Alexander-Arnold makes England’s Euro 2020 squad, Lingard axed

London (AFP) – Liverpool defender Trent Alexander-Arnold was named in the England squad for Euro 2020 on Tuesday, while in-form Jesse Lingard missed out on a place in Gareth Southgate’s 26-man group.

Alexander-Arnold had to endure a nervous wait before learning he had made the cut after spending much of the season out of favour with Southgate.

The 22-year-old was left out of Southgate’s England squad for their World Cup qualifiers in March.

But Alexander-Arnold’s strong end to the season with Liverpool convinced the England manager to restore the right-back to his squad for Euro 2020, which starts on June 11.

Manchester United forward Lingard, who had a superb loan spell with West Ham, was the highest profile casualty as Southgate axed six players from his provisional squad.

The 28-year-old was recalled to the England squad in March after a long exile.

His brilliant form, including nine goals in 16 games, earned the Hammers a place in the Europa League, but it wasn’t enough to convince Southgate of his worth.

The others to miss out were Sheffield United keeper Aaron Ramsdale, Southampton midfielder James Ward-Prowse, Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins and uncapped centre-backs Ben Godfrey and Ben White.

– ‘A lot of talent’ –

One selection decision was taken for Southgate on Tuesday morning when Manchester United forward Mason Greenwood pulled out with what his club said was an “underlying injury”.

“I think every squad is difficult because we have a lot of talented players in this country,” Southgate said.

“The most difficult thing is to not be able to take players who’ve been with us in previous matches and who are such good professionals.”

Alexander-Arnold faces intense competition, with Kyle Walker, Kieran Trippier and Reece James among four right-backs included in the squad.

Trippier helped Atletico Madrid win the Spanish title this term, while Walker was instrumental in Manchester City’s Premier League triumph.

Walker was on the losing side as Chelsea’s James gave a dynamic display in the Blues’ 1-0 win against City in the Champions League final on Saturday.

Southgate had originally been due to officially announce his squad last week.

But instead he named a 33-man provisional group, delaying his final decision until the June 1 deadline.

That gave Harry Maguire, Jordan Henderson and Kalvin Phillips time to prove their fitness.

Manchester United defender Maguire had been struggling with ankle ligament damage suffered at Aston Villa earlier in May.

The injury forced him to miss the Europa League final defeat against Villarreal last week.

Liverpool midfielder Henderson has not played since having surgery on a groin injury in February.

Phillips sustained a shoulder problem in Leeds’ final game of the Premier League season against West Brom.

“The most complex part this time has been those injuries and whether we should take the chance on people,” Southgate said.

“We’ve clearly with Jordan and with Harry Maguire, we’ve got a couple of players who are not where we’d be ideally in terms of their physical prep.

“But we think that the experience they have, the fact that we think we can get them to a point where they can have an involvement in the tournament, it’s worth taking them, especially as we’ve got an extended squad of 26.”

England face Austria on June 2 and Romania four days later in pre-tournament friendlies in Middlesbrough.

The Three Lions begin their Euro 2020 campaign against Croatia on June 13 before facing Scotland and the Czech Republic in Group D.

England’s 26-man squad for Euro 2020 named on Tuesday:

Goalkeepers: Jordan Pickford (Everton), Dean Henderson (Manchester United), Sam Johnstone (West Brom)

Defenders: Luke Shaw (Manchester United), Harry Maguire (Manchester United), Ben Chilwell (Chelsea), Reece James (Chelsea), John Stones (Manchester City), Kyle Walker (Manchester City), Tyrone Mings (Aston Villa), Conor Coady (Wolves) Kieran Trippier (Atletico Madrid/ESP), Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool)

Midfielders: Declan Rice (West Ham), Jordan Henderson (Liverpool), Kalvin Phillips (Leeds), Mason Mount (Chelsea), Jude Bellingham (Borussia Dortmund/GER)

Forwards: Phil Foden (Manchester City), Raheem Sterling (Manchester City), Jack Grealish (Aston Villa), Harry Kane (Tottenham), Marcus Rashford (Manchester United), Jadon Sancho (Borussia Dortmund/GER), Dominic Calvert-Lewin (Everton), Bukayo Saka (Arsenal)

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Dutch drop Covid-positive Cillessen from Euro squad

The Hague (AFP) – Dutch goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen will miss the European Championship after being dropped by Frank de Boer for testing positive for Covid-19, the Dutch Football Association (KNVB) announced on Tuesday.  

It is the first major coronavirus-related withdrawal from the tournament. 

