BIRTHDAYS

WALES v ENGLAND SPECIAL:

GRAEME POLLOCK

(77) – ex-South Africa batsman, uncle of Proteas star Shaun. PAUL WELLENS (41) – former St Helens full-back and England star. JONJO SHELVEY and CALLUM WILSON (both 29) – The Newcastle United team-mates and England internationals were born the same day.

TIGER WOODS will find it devastating to go from feeling superhuman to simply being ordinary, according to Ryder Cup legend Tony Jacklin.

And he credits Woods with being responsible for most of the riches golfers play for today.

Jacklin is hosting the WGC event this weekend at his Concession course in Florida, which he designed with Jack Nicklaus and named it after the famous sporting gesture Nicklaus made to him at the 1969 Ryder Cup (below, right).

But he says a lot of thoughts will be with Woods (above) as he begins his recovery from this week’s devastating car crash (above, right) in California.

Jacklin (below) said: “He is going to lose two years of a great career trying to recover from his injuries. He’s 45 now and it will be miraculous if he can stage another comeback at 47.

“When you’ve been as good as he’s been for so long, it will be difficult for him to get accustomed to being relatively ordinary. It must be absolutely devastating for him to realise he’s just as human as everyone else now.

“When you’re out there performing great deeds – and I had this for a brief time when I followed up my 1969 Open victory by winning the 1970 US Open – you think you’re superhuman, immortal almost.

“You never think life is going to be any different but of course, for all of us, it eventually takes its toll.

“However, if there is someone in the whole of sport who has taught us never to write anyone off, that someone is Tiger. What he achieved by winning the 2019 Masters, ending an 11-year wait for a 15th Major victory, was incredible.”

Jacklin knows that despite an up and down life, Woods will have the entire golf world pulling for him.

“He’s let himself down occasionally but you need to forget about his private life. No human is perfect,” said Jacklin.

“The elite are playing for 80 to 100 times more money than before.

“We played for $100,000 (£71,673). This week in the WGC event at the Concession here in Florida, the purse is $10million (£7.16m).

“You know who that is largely down to? Tiger, that’s who.”

defeat of his managerial career when he was at Paris Saint-Germain.

Tuchel said: “I was two days in a very dark place and was not able to speak to anybody and to think about anything else than this defeat.

“But I love to turn it around. We love to win and we love a good fight, and this is what we will hopefully get on Sunday.”

The double whammy also means facing Ibrahimovic, who spent two seasons at Old Trafford, scoring 29 goals in 53 appearances and helping the Reds win both the EFL Cup and Europa League in 2017.

He rejoined Milan in December 2019 for his second stint at the San Siro and, despite turning 40 later this year, has plundered 27 goals in 40 appearances.

Solskjaer, who turned 48 yesterday, said: “It’s a nice birthday gift, isn’t it? We do have the tradition of making it hard for ourselves in draws. It’s one of those draws again that you feel could

be a Champions League game. Zlatan, of course, I’ve been so impressed, I’ve got to say, by how his career has gone.

“He had a career-threatening injury when he was here, but came back from that and went to the MLS, then came back to Milan and has really lifted them. They’re on the up and have done really well this season. I’ve been so impressed by him.”

Elsewhere, 2019 finalists Arsenal will face Greek side Olympiakos, who knocked them out of the competition in the last-32 last year.

Tottenham will take on Croatian side Dinamo Zagreb, while Rangers have been drawn against Czechs Slavia Prague, who defeated Leicester City this week.

Spurs boss Jose Mourinho (above) said: “When you get to this stage, you don’t get easy clubs. So the objective now is to win against Dinamo and then, if later Arsenal and Manchester United are in the competition, we have to face them.”

All of the last-16 ties will be played on March 11 and 18 behind closed doors, with some ties expected to take place at neutral venues due to Covid-19 travel restrictions.

PAUL MERSON has revealed how he almost quit social media after sick death threats to his family.

Merson (above), who played for Arsenal, Aston Villa, Middlesbrough and Portsmouth, suffered the abuse on Instagram six months ago.

The 52-year-old England star has battled drink, drugs and gambling problems all his life and revealed in January last year how he had wanted to kill himself at the start of 2019.

He has been sober for more than two years but still receives abuse on a regular basis on social media when he gives his opinion in his newspaper column or on Sky Sports.

Merson said: “I had an atrocious one a while ago for saying that Manchester United wouldn’t win the league with Anthony Martial up front.

“Someone said they would throw my wife in the canal and kill my kids.

“I told my wife about it. We both just sat there in shock and went, ‘Wow!’

“My agent asked me if I wanted to go to the police but I said, ‘No, he’s obviously not well this guy, it’s my fault for reading it.’

“Now I look back and I feel bad that I didn’t report it to the police just to teach him a lesson, you know? Another one that’s slipped away.

“I said to someone the other day that I was coming off social media.

“Sometimes it does affect me. On days when I’m not strong and people are calling me a druggie and worse. It is hard. You don’t need that stuff in your life.

“When people say these things they should look in the mirror. But what I get is only the tip of the iceberg compared to other people.

“When people are getting slaughtered for the colour of their skin, it does my head in. It’s disgusting, and it hurts me to see it. I don’t understand it.

“The people saying these things would never dare go up to Ian Wright (above) or Dion Dublin and say these things. They are cowards.”

Wright, Merson’s former Arsenal team-mate, said he was “disappointed” earlier this month when a teenager who sent him racist abuse was not given a criminal conviction.