Football to kick off
Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin said on Monday leagues across Europe were ready to return to action behind closed doors in a bid to limit damage caused by the coronavirus.
Football leagues have been suspended since mid-March due to the pandemic.
But the head of European football believes playing would be an important step towards a return to normal life. And it would avoid heavy financial losses for leagues.
“I believe there are options that can allow us to restart cup championships and to complete them,” Ceferin said in an interview with Italian daily Corriere della Sera. “We may have to resume without spectators, but the most important thing, I think, is playing games.”
Manchester United captain Harry Maguire believes the Red Devils are on the right track towards contending for the Premier League title again.
United have not won the league since Alex Ferguson retired as manager in 2013 and were 37 points behind leaders Liverpool when the Premier League season was put on hold due to the coronavirus in March.
However, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men were on an 11match unbeaten run before the shutdown with Maguire and Aaron Wan-Bissaka beginning to repay the lavish sums spent on them last summer and January signing Bruno Fernandes making an immediate impact.
“I knew when I first came to Manchester United that Ole said to me loads and loads of times it’s a building process but we’ll be where we want to be,” Maguire told Sky Sports.
“There are plenty of aspects we need to improve to get to the top where we want to be. We don’t want to be challenging for this Champions League spot, we want to be challenging for titles.
“We know there’s still a lot of improvement to get there, but we’re on the right track and I’m sure eventually we will get there.”
United were fifth in the table when matches were suspended and still in the running for silverware in the FA Cup and Europa League.
Should the season be able to be completed in the coming months, Solskjaer’s options could be strengthened by the return from injury of Marcus Rashford and Paul Pogba.
Pogba has been restricted to just eight appearances this season by a persistent ankle problem, but Maguire hopes the French World Cup winner and Fernandes can form a potent partnership in midfield.
“He’s been brilliant since he’s come in, off the field, around the training ground,” Maguire said of Fernandes. “He’s a leader and wants to win, everything he does he wants to win, you can tell he’s been brought up with that attitude,”
“He’s just given us that little bit more life and creativity in the middle.”