Berlin – Midfield star Xabi Alonso is an injury concern for Bayern Munich ahead of its Champions League last 16 home leg against Arsenal after being hurt in Monday’s training session.
German daily Bild and broadcaster Sport1.de both reported the 35-year-old was hurt in a tackle by fellow Spain international Javi Martinez, with Bayern hosting the Gunners at the Allianz Arena on Wednesday.
In freezing weather, Alonso was left clutching his knee in clear discomfort.
Bayern said he was immediately taken to the dressing room as a precautionary measure but should be able to train again on Tuesday.
The Bavarian giants are already set to be without defender Jerome Boateng and winger Franck Ribery, who are still recovering from shoulder and thigh injuries respectively.
Arsenal is looking to break its last 16 jink having lost at this stage of the competition each of the last six seasons.
Bayern knocked Arsenal out of the Champions League in the last 16 in both 2012-13 and 2013-14.
The return leg will take place in London on March 7.
TEMPE, Ariz. — Former Arizona Cardinals receiver Michael Floyd didn’t expect to get cut after he was arrested on charges of driving under the influence and failure to obey a police officer in mid-December, he said Sunday in his first in-depth public comments about the incident and the subsequent fallout during an interview on ESPN Radio’s “Weekend Observations.”
Speaking with former Notre Dame teammate Mike Golic Jr. and Jon “Stugotz” Weiner, Floyd said he expected some sort of punishment to be coming from the Cardinals, but never thought the team would release him.
“It hurt actually,” Floyd said. “It sucked, but I knew something was going to happen, but I did not actually think I was going to get released at all.
Michael Floyd on joining the Patriots: “The whole team took me in like I’ve been playing there since Week 1. The whole team is positive and encouraging people.” Mike Reiss / ESPN
“When I did, obviously because of the decision that I made, they made that decision. I went home from work and I felt bad about everything. I felt bad from the beginning, knowing I was in trouble, and I knew there was going to be some punishment. I just felt terrible.”
Floyd showed remorse throughout the interview, at one point saying he “100 percent” wished the incident didn’t happen so he could’ve stayed in Arizona for the remainder of the season instead of going to New England and winning the Super Bowl (he was a healthy scratch for the game).
“That feeling is great knowing that you can stay on one team for your whole career, so obviously it was heartbreaking the stuff that happened,” Floyd said. “If I could go back, definitely I would love to be where I was.”
Floyd was winding down the final year of his rookie contract when he was released.
“I made a dumb decision to drive and I thought I was OK and I fell asleep,” Floyd said. “I think the whole world knows what happened after that: a dumb decision one individual makes. You learn from it and move on.”
Floyd said coach Bruce Arians informed him of his release on Dec. 14, two days after his arrest. When Floyd was asked if he thought Arians agreed with the team cutting him, Floyd said Arians always liked him and that he didn’t think Arians felt he needed to be released.
“I don’t think there was ever a negative thing between me and him,” Floyd said. “I think I had a good place with him.”
Floyd added: “I have tremendous respect for Bruce — B.A. He’s been a great coach to me my whole time there. Always a straight-forward coach, which I really loved. He came up to me and told me what the decision was from upstairs. I took it with a grain of salt and moved on.”
A day after getting cut on Dec. 14, Floyd was claimed by the Patriots.
He was sitting at home when his agent called to inform him of New England’s move. Floyd said he then put on the Pharrell Williams song “Happy” on repeat and played it throughout his house that day. He took a red-eye flight from Phoenix to the Northeast. When he landed at 5:30 a.m. the next day, Floyd said the temperature was about 20 degrees.
Shortly after arriving Dec. 16 at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts, Floyd attended his first meetings with the Patriots and met with coach Bill Belichick, who told Floyd his incident was in the past and he wanted Floyd and the team to move past it.
“It was all positive things once I got there,” he said. “The whole team took me in like I’ve been playing there since Week 1. The whole team is positive and encouraging people.”
Floyd was inactive for New England’s Week 15 games, but played in the Patriots’ Week 16 and Week 17 wins against the Jets and Dolphins, respectively. Floyd caught one pass for six yards against the Jets and three for 36 yards and a touchdown against the Dolphins. He followed that up with one catch for nine yards in an AFC divisional win against Houston, but was inactive for the AFC Championship Game and Super Bowl.
After the Patriots won Super Bowl LI against Atlanta, Floyd found himself caught in a social media upheaval after tweeting a screen shot of him kissing the Lombardi Trophy from the TV broadcast.
Floyed followed that tweet with a tweet two days later after realizing he was on the receiving end of animosity from “just negative random people … probably most Arizona people,” he said, who thought he didn’t deserve to win a Super Bowl after his December incident.
Damn I just realized ppl are really mad that I got a ring. I thought everyone would be happy for me. Oh well. I’m a champion!!
— MichaelFloyd (@MichaelMFloyd) February 7, 2017
“They just think that I’m not sorry for what I did or I disrespected Arizona,” Floyd said. “I made a mistake. I’m sorry for what I did and I’m moving forward, and I think some people don’t want me to be successful.
