UEFA failed to see the funny side of a cat invading the pitch during Besiktas’ visit from Bayern Munich on Wednesday, and has charged the Turkish club.
Besiktas also faces disciplinary action for throwing of objects and blocked stairways, but the “insufficient organisation” charge relates to the paws in play.
The feline jumped from an advertising hoarding and trotted around near the corner flag, forcing referee Michael Oliver to temporarily halt the match in the second half.
A post-match poll conducted by Bayern Munich declared the cat as its man of the match, despite Arturo Vidal and Rafinha performing well in a 3-1 victory. Die Roten won the two-legged tie 8-1 on aggregate.
The Buffalo Bills have signed quarterback AJ McCarron to a two-year deal, the team announced Wednesday.
McCarron joins 2017 fifth-round pick Nathan Peterman on the Bills’ QB depth chart after Buffalo’s trade of Tyrod Taylor to the Cleveland Browns was made official Wednesday.
If wide receiver Anquan Boldin wants to resume his playing career, his team options opened up Wednesday after the Bills released him from the retired list.
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McCarron, 27, was a free agent after winning a grievance filed against the Cincinnati Bengals last year to determine whether he had been incorrectly put on the non-football injury list as a rookie. He not only won his grievance for the incorrect designation, but he also was owed back pay for the time spent on the list in 2014.
McCarron played in five regular-season games in the 2015 season and started three, completing 66.4 percent of his passes for 854 yards and six touchdowns. He also started an AFC wild-card playoff game that season, completing 56.1 percent of his passes for one touchdown and one interception in an eventual a loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
McCarron has contended several times that he wants his chance to start somewhere, and it almost happened when the Browns attempted to send a second- and third-round pick to the Bengals in the fall. However, the paperwork didn’t go through before the trade deadline and McCarron remained with Cincinnati for the 2017 season.
McCarron’s signing comes after several veteran quarterbacks had found new teams in free agency this week, leaving Buffalo as perhaps the only remaining team that could offer him a chance to start this season.
The signing is unlikely to change the Bills’ apparent plans to draft a quarterback next month. Buffalo owns the Nos. 12 and 21 overall picks, as well as two selections in each of the second and third rounds. The Bills could package those picks to trade up for one of the draft’s top quarterbacks.
ESPN’s Katherine Terrell contributed to this report.
