.

Martinez added his second goal of the night, all but securing Inter’s place in the final, with little more than 15 minutes to play, wrong-footing Sergey Krivtsov and curling a strike into the far corner. In the next nine minutes, Romelu Lukaku would add a pair of goals to make for a lopsided scoreline in favour of Antonio Conte & Co.

A win in Friday’s final would see Inter lift their first continental trophy since their famous Champions League title under Jose Mourinho in 2010.

Bernardo Silva has branded Liverpool fans “pathetic” in a scathing rant on social media following Manchester City’s elimination from the Champions League.

The Blues were dumped out of the Champions League at the quarter-final stage after losing 3-1 to Lyon on Saturday.

And Silva took to social media to apologise to Man City fans after yet another underwhelming European campaign.

On Twitter, he wrote: “The 2019/2020 season has ended for us in a very disappointing way. To all the fans, we’re sorry for this frustrating season.

“The only thing we can promise is that in 2020/2021 we’ll fight a lot to do much better and get back to winning important things for you guys!”

The Portuguese star then turned his attention to Liverpool as he unleashed a brutal tweet.

He said: “And to all Liverpool fans that have nothing else to do than to come to a Man City player account, I’m also sorry for you but for the wrong reasons…pathetic… go celebrate your titles, or try to find a partner, drink a beer with a friend, read a book… so many options!”

Needless to say, Silva’s outrageous tweet sent social media wild with Virgil van Dijk appearing to respond to his post before deleting it.

One Twitter user wrote: “Stop crying your heart out pal.”

A second tweeted: “We, Liverpool fans, are undefeated. We actually made a man city player cry.”

A third added: “This is so weird. Take your own advice.”

Man City bagged just the League Cup last season after failing to defend their Premier League and FA Cup titles.

They finished second to Liverpool in the league and lost to eventual winners Arsenal in the semi-final of the cup.