“I think that’s just life. There’s just people who don’t want people to succeed.”
Borussia Dortmund has reluctantly accepted its punishment for egregious fan behaviour in Feb. 4’s 1-0 defeat of RB Leipzig by vacating the Sudtribune for next Saturday’s visit from VfL Wolfsburg.
Five days after the hosting of Leipzig, there were found to be 32 cases under investigation by Dortmund police after a minority of Die Borussen support attacked visiting fans – 10 of whom were injured. The local law enforcement noted that people were spat at and attacked with stones and glass bottles, regardless of whether they were children, women, or families.
The bile on the banners of some of the home contingent also shocked the Bundesliga and the wider German football community. Repulsed by Leipzig’s funding from energy drink giant Red Bull – hence the RB in the club’s name – banners were unfurled branding it “football’s enemy,” claiming that “football belongs to us,” and ordering its sporting director, Ralf Rangnick, who has suffered from depression, to “hang yourself,” noted The Telegraph’s Evan Bartlett.
(Courtesy: @BVB)
Dortmund reiterated that it has apologised to Leipzig officials for the conduct of its fans, but did suggest that the “Yellow Wall” closure was excessive. It has pledged to reimburse those with tickets who weren’t involved in the Leipzig violence, as the North Rhine-Westphalia outfit continues to prepare measures and sanctions against the perpetrators.
“It must be possible to go to a stadium with children and family, especially at Dortmund,” said manager Thomas Tuchel three days after the disappointing scenes at the Westfalenstadion.
“I have not perceived it as a wall of hate, I perceived it as very emotional, very supportive,” he added on a stand that has been cited as a model for “safe standing” practices elsewhere in Europe. “I saw the banners, just the sheer number of them. But I did not read them. And there is a major difference between displaying banners and what happened outside the stadium.
“It hurts the soul, and it hurts the fairness, but I did not see a wall of hate.”
Der BVB, coming off the back of a listless performance in a 2-1 loss at bottom-placed SV Darmstadt 98, takes on Portuguese Primeira Liga leader Benfica in Tuesday’s Champions League Round of 16 tilts.
It will then host 14th-placed Wolfsburg in an uncharacteristically cavernous Westfalenstadion next weekend.
Steve Smith, the Baltimore Ravens’ leading receiver in 2014, retired. Kamar Aiken, the go-to target in 2015, is an unrestricted free agent. And Mike Wallace, the most productive wideout last season, has been mentioned as a salary-cap casualty.
Who is going to step up into a leading role for Baltimore in 2017? The Ravens believe it could be slow-developing first-round pick Breshad Perriman.
“I sure hope that Breshad Perriman becomes a true No. 1,” coach John Harbaugh said at the end of the season. “To me, there are signs that is possible. But he has a ways to go; he has a lot of work to do to get it done. You see the radius and you see the speed, and I think you see that here is a guy who has a chance.”
In order for Perriman to become the No. 1 receiver, he has to become more than a two-dimensional one. A majority of his 33 receptions from last season came on either fly or drag routes. Perriman proved he can run past cornerbacks deep downfield and he can zip past defenders after catching short passes in stride. The rest of his game remains a question mark.
The Ravens hope Breshad Perriman can become their No. 1 receiver. John Grieshop/Getty Images
His limited route tree is a big factor why he wasn’t more involved in the offense. Perriman ran 320 routes last season and he caught a pass on just 10.3 percent of them, which ranked 64th in the league among wide receivers with at least 30 catches. He is more of a project than the Ravens anticipated. Coaches had to start with the basics with Perriman, teaching him how to properly line up in a stance.
When you look at the Ravens’ top receivers in the past — specifically Smith and Derrick Mason — they were able to get open on their route-running ability and didn’t rely solely on their speed. They were able to get off the line for slants, they shook off defenders on comeback routes and they got out of their breaks on out patterns.
“The thing that I like most about it is now I know exactly what I need to work on,” Perriman said. “I am excited.”
Unlike those receivers, Perriman has had an extremely rough start to his career since being the No. 26 overall pick in 2015. A partially torn posterior cruciate ligament in his right knee sidelined him for his entire rookie season, and a partially torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee last offseason forced him to miss most of 2016 training camp.
“I think it’s going to be a huge advantage for me,” Perriman said. “There’s no more rehabbing. It’s just straight to work on the things that I know I need to get better at. So I’m looking forward to it.”
Flacco had as many interceptions (three) as touchdowns when throwing to Perriman. His rating on passes to Perriman was 72.5. Flacco’s rating when throwing to all the other wide receivers was 92.4 (10 touchdowns, five interceptions).
That obviously has to change if Perriman is going to become Flacco’s prime target.
“I see and hear some of the expectations that go around, but at the end of the day, my expectations are always higher,” Perriman said. “So it doesn’t surprise me, and it doesn’t shock me at all. I just try to go out there and not really worry about the expectations, but do what I know and do what I do best.”