“I told Jasper of my decision this morning,” de Boer was quoted as saying in a KNVB statement. “Let me start by saying that I feel incredibly sorry for Jasper. But I had to make the decision.” 

The 32-year-old Valencia goalkeeper has been in isolation since testing positive last week.

“He missed an important part of the preparation,” said de Boer. “We don’t know how long it will take until he is 100 percent fit again. I don’t want to take any risks in that respect. We are on the eve of an European Championship and I want to be sure.”

De Boer added Marco Bizot to the 26-man squad. The 30-year-old AZ Alkmaar goalkeeper has one cap.

The Dutch squad are training in Faro, Portugal, where they will play a friendly against Scotland on Wednesday before returning to the Netherlands for a second warm-up match against Georgia on Sunday. 

The Netherlands will start the tournament against Ukraine on 13 June before facing Austria (17 June) and North Macedonia (21 June) in the group stage. 

The three matches will be played at the Johan Cruyff Arena in Amsterdam in front of 16,000 spectators.

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Chelsea, Leicester fined over Bridge brawl

London (AFP) – Chelsea and Leicester have been fined £22,500 ($31,872) by the Football Association after an ugly brawl between the teams at the end of their fiery Premier League clash.

Thomas Tuchel’s side won 2-1 in a match that played a key role in the Blues finishing above Leicester in the Premier League’s top four.

Tensions were running high because Chelsea players were angered by Leicester’s exuberant celebrations following their victory when the teams met in the FA Cup final just days earlier. 

Leicester’s Daniel Amartey was seen stamping on a Chelsea pennant in the dressing room party at Wembley.

Emotions boiled over towards the end of the Premier League showdown at Stamford Bridge on May 18.

A tackle by Foxes full-back Ricardo Pereira on Ben Chilwell sparked a melee between players and staff from both sides. The clubs were charged with a breach of FA rules last month.

“Chelsea FC and Leicester City FC have been fined £22,500 each after admitting a breach of FA Rule E20.1 following their Premier League fixture on Tuesday 18 May 2021,” an FA spokesperson said. 

“Both clubs admitted that they failed to ensure their players and club officials conducted themselves in an orderly fashion and refrained from provocative behaviour during the 93rd minute of the fixture.”

Chelsea eventually finished in foutrh place, one point above Leicester, denying the Foxes a berth in next season’s Champions League.

The Blues went on to win this season’s Champions League, beating Manchester City 1-0 in the final in Porto on Saturday.

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‘No time to waste’: Germany look for Euro boost against Denmark

Berlin (AFP) – Germany are targeting a convincing win on Wednesday in their first warm-up game ahead of Euro 2020 to boost flagging confidence after some dreadful results this season.

Captain Manuel Neuer will make his 99th appearance for Germany, who he insists have “no time to waste” in Wednesday’s friendly against Denmark in Innsbruck.

Joachim Loew’s side kick off their tournament against world champions France in Munich on June 15, and the Germans are eager to move on from their shock 2-1 loss to North Macedonia in March.

That World Cup qualifying setback further rattled the Germans in the wake of a 6-0 thrashing at the hands of Spain last November.

Loew, who will step down after 15 years in charge following the European Championship, has demanded the Germans show a “winning mentality” against Denmark.

However, he will be without most of Germany’s Premier League contingent.

Chelsea trio Kai Havertz, Timo Werner and Antonio Ruediger, as well as Manchester City midfielder Ilkay Gundogan have been given extra time off after Saturday’s Champions League final.

The quartet are expected to join the Germany camp in Austria on Thursday.

Real Madrid midfielder Toni Kroos is training again after testing positive for Covid-19 last month, while Bayern Munich midfielder Leon Goretzka joined the squad Wednesday after shaking off a thigh injury.

Thomas Mueller and Mats Hummels are expected to make their first Germany appearance for nearly three years having been recalled by Loew, who initially dropped the pair in March 2019. 

Mueller’s stellar form for Bayern Munich has since forced Loew to reconsider, and the 2014 World Cup winner will be expected to “direct and shape the game” up front.

Dortmund defender Hummels urged Germany to quickly “overcome resistance” from the Danes and thrown down a marker.

“The European Championship has actually already begun for us,” he added.

The experienced 32-year-old will be under pressure to tighten Germany’s shaky defence which has conceded 18 goals in the last 11 internationals.

As well as shipping six goals against the Spaniards, Germany were also held to 3-3 draws by both Switzerland and Turkey last October.

The Danes will be a “very good yardstick in every respect”, according to Germany assistant coach Marcus Sorg, before a final friendly against Latvia on Monday.

The Germans have not quite put their traumatic 2018 World Cup debacle behind them.

