Premier League
FORMER GOALKEEPER USED BLACK MAGIC TO REVERSE CURSE ON LIVERPOOL
Legendary Liverpool goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar has revealed the bizarre reason why he believes his former club will go on to win the Premier League title this season.
He has been able to apply ‘black magic’ like wand to reverse an apparent curse on the club.
According to Daily Mail in the UK, Grobbelaar, known for his lively character and fiery personality, opened up on a secret prior to Liverpool’s Premier League clash with Watford on Saturday lunchtime.
The 62-year-old recounted a story in which he claimed a curse had been placed on Anfield, before he was able to lift it in the most unusual of methods.
‘I had a testimonial in 1992 and I was sponsored by Zambezi lager and they sent a witchdoctor with the lager,’ Grobbelaar began.
‘He went around on the posts and put his goat’s tail, put his water on the posts of both sides, got the microphone and said, “If you don’t have the jungle man Bruce Grobbelaar here, you won’t win the title”.
‘Of course, I went back to South Africa, went to Canada, came back. Remember when Stevie G, he slipped? One night game I went down to the Kop end, I peed on the posts.
‘That breaks the spell. I got thrown out. I didn’t do the Anfield Road and we finished second.’
Undeterred however, Grobbelaar was determined to carry out his task and complete his urinating mission.
‘I fulfilled my task. Last season I played in a corporate game here, we were in the dressing room and the guy said “you have to do the business today”.
‘I said, “okay”. I took a water bottle, poured the water out, peed in the bottle, came back,’ he added.
‘First-half at the Kop end, I splashed it all over the posts. Second-half, I came down to the Anfield Road end and splashed it all over the posts. End of last season,’ Grobbelaar concluded to fits of laughter in the BT Sport studio.
‘I splashed it all over the posts’: Bruce Grobbelaar claims PEEING on the goals at Anfield has lifted curse on Liverpool winning the Premier League this season after a WITCHDOCTOR put a spell on club during his testimonial’
Whether Grobbelaar’s strange intervention will pay off still remains to be seen, though Jurgen Klopp’s Reds continue their meteoric rise in the English top flight.
Liverpool are unbeaten heading into the Christmas period, with an eight point lead over second placed Leicester and 11 points over rivals Manchester City.
Grobbelaar made 626 appearances for the Reds in a glittering 14-year career, in which he won six First Division titles, three FA Cups and three League Cups as well as playing a starring role in the 1984 European Cup final victory.
Thomas Partey, who formerly played for English Premier League soccer club Arsenal, has been charged with rape and sexual assault, London’s Metropolitan Police said on Friday.
Partey, a Ghana international, was charged with five counts of rape and one count of sexual assault, with the charges relating to three women and the offences reported to have taken place between 2021 and 2022, the statement said.
Partey’s management did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
He is due to appear at London’s Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Aug. 5.
Partey, 32, was signed by Arsenal from Atletico Madrid for 50 million euros ($59 million) in October 2020 and became a key member of Arsenal’s first team.
He was first arrested in July 2022, though he was not named at the time and continued to play for Arsenal while investigations were ongoing.
-Reuters
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Five players including England forward Marcus Rashford and Argentina winger Alejandro Garnacho have informed Manchester United that they wish to explore a future away from the Premier League side, a club source said on Friday.
Brazilian midfielder Antony, Dutch defender Tyrell Malacia and England international Jadon Sancho are also looking to leave the club, the source added.
Rashford, who has made more than 400 senior appearances for United, has fallen out of favour with manager Ruben Amorim, played for Aston Villa on loan while United had their worst-ever Premier League campaign, finishing 15th in the standings.
Amorim had called Rashford’s work rate into question, saying he would rather put a goalkeeper coach on the bench than a player not giving their all.
Rashford said he was feeling fitter and better since joining Villa, where he scored two goals in 10 league appearances.
United also failed to qualify for the Champions League as they lost the Europa League final 1-0 to Tottenham Hotspur. Garnacho, who was a late substitute in the final, voiced his displeasure on social media after the loss.
“Up until the final, I played every round helping the team, and today I play 20 minutes, I don’t know,” he wrote in a post . “The final will influence (my decision), but the whole season, the situation of the club.”
Sancho was on loan at Chelsea, where he made 31 league appearances last season. Antony, who joined United from Ajax Amsterdam in 2022 for a reported initial transfer fee of more than $100 million, scored five goals in 17 LaLiga appearances on loan at Real Betis.
Malacia joined Dutch side PSV Eindhoven on loan in February.
-Reuters
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Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes turned down the opportunity to join Saudi Pro League side Al-Hilal in order to keep playing “at the highest level”, he said on Tuesday.
The Portuguese midfielder admitted that he had considered the move, which media reports said was worth four times his current salary, after being contacted by Al-Hilal’s president.
“There was that possibility, the president of Al-Hilal called me a month ago to ask me about it,” Fernandes, who is preparing to face Germany with Portugal, told reporters on Tuesday.
“It was a big offer, very ambitious. There was a waiting period for me to think about the future.”
Fernandes ultimately decided to stay at United and said he was motivated by his desire to continue playing at the top level and encouraged by his family and the club’s coach Ruben Amorim.
“I would be willing to do it if Manchester United thought so,” Fernandes added. “I spoke to the coach Ruben Amorim who really tried to talk me out of it. The club said they would not be willing to sell me, only if I wanted to leave.
“I spoke to my wife and family, and she asked me what my personal goals were in my career.
“It would have been easy to move there but I want to keep myself at the highest level, playing in the big competitions and I feel capable of it. I am happy with my decision.”
The 30-year-old Fernandes scored 19 goals and provided 19 assists in 57 appearances across all competitions for United last season, winning the club’s Player of the Year award for the fourth time.
However, it was a season to forget for the team, as they finished 15th in the Premier League, their lowest league finish in half a century, and lost the Europa League final to Tottenham Hotspur.
-Reuters
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