Premier League side Swansea City have lodged a complaint at UEFA after hundreds of their supporters missed the start of last week’s Europa League match at Napoli.
The protest is the same as the one filed by Arsenal against Napoli in December when their supporters were also late for a decisive Champions League match at the San Paolo stadium.
Swansea said one group of 200 fans took two hours to be transported from the local police’s designated meeting point to the stadium, missing the opening 20 minutes of the game.
“For our fans to be treated in this way is deplorable,” Swansea City said in a statement.
Griffiths called for Poland trip
Leigh Griffiths has been called into the Scotland squad for Wednesday’s friendly with Poland after scoring a hat-trick for Celtic against Inverness.
Griffiths, who joined Celtic from Wolves on transfer deadline day, has four international caps.
The 23-year-old joins the national squad in place of Robert Snodgrass, who Norwich City have asked to be rested.
The match in Warsaw is part of Scotland coach Gordon Strachan’s preparations for the Euro 2016 qualifying campaign.
Italians would have fired Moyes – Vialli
Manchester United manager David Moyes would have been sacked already if he was in charge of a Serie A club, according to former Chelsea head coach Gianluca Vialli.
The pressure is piling up on Moyes as United have struggled all campaign. Vialli said under-fire managers in England were allowed more slack than their Serie A counterparts.
“David Moyes, in Italy, would have been sacked three times by now,” he told BBC radio.
“In the Premier League you get the feeling they give you a bit longer to sort out problems. They are more understanding and, most importantly, owners of football clubs don’t think they know more than managers.”
Rodgers plays down title talk
Liverpool may be second as they enter the home straight, but manager Brendan Rodgers remains quick to downplay talk of a first league title since 1990.
Just four points separate leaders Chelsea and the Reds with their 3-0 victory at Southampton yet manager Rodgers remains keen to avoid talk of the title.
“I’m not focusing on that, to be honest,” the Reds boss said.
“I’m focusing on winning the next game. I think we’ve had another outstanding performance against Southampton.
“But we’ll just stay calm. There are 10 games to go now, we’re in a good position and we just want to continue working at the level we are at.”
Pardew fined by Newcastle United
Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew has been fined £100,000 and given a formal warning by the club after being sent off for headbutting Hull City midfielder David Meyler during Saturday’s league match.
Pardew was sent to the stands by referee Kevin Friend in the 72nd minute for his attack on Meyler who was booked for his part in the incident during Newcastle’s 4-1 win at the KC Stadium.
Newcastle said they were “disappointed” with Pardew’s actions, adding: “His behaviour was unacceptable and is not the behaviour we expect from the manager of Newcastle United.”
Pardew is likely to face another hefty fine and a long touchline ban when the case will be under scrutiny by the English FA.
Northern Ireland game to go ahead
Northern Ireland’s friendly in Cyprus this week is expected to go ahead despite the bombing of a referee’s car on the island.
All first division matches in Cyprus last weekend were cancelled but Irish FA chief executive Patrick Nelson is confident the international in Nicosia on Wednesday will take place.
Nelson said: “The latest information we have is that the incident would have nothing to do with international football and wouldn’t put the friendly game in jeopardy.
“We’re going to be in touch with the Cypriot FA again... we’re keeping our eyes on it.”
The car of a top Cypriot official was damaged by a bomb on Friday, but no one was injured.
Coach Keller slams sorry Schalke
Schalke coach Jens Keller branded his side’s first-half performance in their 5-1 loss to Bayern Munich “the worst I’ve ever seen”.
Already reeling from a 6-1 humiliation at home to Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday, the Royal Blues found themselves four goals down inside 28 minutes on Saturday.
“It was catastrophic,” Keller told Sky television.
“It really was an extraordinarily bad performance.”
Had it not been for at least five fine saves from goalkeeper Ralf Fahrmann, the result could have been much worse for the Gelsenkirchen club.