They are still mindful of an ominous defeat to Austria in a friendly on the eve of the 2018 tournament before crashing out in the group stage.

“Before the 2018 World Cup, our performances in the friendly games weren’t that convincing,” admitted Hummels.

“We want to bring the same intensity and quality from the very first minute against Denmark as we want to show at the European Championship.”

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Wales’ Ramsey to be eased back in before Euro 2020, says Page

London (AFP) – Aaron Ramsey is to be given time to recover from injury and will miss this week’s Euro 2020 warm-up match with World Cup winners France, Wales coach Robert Page said on Tuesday.

The 30-year-old midfielder has endured a frustrating time with injuries since joining Juventus from Arsenal two years ago and started just 13 Serie A matches last term.

Page said the priority is their group stage opener with Switzerland on June 12 in Baku and not Wednesday’s match in Nice.

“Aaron’s not played the amount of minutes he would have liked in Italy, so we’ve got to be sympathetic,” Page said.

“We can’t push him 100 miles per hour to start with. What we need is to have that squad ready for that first game against Switzerland.

Tottenham defender Ben Davies, who starred alongside Ramsey as Wales reached the Euro 2016 semi-finals, is another high-profile player recovering from a fitness problem.

“Ben Davies is another. It’s just common sense, having a plan in place,” Page said.

“All the lads that haven’t played many minutes, we have to manage their minutes.

“You can’t expect those players to go straight into playing France for 90 minutes without having repercussions.

“It’s common sense.”

Page might be tempted to blood uncapped 19-year-old attacking midfielder Rubin Colwill against Les Bleus.

Colwill only made his senior debut for Cardiff in February, and Page believes he is a bright prospect.

“It’s a big squad. There were some difficult decisions to make and there were some disappointed players, but we’re happy with the final draft,” said Page.

“Rubin Colwill will raise some eyebrows, but he will be a player for the future.

“It’s a bit of a gamble but I trust in him. He’s a confident lad and he’s got a bright future.”

Wales face a tough ask to progress even from the group stage.

After the opener they face Turkey on June 16, also in Azerbaijan, and then play against Italy in Rome four days later.

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Messi negotiations ‘going well’, says Barcelona president

Barcelona (AFP) – Barcelona president Joan Laporta repeated on Tuesday that negotiations with Lionel Messi “are going well”, less than a month before the Argentine star’s club contract expires.

“We are in talks with Leo’s representatives,” Laporta said at the official presentation of centre-back Eric Garcia, who has joined from Manchester City, as a Barcelona player.  

“I said it the other day, it’s going well and we hope they continue to make progress.”

“We want to agree a new contract with Leo. It’s going well, but it’s not done.”

Messi’s contract with Barcelona expires on June 30. 

Laporta said signing Messi to a new contract did not depend on the outcome of an audit the club is carrying out to find out the exact state of its finances. 

“We more or less already have the results for this year under control. This audit, when we finish it in July, will give us more data, but for this deal in particular, we had already made a provision, we had prepared a strategy,” Laporta said. 

“I have always said that the Leo issue is not a money issue for his part,” said Laporta. 

“He is showing a lot of understanding, and it is not a question of money, he wants to continue with this process and wants to have a competitive team with which to win Champions League and league titles.”

“None of the signings we are making are being made in relation to these negotiations. We know that Leo wants to stay, but he has other offers.”

Laporta drew a parallel with Garcia, saying the player, a free agent, had other offers but chose Barcelona.

“Leo is in a similar situation with his desire to play for Barca. I hope that will also be decisive.” 

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Scotland’s Fleck to miss Netherlands friendly after contracting Covid-19

London (AFP) – Scotland midfielder John Fleck has tested positive for coronavirus and will not travel to Portugal for this week’s friendly with the Netherlands, the Scottish FA announced on Tuesday.

The 29-year-old will self isolate at the team’s Spanish training camp in La Finca where they are fine-tuning their preparations for Euro 2020.

“The Scottish FA can confirm that John Fleck has tested positive for COVID-19 at the Scotland National Team basecamp in La Finca,” read the statement.

“As a result, he will self-isolate as per Spanish Government guidelines and therefore not fly to Portugal for tomorrow’s match against Netherlands.

“The rest of the squad was retested for COVID-19 and returned negative results today (Tuesday).”

Scotland begin their first finals campaign since the 1998 World Cup against the Czech Republic at Hampden Park, Glasgow, on June 14.

They face historic rivals England at Wembley on June 18 and round off their group stage campaign against 2018 World Cup finalists Croatia four days later back at Hampden.

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