Shocking

Russia's national football team said on Sunday it would not be calling up its captain Artem Dzyuba for upcoming international matches this month to shield him from negative publicity.

Its statement followed the leak of an private video online on Saturday, which TASS news agency said showed a man similar to the 32-year-old Dzyuba, who is also the striker for Zenit St. Petersburg. There was no suggestion of any controversial behavior in the video and it was not clear how it had leaked.

With Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Luke Shaw playing the roles of marauding fullbacks, Axel Tuanzebe the false center back, Bruno Fernandes the floating No. 10, Donny van de Beek the floating No. 8 and Juan Mata and Nemanja Matić the taxidermied zebras, Manchester United produced the sort of display that makes you wonder why Mauricio Pochettino is still out of a job on Wednesday.

In all honesty, we’ve only just begun to see the torrential number of ways in which COVID-19 can disrupt football in a purely sporting sense. 

Major League Soccer’s regular season has been severely disrupted by the pandemic with a logjam of postponed matches that can no longer be completed before the start of the playoffs, forcing qualification to be determined on a points-per-game basis rather than the final standings. 

After a week in which Karim Benzema's damning opinion of strike partner Vinícius Júnior was unwittingly revealed, Real Madrid's forwards will be hoping to present a united front when they host Huesca in LaLiga on Saturday.

Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba on Monday denied media reports that said he quit the France national team over comments made by the country's President Emmanuel Macron which were perceived to be against Islam.

The French leader this month declared war on "Islamist separatism,” which he believes is taking over some Muslim communities in France. The Sun newspaper alleged that Pogba, a practicing Muslim, reacted to Macron's comments by quitting the national team.

Chelsea boss Frank Lampard said he was frustrated and confused that his team were denied a penalty in Saturday's 0-0 Premier League draw at Manchester United.

Chelsea captain Cesar Azpilicueta was grabbed by his United counterpart Harry Maguire when challenging for a header in the first half but the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) dismissed the London club's penalty claims after reviewing the incident.

Ajax Amsterdam set an Eredivisie record when they scored 13 goals past a hapless VVV-Venlo side to move to the top of the standings on Saturday, with seven different players getting their names on the score sheet.

The previous record for most goals scored in an Eredivisie game was also held by Ajax when they beat Vitesse 12-1 in 1972.

Led by 19-year-old Lassina Traore, who scored five times and assisted three more, Ajax dominated the contest and were already 4-0 up when Venlo were reduced to 10 men after skipper Christian Kum was sent off on VAR review for a high boot.