The man subjected to racist chanting by Chelsea fans and pushed off a train in Paris before last week’s Champions League match in the French capital, has snubbed the Premier League club’s invitation to attend a match at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea have suspended five supporters from attending matches after conducting their own investigations.
Souleymane told Le Parisien: “I appreciate Mr (Jose) Mourinho’s invitation, but I can’t get my head around being in a stadium at the moment.”
‘Pathetic’ Newcastle embarrass Shearer
Newcastle United’s display in their 5-0 capitulation against champions Manchester City was “pathetic”, according to former captain and record goalscorer Alan Shearer.
“They were pathetic. It was embarrassing, from the first minute to the last,” Shearer, who scored 206 goals in 10 seasons for Newcastle, said on BBC Match of the Day.
“I can just imagine the Newcastle team talk before the game; ‘Right lads, this team have got Barcelona (in the Champions League) on Tuesday, let’s just keep it tight for the first 10 or 15 minutes.
“Let’s get in among them, put one or two tackles in and see if they fancy it.”
Argentine coach hit by object
Two matches were held up because of crowd violence and a floodlighting failure in the Argentine first division on Saturday.
Tigre coach Gustavo Alfaro needed stitches to a head wound from an object thrown from the stands during his team’s match at Rosario Central.
Alfaro could have told the referee he was unfit to carry on in the Tigre dugout and the match, which was held up for 13 minutes, would have been suspended.
However, Alfaro told reporters on the touchline: “We’re not going to stop the match because of an idiot but Argentine football is shameful.”
Barnes tackle ‘criminal’ – Mourinho
Nemanja Matic had every right to react angrily to a “criminal” challenge which could have ended his career during Chelsea’s shock 1-1 draw against relegation-threatened Burnley, his manager Jose Mourinho said yesterday.
Matic received a straight red card in the 70th minute after he reacted aggressively to a heavy tackle from Ashley Barnes while the Burnley forward went unpunished for the challenge.
“Football is about emotions and clearly Nemanja Matic had a reason to lose his emotions,” Mourinho told Sky Sports.
“What are the consequences of his push? Nothing. The consequence for Matic from the tackle? It could be the end of his career.
“A criminal tackle.”
Robben thanks Muller for penalty
Bayern Munich winger Arjen Robben has thanked Thomas Muller for letting him take the penalty which took him to the top of the Bundesliga goalscoring charts on Saturday.
Muller is Bayern’s first-choice penalty taker but after Robben was fouled in the area with the score already 2-0 in the Bavarian club’s favour in Paderborn, it was the Dutchman who converted from the spot.
His first move after netting the spot-kick was to turn to Muller and thank him.
“It was a gift from Thomas,” Robben told Sky television afterwards. “We spoke about it before the game and our captain Basti (Schweinsteiger) said that I’m ahead with 14 goals so if we get a penalty, then I should take it.”
Crespo reveals Parma woe
Former Parma striker Hernan Crespo has revealed that the Ducale club are so cash-strapped that his youth team players have had to take cold showers.
Crespo, speaking after the cancellation of Parma’s Seria A home clash with Udinese yesterday, due to a lack of finance, fears the worst for his old team.
“The situation hurts,” Parma youth team coach Crespo told his club’s website.
“We are in shambles. It’s difficult to see this club in this state.
“If the first team is struggling, you can imagine our situation.
“We don’t even have water for training. We are having to take showers with cold water and many times my players have gotten ill.”
Dzeko: Man. City’s swagger is back
Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko felt the spirit of last season was returning as the champions thrashed Newcastle to reinvigorate their title defence.
Dzeko was among the goalscorers as City ran out 5-0 victors at the Etihad Stadium – their biggest win of the campaign – to cut Chelsea’s lead at the top of the Premier League to five points.
Dzeko said: “I think the first half was maybe one of the best this season.
“Recently maybe we didn’t play the best football, didn’t score so many goals, but in the last two games we scored nine and hopefully we are back to normality – like we played last season.
“We have to continue.”